Hi and welcome to my blog site.
Hi Everyone,
I have just been offered more work from another private education center here in the BDA area but I told them I will think about it and get back to them during the Summer holidays as I have just took on two new children teaching from home, I could work full time easily if I wanted to here, but as you know I am only interested in doing part time work. Although I have saved enough already to buy a car for when we go back to the UK, as well as buying a scooter here and camera equipment, so it has paid well and I have enjoyed doing it.
Hi Everyone,
There is a 3 day holiday starts today so Jun is off although she had to work the weekend. We went to the antique centre a week gone Saturday to meet a couple from England who were in Beijing for a week I knew him from being a contact on Flickr so that was nice he had asked if we could meet up they are spending 2 weeks in China then off to Thailand,Nepal,Laos before going to Australia to work for a year. Then I invited them over to where we live so they could see a part of Beijing that isn't so busy and chaotic and they loved it, as they are thinking of coming back here to teach after Australia. I showed them around the BDA area and then we took them to the Mongolian Restaurant for a meal they are now in Xian ( where the Terracotta warriors are).
The Police Commissioner of Shanghai has just been arrested on corruption charges he was caught getting ready to flee the country apparently he had 5 passports and millions stashed away, just another one who is on the wrong team ( a supporter of Bo Xi Lei) there is so very much of this kind of thing going on here now it seems the supporters of the party that are not on top are being exposed for the same things the other party does a terrible business all round, but I try not to read or watch to much news both here and abroad. I am reminded of the piece in Hindu mythology about it all being Lila (All part of the divine play of the Cosmos).
I went back to the hospital the other week as I have had a problem with my left shoulder for over 6 months i.e. cant move it in certain positions without severe pain and aching a lot of the time went for x rays followed by a MRI scan and apparently I have a tear in my Rotary Cuff??? which requires surgery he was showing another young doctor the photos/x rays and discussing it then he asked me to lift my right arm and prodded various areas with his finger saying does this hurt ,can you feel that etc. So I said to Jun tell him its fine no problems but he might want to ask me the same questions about my left arm ha-ha anyway everyone seen the funny side of it.Then he suggested the surgery saying I will be in hospital for 2 weeks and it will take about 3 months to fully recover. I said and how much will that cost he said over 4,000 so that's completely out of the question assuming they even manage to operate on the correct shoulder ha-ha.I think I will have to try and manage till next year and see if I can get it done while at home.
Our apartment complex looks really nice at the moment all the water is running in the streams it's full of fish, and everywhere beautiful cherry blossoms and magnolia and the weather has become warmer, I went out and took some photos the other day some of which are on Flickr and here on my website.
We are starting to book places to stay at when we travel to Indonesia in Aug/Sep so starting to look forward to that as I have never been there before the closest I ever came was sailing on a ship between the islands of Lombok and Bali, but Bali is on the travel list for 6 days.
Hi Everyone,
We have just returned from what is now becoming our annual trip to Thailand as a welcome break from the Beijing winter weather,this year after 3 days in Bangkok we travelled to the north of the country.During the time in Bangkok we spent one day travelling by local train and ferry to the sea port of maha chai to visit the famous market that is on the actual railway track as you arrive,the stall holders have to move their goods back with the train passing with just inches to spare on both sides they have to do this 8 times a day.We then caught another train to visit a floating food market another further hour up the coast the trains were real boneshakers but very cheap.Another day we again booked an excursion train put on at the weekend for local people that stopped at various places where you could get off and wander around for 30 minutes,1 hour or even 2 hours at the last place, we set off at 6.00am returning at 9pm visiting a couple of towns with temples then onto the bridge over the river kwai before crossing that and going further to the end of the line at a famous waterfall and hiking area called nam tok.The train was again a real old boneshaker with people walking up and down selling food all day and the guard going from carriage to carriage with his megaphone to let everyone know where we were and why we were running late or had to stop to let another train get further ahead etc lol.
