Well I had an action packed few days in Dubai. It was great. What an interesting city. The place is completely under construction. Skyscrapers going up everywhere and therefore cranes everywhere you look. The workers work 24 hours a day 7 days a week, in the heat, oh the heat. It was 44 degrees Celsius each day. It was ok though as it was a dry heat. The suns rays during the day burn off the humidity so I was not sweating profusely.
I went on a desert safari and went off-roading in an SUV over the sand dunes. It was scary. I thought we were going to roll the vehicle cutting across the sand dune sideways and sliding the other way. I got some confidence in our driver and then had a great experience. It was so cool. I even got to drive. That was crazy. It was pitch black and you didn’t know what was ahead after cresting the dune. It was awesome. I also went for a ride on a camel in the desert. It was a little bumpy, but very cool.
I went on a tour around the city for the day and saw all the buildings, malls and hotels, I don’t know who is staying in these places but they are extremely expensive and there are so many of them. The construction is fascinating I don’t know where the people are all coming from or for what. It is hard to believe they need so many buildings being built at once.
The malls are massive. Think of the largest mall you have been to and multiply its ground floor by 2 then add 6 stories. I went downhill skiing at the mall. Yes you read that correctly. It was 44 degrees outside and I was inside skiing on snow. It was interesting. For $50 you can ski for 2 hours. The cost includes skis, boots, poles, socks, a jacket and pants. Luckily Christine loaned me a toque and mitts for Africa so I was able to use those. You were to provide your own mitts and hat, or buy theirs. Speaking of which. I am now in South Africa and went from a temperature of 44 degrees Celsius to 4 degrees Celsius. The people at the airport in their snowsuits didn’t know what to think of my shorts.
May not be as frequent with the updates now, but I will try. I am doing a 25 day overland safari through Africa. It should be great.
Check out the following link for photos. Again it seems you will have to copy the address into the toolbar.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/Dubai
Wednesday 27 June 2007
Friday 22 June 2007
Macau and Hong Kong - Pictures
I took an hour-long ferry ride to Macau the other day. It is an island off of Hong Kong that is part of China but it too has a separate currency. I got 5 stamps in the passport that day, coming back and forth.
Macau is a nice island with many heritage places to visit and lots of shopping for those that would like that. I am a shopper and I was turned off. I was really hungry and I headed for the ferry area to grab a bite to eat before returning to Hong Kong. There was nothing to be had in the general vicinity. So I walked up the street and saw a mall. I figured it would have a food court and I would be able to grab something there. Well the mall was packed. I mean worse then Christmas Eve shopping at home. There were people everywhere and the cashiers had lineups of at least 50 people deep. It was nuts. I was not able to get anything to eat and was hardly able to get out of the place. They had all the exits and the elevator blocked with merchandize or locked. Talk about a big old fire hazard. I tried 5 exits before I was able to get out of the place. It was nuts.
Macau was very nice to walk around though. Lots of nice old buildings with Portuguese influence.
I went to Chris’ school on Thursday and helped out. It is a nice school in its first year of operation and they have a brand new facility. She teaches year 6 or the same as grade 5 at home. The students can participate in after school activities and one of them is cooking. So we made pizzas with the kids.
We went to the Hotel Intercontinental for drinks on Friday evening to check out the view of Hong Kong my night. We also went to a Mongolian Grill restaurant where you choose the topping you would like in a stir-fry or on a pizza and then you have then cook it up on the spot. It is a favorite place around here. It was very good.
Off to Dubai this evening or morning. My flight is at 12:40 am.
April and Chris have been fabulous hosts and I have really enjoyed hanging out with them. Their apartment is great, is very roomy and in an awesome part of town, the Midlevels, right by the worlds longest escalator.
