Wo jiao Li Bai!

Yesterday, I recited a memorized poem from the famous drunk-ass poet Li Bai in front of the school for the Mandarin language competition.  The student council set it up for the foreign teachers who were interested in presenting their skills in the Mandarin language.  The name of the poem was called Zeng Wang Lun. I think I did pretty well.  Cathy and her coworkers told me to speak slowly.  My gestures should be somewhere between being deep in thought and utterly tanked.

The competition was intended for groups.  After my group bailed on me, I went in solo with only a day's notice.  The students were going crazy, especially after the first group.  I realized the kids don't see us Canadian expats speak their language at all.  Actually, they probably don't see many foreigners speak putonghua in general, which is a shame because we are in their country. I also realized learning foreign languages is usually a one way street.  People learn English, and English speakers don't usually learn other languages.  When they do, it's a bloody miracle.  Must have been a novelty for the kids to see us foreigners speak Mandarin.

Anyways, I thought I did fairly well.  It definitely made me want to learn more Mandarin, that's for sure! The kids went berserk when I started talking. I even scored second place behind a group of colleagues who speak fluent Mandarin.

Here's the pinyin and rough translation for the poem:

Li Bai cheng zhou jiang yu xing
(Li Bai was about to disembark on a boat across a big pond)
Hu wen an shang ta ge sheng
(When he heard a ballad from the shore; it was his friend who came to see him off)
Tao hua tan shui shen qian chi
(The large pond is very very deep) 
Bu ji wang lun song wo xing
(But the friendship between us (Wang Lun and Li Bai) is much deeper)

One more month...

One more month until all of us expats are on adventure again.  I have to say that this last semester went by so quickly.  The school year will be over before I know it!

Anyways, my plans are as follows.  I will be going to Cathy's hometown again, but this time I will stay until Spring Festival is over.  I might go deaf from all the super-loud firecrackers, but at least I will see Chinese New Year in China.

From there, I will solo Seoul, South Korea.  Cathy cannot come with me because the minimum monetary requirement going to South Korea for Chinese Mainlanders is so high.  I'll be meeting up with my friend Sue who I hung out with in Kelowna, Vancouver and New York City.

After South Korea, I'll hop back to Wuhan to get Cathy and drop off a full box of South Korean goods.  We'll get our asses to Hong Kong then onto Bangkok.  We plan to visit that city, Chiang Mai, and Phuket.

One thing I plan to do in Thailand is to take a Muay Thai lesson.  From what I've experienced with my old hapkido instructor, I'm sure I can handle myself.  If I can't find one or don't have time, an elephant ride followed up with some Thai curry would be a nice alternative.

Fattening up for winter

Cathy and I have made a hobby to cook awesome food and eat out at great restaurants around Wuchang.  I call it "fattening up for winter," but realistically, I suppose it has to do with my reaction to the cafeteria food getting worse and worse.

Ever since coming back from Sanya, Cathy and I have hosted a number of dinner parties and ate at pretty awesome restaurants.  So far, some highlights we've cooked are chicken pesto pasta, brownies, Chinese chestnut chicken, and a local favorite, Central Chinese hot pot.  I also have a routine of making crepes on Saturday morning.  I've managed to find unsalted pralines. Last week, I made pecan maple syrup crepes. Delicieux! Hao chi!

Some restaurant highlights include various hot pots, Italian, Thai, local spicy fish stew, countryside food, a revolving continental buffet restaurant (which Cathy and I ate at for our 1 year celebration of being together), and American Thanksgiving.

We plan to cook increasingly complex recipes each time we cook.  But before doing that, I should probably try to master my own fusion dish, Mr. P`s Scotch Whisky Flambe Stir Fry.

Eating at the revolving restaurant. Imagine the restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel in Vancity, but make it cheaper and with more choices. Crazy delicious!

One of many Cathy`s turns at cooking dinner. Notice the Baron Phillipe de Rothschild Mouton Cadet Bordeaux on the right. Oddly enough, Wuhan is blessed with fine selections of wines.  Maybe it has to do with the fact Wuhan is Bordeaux`s sister city...

