February 2, 2010

QI recharge at Kata Beach

Posted by George and Ann under Thailand | Tags: , , , , |
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We pretty much stayed here for 10 days to thaw out from our 5 weeks in the early China winter

It was hard to believe that 10 days of doing nothing more than sitting under an umbrella on a hot sandy beach can go by so fast, but it did. We hope our QI is charged for 30 more years. This Kata beach reminded us, at first, of Key West Florida because its always so warm, there is little need for windows, doors or walls on the sidewalk establishments. That’s the only resemblance because the beaches are much larger and its hotter. Since its so hot, most beaches in Phuket are lined with umbrellas. I do not think it is possible to stay in the sun too long with without seeking shade.

Phuket and Krabi seem to be winter getaways for Europeans, whose appearance stands out among the oriental look of the Thailand people. An obvious observation is the attraction of the European men to the young Thailand women. It is not uncommon to see European men accompanied by a Thai women around town or at the beach.

The towns are similar to the towns found in the Caribbean, they are in different states of rebuilding and poverty. The areas for the tourist are in prime shape. Motor scooters are the main means of transportation mixed in with some unfamiliar types; Tuk-Tuks, sawngthaews, motosais and the water transportation of the long tail boats.

There were some winding roads in those hills ahead

After 10 days at Kata Beach we rented a car and drove on the left side of the road with the steering on the left over to AoNang in the Province of Krabi. Once off the main highway, you are on your own as far as directional signs go. In the middle of the 5 hour drive was a horse shoe curved, jungle covered, mountain road that lasted about 1 hour before we came upon a work crew cutting back the highway overgrowth. The AoNang beaches are not umbrella beaches for there are trees to provide shade. The beaches in Phuket and Krabi are great beaches but I think that the USA has a greater variety of winter getaways than the Europeans. One big Thai advantage is the food and lodging are about one third the cost of USA getaways. A lot of long tail boats operate from the beach offering excursions to the limestone cliff island beaches offshore. We found the beaches in AoNang completely fantastic and unique. At low tide you can walk out to some limestone cliff islands near shore. AoNang is more laid back than Kata beach and especially Patong beach. We stopped over for one night at Patong and it is a beach city with all the amenities that big city beaches have. The beach was way overcrowded. AoNang hardly has any bars, so there is no nightlife, making it a completely different atmosphere.

Even Ronald is thankful!

After 2 weeks of beaching in 90 degree heat we felt loosened up and and completely prepared to tackle the overnight flight to Sydney and the overnight train to Melbourne to attend the Australian Open. We flew back to Bangkok for 2 days of urban life to get ready for the city pace. We stayed at the same hotel that when we first arrived in Thailand and were surprised that we were greeted with an upgrade to their best suite. One thing about the Thai people that we came away with is that the clasping of the hands together and a bowing of the head is genuine.

 

January 10, 2010

Thailand by the tail

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George waiting for lunch to arrive

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) calls the energy force that produces body heat Qi.  TCM believes body warmth  is real important for when it is gone  you are cold dead. It was 90 something degrees when we arrived in Bangkok. The heat gave us a shot of vigor and our Qi a rest, we were ready to go. We arrived in Thailand on the New Year Holiday week and many Europeans and Australians were here for the  holiday. We visited the Floating Market in Damnernsadiak. It is a town of canals and not many roads. A lot of everyday commerce occurs in the canals.  We took a ride in a longboat then  in a paddle boat around the canals.  It was congested.  A couple with us from LA in the paddle boat jokingly said he has not seen this much gridlock since being on the LA freeway. We walked around the canals a bit and watched the food preparation on some of the floating restaurants and got hungry for a Cobra show.  Our guide found one.  Apparently there are

(more…)

 

January 6, 2010

China Wrapup

Posted by George and Ann under Beijing, China, Hong Kong, Nanjing, Shanghai, Terra Cotta warrior, Xian | Tags: , , , |
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Pandas enjoying some good bamboo at the Beijing Zoo

We are in Hong Kong ending the 2009 year, in the same hotel where we started the 5 week China journey.  We knew then that the next 5 weeks would be the toughest part of our trip because it was going to be the coldest.  It was cold.  We were lucky we did not have to buy snow boots only cold weather clothing.  At the Great Wall the wind was 20 mph and the temperature in the high 30’s.  Strangely on the wall for 3 hours we did not notice it because it was one of those moments where we said “Can you believe we are in China”.  Beijing left the impression of a really huge, wide city and it was our first encounter with the preservation of ancient thousand year old buildings along side the newer construction.  The city we were told is getting wider with the newer (more…)

 

December 29, 2009

Shanghai….ed

Posted by George and Ann under China, Shanghai
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Down by the Bund

Shanghai is a new city compared to other Chinese cities.  It is only 200 plus years old.  So there is not much of Chinese history here but it can be thought as a barometer of how far China has come in the last decade.  I have been told that China has progressed in the last 6 years what it took the west 16 years.  I can not vouch for that but I can say Shanghai is moving fast getting ready for its really big show in 2010, the World Expo.  Shanghai thinks of itself as China’s premier city, not Beijing.  So expect the World Expo to be somewhat more spectator than the 2008 Beijing  Olympics.

