This starts this coming Friday and will occur for 2 weeks:
Shanghai -> Hong Kong (layover) -> Singapore -> Phnom Penh, Cambodia -> Siem Reap, Cambodia -> Phnom Penh, Cambodia -> Bangkok, Thailand -> Phuket, Thailand -> Bangkok, Thailand -> Hong Kong -> Shanghai
Granted, the whole Bangkok and Phuket thing is because we need to do a roundtrip between airports to arrive in Phuket, it’s still a lot of traveling.
Insane? Maybe just a little!
!
Friday, January 9, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
Visiting Tiff in Suzhou!
First, Happy New Year 2009!
Second, this occurred the weekend of Dec. 26-28, 2008
I took the train from Shanghai to Suzhou this past weekend for a weekend visit with Tiff! Tiff, her sister Jennifer and her dad were out and about visiting China for winter break, and it really was the perfect opportunity for us to meet up for a weekend in Suzhou.
Tiff, her dad, and family friend, George, met me at the Suzhou train station Friday night and we took the taxi to Tiff’s place, which is literally right across the street from Suzhou’s Science, Technology, Cultural and Art Center (苏州科技文化艺术中心), which looks like a miniature version of Beijing’s Bird’s Nest. Tiff’s place is so new, the water pipes and heating systems were not exactly working to their best, but we made it work. Yay for innovative thinking? Putting hot tap water into empty water bottles and sleeping with them close to the body? Layering up in PJs and jackets?
The first full day there was spent helping the family tidy up and settle in. Me, Tiff and Jennifer took the bus to AuChan, a sort of local superstore that has everything. We bought some stuff, went home, and then we all went out to dinner with George. Came back home, settled back in and Tiff and I talked and caught up with each other until we fell asleep.
Tiff asked me, “What do you miss the most from America?”
Me, “People.”
I didn’t even know that was how I would answer. It just came out of my mouth without much thought. I had thought about it before in the past and thought that I missed things like certain foods or certain conveniences. I’m not homesick, but it still is a long, physical separation from home.
It was raining the next day so we couldn’t go climb Tiger Hill. Instead, George took us (and his 4 year old daugher, Jasmine) to visit Liu Yuan 留园/園 (Lingering Gardens) - one of China’s 4 most famous classical gardens. It was a nice day (despite the on and off rain) to visit because there was little crowd. It is a beautiful and nice garden, however as Tiff says, “It’s a garden ... like all the other gardens.” I guess they had already visited a lot of gardens earlier in the trip. haha. We would take short breaks to eat snacks (“snakes“) when the rain would start coming down stronger. Our snacks were various types of pocky that had been purchased the night before, courtesy of me, Tiff and Jennifer: red wine, tiramisu, chocolate, mango, blueberry. After Lingering Gardens, we made the trek over to a neighboring Buddhist (?) temple. I don’t remember the name of the place, but we were there for only a short period of time. Then it was back to George’s home where we ate a home cooked meal and toasted each other with wine.
Jasmine is super cute. She was shy around us but wanted to play with us as well. Eventually she warmed up to us. The unofficial goal of the day was to teach her some English words.
Me: Jasmine, say ”hello“ 說一聲 “hello”
Jasmine: Why? 為什麼？
Me: Because it’s a lot of fun! 因為很好玩！
Eventually, was able to ”bribe“ her with a pocky.
Me: Here’s a pocky. Say ”thank you“ 要吃一個嗎？ 說一聲 “thank you” 吧。
Jasmine: (in the quietest whisper ever) ... sank yoo
Later that night, we also tried to make her calm down, so that we could watch some (English) TV.
Me: Let’s play a game. The winner is the person who can keep their eyes closed the longest.
1...2...3...Jasmine closes her eyes, I keep mine open
Jasmine opens her eyes after a few seconds
Me: Oh no! You lost! You opened your eyes before me.
Jasmine: You didn’t close your eyes.
Me: Yes I did. I opened it right after you and saw that your eyes were already open.
Jasmine: This game isn’t really fun.
Me: Yes it is! All the big kids play this game. It’s so cool. Don’t you want to be a cool big kid?
