Easy. You simply hire a private junk for a 4 day, 3 night cruise of Halong Bay. It sounded extravagant, but probably cost the same as a nice hotel and food in Hanoi for the same period of time. And it was awesome.
Halong Bay is often described as Guilin under water. The Bay is full of karst islands, secret coves, floating fishing villages and secluded beaches. Our junk was staffed by a crew of 6 for the 5 of us (our friends Bob and Naomi Klaw were with us). Good ratio. One crew member was our personal tour guide, another our cook. We knew we had made a good choice when we arrived on the boat and were immediately served a 6 course lunch of fresh seafood, watermelon juice and outstanding coffee. Each meal trumped the next. I suspect we consumed an easy 2000 calories at each sitting. In addition to incredible food, the assistant captain was a master vegetable and fruit carver and our table was always decorated with his creations-fishermen, hummingbirds, boats, etc.
We were able to see much of the Bay including caves, beaches (beautiful and isolated), small villages and temples. But simply cruising through the islands was magnificent. The pictures don't do the scenery justice. Had it been a bit warmer we probably would have spent all our time sitting on the top deck, but the picture windows by the comfy couches were a nice alternative.
This was absolutely a once in a life time trip on a beautiful boat with a cook we all wished to marry.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Hanoi and the Magical Mystery Tour
All the research we did suggested that the "easiest" way to get from Yangshuo/Guilin to Hanoi, Vietnam was a train/bus combo. So we dutifully booked our package which included a 5 hour train ride, a pick-up at the train station and escort to our hotel, the hotel, an escort to the bus station in the morning, our bus ticket to Hanoi, and an escort across the border-all for $60/person. It all worked and included fun surprises such as having seats on the train next to where all the people came to smoke under the no smoking sign, a very traditional Chinese hotel with rock hard beds and squat toilets, a surly travel guy to help us, and 7 hours on a very comfortable bus to be dropped off in a random place in Hanoi. The countryside was beautiful and all the logistics went smoothly.
Hanoi is the most unbelievably crazy city we have ever been in. All the small streets and alleys are packed with motor scooters, pedestrians and cars. The traffic is like water and one feels like Moses parting the red sea when you cross a street. Just don't stop. Hanoi is a tourist/shopper paradise and has the infrastructure to support it. Shops quote you prices in dollars and people speak English and French. This part of Vietnam has the service industry down-it is so different than China. And we must say thank you to the French for leaving a legacy of wonderful pastries and unbelievably good coffee.
Hanoi is the most unbelievably crazy city we have ever been in. All the small streets and alleys are packed with motor scooters, pedestrians and cars. The traffic is like water and one feels like Moses parting the red sea when you cross a street. Just don't stop. Hanoi is a tourist/shopper paradise and has the infrastructure to support it. Shops quote you prices in dollars and people speak English and French. This part of Vietnam has the service industry down-it is so different than China. And we must say thank you to the French for leaving a legacy of wonderful pastries and unbelievably good coffee.
Yangshuo and Li's 6th Birthday
On the web site the Riverside Retreat looked lovely, just 4km from Yangshuo with views of the Li River and flowers all around. Indeed it was lovely and FREEZING! The stone floors radiated cold. Luckily our rooms had heaters that brought the temperature up enough that you couldn't see your breath. You can imagine getting Li to take a bath was a challenge.
Luckily our host and tour guide Kate was gracious and accommodating. The first day our friend Bob Klaw and Steve went off exploring the town and surrounding area dressed for arctic conditions. Li was pretty sniffly so Bob's wife Naomi and I opted for spending time in the kitchen learning local dishes from the cook and massages from the masseuse who came to our hotel room. Mine was relaxing for about 20 minutes until Li came in having vomited all over during her nap! The next day we braved tourist alley and shopped in town. Most importantly we found fleece lined pants for Li that she would wear! Bob and Steve went to a local clinic to watch the medicine and were intrigued by one doctor and horrified by another. Both vowed not to get injured on this trip.