Check out the following link for pictures, sorry I guess you will have to paste the address in again. For some reason the link will not work.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/MacauAndHongKong
Macau is a nice island with many heritage places to visit and lots of shopping for those that would like that. I am a shopper and I was turned off. I was really hungry and I headed for the ferry area to grab a bite to eat before returning to Hong Kong. There was nothing to be had in the general vicinity. So I walked up the street and saw a mall. I figured it would have a food court and I would be able to grab something there. Well the mall was packed. I mean worse then Christmas Eve shopping at home. There were people everywhere and the cashiers had lineups of at least 50 people deep. It was nuts. I was not able to get anything to eat and was hardly able to get out of the place. They had all the exits and the elevator blocked with merchandize or locked. Talk about a big old fire hazard. I tried 5 exits before I was able to get out of the place. It was nuts.
Macau was very nice to walk around though. Lots of nice old buildings with Portuguese influence.
I went to Chris’ school on Thursday and helped out. It is a nice school in its first year of operation and they have a brand new facility. She teaches year 6 or the same as grade 5 at home. The students can participate in after school activities and one of them is cooking. So we made pizzas with the kids.
We went to the Hotel Intercontinental for drinks on Friday evening to check out the view of Hong Kong my night. We also went to a Mongolian Grill restaurant where you choose the topping you would like in a stir-fry or on a pizza and then you have then cook it up on the spot. It is a favorite place around here. It was very good.
Off to Dubai this evening or morning. My flight is at 12:40 am.
April and Chris have been fabulous hosts and I have really enjoyed hanging out with them. Their apartment is great, is very roomy and in an awesome part of town, the Midlevels, right by the worlds longest escalator.
Check out the following link for pictures, sorry I guess you will have to paste the address in again. For some reason the link will not work.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/MacauAndHongKong
Tuesday 19 June 2007
Hong Kong Pictures and Video
I have been touring around Hong Kong for the past few days. I have used the subway, bus, tram and my feet. It has been cool to tour all over the city. Not cool temperature wise though. It is in the high, high 30’s. I went to the Peak and had a great view of the islands and harbour. I took the Peak Tram to get to the top of the hill. It was so steep the car was on a 45-degree angle. Once at the top I had lunch over looking the harbour at Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant. It has tons of pictures and paraphernalia from the movie Forest Gump. I also did a very nice 3km circular walk around the Peak through nice vegetation.
Today was a holiday and there was a Dragon Boat Festival on. I took the bus to the other side of the island and checked out the festivities. It was busy. Tons of people around and bad, bad traffic. The festival was neat though. It was just like our festivals at home. There were lots of business, schools and corporations competing against each other in matching outfits. One team had on long sleeve shirts and hoodies. I couldn’t believe their outfits, it was so hot today. They must have been boiling. April (Christine’s roommate) was competing. She was the drummer and was knocked out of the boat during the day. She is not home yet, so I do not have all the details.
It has been very interesting to just people watch and walk the steep streets. Tomorrow I am on my way to Macau, an island that will take one hour to get to my boat.
Check out the following links for pictures and a video of the Dragon Boat Festival. You may have to copy the link into your web address because it seems to not be doing the direct link again.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/HongKong
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2341545073049138307
Today was a holiday and there was a Dragon Boat Festival on. I took the bus to the other side of the island and checked out the festivities. It was busy. Tons of people around and bad, bad traffic. The festival was neat though. It was just like our festivals at home. There were lots of business, schools and corporations competing against each other in matching outfits. One team had on long sleeve shirts and hoodies. I couldn’t believe their outfits, it was so hot today. They must have been boiling. April (Christine’s roommate) was competing. She was the drummer and was knocked out of the boat during the day. She is not home yet, so I do not have all the details.
It has been very interesting to just people watch and walk the steep streets. Tomorrow I am on my way to Macau, an island that will take one hour to get to my boat.