Jasmine: *nods*
I came back to Shanghai Sunday night. Back to reality and back to work. It was nice to get away for a weekend, and even nicer that I was able to see someone from back home. Tiff and I basically picked up where we left off 6 months ago and it all felt so familiar. It totally made me miss all that I had left behind when I came to China. 6+ months already ... can you believe it?? More of you guys should visit China so that I can see your beautiful faces again.
Second, this occurred the weekend of Dec. 26-28, 2008
I took the train from Shanghai to Suzhou this past weekend for a weekend visit with Tiff! Tiff, her sister Jennifer and her dad were out and about visiting China for winter break, and it really was the perfect opportunity for us to meet up for a weekend in Suzhou.
Tiff, her dad, and family friend, George, met me at the Suzhou train station Friday night and we took the taxi to Tiff’s place, which is literally right across the street from Suzhou’s Science, Technology, Cultural and Art Center (苏州科技文化艺术中心), which looks like a miniature version of Beijing’s Bird’s Nest. Tiff’s place is so new, the water pipes and heating systems were not exactly working to their best, but we made it work. Yay for innovative thinking? Putting hot tap water into empty water bottles and sleeping with them close to the body? Layering up in PJs and jackets?
The first full day there was spent helping the family tidy up and settle in. Me, Tiff and Jennifer took the bus to AuChan, a sort of local superstore that has everything. We bought some stuff, went home, and then we all went out to dinner with George. Came back home, settled back in and Tiff and I talked and caught up with each other until we fell asleep.
Tiff asked me, “What do you miss the most from America?”
Me, “People.”
I didn’t even know that was how I would answer. It just came out of my mouth without much thought. I had thought about it before in the past and thought that I missed things like certain foods or certain conveniences. I’m not homesick, but it still is a long, physical separation from home.
It was raining the next day so we couldn’t go climb Tiger Hill. Instead, George took us (and his 4 year old daugher, Jasmine) to visit Liu Yuan 留园/園 (Lingering Gardens) - one of China’s 4 most famous classical gardens. It was a nice day (despite the on and off rain) to visit because there was little crowd. It is a beautiful and nice garden, however as Tiff says, “It’s a garden ... like all the other gardens.” I guess they had already visited a lot of gardens earlier in the trip. haha. We would take short breaks to eat snacks (“snakes“) when the rain would start coming down stronger. Our snacks were various types of pocky that had been purchased the night before, courtesy of me, Tiff and Jennifer: red wine, tiramisu, chocolate, mango, blueberry. After Lingering Gardens, we made the trek over to a neighboring Buddhist (?) temple. I don’t remember the name of the place, but we were there for only a short period of time. Then it was back to George’s home where we ate a home cooked meal and toasted each other with wine.
Jasmine is super cute. She was shy around us but wanted to play with us as well. Eventually she warmed up to us. The unofficial goal of the day was to teach her some English words.
Me: Jasmine, say ”hello“ 說一聲 “hello”
Jasmine: Why? 為什麼？
Me: Because it’s a lot of fun! 因為很好玩！
Eventually, was able to ”bribe“ her with a pocky.
Me: Here’s a pocky. Say ”thank you“ 要吃一個嗎？ 說一聲 “thank you” 吧。
Jasmine: (in the quietest whisper ever) ... sank yoo
Later that night, we also tried to make her calm down, so that we could watch some (English) TV.
Me: Let’s play a game. The winner is the person who can keep their eyes closed the longest.
1...2...3...Jasmine closes her eyes, I keep mine open
Jasmine opens her eyes after a few seconds
Me: Oh no! You lost! You opened your eyes before me.
Jasmine: You didn’t close your eyes.
Me: Yes I did. I opened it right after you and saw that your eyes were already open.
Jasmine: This game isn’t really fun.
Me: Yes it is! All the big kids play this game. It’s so cool. Don’t you want to be a cool big kid?
Jasmine: *nods*
I came back to Shanghai Sunday night. Back to reality and back to work. It was nice to get away for a weekend, and even nicer that I was able to see someone from back home. Tiff and I basically picked up where we left off 6 months ago and it all felt so familiar. It totally made me miss all that I had left behind when I came to China. 6+ months already ... can you believe it?? More of you guys should visit China so that I can see your beautiful faces again.
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