Meiguo de Gan En Jie (American Thanksgiving) gen wo de tongshi zai Hanyang de Aloha Restaurant.  Turkey, mash, and all the fixings.  I had 3 entree rounds, 1 eggnog steamer, 2 coffees, a slice of pumpkin pie, and some apple cider.  And Cathy came along for her first Thanksgiving!  It was American, but what the heck, eh?

Yanoda!

Cathy and I were joined by my friend Stephanie and her colleague Suki on our trip to Yanoda, an "amusement park" of sorts.  It was was more like a segment of rain forest that was undergoing a tourist facelift.  If we just walked around, it wouldn't be all that interesting.  But we weren't there for a "normal" tour. We went to Yanoda for waterfall climbing!

There were some obstacles set up on the way to the biggest waterfall (picture above). Some included crawling through whitewater underneath a net, rope-swinging across deep water, and a submerged tire bridge with nowhere to grab.  Cathy didn't really dress for the occasion, and unfortunately her long skirt got all dirty.  Protection included a bicycle helmet.  That's about it. No harness going up slippery rocks and waterfalls. 

Only Suki, Stephanie and I went up the 2nd last waterfall.  I went up the last one, which had fairly powerful water. It was fun, but the safety issue made me hesitate for a few seconds.

After Yanoda, Cathy and I went to the Dolphin Bar again for dinner.  Last American eats for a while...well...at least until this Friday.  I'm going to be eating with some colleagues at a Hawaiian American restaurant called Aloha for American Thanksgiving in Hanyang here in Wuhan.

In conclusion, Sanya was a relaxing, adventurous and romantic trip.  I loved traveling with Cathy for the first time ever, and look forward to doing it again soon.  If you are looking for a cheap and way to get away from the polluted din of Chinese cities, Sanya is a choice vacation spot.

Sunny Sanya!

Cathy (extremely worried): "Aaa!! Slow down!" Paul (maniacal laughter): "Hahaha! Wei shenme!?"

Our ATV. It was tons of fun!

After quadding across the open expanse of Sanya Beach, we took pictures and went into the water.

In the evening, we decided to go back to the First Market.  The ingredients were good, but unfortunately we didn't pick as good of a restaurant to cook our food.

The next day, we went on a Chinese bus tour to a secluded beach past Yalong Bay.  It was well worth it.  The water was less turbid than the other beaches, and the weather was perfect.  A local family of beach bums ran the place.  They cooked us a barbecue lunch.

At the secluded beach, there were many activities - scuba diving, swimming, paddling, and jet skiing.  The banana boat dragged around by a jet ski was pretty awesome, but only if you let go when it flips over.  Alas, Cathy did not let go and got dragged through the water for about 30 meters. She emerged with bruises on her face and sore muscles all over.

Sanya!

During our first full day in Sanya, Cathy and I took the bus to one of the the 3 major beaches in Sanya.  We went to Dadonghai Bay, the beach that was closest to the downtown area.

For reasons that elude me, there are a lot of Russian tourists in Sanya.Cathy and I stopped at a Russian restaurant that looked out over Dadonghai Bay.  I had borscht and dark beer.

Our first hotel, Sanya Jia Cuo.  It overlooked the water in an isolated area of town.

The next day, we went to another beach called Yalong Bay.  It was lined by posh hotels with clean washrooms.  Unfortunately, it rained a bit. We got our jeans soaking wet and ate at an outdoor barbecue joint instead of a hoity-toity hotel lobby restaurant.

After Yalong, Cathy and I ate and drank at the Dolphin Bar, as suggested from my friend Stephanie.  It was like a sports bar from back home! We even met up with a bunch of my colleagues from Wuhan!

Dolphin Bar's American food was EXCELLENT.

Vacation with Cathy!

Yeeeeaaaah!!! My first vacation with Cathy!  Where was I off to this time?

We opted to go to the "Hawaii of China" - the beautiful beach town of Sanya in the Southern island province of Hainan.  Having gone to Hawaii many times in my youth (thank you Mom and Dad), I knew to be suspicious of Sanya's slogan. It wasn't really like Hawaii at all, and the in general the weather was terrible, but it was fun...especially since I got to spend some quality time with Cathy!

We wanted to cut costs for our vaycay, so we headed to Haikou first.  The plane ride was cheaper and Cathy got to see her old friend "Zepf."

Cathy and her high school friend.  I had to give him an English name. It sounded to me like he wanted a "Z" in his name, so I named him "Zepf."