We comfortably settled into Shanghai ready to experience some modern Chinese urban living in our (more…)

 

December 24, 2009

On to the Warriors

Posted by George and Ann under China, Terra Cotta warrior, Xian | Tags: |
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Side street entrance off of city center Xian China

From Nanjing we flew to Xian, pulled our luggage through the airport, stopped at a information booth, they made a call, someone came, pulled our bags to a taxi, in 45 minutes we were in front of our apartment 1 block from what is called the city center.  We thought, this is too easy, this must be an extraordinary place.  The next morning we found out what city center meant. There was a large, ancient, worshiping bell tower surrounded by a 4 lane rotary with 3 car lanes and one bike lane coming in and 3 car lanes and bike lanes going out in the north,  south, east  and west directions.  There was a mixture of old ancient buildings mixed with newer buildings of traditional Chinese architecture. You can’t imagine this mixture because the city has (more…)

 

December 15, 2009

Special Day(s) indeed!

Posted by George and Ann under China, Nanjing | Tags: , , , |
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Doudou,Hongxuan and Yufeng around the breakfast table

When we were small kids we use to think we could dig a hole to China.  I don’t know how at that young age we would know about a country named China except through a plea from our parents to get children to eat all their dinner “Eat all your dinner because there are people starving in China”.  I hope we were trying to bring food in those days  because today they do not need any.

I find myself today in a living room apartment on the campus of the University of Science and Technology in Nanjing, China.  It belongs to a retired professor of mechanics at the university who is the father of Li Hongxuan’s husband, Tang Yufeng.  We have  finished a breakfast of egg and rice dumplings and some different (more…)

 

December 9, 2009

Chinese Train Anxiety

Posted by George and Ann under Beijing, China | Tags: , |
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We have been able to escape no more snow, but not no more cold. The weather in Beijing has turned to the colder, with the temperature around 38 degrees on our departure day.

When we got off the Hong Kong to Beijing train we decided to buy our train tickets for our Beijing to Nanjing trip that was 8 days away. We knew the route did not provide 2 berth sleepers as we had on our present trip but 4 berth sleepers were available and rumor was sometimes you could get a 4 berth for a married couple. We went up to the English speaking ticket window to attempt our first purchase in Mainland China for the 4 berth for a married couple. Speaking through a glass window in a hectic surroundings the conversation can only be explained and as English with Chinese. Going nowhere with that purchase we decided before the purchase got more confusing it was best to settle for a couple of reserved soft seat tickets before we got stuck with first come first served hard seat tickets. During the walk around looking for a taxi we jokingly talked about what was that all about, when we realized that we only paid 70 US$ for 2 reserved tickets for 8 hours on a fast new train. We looked at the tickets and (more…)

 

November 30, 2009

What a ride!

Posted by George and Ann under Hong Kong | Tags: , |
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After the 8 hour plane flight from Tokyo, we found ourselves waking in Hong Kong. From our bed out the morning window was a huge and modern apartment complex with windows starting to light up for the day ahead, Lower in the window the Red Chinese flag was waving with the backdrop of the Hong Kong harbor with lit up passenger ferries crisscrossing the harbor. We made it to China, but the best was ahead….the mainland.
With only 2 days in Hong Kong we did the harbor ferry tour, stopping here and there for exploration and on the Island side did a city open air bus tour. What a beautiful city(see been there done that). Imagine (more…)

 

November 24, 2009

Sunday Tokyo style

Posted by George and Ann under Japan, Tokyo | Tags: |
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Closing time at the Shrine

Sundays outdoors in Tokyo are special. The major Dori’s(streets) in some wards close to vehicles, the parks become packed with performers, spectators and strollers, the streets are packed with shoppers and gawkers, the shrines are packed with worshippers and ceremony. To these Americans it looks like all of  Tokyo is out to enjoy their city and it looks like a very prosperous city with a lot disposable income, but the Japanese explanation for this is “we have a lot of people this is just a small percentage’.  That may be but it is a spectacle.  We spent our Sunday in Harajuku at the Yoyogi Park(1984 Olympics held there), the Meiji Jingu Shrine that is right next to  the park, and in the town, which is also right next to the park.

 

November 22, 2009

Sunday in Tokyo

Posted by George and Ann under Japan, Tokyo | Tags: |
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Sunday was cold, cloudy and occasionally rainy but that did not keep the crowds out at Harajuku. We braved the weather and crowds and made it to Starbucks to warm up after deciding the day was pretty much of a bust. We decided to go the Meiji Jingu shrine before leaving to the Nakano apartment. We had to go through this crowd. The crowd was was going into this store, all day long. We stopped by the park to see what it was like and saw these guys. It was not a nice day so not too much was going on so we went over to the Shrine a few 100 meters away. We got in as it was closing, so we did a 15 minute tour and saw a wedding procession on a ceremonial walk to the vows. We were politely told the shrine was closing and we walked out to watch the ceremony before catching the train back. From outside the shrine gate we began chatting with a Japanese man next to use about the ceremony. We strolled out of the shrine grounds together and he ended up taking us on a 6 hour tour of a couple of the wards in Tokyo. He was interested in architecture so he showed us some of what we thought were some futuristic buildings.We stopped for tea at his favorite cafe and quized Hikaru on his profession as a acupuncturist, moxibustionist and bone setter. We did not get back to the apartment until 11. Our latest night out on Tokyo town.

(This is a test of the blogging post procedure to be done from inside the Golden Wall)

 

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