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The Gloomy Monsoony

Hello all readers,
We went for a quick get-a-way this week end to Huangshan or also known as the Yellow Mountains. We figured it got that name from mountains being covered with bamboo forests that look fuzzy and yellowish. It was a six hour bus ride through some very winding roads to get there but there was some spectacular views along the way
Before we left we went to the 4Th anniversary of the Indian Kitchen, the only local Indian restaurant in Hefei, and had a scrupulous buffet there. They had belly dancers and Michel Jackson impersonators, sometime at the same time. They also had a give-a-way the we got a large jar of curry paste. It looks really good but we don't have a kitchen or anything to make it with.
Huangshan was extremely beautiful. It has very steep mountains covered in green except for some jagged rock faces and tall waterfalls. The hostel we stayed at was pretty junkie. It cost us 10 dollars a night. but it had a good location from the national park. Saturday we arrived in the afternoon and road on a rickshaw motorcycle contraption to See some beautiful pools and water falls. The pictures we took didn't do justice. It was also the place where Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was filmed.
At night we just walked around town and got a bite to eat. The main delicacy is frog in Huangshan but me and Aundi wimped out and ate some cashew chicken and bamboo. The town was very gloomy and looked kinda sad even though it was surrounded by gorgeous mountains.
The next day we woke up early to ride to the top of the mountain on a cable car. when we got to the bottom it was raining buckets and it stayed that way for the rest of the day. We weren't able to go to the top because of lightning but we really wouldn't want to. you can't see much of the beauty when it is raining anyways. We spent most of the day drying off and playing cards.
We will have to do the hike another weekend and we will check the weather before we go.


Now I writing a couple of days latter from the top section. I apologize for my slothfulness at updating our blog. Aundi is much better at this stuff than I am.
This weekend we are leaving for Guilin. It is our week long vacation and is going to be a blast. We are flying there and taking a train the way back. the train will take 26 hours and the flight is only 2. Aundi will do a fantastic job at telling you how much fun it was next week.
We had fun going to the market this week also. We bought some more junk to bring home and I'm amazed at how huge the market is. Its like 4 city blocks and 7 stories in some places of crammed together little shops. You can get almost anything you want and million of things you would never want. It is fun and you get to meet a lot of neat people. We also chilled at a park and played with pigeons for a while.
Thanks for reading and we'll write to you in the future.
With regards,
Ted & Aundi

looka, looka

Another way of saying,"keep off the grass."

A Bonus for your viewing pleasure

Back from Beijing

We went to Beijing last week. We left Wednesday night, and got back really early Monday morning. As most of you know, Beijing is ginormous. There are about 14 million people who live there. That is a whole lot bigger than New York. Soon after arriving there, we went to the hostel where we stayed. It was really hard to find a cab. It wasn't that there wasn't enough taxis, its just that they didn't want to take us. We basically had to get on our knees to get someone to let us in. The driver that took us had to stop and ask for directions three times. I really don't blame him, either. Our hostel was deep in a tangled web of obscure alleyways. We were relieved to get there, and even more relieved that they had small cards with directions to the hostel that we could give to the cab drivers.

There is a lot to do in Beijing, and we did a lot. There are a lot of cool things that we missed, but we got to see what the savvy travelers like to call "the big five". It consists of The Great Wall (of course), Tianmen square(I don't know why), The Forbidden City, Summer Palace, and Temple of Heaven.

Temple of Heaven was the first thing that we saw. It was really beautiful, and really big. We had a good look around, and took lots of pictures. After that we went to a pearl market, and I didn't see a single pearl. However I did see a lot of Chinese women looking at me and saying,"Hi Lady, you want cashmere scarf?" or "Looka, Looka, Looka, I have Rolex." Nah, no thanks. (However, if anyone wants ANY cheap knock offs of ANYTHING, I'm pretty sure I can help you out.) Ted and I have created a new language for such merchandise. Anything that is reproduced to look exactly like the name it is boasting is stripped of its first letter, and replaced with an "F". So if I were looking at some "Puma" shoes, we would call them "Fumas". Of course the "F" stands for fake. I'm sure you get the picture.

Friday morning we woke up at five in the morning to go to the flag raising ceremony at Tianmen square. A member of our party said that one of her friends did this, and said it was one of the coolest, most spiritual moments of his life. So, like sheep we followed. To those who might visit Beijing, and might think that this is something that they want to do: do not be fooled. Stay in your nice warm bed and sleep till nine. First of all, Tianmen square is nothing but a huge concrete square with a flag pole in the center. I know that a bunch (by a bunch I mean an unknown number in the thousands) of people were killed there in the 80's and that there are no pictures or documentation of this event, but that is not something that is significantly thrilling to me. Staying in my bed happens to be significantly thrilling. But, we got up for the flag ceremony, and we watched soldiers march and we watched the flag of China rise to their anthem. However, I did get a good sunrise picture out of it. Later that day we went to the Forbidden city. That was pretty cool, a little overpriced perhaps, but cool. A lot of the buildings were closed because they are renovating for the Olympics, hence the up in price. After that we caught a bus that took us to Summer Palace. I think this was the best part of that day. It was a really peaceful place. We spent the afternoon exploring beautiful ancient buildings built into a hillside. It was well worth the trip.

