Hong Kong Delights

It is amazing how quickly humans adapt to new situations. As I've already mentioned, when we landed in China, we were inundated by a barrage of vehicles honking at each other. Part way through the trip, I stopped noticing the noise. But when we landed in Hong Kong, I noticed something different-- the silence. Really... I shouldn't call it "silence," it's not like it was quiet. But the people of Hong Kong are used to a British road system, and traffic is orderly like any other Western country. Honking was unusual, and suddenly it became jarring to hear a horn honk again.

Our three days in Hong Kong did not include a guided tour, so Tom and I decided to go uber-tourist, and bought Big Bus passes. The Big Bus routes went to all the places we wanted to see, and we could hop on and off when we liked.

Big Bus Tours of Hong Kong.

Tom and I on the Big Bus.

For our first day in the big city, we decided we'd like a change of pace, and headed to Repulse Bay for a beach day. Over 150 year ago, the bay had major problems with pirates raiding foreign merchant trips on their way to China. Eventually the British fleet repulsed the pirated from the area, thus earning the name, Repulse Bay. On the way to the Bay, we stopped in the town of Stanley for lunch and visited the bustling Stanley Market.

Repulse Bay beach.

Although the photo of the beach looks empty, it was crawling with tourists in the opposite direction. That is, crawling with fully dressed tourists. I had packed my bikini with me, but I would have been the only female in beach attire, so I stayed in my shorts and tank top while Tom went for a swim.

Tom swimming in Repulse Bay.

Me hanging out on the beach.

As we rode the Big Bus back into the city, we listened to commentary on the surrounding countryside and buildings through an audio system. We learned that the Lippo building is sometimes referred to as the "Koala Tree" because the building resembles a bunch of koalas hugging a tree.

Lippo Building, aka Koala Tree. 

Tom  informed me that in the movie, The Dark Knight, Batman jumped off the International Financial Center (IFC) building in Hong Kong-- we passed the IFC several times during our stay.

International Finance Centre.

We started our second day by enjoying the roof top pool in our hotel. The pool offered amazing views, but it was also freezing cold. The "hot tub" was also very cold, probably only a couple degrees warmer than the pool. We took a quick dip (less than 15 minutes) before heading back to our room to get ready.

Roof top pool at the Harbour Grand Kowloon.

Tom swimming in the hotel pool.

Next, Tom and I went to the Mid-Levels Escalators. Literally, an outdoor set of escalators that take you up a steep hill through trendy restaurants and shops. We wandered down Antique Road, and through the Central Market where locals can buy produce, seafood and meat. We saw some pigs heads in a butcher stall, but unfortunately, our photos came out blurry.

Seafood stall in Central Market.

In the later afternoon we joined the line for the Victoria Peak tram where we had to use a more aggressive tact.  The tram "line" was a bit of a free-for-all. Instead of an orderly line that you would see in Canada, people were pushing through the crowd and cutting off others in order to get on the tram. Once we finally got through and up to the top (about a 30 minute wait), we were treated to unobstructed views of the Hong Kong skyline.

Hong Kong skyline from Victoria Peak.

Tom and I timed our trip so that we arrived just before the sun started to set. We wanted to be able to go on the observation deck in the dark so we could take in the city lights.

In the morning we packed our bags and checked them at the hotel. We wandered through a garden full of photographers and turtles, before we settled on a restaurant to have a dim sum lunch.

Turtles in a park.

In the late afternoon we were relaxing in the airport lounge, ready for our flight home. Because Tom has travelled so much in the last year, he has reached "Elite" status with Air Canada, which gives us access to airport lounges in major airports. The lounges have comfortable chairs and a spread of food and beverages. I had an individual sized portion of chocolate ice cream, a can of mango juice with coconut jelly, and a Chinese pastry that is essentially a sesame ball filled with red bean paste. It was awesome.

I think I can speak for both of us when I saw, we were happy with our trip, but even happier to be heading home.

Our flights were uneventful, and we spent the next week battling jet lag. Now we're back to normal, and unfortunately... Back to reality.

City Life - Shanghai

On our first day of our trip in Beijing, I started to notice that people were staring at us. At first, I thought it was because of Tom's blonde hair. But later in the morning, a brave girl asked in broken English if she could take my picture-- and then I thought it was my curly hair. But as my Asian co-worker later told me, "They are taking pictures of you because you're a hybrid." Ha! Thanks, Ed.

In Shanghai, I felt like a walking circus spectacle. Chinese people are not subtle with staring-- or with taking "candid" pictures, and I was definitely the subject of much (unwanted) interest.

Shanghai Pudong district by day.

We landed at the Shanghai domestic airport, and were greeted by a mixture of rain, humidity and smog. Driving toward our hotel, it was difficult to see buildings in the distance because they were masked by a thick shroud of yellowish mist.

We stayed at the Howard Johnson Business Club, and it was by far the nicest hotel on our trip. The bed had a big comfortable Western-style (as opposed to the rock-hard mattresses we had previously experienced),  a stand up shower and separate bath tub in the washroom, and all the other amenities you could want.

After we settled into our hotel, Tom and I went in search of dinner. I had had a poor breakfast and a small lunch that day, and my hunger-related-anger was at it's worst. That is, I was irrationally emotional, and nearing complete meltdown.  We were looking for a specific restaurant, but we couldn't find it, and eventually made a snap decision to try a hot pot restaurant.

We had heard from multiple people that hot pot was delicious, but neither of us had given much thought to what it actually was. We ordered (what we thought) were two bowls of soup and dumplings. But you see... Hot pot is kind of like make-your-own-soup. You order your broth and all the fixings, and then you cook them by boiling them in your broth over a burner in your table.