On the last day in Bangkok we took the water taxis up river to the reclining Buddha temple and visited a famous massage centre affiliated to the temple,which was the best massage yet (and most painful),we had packed our bags and left them at the guest house and thinking we were booked onto the 10pm night sleeper train we were sat in the local temple grounds at 6pm and decided to double check the tickets and realized the train was leaving at 6.10.We raced back grabbed our bags and grabbed a taxi to take us to the next sceduled stop of the train which was at Bangkoks second airport it was due there at 6.50 anyway we got stuck in the rush hour traffic then got onto the toll roads but not much better we told him to take us to the train station but he dropped us off at the edge of the airport by which time it was 7.20 so we raced on foot for a further 15 minutes hoping to get a later train arriving at the station at 7.35 to find that in the tradition of Thai Railways our train had still not arrived lol,we finally left at 8pm arriving in Chang Mai at 9.00am.
Chang Mai was a beautiful place full of antique,gift,craft shops very laid back hippy feel to it,we stayed in a lovely guest house everything was made of wood in the traditional Thai way the owner even had a antique shop full of wooden objects.On the first afternoon we visited the womans prison in the old quarter of the town as we had heard that the prisoners as part of their rehabilitation were taught Thai massage and they practised on people for a small fee that was very interesting the girl who gave me my massage had 2 months training to complete with 3 months left to serve of her sentence.Such a lot to see in Chang Mai with night markets,weekend markets open air shows stunning temples etc.Our second day there we hired a scooter and set off to the hills and valleys of Mai Rim visiting botanical gardens,butterfly farm,found some old abandoned pick up trucks in the fields with the jungle growing through them also crossed a old bamboo swing bridge that locals used to get across a gorge with a box on a pulley line next to it for heavier objects.We also visited a large rock that was called the Buddhas Handprint as it had the shape and indentation of a palm and fingers in it.
Each night there was usually a thunder storm and on our second night it was so severe it broke off a large section of a tree in the grounds with it falling away from our chalet and crashing through the roof of the owners house going right through the roof,if it had hit our roof it would have landed on us as we where in bed at the time,first lucky escape of our trip.
The next day we visited some ancient Buddhist sites before driving on to the McKewan Leper Colony which i had read about, Mr McKewan was a doctor and Methodist Preacher who at the end of the 19th century founded the Leper Colony on an island,we visited the old huts where they lived as well as seeing the new hospital wings and modern bungalows where they now live.It was very touching to drive down past the bungalows and have people including two children wave at you or smile all with terrible deformities,as you can imagine this was not on the tourist itinerary of places to visit.On the way back we visited Bosang village which is famous for its handmade umberellas,very interesting to see how its all done by the villagers using old traditional methods.
The next day we headed off into the mountains to visit a famous temple called Wat Prathet Suthep Doi with a 300 step climb up to it,very beautiful but also very touristy, Jun and I had a water blessing from one of the monks while there, then we drove onto Phuping Palace which had amazing architecture and beautiful gardens.After this we continued up into the mountains to visit the village of Doi Pu and saw the Opium flowers being grown and cultivated in a local valley and cannabis one villager offered us some then tried to sell us uncut rubies and diamonds he claimed he brought from over the border in Burma while at the same time asking us both what jobs we did he quickly put them away when i mentioned Jun was a Customs Officer lol. Realized later we did not have much petrol left but managed to find a local cafe that sold petrol in what looked like old whisky bottles which got us back ok.
We went for another massage that night in a local temple and there was a french guy having his feet done while at the same time playing his guitar and singing, the woman doing the massage were joining in with the chorus while working on the rest of us great fun.
We went into town early on the Saturday to watch the annual flower parade all the floats were made from flowers and there was bands, local groups etc it was amazing in all it took over 3 hours to pass never seen so many happy smiling/laughing faces,needless to say i took loads of photos.
We then hired a car in order to drive further north upto the Thai,Burma,Laos border a very beautiful scenic route the first place we visited just before Chang Mi was the famous White Temple Wat Rong Khun a local famous artist Ajarn Chalermchai Kositpipat started it about 16 years ago wanting to build the most beautiful Buddhist Temple in the world and it will take another 20 years to complete.It is simply breathtaking to see it as well as being completely white it has small pieces of mirror glass inlaid in to it that reflect all the light,it's one of the most beautiful things i have seen.