The next day we decided to go rafting on a bamboo raft on the Li River. Since it was Li's birthday what better way to celebrate than making her freeze on a boat on a river! But is is her river... A brisk walk through the rice fields to warm up and all was well. That night Naomi and I shivered in the kitchen watching the cook make dinner-that meant we could avoid eating the snails that Bob and Li devoured. Post dinner we celebrated with cake and a bottle of wine. Li didn't like the wine, but approved of the cake.
Yangshuo truly is beautiful and I can imagine it would be delightful to walk through the karst hills-in the spring!
Luckily our host and tour guide Kate was gracious and accommodating. The first day our friend Bob Klaw and Steve went off exploring the town and surrounding area dressed for arctic conditions. Li was pretty sniffly so Bob's wife Naomi and I opted for spending time in the kitchen learning local dishes from the cook and massages from the masseuse who came to our hotel room. Mine was relaxing for about 20 minutes until Li came in having vomited all over during her nap! The next day we braved tourist alley and shopped in town. Most importantly we found fleece lined pants for Li that she would wear! Bob and Steve went to a local clinic to watch the medicine and were intrigued by one doctor and horrified by another. Both vowed not to get injured on this trip.
The next day we decided to go rafting on a bamboo raft on the Li River. Since it was Li's birthday what better way to celebrate than making her freeze on a boat on a river! But is is her river... A brisk walk through the rice fields to warm up and all was well. That night Naomi and I shivered in the kitchen watching the cook make dinner-that meant we could avoid eating the snails that Bob and Li devoured. Post dinner we celebrated with cake and a bottle of wine. Li didn't like the wine, but approved of the cake.
Yangshuo truly is beautiful and I can imagine it would be delightful to walk through the karst hills-in the spring!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
A Visit to Li's Orphanage
We arrived in Guilin today. The cold and rain is a bit brutal after a week at the beach in Sanya! Apparently we brought the rain. We had a single goal in Guilin-to visit Li’s orphanage and to view her adoption file.
Our adoption agency representative from 5 years ago was able to set up a visit to the orphanage and arrange a translator which all worked very smoothly. We went from the hotel to the Orphanage with our translator and met with two women who do all the babies’ files. The older one "remembered" Li, or was at least there 5 years ago. She remembered my mother visiting 2 years ago and I had a picture of them together. We met the man who named Li and learned that he meant for her middle name to mean "strong jade" (we were told precious jade originally)-that was great because most people can't translate the Chinese character for her middle name Yao. We saw the Playroom built by a charitable group called Half the Sky, one of the young children's playrooms and one baby room-all from the outside. We looked at Li’s file which had very little in it and no information we didn't know. We did take a picture of the only picture in her file, one we had never seen. The staff seemed content to see us but not overly excited. It seemed pretty routine for them. Our translator does adoption work in Guangzhou and was home in Guilin on vacation. He was young and nice. The whole tone was very easy going. We joked with the man who named Li (who must be 30 at tops) who drives the babies and runs errands etc. No one had any real emotional response. We drove by her finding place but in the past 5 years it has been converted from a hospital to an apartment building so we could only take pictures from the outside. We asked about her foster mother (who she was only with for a month and we never knew her name). We asked if she was still caring for babies. They said that they weren't allowed to give us a name and they had forgotten who it was and many of the foster families from 5 years ago no longer took kids.
I am not sure what we expected, but I think it was what happened. We learned a few tidbits, but nothing more. Li didn't feel any connection and we weren't allowed to go into any of the rooms with kids. We were definitely shown the model rooms. I think also being in China for 4 months has made so many things feel routine that there were no big surprises to be had. Perhaps if we had been with a group gearing up for this visit we would have been allowed to spend more time or actually go into rooms with babies, but they were certainly not offering us that opportunity.
We are glad we had the chance to visit and take some pictures. Perhaps we can return when Li is older and she may have a stronger response to the place she spent the first 10 months of her life.