Check out the following links for pictures and a video of the Dragon Boat Festival. You may have to copy the link into your web address because it seems to not be doing the direct link again.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/HongKong
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2341545073049138307
Sunday 17 June 2007
Wolong Panda Center and Super Heros Pictures
Well I made it to the Wolong after a 5-hour bus ride with the locals to go 140 km’s up the mountain. It was an interesting ride. The road had blind corners, one-way sections and many potholes and bumps. I was the only Westerner on the bus. On the way down the mountain it took 7-hours.
I arrived in Wolong where there are no English speaking people to be found and all the signs are in Chinese. The bus driver tried to set me up with a woman who had a Chinese hotel. She could not speak any English. This was not going to work, as I needed to get to the Panda Center each day and figure out how I was going to get back down the mountain, as there was no bus station in the town. It was 10km back down the mountain to the Panda Center and there were no taxis in the town. I needed to know which day I could catch the bus back down the mountain as it does not go each day and I had a flight to catch. I had a lot to figure out before I went to the Panda Center to Volunteer.
I was taken by the bus driver to a “hotel” it had a sign in English and the people there spoke a “little” English. I looked into staying there. It was 300 Y a night ($60) and a car to take me back and forth to the Center was going to be 50 Y each way and I needed to go back and forth four times a day. This didn’t make much sense as it only cost 38.5 Y to get up the mountain. I thought there was a hostel in town so I set out to find it. I knew I could come back to this place if I had to. There wasn’t a hostel but God was looking out for me. I walked up the street and saw Westerners. I went to speak to them and asked do you speak English? They said yes. They were from Texas. I had run into a group of 11 people from a Baptist University going to the center the same days as I was and going back the 6 hours to Chengdu the same day. So I asked and was successful, I stayed at their hotel got a ride with them everyday and went back to Chengdu with them in their bus. The hotel and 3 meals included, transportation etc was 80 Y a day. I lucked out. They were traveling around China and Hong Kong studying the panda bears, wetlands and botanical gardens as part of a three week long ecology course.
The group of students and two faculty members welcomed me into their group. They were so nice and inviting. We worked in groups of three at the Panda Center and we were responsible for the feeding and cleaning of three panda bears each day. I had to smile driving with them to the center, (they had a van and driver) at just how well things work out. I came with no accommodation etc and it worked out way better than I could have planned it and I met some awesome people.
One of the panda bears we looked after was in the hospital wing and was caged for most of the day. We were not told why he was in the hospital but he seemed healthy. One of our other pandas was pregnant and due in a month.
I am in Hong Kong now and the transition from China to Hong Kong went very smoothly. I traveled by all most all means of transportation that day. I went by taxi, bus, plane, subway and we almost went by ferry but we are saving that one for another day.
Christine lives in Hong Kong and teaches at an International School. She lives in the Midlevels on Hong Kong Island. Hong Kong is really neat. The streets are extremely steep, narrow and have tons of people and little shops on them. I had no idea there were so many hills here and that they are so steep. They have a very large escalator to help get up the hills when it is working. The two times we have needed it, it has been shut down, but I guess whereever they can conserve energy they should and we just got a little exercise.
Christine’s group of friends had a pub crawl last night that was a super hero themed event. Everyone went out in a super hero costume. I went as Syndrome from the Incredibles, Christine went as Laura Croft from Tomb Raider and April, Christine’s roommate went as Storm. There was Super Dave Osborn. He had his costume made and there were two Poison Ivy’s. You will have to check out the photos.
Hong Kong is very hot and lots of people were sweating in their tights last night.
Check out the following two links for pictures. I don't think it will link these pictures. So you will have to copy the addresses and paste it into the toolbar.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/WolongPandaCenter
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/SuperHeros
I arrived in Wolong where there are no English speaking people to be found and all the signs are in Chinese. The bus driver tried to set me up with a woman who had a Chinese hotel. She could not speak any English. This was not going to work, as I needed to get to the Panda Center each day and figure out how I was going to get back down the mountain, as there was no bus station in the town. It was 10km back down the mountain to the Panda Center and there were no taxis in the town. I needed to know which day I could catch the bus back down the mountain as it does not go each day and I had a flight to catch. I had a lot to figure out before I went to the Panda Center to Volunteer.
