The worst santa ever?

It's getting harder and harder to explain the "fake" santas to my kid. Especially when they look like this:

Well, it's China. You work with what you got, right?
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Chiang Mai, Thailand (Part 1)

As I mentioned in my Cambodia post, Sev and I really wanted an adventure vacation where we could do some things that we wouldn't be able to with the kids. Having never been to Thailand, I knew for sure I wanted to go there on our kid free trip but I figured since we could always take the kids to the Thai beaches, we should try the mountain city of Chiang Mai. On the agenda: visting some of the many temples in the city, zip lining through the rainforest canopy, traditional thai massage, and lots of thai food! Oh yeah, and a visit to an elephant farm which was so amazing, I am going to cover it in a separate post.

First off, we chose a small botique hotel called Rachamanka. It was decorated in the traditional Lanna style and the owner has filled the hallways and rooms with beautiful antique furniture. Plus, no kids under 12 allowed which was another reason we liked it! It was like an oasis in the middle of a busy city- I think I'd go back to Chiang Mai just to stay in this hotel! Plus the staff was amazing, and it seems that service and hospitality are something they pride themselves on in Thailand. On our first day in Chiang Mai we found out we had arrived just in time for one of their huge celebrations - the festival of lights. In the evenings, all of the temples and plazas were decorated with beautiful lanterns and we got to see a parade with all of the locals in their traditional costumes- so cool!

On day one, we spent our time wondering around the town and visiting many of it's famous temples. Along with the temples come the monks- they are everywhere! I don't know why but I got such a kick out of seeing them walking down the street (usually barefoot), in taxis, and on their cell phones- yep, cell phones! It seemed like a monk convention and we saw many young boys in training- wonder how one decides to become a Buddhist monk at the age of 10..hmm..

The next day we went zip lining in the rain forest. For those of you who don't know what that is- zip lining is a "sport" where you are strapped into a harness and you are connected by a pulley to cables which are strung (in this case) between trees. It's super fun and terrifying at the same time. I am apparently developing a fear of heights the older I get so I don't think I'd do it again but it was a great experience with amazing views of the forest.

All too soon, our time in Thailand came to an end but we both loved it and cannot wait to go back next year- I can definitely see why people get addicted to this country and go back year after year- it's been one of our favorite countries in South East Asia so far!


Outside of a temple.


Teenage monk on his cell phone- kids are kids no matter what!



The monk mobile- a public taxi rushing the monks to the temple.


Sev and I repelling down during our zip line adventure.


Me- finally brave enough to let go but I wasn't too happy about it...


Sev repelling down to a lower platform



Monks lighting up a temple during the light festival



Something for the ladies- Thai men in the traditional parade.



Our hotel courtyard- miss it already!



A gold gilded temple



A close up of the ancient elephant statues on top of the ruined temple


The ruined temple- at least 1000 years old but exact date unknown...

Lanterns which were hung all around the town

Gilded dragon at a temple

Cambodia

One place I never thought I'd ever visit is the Kingdom of Cambodia. It was never even on my radar screen until we moved to China and I began to hear other expats talking about what an amazing place it was. Fortunately for us, my parents have a wanderlust and were planning a 22 day tour of southeast Asia which gave me the perfect opportunity to convince them spend a week in Shanghai and watch the kids so that Sev and I could get away on our own (first time in 3 years)! When deciding where to go, we wanted to hit some places that we otherwise couldn't visit with the kids in tow. We decided on Chiang Mai, Thailand and Cambodia (Chiang Mai is covered in a separate blog post). And so began our adventure in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The town is really nothing special- except for the several ancient temples which lie nearby. The temples were built over 1000 years ago and all now listed as world heritage sights. As with other ancient temples (egyptian pyramids, Manchu picchu), Cambodia's temples were built with no mortar or cement and were only held together by the perfect fit of each stone. The most famous temple complex is Angkor Wat, which is where we started our journey. Most of the temples were built either to honor a specific buddhist or hindu god, or as a final resting place for the king.

As we explored the various temples, I felt totally overwhelmed by their size, beauty, and the ingenuity it took to build them so long ago. Honestly, I would rank them right up their with the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City in Beijing. The funny thing is that when we told our friends back in the US that we were going to see Angkor Wat, not one person had ever heard of it. Crazy! By the way, the below pictures do not even come close to doing this place justice!

One of the many temples- look closely to see the giant faces carved into the stones.

A close up of one of the gods.

The citadel of women- built out of pink sandstone to honor a goddess.

One of the small temples in the Angkor Wat complex

Many of the temple walls were carved with these Apsara dancers or other stories about life during the time the temples were built (Sev liked this carving for obvious reasons).

A sign in front of one of the temples we visited- just 2 years ago we would not have been able to go there due to the land mines.