Our adoption agency representative from 5 years ago was able to set up a visit to the orphanage and arrange a translator which all worked very smoothly. We went from the hotel to the Orphanage with our translator and met with two women who do all the babies’ files. The older one "remembered" Li, or was at least there 5 years ago. She remembered my mother visiting 2 years ago and I had a picture of them together. We met the man who named Li and learned that he meant for her middle name to mean "strong jade" (we were told precious jade originally)-that was great because most people can't translate the Chinese character for her middle name Yao. We saw the Playroom built by a charitable group called Half the Sky, one of the young children's playrooms and one baby room-all from the outside. We looked at Li’s file which had very little in it and no information we didn't know. We did take a picture of the only picture in her file, one we had never seen. The staff seemed content to see us but not overly excited. It seemed pretty routine for them. Our translator does adoption work in Guangzhou and was home in Guilin on vacation. He was young and nice. The whole tone was very easy going. We joked with the man who named Li (who must be 30 at tops) who drives the babies and runs errands etc. No one had any real emotional response. We drove by her finding place but in the past 5 years it has been converted from a hospital to an apartment building so we could only take pictures from the outside. We asked about her foster mother (who she was only with for a month and we never knew her name). We asked if she was still caring for babies. They said that they weren't allowed to give us a name and they had forgotten who it was and many of the foster families from 5 years ago no longer took kids.
I am not sure what we expected, but I think it was what happened. We learned a few tidbits, but nothing more. Li didn't feel any connection and we weren't allowed to go into any of the rooms with kids. We were definitely shown the model rooms. I think also being in China for 4 months has made so many things feel routine that there were no big surprises to be had. Perhaps if we had been with a group gearing up for this visit we would have been allowed to spend more time or actually go into rooms with babies, but they were certainly not offering us that opportunity.
We are glad we had the chance to visit and take some pictures. Perhaps we can return when Li is older and she may have a stronger response to the place she spent the first 10 months of her life.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Sanya and the $7 Massage
Sanya is known as the "Hawaii" of China. Though we haven't explored to our usual extent, the 17km of white sand beach lined with palm trees makes a pretty good approximation. We found a great hotel right across the street from the beach complete with hot tub and faux roses entwined in the bedroom lamp. After 4 months without water Li has turned into a fish again has been braving the waves and playing in the ocean. Yesterday she surprised us both by swimming under water and scooping up a handful of sand complete with a starfish. Her surprise and subsequent scream resulted in a lucky escape for the starfish.
Sanya is apparently a pilgrimage location for Russians trying to escape the frigid north. Restaurants and shops here offer menus in Russian and cater to Russian tastes including borsht and oxtail soup. Most of the Russians congregate in another part of the city so we are not surrounded by too many overweight Caucasians in small swimsuits.
Last night I followed the advice of our hotel proprietor and went to the Jade Massage Saloon for a 60 minute foot massage ("for your health" he said, who was I to argue?). My family left me wearing pink slippers heading upstairs into the unknown. After being shown into a private room with an overstuffed armchair and ottoman a young, admittedly quite handsome, and very muscular man came in with a tub of steaming water. I mistakenly assumed he was simply the labor to move the water tubs around, but no, he was indeed my masseuse. Thor is really the only name that does him justice. Step one was a 20 minute neck and back massage while sitting on the ottoman and soaking my feet in water mixed with Chinese brown herb. Step two was another 50 minutes of foot massage, lotion, more massage, etc. Don't get too excited about the etc., "Thor" did not speak nor make eye contact with me the entire time. At the end of my session he removed the dirty bucket of water and towels, and then returned promptly with a new bucket of steaming water. Thereupon he proceeded to wash my feet and lower legs with clean hot water. It's quite an image to be sitting with your feet in hot water and have a lovely young man wash them. Anyway, for $7 it's worth another go round! Good for my health.
We will be sad to leave the slow, relaxing pace of Sanya, but there are more adventures to be had.