We then drove up to visit three local villages of different ethnic groups including the tribe called Karen or as they are usually called "the longnecks" where the woman wear very heavy metal rings around their necks and eventually they cant take them off or they would die of asphyxiation,it was strange to walk around the village seeing how they still live i asked permission from them to take every photo and not once did any refuse i visited the school a one roomed hut which the teacher told me she taught 12 children in.
There were lots of road blocks we had to go through on the way up and back as it is still a area for smugglers being close to the once infamous golden triangle but we were usually just waved through once they saw us.
We left Chang Mai on the last day to fly to Bangkok airport to transfer to the second airport for the night flight back and as we were on the plane being pushed out onto the runway i watched the ground crew disengage the tractor then walk away and turning to put their thumbs up to the crew to signal they were clear then they all in unison put their hands together and bowed to the plane,I said to Jun isn't that beautiful then we set off down the runway as the plane thundered down just before lifting up there was a loud noise from the engines being presumably put in reverse and severe breaking and shuddering as the plane stopped at the end of the runway we then returned to the airport with the pilot telling us there was a mechanical fault and they would repair it then we would be on our way at which point two men jumped up and said they wanted to get off,which they then did.Eventually happy to say after 45 minutes they fixed it and we took off but with a lot of very anxious people on board,second lucky escape lol.
Hi Everyone,
We are back in Beijing after 1 week in sweltering Puerto Galera the temp never dropped below 40c the whole time we were there .We left Beijing at 1am 7th May Monday arriving at Manilla at 5.30 am then got a taxi to the hotel where we were catching the bus at 8.30 to the port of Batang, the taxi driver was (while driving), trying to tie a knot with the two seperate bits of his seat belt in rush hour traffic haha.We had a 90 minute wait at the hotel so we had breakfast then I went for a walk and got lost on my way back,all the streets were so busy and looked the same and I couldn,t remember the name of the hotel,eventually I recognised a building and got back,I think senility is setting in.
The bus journey was just over 2 hours to the port of Batang to catch the ferry, the woman working on the bus was a great character full of fun and life,we had to wait about 45 minutes for the ferry which then took about 1 hour to reach the island.We stayed at the small harbour town of Sabang at the steps & gardens resort that is built into the hillside overlooking the sea and bay,and it had the right name it was a killer climbing it,and of course ours was the one right at the top, but what a view.The resort was just small chalet type buildings each with a bedroom,bathroom and balcony but the gardens were just beautiful there were flowers,bushes,trees everywhere and a large waterfall, lovely eating area and a swimming pool with jacuzzi.The staff were so friendly and polite,you could even have your breakfast delivered to your room if you wanted,nothing was to much trouble for them they constantly asked if everything was ok and could they do anything for you.
The port itself is was very colourful and quite busy,you got hassled a little bit for trips,hiring bikes,buying trinkets etc but they are ok once you say no. I was out walking the other morning and a old guy tried to sell me some coral jewelrey but once I said no we sat down together and had a good chat,his name was Paul and he was an expert on british boxers,then I met a lady named Rita who was a right character selling braided straps, and yes I bought one, she was just so funny.A bit later I sat with three children while their mother was setting up an old dilapidated stall on the path around the cove they were just full of questions and so happy.
Jun did 6 dives but I kept telling her to be careful she was down to 30 metres she said the coral and fish were amazing she went out with a chinese diving school and one day they went out on a trip to an area nicknamed the "washing machine" so she didn,t go to that one (hardly suprising with a name like that), one of the young boys was caught in the current and the instructors had to go after him.We saw him later and he looked a bit subdued and shaky.
We hired a scooter one day and went for a good ride the roads are pretty poor full of potholes and wide cracks but they are renewing them.We visited a lovely waterfall then went searching for one of the local hilltribe villages which we found by parking the scooter at the side of the road then climbing up a really steep set of stairs and coming out at the top amongst about 6 village huts and one small school,we walked about saying hello the children were very shy but allowed me to take their photos as well as one young woman who had a lovely smile,all this whilst living in absolute poverty.We then rode around the coast stopping off at little beaches and coves one of them was so beautiful like paradise, palm trees and coconuts everywhere,and a life size statue of the virgin mary on a rock looking out to sea, we sat in little covered beach huts with just about 4/5 other filipino families sharing the whole beach,then after 30 minutes or so a family arrived carrying a huge TV a huge boxamplifier and small generator and I started laughing and they said to me "this is the filipino style" haha.