I was taken by the bus driver to a “hotel” it had a sign in English and the people there spoke a “little” English. I looked into staying there. It was 300 Y a night ($60) and a car to take me back and forth to the Center was going to be 50 Y each way and I needed to go back and forth four times a day. This didn’t make much sense as it only cost 38.5 Y to get up the mountain. I thought there was a hostel in town so I set out to find it. I knew I could come back to this place if I had to. There wasn’t a hostel but God was looking out for me. I walked up the street and saw Westerners. I went to speak to them and asked do you speak English? They said yes. They were from Texas. I had run into a group of 11 people from a Baptist University going to the center the same days as I was and going back the 6 hours to Chengdu the same day. So I asked and was successful, I stayed at their hotel got a ride with them everyday and went back to Chengdu with them in their bus. The hotel and 3 meals included, transportation etc was 80 Y a day. I lucked out. They were traveling around China and Hong Kong studying the panda bears, wetlands and botanical gardens as part of a three week long ecology course.
The group of students and two faculty members welcomed me into their group. They were so nice and inviting. We worked in groups of three at the Panda Center and we were responsible for the feeding and cleaning of three panda bears each day. I had to smile driving with them to the center, (they had a van and driver) at just how well things work out. I came with no accommodation etc and it worked out way better than I could have planned it and I met some awesome people.
One of the panda bears we looked after was in the hospital wing and was caged for most of the day. We were not told why he was in the hospital but he seemed healthy. One of our other pandas was pregnant and due in a month.
I am in Hong Kong now and the transition from China to Hong Kong went very smoothly. I traveled by all most all means of transportation that day. I went by taxi, bus, plane, subway and we almost went by ferry but we are saving that one for another day.
Christine lives in Hong Kong and teaches at an International School. She lives in the Midlevels on Hong Kong Island. Hong Kong is really neat. The streets are extremely steep, narrow and have tons of people and little shops on them. I had no idea there were so many hills here and that they are so steep. They have a very large escalator to help get up the hills when it is working. The two times we have needed it, it has been shut down, but I guess whereever they can conserve energy they should and we just got a little exercise.
Christine’s group of friends had a pub crawl last night that was a super hero themed event. Everyone went out in a super hero costume. I went as Syndrome from the Incredibles, Christine went as Laura Croft from Tomb Raider and April, Christine’s roommate went as Storm. There was Super Dave Osborn. He had his costume made and there were two Poison Ivy’s. You will have to check out the photos.
Hong Kong is very hot and lots of people were sweating in their tights last night.
Check out the following two links for pictures. I don't think it will link these pictures. So you will have to copy the addresses and paste it into the toolbar.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/WolongPandaCenter
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/SuperHeros
Sunday 10 June 2007
Panda Bears China 4 Videos and Pictures
I went to the Panda Bear Breeding Center today in Chengdu China. The pandas are just as cute in real life as the stuffed animals are. The center houses "giant pandas and red pandas." It is estimated that there are only 1000 giant pandas left in the world. The breeding center helps with mating and new borns.
When female pandas deliver their first cub they do not know what to do with it and will harm and kill their young. At the center they watch the interactions so that the cubs do not die. If a panda has twins, which happens 45% of the time they will only care for one in the wild.
It is recommended that you visit the center early in the morning to see the panda bears when they are most active, eating. This was a good suggestion because when I doubled back and checked them out again they were doing what they do best, sleeping.
Tomorrow I am taking the bus to Wolong to a Panda Research Center in the wild. It will take 6 hours to get there, hopefully. I say hopefully as the road is suppose to be bad and a bridge is washed out. Why the bother? I will volunteer at the Research Center for a couple of days, working with panda bears. Who knows, I could be shoveling sh*t. We shall see.