Sanya is apparently a pilgrimage location for Russians trying to escape the frigid north. Restaurants and shops here offer menus in Russian and cater to Russian tastes including borsht and oxtail soup. Most of the Russians congregate in another part of the city so we are not surrounded by too many overweight Caucasians in small swimsuits.
Last night I followed the advice of our hotel proprietor and went to the Jade Massage Saloon for a 60 minute foot massage ("for your health" he said, who was I to argue?). My family left me wearing pink slippers heading upstairs into the unknown. After being shown into a private room with an overstuffed armchair and ottoman a young, admittedly quite handsome, and very muscular man came in with a tub of steaming water. I mistakenly assumed he was simply the labor to move the water tubs around, but no, he was indeed my masseuse. Thor is really the only name that does him justice. Step one was a 20 minute neck and back massage while sitting on the ottoman and soaking my feet in water mixed with Chinese brown herb. Step two was another 50 minutes of foot massage, lotion, more massage, etc. Don't get too excited about the etc., "Thor" did not speak nor make eye contact with me the entire time. At the end of my session he removed the dirty bucket of water and towels, and then returned promptly with a new bucket of steaming water. Thereupon he proceeded to wash my feet and lower legs with clean hot water. It's quite an image to be sitting with your feet in hot water and have a lovely young man wash them. Anyway, for $7 it's worth another go round! Good for my health.
We will be sad to leave the slow, relaxing pace of Sanya, but there are more adventures to be had.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Xiamen the Seaside Town
We have acquired a new pattern of seeing places, we call it the mystery tour. Each day we set out with a single destination. Each evening we realize we have walked 10K or so in pursuit of said destination and all the associated places it led to. It's much like surfing the web... We did it all in Xiamen: Temples, the University, the Island Guluangyu, the aquarium, the river, the birds, the fort, the beach, the flea market, the art gallery. Good thing we are handy with a bus map! Our friend Bea joined us for most of the week and as her Chinese is far superior to ours it was a great help! She, however, has no problem asking directions which makes Steve, map in hand, want to hide. As much fun as it is exploring cities, we are ready to stick with "Chinese towns". The verdict on Xiamen is, "Easy place to spend a week, expensive food, construction central." Next stop, the beach in Sanya.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Kunming or How Many Animals Can I Feed
We spent two days exploring Kunming while waiting for the Vietnamese Consulate to issue our visas. We guess we walked about 10 miles in 2 days. Li’s legs are burly. Yesterday we fed birds and fish, today we fed rabbits. We are trying to avoid any animals that could be rabies carriers.
Being in a bigger city really makes us appreciate how peaceful life is in Lijiang. Driving, or more accurately being driven is unbelievably hazardous. We witnessed our first traffic fatality today. It is surprising we haven’t seen more. It’s not clear what the rules of the road are, but the bus drivers certainly abide by the “might is right” theory. There are usually only inches between cars, buses, bicycles, motor scooters and pedestrians. It’s not clear that there really is a “safer” form of transportation. Off to Xiamen tomorrow.
Being in a bigger city really makes us appreciate how peaceful life is in Lijiang. Driving, or more accurately being driven is unbelievably hazardous. We witnessed our first traffic fatality today. It is surprising we haven’t seen more. It’s not clear what the rules of the road are, but the bus drivers certainly abide by the “might is right” theory. There are usually only inches between cars, buses, bicycles, motor scooters and pedestrians. It’s not clear that there really is a “safer” form of transportation. Off to Xiamen tomorrow.
End of Semester Craziness
Apparently our blog fan club has been complaining about our lack of recent entries. We will try and make up for our misbehavior during the next eight weeks of vacation!
The last few weeks have been full of end of semester responsibilities and hosting responsibilities. Our students diligently or not so diligently studied for their finals. A few of course emailed asking exactly what was going to be covered and when they were told that anything that was discussed in class or in the assigned reading could appear on the test they cried that was too much. Most of our students wouldn’t make it in an American College. Even they admit that high school was significantly harder than college.