There were lots of nice places to eat with really nice food and quite a lot of bars which were full of half naked dancing girls (apparently), we were talking to a english guy who works in one of them and has lived here for 18 months he said he has the best job in the world and will never go back to England haha.
One day we were sat at the diving school and the filipino place next door was having a party for the 80 year old grandmother and they invited us in to meet everyone and have something to eat,they are really happy people and so welcoming.
Hi All,
Well we have just come to the end of our 3 week holiday (adventure) in Thailand we have both had an amazing time,dont really know where to start.
We spent our first 3 days in Bangkok and crammed a lot of sightseeing in going to all the famous places especially the temples and Grand Palace ie the reclining Buddha, the emerald Buddha,the golden Buddha (weighing 5,500 kg of pure gold estimated to be worth 23.5 million) and for many many years unknown and covered with a kind of plaster. Although the traffic is very heavy in Bangkok I was struck by how considerate the motorists are, you hardly even hear the honking of horns unlike Beijing, ands its true about Thai people they are so warm and friendly and always smiling and its very infectious.We went to the worlds largest open air weekend market and we were sat on the metro next to a group of schoolgirls and they were all laughing giggling and having fun and close by was stood a blind man suddenly one of the girls jumped up spoke to him then stood with him till the train arrived at his destination helped him off then sat back down resuming her conversation. We got the overnight sleeper train to Surrathani a 12 hour journey it was a comfortable journey with nice food arriving at 7am where the local agents tried to get us onto the minibuses for the 2 hour trip to Khao Sok national park and rainforest at £5 each but we took the local bus at 90pence each.We spent the next 5 days living firstly in a tree house (4 nights) then a bungalow by the river.After the first night Jun said "what was trying to open the door and banging about during the night?" We knew the next day when the group of monkees came back to visit again haha. We went trekking through the rainforest with a guide to see the worlds largest flower The Raffelia and found one blooming one about to and two that had decomposed,It was a bit heavy going for me but definately worth it.We hired mountain bikes and went up the park trails,meeting an elderley german couple into their 11 month of biking from Germany on route to Malaysia,amazing.To get from where we were staying to the local shops,massage clinics etc involved a 1 hour walk till we discovered we could do it in 15 minutes if we waded across the river, that was fun especially coming back at night using our little flashlights to see our way across.The monkees used the same route themselves dropping out of the overhanging trees to swim across.On the last day I was walking by the river bank and very nearly stood on a 1.5 metre snake we also had a paradise tree snake slither along the balcony right in front of us. On the second last day we hired a scooter and rode to the lakes it took about 2 hours to get there the park itself is 740 square kilometres then we took a long boat ride to see part of the lakes they are absolutely beautiful but on the way back we hit a monsoon in a open boat we were completely soaked then I had to drive back in it, that was some expierence haha. We left the next day by bus in heavy rain and broke down eventually arriving back at Surrathani for the train ride to Chumphon to catch the early morning ferry to Khao Tao island the train was only 1.5 hours late but we did not get into Chumphon till 12.30 am and had to walk to the hotel after refusing the late night tuk tuk prices.We were no sooner asleep then up again at 5.15 for the ride back to station to get bus to the ferry pier. We took the fast catamaran 1.45 minutes it was a little choppy and quite a few people were seasick and it started raining again just after arriving,Jun met her chinese diving instrutor Suki and started that same afternoon on her open water diving course I went swimming in the sea and walking about the island it was only about 20 k in total,on the evening we had a good massage from the clinic opposite us with the beach being literally 2 minutes walk and a nice eating place 3 minutes away. The next 2 days I was quite ill either caught some tropical cold ( Suki said) or it was something I suffer from once or twice a year the symptoms being the same.After I recovered I hired a scooter the next morning to tour the