This evening I went to the Sichuan Opera. It was very cool and just across the street. It had tons of musical instruments, dancing, acrobatics, stick puppets, shadow puppets, changing faces (where their masks continually change with out the flick of a hand) and spitting fire.
The shadow puppets were my favorite. The guy could do amazing things with his hands and body. The best shadow puppets I have ever seen. Bets the overhead at school. Check out the couple of pictures I took of it.
Oh god, I almost forgot. At the opera they offer the service of having your ears cleaned. There was a guy just over from me having it done. I sat in the front row so he had the whole audience checking the cleaning out. The views of the show were excellent from the front row and during the performance they serve tea and have shelled peanuts on a small table in front of you. The tea pots have spouts that are four feet long. So all of a sudden coming from behind over your shoulder your tea cup gets filled up.
Check out the following links for pictures and videos.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/PandaBearsChengdu
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8000592313441558265
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1209220284511815168
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1775414732159463967
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-897658998735200234
When female pandas deliver their first cub they do not know what to do with it and will harm and kill their young. At the center they watch the interactions so that the cubs do not die. If a panda has twins, which happens 45% of the time they will only care for one in the wild.
It is recommended that you visit the center early in the morning to see the panda bears when they are most active, eating. This was a good suggestion because when I doubled back and checked them out again they were doing what they do best, sleeping.
Tomorrow I am taking the bus to Wolong to a Panda Research Center in the wild. It will take 6 hours to get there, hopefully. I say hopefully as the road is suppose to be bad and a bridge is washed out. Why the bother? I will volunteer at the Research Center for a couple of days, working with panda bears. Who knows, I could be shoveling sh*t. We shall see.
This evening I went to the Sichuan Opera. It was very cool and just across the street. It had tons of musical instruments, dancing, acrobatics, stick puppets, shadow puppets, changing faces (where their masks continually change with out the flick of a hand) and spitting fire.
The shadow puppets were my favorite. The guy could do amazing things with his hands and body. The best shadow puppets I have ever seen. Bets the overhead at school. Check out the couple of pictures I took of it.
Oh god, I almost forgot. At the opera they offer the service of having your ears cleaned. There was a guy just over from me having it done. I sat in the front row so he had the whole audience checking the cleaning out. The views of the show were excellent from the front row and during the performance they serve tea and have shelled peanuts on a small table in front of you. The tea pots have spouts that are four feet long. So all of a sudden coming from behind over your shoulder your tea cup gets filled up.
Check out the following links for pictures and videos.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/PandaBearsChengdu
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8000592313441558265
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1209220284511815168
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1775414732159463967
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-897658998735200234
Friday 8 June 2007
Xian China - Pictures and 2 Videos
I am in Xian, which is in the center of China. It is home of the Terra Cotta Warriors. They were so cool. They are life size warriors made over 2000 years ago. It is thought they were created to protect the Emperor’s tomb. (Don’t quote me on that though.) Anyone I ask is not to sure why they were made. No one is left from 2000 years ago to ask. Farmers digging a well discovered them in 1974. There are horses, chariots and over 6000 life size warriors all made from clay. There are also chariots made from bronze. They believe more are still to be discovered. It was really interesting and to think of the time and money spent 2000 years ago to make these objects. It fascinates me the money these kings and emperors spent on there empires, temples, forbidden cities, walls etc.
In China there are many different “tribes” of people, for lack of a better word. They have very distinct facial characteristics. In Xian there is a large Chinese/Muslim community. I visited their mosque yesterday. It has a beautiful courtyard. I was surprised we did not have to cover our heads, but then we did not actually go into the prayer house, so maybe that is why. The Muslim quarter in Xian is lovely to walk through. It has many venders selling souvenirs, clothing and food. It is a nice old Islamic/Chinese neighborhood.
It was mighty hot yesterday with temperatures above 38 degrees. Today I set out and was presently surprised when the temperature was in the mid twenties.