Zepf is an aspiring lawyer. He just graduated from school, so he showed us around his university on a golf cart.  We also went to a beach because it was a clear day.  Rumor had it that Hainan was hit by a massive typhoon, but there almost no signs of it (except for some trees that were knocked down and sandy beach water that is usually really blue and clear).

The fruit in Haikou was cheap and delicious.  We bought 2 mangoes and 2 papayas that were the size of footballs!

The food in Haikou was great.  Fruit was cheap and very juicy.  Zepf brought Cathy and I to eat xiao chi, which was pretty different from the xiao chi in Wuhan.  The dessert that Zepf got us reminded me a lot of Filipino halo halo.

We took the bus because of inconstant security and this thing.

We wanted to go on the bullet train to Sanya, but they didn't allow me to take my Swiss Army Knife.  Cathy and I were disappointed with this rule because the security were inconsistent.  They didn't allow knives (to cut fruit), but allowed smokers to take their lighters (to stink up the air in the train) even though the rules clearly state no smoking, lighters and flammables?  We called bull but they didn't listen, so we took the 4 hour bus instead.  We made the most of it.  And besides, some of the scenery from the road going towards Sanya from Haikou was gorgeous.

Getting into town late, the first thing we did was to get to our hotel.  It was right next to the water on a small secluded beach in a small fishing village away from the major tourist beaches.  It was a perfect location.  It also had a nice soft bed, which was a huge plus!  It was the best bed I've slept on in all of China!

The rain didn't stop us from getting something to eat.  For dinner, we went to the First Market - a local seafood market.  Only the most adventurous foreigners were seen there.  The place was dirty.  It was filled with fish guts, squid water and rotten vegetables stained across the ground.  But the choices of seafood were endless: all kinds of fish, squid, clams, lobsters, eel, oysters, sponges, sea horses...you name it, they got it for cheap.  With a bag of different kinds of seafood, Cathy and I looked for a restaurant nearby.

The deal of the First Market is this: get your ingredients from the vendors and then go to a restaurant that you like.  The cook would then cook you up a meal and charge you a labor fee. We found one that uses a liberal amount of ginger and fish sauce.  Holy cow, the food was so good, it was the best Chinese food I've had in China so far.  I'm so glad I had it with Cathy.  It definitely beat Wuhan's Wuhang Yu.  It put the Beijing Kaoya I had to shame.  It was even better than the wonton noodle soup and Cantonese BBQ pork I had in HK and xiaolongbao from Shanghai .  And...dare I say...Hainan seafood was even better than Sichuan hot pot in Chengdu!

Great first day in sunny Sanya.  Okay, okay...it was sunny for only 3 of the 6 days we were there, but whatever.  We had fun.  More stories from Sanya are to follow!

This...

...turned into this!

And this...

...turned into THIS!

One of these guys...

...became this guy!

And the juice inside of that there coconut...

...soon ended up in my belly!

And some of these...

Soon became my favorite!  Our first dinner in Sanya = hao chi!!!

Shanghaied...again

I'm sort of scared to put my external hard drive into my computer. I think I have a virus that affects external storage devices, so I'll just write for now...

Lijiang was a great experience. I think my parents and Jim really enjoyed themselves there.  I certainly did.  Ok ok, it was a bit touristy at times, but it had it's charming moments that were priceless.

After Lijiang, we flew to Shanghai.  Like the first time I was in Shanghai, the taxi driver took us a bit of a "detour" just to up the price.  Jerk.  Shanghai - the city of thieves!  A friend of mine got his wallet stolen there.  My camera was stolen on Nanjing Dong Lu.  And now I was ripped off a second time by cab drivers?

Whatever. I love Shanghai.  And I didn't let bad experiences like that ruin my awesome stay.  We stayed at a hotel with a rich history north of the Bund called the Astor House Hotel.  Great place...and the price is right for what you get.

Met my friend Jake at the hotel.  It was great seeing him.  Last time I saw him, we went on a trip to the Okanagan in 2009 before my practicum.  He's almost finished his final year in university at U of T.  We definitely caught up with each other.  2 nights in a row just drinking beers and talking until 3 AM aught to do it!