island which took all of about 5 hours haha no roads really to speak of apart from the main one going north to south and that was a road more by name than actual fact, the rest were dirt tracks,the hire shop owner looked very suprised when I brought it back without any scratches he checked it all over twice scratching his head and mumbling about no extra charges haha. Anyway Jun completed her diving course and did 4 open water dives at the end to qualify she found it quite difficult there really was a lot to learn and practice I took some photos of her at the start with Suki in the swimming pool but did not go out on the boat with her. We left the island after 5 days and caught the slower ferry back to Chumphon 3.5 hours then onto a bus/converted truck for the 1 hour trip back to Chumphon train station to catch the 8.15pm overnight train back to Bangkok of course we did not actually leave till after 11pm all trains,buses and ferries run late but especially trains, I had a great conversation with the railway policeman every time I asked him where our train was he would say "Its the next one" which of course it wasn,t.Later he would say maybe tomorrow which it nearly was we had a good laugh about it and as we left we shook hands and arranged to meet on the station next year, same time. same day haha.I have learnt two truths in Thailand 1 Your train is always the next one and will always be late 2 If you ask anyone for directions but then ask how long will it take to walk?The answer is always 10 minutes regardless of how long it will actually take. So we arrived back in Bangkok for the last 4 days at 9.30 am instead of 5am and made our way to a nice guest house a couple had recommended to us.We spent some time just wandering around and one day Jun went shopping so I visited the city zoo.On Chinese New Years Eve we went to China town and witnessed a big fire in a block of flats a guy I was speaking to the next day said sometimes they are started on purpose by gangsters to get the people out of the slums so they can get the land.We also took advantage of the river taxis to go up and down the river (A lot cheaper than booking a cruise). Our last big visit was a booked day trip to the ancient capital of Thailand Ayutthaya which is a world heritage site the ancient Buddhist temples were stunning all built around 1100 to 1300s there was so much to see a lot of them were a mixture of Burmese/Thai construction depending on which country was dominant at the time.We saw quite a few temples with small huts on stilts where Monks and Nuns lived and pictures of the whole area as it was last Oct/Nov when it was completely flooded,there was one of a 35 metre long reclining Buddha and about 10 metres high and there was a guy in a row boat about third way up rowing past it. We finished the tour with a 1 hour trip to the royal families summer palace beautiful grounds patroled by armed Thai soldiers who still had time to smile at you,a really lovely race of people and a wonderful country. |
Hi Everyone,
We just got back end of last week from a trip to the coast to a place called Beidaihe had a nice time but it was a really long drive over 3 hours each way and "wacky races" all the way haha.There was 11 of us in 3 cars me and Jun in ours with nyarene a woman who is 87 years old from New Zealand and still travelling the world on her own she is a real character full of great stories.She lived in china from 1947 till 1951 leaving when the communists took over, she started a school with our friend Lung,s grandfather, she has also asked us to go out to visit her and stay at her home Lung and his wife have been and said it,s amazing a huge house overlooking the sea on the outskirts of Auckland apparently she is very wealthy and still drives her own car ( lexus),so who knows we might get a cheap holiday haha.
It was nice to walk down to the beach and see the sea again, I spotted a woman stood in the water staring out to sea in a wedding dress i took some photos of her, then she walked back to a 4x4 so we went up to her and showed her the photos her husband was at the back of the motor with a makeshift darkroom set up and we got talking he is a professional photographer for one of chinas main newspapers and has had exhibitions both in China and Paris.He is currently doing a project using old fashioned glass plate photos and showed me some that he had just taken of his wife (thats why she was in a wedding dress in the sea) they were amazing and sell for upto 1,000 pounds each.Anyway we have swapped numbers as they live in Beijing and they suggested we meet up some time.There website is www.dijinjun.com if you would like to see some of his work.