I went to the city wall today. It is a wall that goes 14km’s around the city in a rectangular pattern. The wall is 12m high and 12 – 18m wide. I did not realize when you go to walk or ride (a bicycle) around the wall you actually do it on top of the wall. It was very peaceful to check out the city from 12m above the ground riding the bicycle I rented. You rent the bike for 100 minutes at a cost of $3.50 and are told to watch the time. I made it around the wall in 80 minutes.
I went to “The Big Wild Goose Pagoda” last night. That is really its name and I have no idea why. It was a tall building that looked like a tower. Anyway at this place there were thousands of locals enjoying the scenery, weather and a little dance. It looks like they are line dancing, but they are doing traditional Chinese dances in the park. Then at the other end of the Pagoda there are many fountains and thousands of people around them watching them rise and fall to music blaring in the background. It was really nice all lit up in the evening. I may visit it again tonight. It reminded me of the Peterborough Festival of Lights, when people watch the boats with Christmas lights on their masts drive around to the music. This was Xian’s version, fountains going up and down to music.
Speaking of lights, man this town does not conserve energy. It is lit up more then Time Square. They even have rope lighting on the guardrails of the highway. I was reminded of the tower at the Galaxy Theater in Peterborough with its lights that go up and down. Now picture a city with skyscrapers in the distance all doing this. It is interesting to travel around here in the evening.
Xian is lovely. Moving on tomorrow evening to Chengdu and Wolong, which are literally in the middle of China. I will volunteer there at a Panda Research Center.
I forgot to tell you about the picture of the pool I have included. Kirsty’s building has a small weigh room and pool. It is a lovely community but they were not having people come look at it. People when looking for housing wanted 2 or 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms a pool and a gym. This place did not have the pool and gym so they created each. This brings the people in and then they never use either. I included a picture of the pool for you as it is a funny narrow looking thing.
Click on the following links for pictures and videos. Sorry I had trouble with the vertical pictures again. You will have to tilt your head.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/InterestingPool
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=917238949394158275
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7234336642554213816
In China there are many different “tribes” of people, for lack of a better word. They have very distinct facial characteristics. In Xian there is a large Chinese/Muslim community. I visited their mosque yesterday. It has a beautiful courtyard. I was surprised we did not have to cover our heads, but then we did not actually go into the prayer house, so maybe that is why. The Muslim quarter in Xian is lovely to walk through. It has many venders selling souvenirs, clothing and food. It is a nice old Islamic/Chinese neighborhood.
It was mighty hot yesterday with temperatures above 38 degrees. Today I set out and was presently surprised when the temperature was in the mid twenties.
I went to the city wall today. It is a wall that goes 14km’s around the city in a rectangular pattern. The wall is 12m high and 12 – 18m wide. I did not realize when you go to walk or ride (a bicycle) around the wall you actually do it on top of the wall. It was very peaceful to check out the city from 12m above the ground riding the bicycle I rented. You rent the bike for 100 minutes at a cost of $3.50 and are told to watch the time. I made it around the wall in 80 minutes.
I went to “The Big Wild Goose Pagoda” last night. That is really its name and I have no idea why. It was a tall building that looked like a tower. Anyway at this place there were thousands of locals enjoying the scenery, weather and a little dance. It looks like they are line dancing, but they are doing traditional Chinese dances in the park. Then at the other end of the Pagoda there are many fountains and thousands of people around them watching them rise and fall to music blaring in the background. It was really nice all lit up in the evening. I may visit it again tonight. It reminded me of the Peterborough Festival of Lights, when people watch the boats with Christmas lights on their masts drive around to the music. This was Xian’s version, fountains going up and down to music.
Speaking of lights, man this town does not conserve energy. It is lit up more then Time Square. They even have rope lighting on the guardrails of the highway. I was reminded of the tower at the Galaxy Theater in Peterborough with its lights that go up and down. Now picture a city with skyscrapers in the distance all doing this. It is interesting to travel around here in the evening.