We toured the China Pavilion, Pudong, Nanjing East Road...among other places.  Jake and I broke off from the 'rents and Jim to go explore the French Quarter.  I brought him to the Propaganda Poster Museum.  Last time I was there was with my traveling partner Nick.  It was a headache to find, since it's in the basement of an apartment building.  Jake got a lot more out of it (being from Harbin) than I could have imagined.

I also got to hang out with my old colleague Hedy, and even Jake and Jake's father.  Good company, good times.

Shanghai was the last stop for my father and Jim.  They left for Vancouver after 3 days of Shanghai.  Mom and I continued to Wuhan on the same day.  She would meet Cathy and see the school...

Di da di da di da Lijiaaang!

Lijiang Old Town by night

Stayed in a really quiet and contemplative hotel called Zen Garden.

Dad dancing with a bunch of grandmas next to a mountainside temple.

Some of the more "adventurous" cuisine in Lijiang Old Town.  Jim tried the roasted grasshoppers.  I tried one.  Feels like eating shell-on shrimp.

Chilling out in an expat haunt.

Some beautiful Naxi artwork

Mom and I at a Naxi minority shrine and heritage museum. Somehow it reminded me of the Burnaby Village Museum.

All photos on this post courtesy of my mom.

Shilin

On our last full day in Kunming, we decided to go tot Shilin, otherwise known as the Stone Forest.  I remember back in my childhood, my family went to a miniature park called "Splendid China" in Florida.  In that park, there were large models of many of the sights to see in China - one of which was Shilin.  It was the one I remembered the most.  I always wanted to go to the Stone Forest ever since that moment, and now the opportunity arose!

We agreed to take the hostel's rented vehicle to get there.  To decrease the cost per person, however, Mom did some recruiting.  She managed to get a German fellow named Asef and a Columbian woman named Lina to come with. Great making new travel friends!

Bert, Jim, Lina, Pat, and Asef at Shilin.

Once we got there, we were met with hordes of people and tour buses.  The entire forest was surrounded by a road in which golf carts drove through with Chinese tourists inside taking stops to take pictures at key locations.  Our group had none of that.  We walked.  And we saw a lot more. 

We went off the main road to go check out the "Eternal Mushroom" stone formation.  No tourist on a golf cart could get there, unless they decided to break away from the pack.  I have to say the Eternal Mushroom didn't really look like a mushroom at all, but at least we walked through some stunning scenery along the way.  Again, most tourists at Shilin did not get to see such things.

Not the eternal mushroom, but this was a better picture to post!

Walking through the trails away from the main road, we eventually came to a cavernous region of the forest.  We had to walk through places where we had to take off our backpacks and crouch down because it was too narrow to pass through.

No-backpack Asef takes point and leads us through a narrow crevice. Everyone else struggles with their backpacks.

Jim going though a big rock. Believe or not, it's part of the trail to get to another part of the forest.

On the other side of the rock.

 Getting back to the road, we walked towards the hordes of tourists, knowing very well that they only scratched the surface of this place.  We were greatly amused by the Chinglish descriptions on various plaques and billboards before we ate lunch and drove back to Kunming.

Shilin was one of the highlights of my HK-Macau-Kunming-Lijiang-Shanghai trip.  When I go back to Shilin with Cathy one day, we will definitely walk it for sure.

Kunming

I'm finally back in the furnace that is Wuhan.  This heat is killing me!  It's about 30 degrees here, and it's not even lunch time.  Better to have stayed in Kunming.  It's a really clean city and the weather is very temperate.

Relaxing at the hostel with a free beer after a rough (and late) flight from Hong Kong.

Vendors from ethnic minorities sell dried snacks all around Green Lake.

A Buddhist temple on the hills surrounding Kunming

Our black cab driver suggested we try this local Kunming noodle dish. Dad was nervous about it because it involved raw meat, but it was delicious and I didn't get the runs.

Mr. Wang, the blind masseur, massaging Mom.

Dad looking at photography in an art gallery.

Wine bar in the art district.

We planned to go to Shilin (The Stone Forest) in the evening of day two.  The hostel front desk offered a driver for 700Y.  There were 4 of us.  Mom reduced the cost per person by managing to get two other people to join us, a young German man and a young Colombian woman.  Both lived in China for a while. Our trip to Shilin proved to be quite the adventure, but that's another story...