About Town

Here's a collection of images from around Shenzhen. Some photos of street vendors selling everything from roasted sweet potatoes (which are incredibly yummy) to fresh fruit on a stick or traditional Chinese remedies using snake! There is also some architecture from around these parts and things I generally found intriguing. I hope you enjoy them!

Tai O And Other Tales

It has been such a jam packed month, I am a little uncertain as to where to begin. I guess everything kind of kicked off with Christmas. I went to a lovely Christmas Eve party with colleagues from the kids school I work for. Then on Christmas Day I went to the orphanage and played with the kids. The week prior our group had an afternoon of packing goody bags for the kids and then handing them out. We are only allowed to take things to them on a few special occasions, so it was a wonderful opportunity to get them some much needed fruit and veg and sweet treats! Christmas night I was invited to a dinner party by my friend Sandie (an American ex-pat), we had turkey with all the trimmings! I thoroughly enjoyed the food and company! On the down side my laptop died on Christmas Eve. After a thorough investigation it was decided that a new computer was the best option. I made a hurried trip to Hong Kong on New Year's Eve with William, to purchase a new one. It had been a hectic week over Christmas/New Year as I was still working, even on Christmas morning! I went to a party for NYE with some colleagues from my old school. Too much champagne was consumed but it was fun never-the-less! I had two short trips back to Hong Kong and decided to go have a look around one of the sleepy fishing villages dotted around Hong Kong. I made for Tai O, which was a short metro and bus ride away. It was lovely and peaceful after the craziness of my life recently. You can see from the photos that the people there adhere to a more traditional way of life. Some of the houses are built on stilts over the water, the main income for the inhabitants is fishing and tourism. They make a shrimp paste which they sun-dry in large flat baskets. The smell was overpowering but it was intriguing to look at. As you would imagine in a fishing village there were many resident cats, all very well fed! I returned to Shenzhen with a visa to stay another 3 months, will go back to Hong Kong in April to extend my stay further. The school term has ended but my work continues with winter classes for the next week and half. After that it will be Chinese New Year, I'll have a few weeks to relax and possibly travel. Will update you again soon!

Magnifico Macau!

After having been in China for almost 12 months, and living only 1 hour from Macau by ferry, I decided it was time for a look-see. I had few and low expectations, so therefore I had a wonderful time and spent a blissful 24 hours exploring this compact city. I arrived in the evening and after booking into my low-rent hostel went for a wander. I discovered the town square all lit up for Christmas, the shopping district in full swing and the bright lights of the casinos. Macau for me was a little bit Vegas, a little bit China and a little bit Portugal. The Portuguese left in 1999 after their lease ran out, but they definitely left their mark. The cathedrals, tiled footpaths and cuisine reflects their influence. I've added some photos of this intriguing place, the ruins of St Pauls Cathedral (it succumbed to a fire), the pretty parks and gardens,the tacky yet somehow mesmerizing casinos and some other interesting bits and pieces. I hope you enjoy this little meander through Macau. Love to you and yours for Christmas and 2008!! xoxo

Cool and Cruisey

The title for this post refers not only to the weather but also my new schedule. After returning from holiday I had few job prospects and those I did have were not eventuating. The Foundation College at Shenzhen Uni put me to work 2 mornings a week, teaching post grads (see photo), but apart from that I had nothing! I then got a phone call from a kid's school who were eager to snap me up, but although I was given one class from this, it still wasn't going to be enough to live on. But God is so good, that via this job I got my main job, teaching at Shenzhen uni kindergarten. I then picked up a private tutoring gig and "hey presto", I'm employed again! Since all of this I've had work thrown at me left, right and centre but I love my schedule, as it allows me an afternoon off mid week plus all day Fri/Sat and Sun morning free. The hours are less and the pay is better at long last!! The kindy is a challenge as I've never taught it before, but I am getting a handle on it and enjoying being with the little ones. All my jobs are walking distance to home and the walk through the uni is very pleasant. I pass by a lake (see photos) and a bank of 16 gum trees on my way to class! On a sadder note my best girlfriend Bonnie is leaving Shenzhen for Xiamen, a place 7 hours away. I will miss her, not only for her wonderous translating skills but also for her generosity, kindness and friendship. She is truly a rose among the thorns here, as she is more open than a lot of Chinese and also thinks like a Westerner at times. I've posted a photo of drinks held at my apartment last weekend, which includes my other good friend William. I'll leave off now, as I'm heading to Hong Kong tomorrow and must get organised. Love and kisses to you all, please drop me a line soon! xo