On day two in Cambodia, we took a boat tour of the flooded forest, Tongle Lake. This lake grows 20 times in size during the rainy season, flooding everything around it, yet providing a livelihood to the many local fisherman. It was on this trip that we really got to see how truly impoverished Cambodia is. Again, google Pol Pot if you want to understand why- he was a REALLY bad guy who totally screwed up the country and they are just now starting to get straightened out. I knew going into this trip that we were going to see some tough things- there are a lot of land mine victims from the civil wars (including young people), young children running around naked, and many kids from about age 7 were actually working- either tending to the family's cattle or trying to sell things to the tourists. It was really hard to see but everyone we met was very gracious and always thanking us for choosing to visit their country. Overall, it was an amazing trip and we would definitely recommend Cambodia to anyone with a sense of adventure!

A young boy tending the family cows.

Public transportation for anyone who is not a tourist- yikes.

3 children in a boat- alone- in the fishing village (and yes, the little kid in the back is naked).

Typical fishing huts on the lake.

Two small boys with huge knives- I swear they weren't much older than our kids! And there was not a parent in sight...

These kids had knives too which they apparently used to cut down firewood. Can you imagine American kids going out alone into the jungle to gather firewood?

Vietnam

I recently had the chance to meet up with a friend from the US in Ha Noi, Vietnam for a few days. Since Sev always gets to travel on business trips, I figured it was my turn to get a way for a change! I arrived in Vietnam the day before a huge typhoon hit so needless to say, the weather was not good. I was on my own for the first day so I got a guide and drove a couple hours out of the city to visit on old temple. The temple itself was not that interesting but the ride sure was! Rice paddies and water buffalo were the order of the day. I was really surprised by the amount of propoganda signs that I saw everywhere. They mostly consisted of pictures of Ho Chi Minh (the great communist leader of Vietnam from WW2 until 1969) and had slogans reminding people to live their lives the way Ho Chi Minh would want. Weird- he's been dead for over 30 years! His body is on display in Ha Noi but my friend and I opted to skip the viewing.
A buddist cemetery in the countryside



Snake and scorpion wine for sale


Very communist looking building which is Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum

In the afternoon, my guide took me to the prison where John MacCain was held during the Vietnam war. Again, serious propaganda here- all the photos on the wall showed the American POW's laughing, playing badminton, enjoying cultural films about Vietnam...where in reality, several POW's barely survived the "HaNoi Hilton".

Day 2, I met up with my friend and we wandered around the old city. I have never seen so many motorbikes in my whole life. And I thought crossing the street in Shanghai was bad but this place was 10 times worse! The shopping in the city was OK- lots of silks and embroidered cottons. The food however, was outstanding. Lots of french influences blended with asian ingredients. Our favorite restaurant was KOTO which takes in street kids and teaches them to be chefs, servers, etc. It was fantastic and cheap- with proceeds going to a good cause.


Getting ripped off on a traditional rickshaw ride! Oh well, had to be done!



Fruit seller on the street- I couldn't believe people actually wore these hats in daily life.

Day 3 entailed a 3 hour drive to Halong Bay- a beautiful bay surrounded by limestone cliffs. It was lovely and reminded me of my previous weekend trip in Guilin, China (see earlier post). We were "lucky" enough to end with a eurotrash couple from Russia who started hitting the rum and cokes the minute they got on the boat. She stripped down to a g-string thong bikini and a banana hammock for him, which is when I started referring to them as "the entertainment". But back to the scenery- it was very peaceful but overall I kind of felt like I was in a tourist trap. However it was interesting to see the local fishing villages where people actually live out on the water for several months a year.



"The entertainment" and her infamous thong which we unfortunately, saw plenty of during the cruise!




Traditional fishing village- yes, people actually live in these little huts


Another view of a fishing village


Our resort on Cat Bah island in Halong Bay- not bad, not bad at all!


The beach in front of our hotel - but the water was actually pretty dirty :(

Overall, it was a nice trip but out of all the places I've been in southeast asia, I'd say Vietnam was my least favorite; but I would definitely be willing to try it again- I've heard their beach towns are great...


G pissed off because I made her model the hat I bought her- can you picture this look permanently on her face at the age of 16?

Hong Kong side trip

I recently met up with a friend in Vietnam but because I am cheap, I chose a connecting flight with an 8 hour layover in Hong Kong. For half the price, I figured that I could find something fun to do in Hong Kong for a day! And since the three other times I had been to HK had all been to visit Disneyland, I thought I owed it to myself to explore the city this time. I took the high speed train into the heart of the city where I hopped onto the Star ferry. For a cost of about 30 cents, I got a beautiful view of the harbor on one of the historic ferries. After a few hours of shopping, I met up with some friends who live in HK and they took me to a famous dim sum restaurant. Now, don't get me wrong, I like Chinese food but in general, I wouldn't say that I loved it- until I ate real dim sum! Dim sum basically means little snacks and this place we went to serves it the old fashioned way. People push a cart throughout the restaurant and you can choose what you like as it comes by. Yes, they had some yucky stuff on offer: shark fin soup (which I morally oppose), chicken feet, and the like but on the whole it was delicious, awesome food. My favorites are the BBQ pork buns (fluffy white bun with sweet bbq pork in the middle), sesame seed stuffed buns, and shrimp dumplings. It's been a week and I can't stop thinking about this place- can't wait to go back next time I am in HK!