Xian is lovely. Moving on tomorrow evening to Chengdu and Wolong, which are literally in the middle of China. I will volunteer there at a Panda Research Center.
I forgot to tell you about the picture of the pool I have included. Kirsty’s building has a small weigh room and pool. It is a lovely community but they were not having people come look at it. People when looking for housing wanted 2 or 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms a pool and a gym. This place did not have the pool and gym so they created each. This brings the people in and then they never use either. I included a picture of the pool for you as it is a funny narrow looking thing.
Click on the following links for pictures and videos. Sorry I had trouble with the vertical pictures again. You will have to tilt your head.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/InterestingPool
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=917238949394158275
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7234336642554213816
Monday 4 June 2007
Party Pictures
We went to a birthday party in the neighborhood. I have included pictures of it to show you the nice courtyard and area they live in. The food was great. It was catered by an embassy chef.
I went to ch***h on Sunday. Ask me about this experience when I get home. It was interesting but being this country it is not allowed.
They check emails and any internet action. We think my blog was shut down for a bit while they were checking out what I wrote, as I mentioned key places in the city in my photos and blog. They are over paranoid when it comes to internet action.
Yesterday Yuan Yuan and I went to Happy Valley an amusement park. She took the day off and we enjoyed the rides. It is scary how similar it is to Canada’s Wonderland. They have the drop zone, the vortex and a ride through a mountain. Their ride through the mountain is better as it was upside down. Wonderland has more rollercoaster’s, but they still have lots. We had a great day and the sun was shining.
A few pictures of the neighborhood and birthday party are at the following link.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/KirstysArea
I went to ch***h on Sunday. Ask me about this experience when I get home. It was interesting but being this country it is not allowed.
They check emails and any internet action. We think my blog was shut down for a bit while they were checking out what I wrote, as I mentioned key places in the city in my photos and blog. They are over paranoid when it comes to internet action.
Yesterday Yuan Yuan and I went to Happy Valley an amusement park. She took the day off and we enjoyed the rides. It is scary how similar it is to Canada’s Wonderland. They have the drop zone, the vortex and a ride through a mountain. Their ride through the mountain is better as it was upside down. Wonderland has more rollercoaster’s, but they still have lots. We had a great day and the sun was shining.
A few pictures of the neighborhood and birthday party are at the following link.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/KirstysArea
Saturday 2 June 2007
Summer Palace Beijing, Pictures
Click on the following link for pictures
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/SummerPalaceBeijing
Hello again
I went to Kirsty and Yuan Yuan’s school the other day. I manned the bouncy castle. A teacher won the castle for a day and gave it to the school for a fundraiser. Kids could buy a max of three tickets for 15 minutes each ticket of bouncing in the castle. All the money went to an orphanage they help out. The kids had a great time and me too.
The school is an international school and it very nice. The grade sixes had an exhibition of their projects they spent the last month working on. They were very sophisticated projects. It was an action based inquiry research project. The work produced was impressive. We went out for traditional Chinese food after school.
I went again to school with Yuan Yuan in the morning again the next day. A taxi comes to pick her up each day. There was a book and cookie sale that morning. They again raised money for the orphanage. From there I walked to the Olympic Center. It is still under construction but was cool to check out. I watched the women’s softball team practice. The school is really close to the site. There is a building that they call the Bird’s Nest, I am sure it will be all over the news when the Olympics are on. It has metal pieces around the structure to make it look like a birds nest.
I went to the Traditional Chinese Museum. It has many different houses and old buildings of 56 tribes represented. I got some neat photos with old versus new, as there are a lot of high rises in the background or cranes and construction. From there I went to the Summer Palace. The Empress built this as an oasis. It is over 30 square km’s and I walked around it for 5 hours and did not see it all. There are many cool buildings and it is nice to walk down the paths lined on both sides with willow trees. It is a nice place to just relax and people watch. The locals go to fly kites and chill out too.
