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,
 

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

I started teaching 3 young women english the other week it was a good class and I enjoyed it,but they did not come back for another lesson, the school said they couldn,t all agree the same day and time as they shared the cost of the lesson. I am sure it is quite expensive for them although when it comes to their children money is no object and getting their children into the best nurseries is all down to bribes/backhanders etc.Anyway I have another class today with a young man so I will see how that goes. 

We went away over night the other thursday to the mountains north of Beijing about 3 hours drive spent a night in a guest house in the mountains had an evening meal at a farmers/smallholding house very basic but lovely food and very nice people.Up early the next morning got the motorboat across the lake then went for a hike then continued the car journey for another 30 minutes to a white water rafting centre and had a go on the river, got soaked of course haha.

  Jun had been told the other day at work that she might have to go on a 2 week training course down in Shanghai, that would have been a test for me living alone here for 2 weeks, or I was going to go down there and just see her some nights and the weekends and stay in another hotel but thankfully she got out of it but they said next year she will have to do it.

Another company got in touch with us the other week and wanted me to travel to other areas of China and give talks in English about their pharmaceutical products which were either genuine american products or copies, not sure which. But what they wanted from me was to pretend I represented the american company and they said they would pay all my expenses,travel, hotels and 10 pound an hour, I said no to which they then said ok we will pay you 15 as if it was only a case of paying enough,they really couldn,t understand why someone would refuse.

Jun is busy these days she has started to make soaps,lipstick,hand and body creams at home and already a lot of people at her workplace have tried some and placed orders with her. 

We went out the other sunday afternoon for a meal as it was the moon festival it was a lovely place we went to, we were driving in a really run down area then did a right turn and went through a security gate into these huge grounds of hotels, restaraunts, parks,lake,streams, you just wouldn,t believe it could be in that area, thats the land of contrasts for you.While we were sat in the waiting area for a table there was 2 young boys in the restaraunt really misbehaving and the parents were only making half hearted attemts to stop them then they started throwing the cushions about and one hit Jun I jumped up and shouted really loud "Bu, Gola" (No, Enough) you should have seen their faces they froze haha ,the parents ran out of the cubicle they were in and I let them know what they had done then they took them away , they just don,t seem to discipline their children at all and as it is one child policy they tend to be quite spoilt and are growing up to be very self centred as are a lot of 20/30 year olds now who are the result of this same policy which came into effect in the1980,s.Having  said that in general the children here are the most polite of anywhere in the world.

 The company which manages our complex introduced a new waste collection system the other week, previously each apartment block had a large brick built bin and all the rubbish went into it.Now we have had them removed and have 3 different wheelie bins for each apartment block each for different items, but I have yet to see anyone using them correctly they just continue to throw their rubbish in any bin,the company now have staff that go around each evening sorting the bins out before the morning collection,very strange, a lot of them dont seem to grasp the idea of (or care) about the environment,but I am sure it will all eventually change.

We have a milkman who delivers to us now he fitted a small metal box on the wall outside the apartment for the bottles I call him the midnight milkman as he doesn,t deliver till anywhere between 4-6pm haha.

Oh here,s a good joke going about Beijing now,There was a chinese politician driving his car and with him was an american politician and they came to a fork in the road with a signpost saying left to communism and right to capitalism the american turned to the chinese and said " well which way do you want to go" to which the chinese man replied "we will go right,but I will keep my left indicator on".

 
  

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