Slice of Shenzhen

I thought you may be interested in some of the daily comings and goings here. I just walked back from the supermarket after my afternoon class, and was struck by all the activity on the street. I spent around $AUD6 ($US5) at the supermarket and bought a large bottle of juice, some chicken, vegetables, bananas, noodles, bread and a chocolate donut!! I love the fact that I can still access everything I need and at such a reasonable cost. So anyway as I'm walking to the bus stop, I go via the underpass. The amount of people in the vicinity is quite incredible, you can do your shopping here and get a hair cut! There were about 6 hairdressers either waiting for business or in the middle of a cut. There are people selling everything from fruit and vegies to gold fish, to what looks to be Middle Eastern sweets! As I continue on I pass about 4 of my students from one of my new classes. They are university post grads, who are hoping to travel to either the US, Canada or Australia when they finish here. The bus costs me around 15 cents and I have to stand, the usual Sunday evening crush. On the way up in the elevator to my apartment on the 10th floor I pass floor 3A. There is a superstition here that 4 is unlucky (the word apparently sounds similar to the word for death) so there is no 4th, 14th or 24th floor to be found! Looking out over my balcony once the sun has gone down, I can see the people in the building across from me. It's a buzz with people sewing and ironing clothing. I wonder where these clothes will end up, for local folk or export, maybe you or I are wearing one of their creations?! So this is small peek into my world, for me it's educational and enticing! (The attached photos are of my neighbourhood).

Panda Paradise

My main reason for holidaying was to visit and volunteer at Wolong panda reserve. I spent 8 days in Tibet as my side trip before heading to the neighbouring province of Sichuan. Chengdu is the biggest city there and Wolong is 4 hours drive out into the beautiful moutainous countryside. There were 10 people in my group from all over the world, Australia, England, Holland, the USA and Switzerland. We had all signed up and paid our money to volunteer our time and energy for the pandas. I am not sure how much value we added in terms of work but our financial contribution was most appreciated. We had a day to wander the reserve and check out the 60 or so pandas residing there. We stayed at the Panda Inn, a very nice hotel on the doorstep of the reserve itself. The work that we provided was basically cleaning up after the pandas (yes, these hands - gloved mind you - have touched panda poo!) and feeding the pandas. Their diet as you are probably aware is bamboo, different varieties and they also have a baker on staff to make panda biscuits! The biscuits are a mix of bamboo, rice, corn, veges and vitamins, they taste similar to rye bread and the pandas love them! I took a tonne of photos, I hope I was able to capture the moods and expressions of these gorgeous creatures and do them justice. I also got the opportunity to have my photo taken holding one while sitting on a bench. But as this was not nearly sufficient I also took the opportunity to go into one of the enclosures for play time with some 9 month old panda cubs! We were blessed on our second day with the birth of panda twins, two girls born to a panda called Ye Ye (Chinese for sunshine). It seemed a little too perfect that this was the only day of our trip that we actually saw the sun! It was a truly rewarding and satisfying experience, these animals are just too beautiful for words! I was very sad to say goodbye to them, and also to the lovely new human friends that I made there.

T'rrific Tibet

On Thursday 30 August I took off on the train from Guangzhou to Lhasa. The scenery as you will note from the photos did not disappoint! I was one of only a handful of foreigners on the train, so it was a very interesting and different experience. It took over 50 hours for us to reach our destination but I managed to sleep in my middle bunk quite successfully and the views kept me occupied most of the time. Lhasa itself was an awesome place, so full of colour and culture! I visited the famed Potala Palace (home to the Dalai Lama), monestaries, temples and spent some time noseying around the back streets and markets soaking everything in. Tibetan food is delicious, even the yak was pretty good!! I made lots of new friends at the hostel I stayed at too. In some ways Tibet is very similar to Bolivia (this was also the general concensus among fellow travellers). I think a large portion of the population are have nots, so this is why it felt the same as Bolivia. The country is very rich in culture but very poor in so many other ways. The people are extremely generous however. The Chinese population where I live has a penchant for staring, a cold, careless, curious stare but the Tibetans in contrast stare with great kindness and even get embarassed if you catch them looking. I was most impressed by this beautiful place and hope to get back again soon!!