In between finals we had the opportunity to host Jack and Jill in Kunming and Lijiang. First we got to see Grandma Jill give a talk at the Kunming Provincial Library. Li was excited to see her Grandma, though 90 minutes of astronomy talk was a bit much for her. We explored Kunming and Lijiang with them and celebrated Christmas in a low key way. Well it was low key except for the much anticipated Christmas Party (actually a misnamed Christmas show). This Party was thrown by the Dean of the English Department. Students had to try out to participate and there were many selective criteria. We were arm twisted into singing a rendition of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. The only one who really enjoyed it was Li who got to play Rudolph and wear red lipstick on her nose. We managed to leave the Party after an hour of loud music and flashing strobe lights. We couldn’t dodge a short television interview however and staff at the hotel Jack and Jill were staying at recognized us from the TV. Apparently the Party went until 11:30pm.
We did manage to visit the First bend of the Yangtze and Tiger Leaping Gorge with Jack and Jill. Though it meant 5 hours in a minivan, to experience these sights without other tourists was really remarkable. Grandma Jill also got to experience a New Year’s performance at Li’s school-I think she is glad she doesn’t have 35 grandchildren.
After hours and hours of grading (not helped by the fact that Li did not have school), we turned in our grades, turned off the water in our apartment to fend off disaster, and headed out of town.
The last few weeks have been full of end of semester responsibilities and hosting responsibilities. Our students diligently or not so diligently studied for their finals. A few of course emailed asking exactly what was going to be covered and when they were told that anything that was discussed in class or in the assigned reading could appear on the test they cried that was too much. Most of our students wouldn’t make it in an American College. Even they admit that high school was significantly harder than college.
In between finals we had the opportunity to host Jack and Jill in Kunming and Lijiang. First we got to see Grandma Jill give a talk at the Kunming Provincial Library. Li was excited to see her Grandma, though 90 minutes of astronomy talk was a bit much for her. We explored Kunming and Lijiang with them and celebrated Christmas in a low key way. Well it was low key except for the much anticipated Christmas Party (actually a misnamed Christmas show). This Party was thrown by the Dean of the English Department. Students had to try out to participate and there were many selective criteria. We were arm twisted into singing a rendition of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. The only one who really enjoyed it was Li who got to play Rudolph and wear red lipstick on her nose. We managed to leave the Party after an hour of loud music and flashing strobe lights. We couldn’t dodge a short television interview however and staff at the hotel Jack and Jill were staying at recognized us from the TV. Apparently the Party went until 11:30pm.
We did manage to visit the First bend of the Yangtze and Tiger Leaping Gorge with Jack and Jill. Though it meant 5 hours in a minivan, to experience these sights without other tourists was really remarkable. Grandma Jill also got to experience a New Year’s performance at Li’s school-I think she is glad she doesn’t have 35 grandchildren.
After hours and hours of grading (not helped by the fact that Li did not have school), we turned in our grades, turned off the water in our apartment to fend off disaster, and headed out of town.
A Typical Friday Afternoon
This is a synopsis of a meeting we had last Friday. This meeting was called by the Dean of the English Department and all foreign and Chinese English teachers were required to attend as well as select students. Teachers who had regularly scheduled classes were forced to cancel their classes and required to schedule a time to make them up (note, the foreign teachers all have their finals next week).
The meeting was really a lecture by said Dean. The topic of the lecture was "Learner Autonomy". I should say that some of the ideas contained in this lecture were good, but they were self evident to anyone who is accustomed to a western style of education. The basic message was students need to develop personal responsibility for their own learning and teachers need to actively engage students in the learning process. Of course we had to sit through 40 PPT slides, each one containing two complete paragraphs of text, to get this message.