On Saturday we went to the Great Wall. We got up early in the morning, and got on a bus that we had arranged to take us the night before. It was a three hour ride to the section of the wall that we were going to, and it was an exciting one. The road there was a windy, hilly two lane highway. However, the Chinese turned it into a four lane river of madness. Cars weaved in and out of any lane they wanted. On numerous occasions our bus driver would floor the gas and try and pass people. One time was especially memorable. Our driver mashed down the pedal and began to pass a huge dump truck with an oncoming car in plain sight. By the way, the bus is gutless. No power at all. So we get up to about 55 mph in about 35 seconds, and this other car is still coming right at us, and picking up speed. I thought for sure that somebody would back down, but all trucks kept on truckin'. Horns blared and lights flashed, but everyone stuck to their guns. It wasn't until we could see the facial features of the driver of the oncoming car, that our driver decided he needed to slam on the brakes. Oh, what a rush. But, we got to the wall safe, thank goodness. We went to a section called Jing Shang Lin and hiked to another section called Simatai. It was about a six mile hike of steep stairs going up, and steep stairs going down.

It was so gorgeous. I always new that the Great Wall was huge, but I didn't realise that it went over such extreme terrain. From our hike we could see the wall for many miles, and it followed the ridge line of some very steep and jagged mountains. They almost looked like the Sawtooth Mountains. It was a pretty hard hike, but we managed just fine. We stopped a lot to take pictures. Along the wall we met this old Chinese woman. She and another sketchy looking guy followed us for about 45 minutes. They didn't talk to us for the first ten minutes, and I was a little worried that they might try to steal our stuff and throw us off the wall or something. But, she was actually quite friendly and knew pretty good English. It took me a while to figure out why she was following us, and my suspicions were confirmed after we met the halfway mark. She pointed out a small trail that led down into the valley. " I go home now." I said good bye, and she said, "Wait, you but book. Great Wall book." She had followed us up and down, and up and down, just to sell us a book. I wish she would have brought it up sooner to save her the trouble.

Hope that everyone is well and happy. Thanks for reading and keeping in touch!

-a.

the ole' april fools gag

Okay, okay. I'm not really pregnant. It was just a fools hoax. Gosh, just trying to have some fun.

Funn translation for this week

Another curious trash can.

China is full of surprises

Ted, Steve and I on the roller coasters.

Ted and Steve are on the far right, screaming their heads off.

Well, we had a fun week this week. We bought a bicycle to ride around on while we are here. Ted pedals, and I sit side saddle on the back rack. The bike ended up to be twenty dollars, but by the time we got all the kinks fixed, they should have paid us to take it off their hands. Let's just say we won't be bringing it back to the states with us. I think my dad would spit on it.

We didn't go on any excursions this weekend. We planned to go to the yellow mountains, but we had some big rain come our way. So, we just stayed in our city and explored. We were quite pleased with what we found. We went out to eat at the Holiday Inn here. There is a great Indian restaurant there on the third floor. They also have a Charlie Chaplin themed bar on the 4th floor, and a revolving restaurant on the very top floor.

Yesterday we found a small amusement park in the center of the city. It was pretty weak sauce, but it was fun. The most thrilling part about it was the fear of a mechanical malfunction. The rides were pretty old, and a bit jerky. The last ride we went on was a little roller coaster. We went around the track three times the first time. When we boarded the cars a man was running the ride. When we got back to the beginning there were three girls running it, and none of them looked to be older than ten. Ted and I were sitting in the front. They used a long bamboo stick to unlock our "safety" bar, and told us to move towards the back. We were on the ride for about twenty minutes. These little girls would move any passengers off besides us. We actually had to plead with them to let us off. It was a fun little coaster, but it was so jerky. Ted still has a headache from it. Also inside of the park was a zoo, an alligator exhibit/show (it looked awfully scary), a place to rent boats, and a paint ball course. The signs read "pautball", which confused us for a while. It was really cheap to play, so we might have to give that a try.

We leave for Beijing on Wednesday. I am really excited to see the Great wall, and all the other cool things this city has to offer. The vacations are such a lifesaver! Teaching is pretty challenging. The kids are very intelligent, but what they have in smarts, they also have in naughtiness. But, if I were them, I'm sure I would be a hellion too. They are very very good in their Chinese classes, or any time their Chinese teachers are looking. But as soon as the are in our hands, its helter skelter. They are in school from sun up to sun down. They get up at 6:00 am to march, and are in the classroom until about 7:00 at night. I'm sure they don't mind because that is all they know, but I know I'd be hating life if I had to do that.

Ted and I are doing really well. We miss chocolate chip cookies and Mexican food, but we are surviving. I have been kind of sick for the past couple weeks. I have been sick to my stomach, and smells have really been getting to me. I suspected that I might be pregnant, so I went about looking for a pregnancy test. That was quite the endeavor. Try and communicate that without speaking Chinese. I took the test last night and, I am pregnant. I don't really know how it happened, I've been taking the pill every day. I guess its just supposed to be. Like I said, China is full of surprises. So, life should be pretty different soon.

Until next time,

-a.

This is a really cool park they light up at night. I took this picture on a bridge that goes across the lake.