The dim sum place- it was massively huge and PACKED (this shot was taken at 2pm).

The cart- full of delicious stuff

BBQ buns, sesame buns, and a veggie dumpling (oops, already ate a few before snapping the pic)

View of Hong Kong from the Star Ferry.

Ok, I may be sick but I found this ad extremely funny. Sorry about the glare but if you can read it, it says "live demonstrations in store". A picture of a granny holding a vibrator and touting live demos? Ewww....

Moganshan

I know it's been a LONG time since I've posted but at least I have a good excuse. The Chinese government has blocked blogger.com, as well as facebook, twitter, and youtube to name a few. So, it makes it extremely difficult and time consuming for me to update my blog. For now, we seem to have found a way around it so I'll try to do as many updates in the next few days as I can.
We recently celebrated a week long holiday here in China, collectively known as "golden week" or October holiday. It's China national day (kind of like our 4th of July) and moon festival all rolled up into one long party week. Since the government is still making stupid rules about H1N1, they decreed that any child leaving the country for this holiday had to stay out of school for an additional 7 days to prevent the spread of swine flu. And yet, it seemed to be OK if you stayed in China and exposed your kid to the massive crowds of people here in town- whatever. We decided to stay in the area and take a roadtrip to a mountain town about 3 hours west of Shanghai. My general rule of thumb is not to go anywhere near Chinese tourist areas during national holidays (see very early post about the crowds in Hangzhou, 2007) but the town of Moganshan is not well known even to the domestic tourists. It is, however, growing in fame and popularity with the expats in Shanghai since the book "China Cuckoo" was published. In a nutshell, a British guy came to China in the late 90s and started up one of the first english language magazines in town. After a very successful run, the government came in and took it all away from him without offering him a penny. So, instead of leaving China, he moved himself and family to the small village of Moganshan- known for it's bamboo forests and clean air- but especially known for the beautiful old villas that were built there in the early 1900's by Shanghai's wealthy expats and locals looking for a summer getaway to escape the heat. During World War 2, the villas were abandoned and fell into disrepair. Anyway, this British guy moved to Moganshan, opened up a little coffee shop and wrote a book about his experiences.

We thought this would be a great vacation for the kids, lots of places to explore and run around, but it turns out our kids don't really like to hike so we ended up carrying them around in our backpacks most of the time. Overall, it was still fun although the town was very "local". Meaning, they don't have too many restaurants with english menus (two chinese places and one western by our count) and other than The Lodge (the coffee shop started by the British guy that left Shanghai), nobody speaks any english. Oh well- that's part of the adventure. One night, the Chinese family dining next to us ordered snake. That's not that unusual in Chinese restaurants but I've never actually seen them kill the snake before- until now. The owner of the restaurant brought out a big snake, proceeded to use a pair of garden shears to cut it's head off and drain the blood on the stairs next to the restaurant, and throw it's wriggling, headless body into a pail where they dumped boiling water over it. In front of our kids. Nice. See video at the end of the blog for proof of this episode. I was sure it wasn't a poisonous snake but that was a wrong assumption as it turned out to be one of the most deadly snakes in China- the 5 step. If it bites you, you can take 5 steps before you fall down dead. And yet, after two years in China, we just laugh about it and take it all in as part of the experience of living here. Now, who's up for a visit??


The old Assembly Hall- this is where the expats held their gatherings and Christmas pageants in the 1920's. Now it sits vacant and decaying in the forest.


House 23- a restored villa, now a bed and breakfast (also owned by the guy who wrote the China Cuckoo book).



A local woman laments to us about how tough life is in Moganshan. "Yes, the air is good, but life is hard here" she said. No kidding- she's carrying water back to her home since her house has no plumbing.

A quintessential scene- Audrey having a fit, a Chinese man and his child staring at the white kid which they have probably never been this close to before, the owner of the restaurant smoking a cigarette which is about to ash on me while he explains the menu.

On one of our hikes in the bamboo forest, we came upon several workers cutting bamboo to make brooms.

One of the bamboo cutters smiling at the foreigners.

Our hike to the tea plantation and our steaming glasses of fresh green tea- it was delicious!

The view from the tea plantation.

A typical mountain view.

G & A admiring a myna bird. By the way, this was taken at a restaurant and the kids were pretty much standing in the kitchen (there was a dead chicken waiting to be plucked just off to the side of the picture).

The Lodge- the western coffee shop/restaurant where all the foreigners hang out. Owned by the British guy mentioned earlier.

Pretty little bridge in the bamboo forest

Video of headless snake - not for the faint of heart!