The lecture was held in a large auditorium style room. And as I have come to learn, the fact that the audience of 300 people were eating, talking, grading papers, reading books, and otherwise seemingly not paying attention is quite normal. The Dean nevertheless claimed he was in control and loudly read every single word on every single PPT slide pointing at each one with a large bamboo stick. Can you say power trip? He completely ignored the one individual who tried to ask a question, because, after all, it was his talk.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from his slides (note the fact that in spite of the presence of 8 native English speakers on campus he did ask anyone to proofread his slides):
"self-realizationist"
"self-discontented"
"Students abuse their privileges of independence and freedom, waste time at will."
"The students reflection shows their confusion about they can learn efficiently."
"Learning is the goal of teaching."
"Students should be dominated in the classroom."
"Arouse students..."
"Integrant and together cultivate..."
"However studying should occupy all of the free time on the schedule. It is important to set aside time for relaxation, hobbies and entertainment as well."
"If you as a University student fail to do an assignment, or miss classes, you should be disciplined by yourself or by the Department." (self-flagellation anyone?)
This last really highlights the experience here. We are teaching 20 year-olds as if they are in high school. We take attendance at every class. Monitors assess whether students go to class at night and the mandatory reading period at 7:30am. Students cheat freely and are supported by their teachers in copying things from the internet-even their senior thesis papers. These students have no experience with time management or work prioritization. You can fail 4-5 of your 9 classes in a semester and be allowed to continue. Each student in each major takes exactly the same classes, whether or not they passed the previous year's class in that subject. Their world revolves around passing the national exam in their subject area so they spend their time memorizing vocabulary and answering fill in the blank style questions. Foreign languages are taught by teaching separate classes in: Listening, Dictation, Reading, Writing and Speaking. Even the Dean acknowledged in his talk this was simply because this is how the textbooks are written and it is easier to assign teachers to classes that way, but it doesn't work. He didn't say anything about changing it however.
Welcome to China.
The meeting was really a lecture by said Dean. The topic of the lecture was "Learner Autonomy". I should say that some of the ideas contained in this lecture were good, but they were self evident to anyone who is accustomed to a western style of education. The basic message was students need to develop personal responsibility for their own learning and teachers need to actively engage students in the learning process. Of course we had to sit through 40 PPT slides, each one containing two complete paragraphs of text, to get this message.
The lecture was held in a large auditorium style room. And as I have come to learn, the fact that the audience of 300 people were eating, talking, grading papers, reading books, and otherwise seemingly not paying attention is quite normal. The Dean nevertheless claimed he was in control and loudly read every single word on every single PPT slide pointing at each one with a large bamboo stick. Can you say power trip? He completely ignored the one individual who tried to ask a question, because, after all, it was his talk.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from his slides (note the fact that in spite of the presence of 8 native English speakers on campus he did ask anyone to proofread his slides):
"self-realizationist"
"self-discontented"
"Students abuse their privileges of independence and freedom, waste time at will."
"The students reflection shows their confusion about they can learn efficiently."
"Learning is the goal of teaching."
"Students should be dominated in the classroom."
"Arouse students..."
"Integrant and together cultivate..."
"However studying should occupy all of the free time on the schedule. It is important to set aside time for relaxation, hobbies and entertainment as well."
"If you as a University student fail to do an assignment, or miss classes, you should be disciplined by yourself or by the Department." (self-flagellation anyone?)
This last really highlights the experience here. We are teaching 20 year-olds as if they are in high school. We take attendance at every class. Monitors assess whether students go to class at night and the mandatory reading period at 7:30am. Students cheat freely and are supported by their teachers in copying things from the internet-even their senior thesis papers. These students have no experience with time management or work prioritization. You can fail 4-5 of your 9 classes in a semester and be allowed to continue. Each student in each major takes exactly the same classes, whether or not they passed the previous year's class in that subject. Their world revolves around passing the national exam in their subject area so they spend their time memorizing vocabulary and answering fill in the blank style questions. Foreign languages are taught by teaching separate classes in: Listening, Dictation, Reading, Writing and Speaking. Even the Dean acknowledged in his talk this was simply because this is how the textbooks are written and it is easier to assign teachers to classes that way, but it doesn't work. He didn't say anything about changing it however.
Welcome to China.
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