On the night we went to a really famous restaraunt (famous that is for its sea food) so it made no difference to me,the next morning we drove about 35 km up the coast to where the great wall starts, you might remember it from Karl Pilkingtons "An idiot abroad" the wall just goes out about 20 meters into the sea and Karl said "what use is that the invaders will just roll up their trousers and wade around it" or words to that effect haha. The car in the front had sat nav and on the way it took us right through the city centre and all the old areas of Qinhuaningdao it was a nightmare driving Lung said that was the roads from when he went there as a kid on holiday I said I think it,s the same roads Marco Polo used as well haha.It was very busy there with it being the holidays but it was worth going, they were charging 10 pound to go in and including a short boat trip but we said no and just visited the wall for 5 pound. Even the road from Beijing to Beidaihe was a toll road and cost us 12 pound each way a lot of money to pay to play russian roulette haha ( we will go by train next time).We checked the news on Saturday for Friday the last day of the holidays and in one day in this province alone 57 people died on the roads. And the following day a coach taking 55 students back to Uni in the next city to Beijing crashed,apparently the driver was having some kind of "duel" with a car driver when he lost control of the bus and it went over on its right side onto the steel crash barrier and skidded along for 200 meteres with the barrier cutting through it like a knife 35 of the students died.We saw some photos taken of the bus on a blog site as well as one photo of dead students scattered all over the road,It was really awful I just don,t understand why the Gov,t doesn,t do anything to change peoples driving habits eg stiffer penalties, driving bans.
Hi,Everyone
Hi Everyone,
Hope this e mail finds you well and in good health,as we are here at what could be 'fingers crossed" the start of Autumn, it is certainly becoming a little cooler on the evenings (lovely).I have been quite busy these last 2 weeks teaching it seems all the parents want their children to brush up their English before returning to school at start of September so i am at classes in the morning then again late afternoon.I timed myself walking to work this week from leaving the apartment to walking into the education centre its 7 minutes thats nearly as good as working from home haha.
There are some real characters among the children one of them is a 11 year old boy called garry who looks about 6 small,thin, large glasses, he is so bright he has already told me he is going to MIT university in the USA and i believe him, whenever I show him something or explain he says "OK" or "I know" even if he doesn,t haha.I took some lateral thinking puzzles in the other day and he got everyone of them right in no time at all,whenever the children give me an answer if it,s right I praise them and even if it,s wrong i would say something positive as feedback,so after Garry answered these puzzles he brought one in for me the next day and i thought about it for awhile and i thought i had found the answer so I gave it to him and he looked at me over his glasses and with a very serious expression said "Thats a very good answer but it is not the right one". Well i just about fell out of my chair laughing the tears were streaming down my face.
We went back to the western hills area the other weekend near to that village restaraunt I mentioned in a previous e mail,we visited Tanzhe temple that time so this time we went to the other one that is close by called Jietai temple which looks more like a fortress stretching right up a huge hillside a good walk up the many terraces a really beautiful serene place with hardly any visitors famous for its dragon trees 1,000 years old, I think most go to the more popular Tanzhe temple.We couldn,t walk around the whole temple it was to large and to hot.Then we went back to the village restaraunt and spent the rest of the day there lying in hammocks under the large trees listening to crickets and birds.Oh just to mention the usual driving updates on this day we were driving there on the expressway (think M1) I was in the middle lane and I passed a man in the fast outside lane reversing his car I only knew as i approached because i spotted his white reversing light on,he was i think reversing back to the last exit which was a good way back.And last week we had to travel to the north side of beijing and it seemed like everyone that day was driving really badly ( full moon as well) I started getting angry and upset as well the futher we drove, at one point i went into the inside lane ready to exit and a car joining the expressway came at me from the right at the same time a car on my left was coming into my lane neither would give way or slow down so I had to break hard to let them both ahead then the car behind me started blowing his horn and flashing his lights the car and van that were now ahead were still both not giving way to each other, utter madness.The really sad part to it all was that on the news the next day 40 minutes after we exited our turn off a van stopped there in the emergency lane to fix a puncture with 5 people in it and another van racing down the emergency lane to overtake crashed into them killing 3 and seriously injuring the other 2.
We spent a half day on a lake in one of the bigger parks near to where we live in a battery powered boat two weekends ago it was a lovely day there were little islands scattered about the lake and as we went around one there was a young woman with 2 children stranded on the bank in their boat waving to us looking very embarrassed the children didn,t know if they were more frightened of being stuck or this big foreigner bearing down on them at 2knots haha I managed to get them off and said to Jun under maritime law i should claim that boat as salvage haha.
The next day we visited chairman mao,s collective farm but most of it was closed and the parts that were not looked very run down,they had a very large restaraunt /museum all about mao even a life size model of part of his home village the food (all grown on the farm) was really delicious.