Yuan Yuan and I went to The Legend of Kungfu show last night it was spectacular. The acrobatics, kungfu, ballet and marshal arts were amazing. It was about a boy becoming a monk and his struggles. They were swinging from cloths hanging from the ceiling and jumping, rolling, bouncing and kart wheeling all over the place. It was so cool to watch. It was a professional show and the set was really well done too. So cool, highly recommend going to it.
Today I went to a market that had your traditional souvenirs but it also had lots of antiques. During the war and revolution the people buried their possessions and they are just now being dug up. So eyeglasses, pots, bowls, jewelry etc are being dug up.
I got an old wood carved window today. They have really neat wood windows everywhere with lots of carving and detail. Kirsty has four on the walls of her house for decoration and they are also around the city still in use. Kirsty has offered to bring it Ottawa for me as she is going in a couple of weeks. Then I will have to work something out to get it to Peterborough.
There is a party in the complex tonight and it is catered by the chef of the French Embassy. You can rent him for parties for $50. He is using Kirsty’s kitchen right now as it is a surprise party so he is working/hiding out at her place. Roast beef and chocolate cake what more can you ask for?
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/SummerPalaceBeijing
Hello again
I went to Kirsty and Yuan Yuan’s school the other day. I manned the bouncy castle. A teacher won the castle for a day and gave it to the school for a fundraiser. Kids could buy a max of three tickets for 15 minutes each ticket of bouncing in the castle. All the money went to an orphanage they help out. The kids had a great time and me too.
The school is an international school and it very nice. The grade sixes had an exhibition of their projects they spent the last month working on. They were very sophisticated projects. It was an action based inquiry research project. The work produced was impressive. We went out for traditional Chinese food after school.
I went again to school with Yuan Yuan in the morning again the next day. A taxi comes to pick her up each day. There was a book and cookie sale that morning. They again raised money for the orphanage. From there I walked to the Olympic Center. It is still under construction but was cool to check out. I watched the women’s softball team practice. The school is really close to the site. There is a building that they call the Bird’s Nest, I am sure it will be all over the news when the Olympics are on. It has metal pieces around the structure to make it look like a birds nest.
I went to the Traditional Chinese Museum. It has many different houses and old buildings of 56 tribes represented. I got some neat photos with old versus new, as there are a lot of high rises in the background or cranes and construction. From there I went to the Summer Palace. The Empress built this as an oasis. It is over 30 square km’s and I walked around it for 5 hours and did not see it all. There are many cool buildings and it is nice to walk down the paths lined on both sides with willow trees. It is a nice place to just relax and people watch. The locals go to fly kites and chill out too.
Yuan Yuan and I went to The Legend of Kungfu show last night it was spectacular. The acrobatics, kungfu, ballet and marshal arts were amazing. It was about a boy becoming a monk and his struggles. They were swinging from cloths hanging from the ceiling and jumping, rolling, bouncing and kart wheeling all over the place. It was so cool to watch. It was a professional show and the set was really well done too. So cool, highly recommend going to it.
Today I went to a market that had your traditional souvenirs but it also had lots of antiques. During the war and revolution the people buried their possessions and they are just now being dug up. So eyeglasses, pots, bowls, jewelry etc are being dug up.
I got an old wood carved window today. They have really neat wood windows everywhere with lots of carving and detail. Kirsty has four on the walls of her house for decoration and they are also around the city still in use. Kirsty has offered to bring it Ottawa for me as she is going in a couple of weeks. Then I will have to work something out to get it to Peterborough.
There is a party in the complex tonight and it is catered by the chef of the French Embassy. You can rent him for parties for $50. He is using Kirsty’s kitchen right now as it is a surprise party so he is working/hiding out at her place. Roast beef and chocolate cake what more can you ask for?
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