Tray of hot pot garnishes.

Tom and I had no idea what we were doing, and the staff didn't speak English. What we had actually ordered were two giant bowls of broth and six wontons. We surmised our order was unusual because the staff kept giving us weird looks, bringing our order paper back and speaking to us in Chinese. After a lot of miming, and some patience from one excellent waitress, we finally figured out what was going on. And man, when we finally got it right, hot pot was delicious! The waitress also helped us cook some of our meal, so we made sure to give her a tip. She was clearly very excited,  and she was telling her coworkers as we were leaving.

Waitress helping us cook in our hot pot.

Following our hot pot adventure, we had a one day super-tour through Shanghai. We started in Shanghai Old Town at the Yuyuan Gardens, which were constructed during the Ming Dynasty in 1577. The gardens are considered a place for relaxation and reflection, and feature many koi ponds, rockeries and small courtyards.

Yuyuan Gardens, Shanghai.

Dragon wall in the Yuyuan Gardens.

Next, we walked through Shanghai Old Town; one of the few parts of the city that still retains ancient buildings. Old Town contains many stores and shops, as well as restaurants and food stands. Tom and I were amazed by the massive line coming from a steamed bun shop, and the crowds of residents and tourist in the streets. In Old Town, every other person we met tried to get us to buy fake Rolex's and Coach handbags.

Shanghai Old Town.

Our next stop was at the Shanghai Museum, which featured exhibits displaying ceramics, sculptures, ancient coins, bronze, calligraphy, paintings and jade. They were also hosting a Russian Faberge exhibit which was a nice change from the Chinese exhibits.

Marble Stairway in the Shanghai Museum.

The rest of the day was spent visiting the trendy shops and restaurants in the French Concession, strolling along the Bund District for pictures of the business Pudong district, and a silk factory where we poked silk worms, and wandered through the displays of silk bedding and clothing.

The following day, Tom and I decided to revisit some of the destinations from the previous day, but spend more time in each location.

Pudong District as seen by night.

In the evening, we took the metro into the Pudong District so we could ride up to the 97th "Observatory Bridge" in the Shanghai World Financial Tower. The floor of the observatory bridge is partially glass, and Tom was feeling a little anxious, but it turned out to be less intimidating than the glass floor in the CN Tower in Toronto. The World Financial Tower looks a bit like a giant bottle opener.

Shanghai World Financial Tower (left), Jin Mao Tower (center), Shanghai Tower (right)

When construction of the Shanghai Tower (featured on the right) is completed in 2014, it will be the tallest building in Shanghai. According to Wikipedia, these two buildings, together with the Jin Mao Tower (in the center), will form the world's first adjacent grouping of supertall skyscrapers.

On our way back to the hotel, we passed the bustling East Nanjing Road. This road is closed to vehicles, and was crawling with pedestrians going to the many shops and restaurants in the area.

East Nanjing Road.

In the morning, Tom was very excited at the prospect of taking the high-speed Maglev (magnetic levitation) train to the airport. We had our tour guide drop us off at the Maglev station so we could see what it was like to levitate at high speeds.

High speed Maglev train to the airport.

Maximum speed-- 430km/hr.

Shanghai was the last stop on our Charms of China tour. We spent the last few days of our trip in Hong Kong on our own before we headed back to Canada.

Guilin (say it "Gway-lin) in the Country

When we landed in Guilin, the temperature was about ten degrees warmer, the air must have been 95% more humid, and my hair, which I had straightened that morning (to match my passport photo) went absolutely insane.  The mass of frizz and curl was out of control... So I just let it do it's thing-- that is, walked around looking like a crazy person.

Our tour guide, Cassidy, addressed us politely as Mr. and Mrs. Greig (I am not sure if anyone has really called us that before), told us that we were a very young couple, and that she liked a Canadian named Alanis Morrisette. Then she took us on a whirlwind of activities.

Our first stop was in the Reed Flute Caves, a large network of caves karsted into a limestone hill. The caves were well labelled and highlighted with bright coloured lights. Some of the rock formations were named in hilarious Chinese English, like, "Cloudy Outside Window With Curtains" and "Centipede Frightened by Reflection in Magic Mirror."

Karst formation reflecting in a pool of water.

Next we visited Elephant Trunk Hill in the heart of Guilin city. It is a natural arch carved into a limestone hill on an island in the Li River. If you use your imagination, it looks like an elephant.

Elephant Trunk Hill.

We also indulged our tour guide in some promotion for her company. She said they were having some sort of photo competition.

China Travel Depot.com

Our last stop of the day was at an organic tea plantation where we sampled Osmnathus, Yellow, Oolong and compressed tea (a mixture of white, green, yellow and Jasmine tea, fermented and compressed). Somewhere in the rows of tea plants, Tom lost his mind, and paid $100 for a brick of compressed tea. The sales girl really upsold him on that.

Tea plantation.

Cassidy took us back to the city for dinner where we could sample Guilin cuisine. Specifically, spicy fish and rice noodles. We ordered four times too much food (no doubt the staff knew this, but wanted us to pay for it), so we invited the guide to eat with us.

Basket of crabs outside the restaurant.

There was no doubt the food was fresh, as we watched the server pluck a fish out of a giant bucket, and kill it for our meal. After dinner we saw that in addition to fish, there were also live turtles, crabs, snakes, ducks and some other kind of bird just waiting to be someones dinner. I don't like thinking about it!

The following day, we took a two hour drive to Longshen to view the famous Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces. The road was dusty, bumpy and windy, and we were thoroughly jostled when we arrived in the mountains. We hiked upward for about a kilometer past residents selling souvenirs and food from stalls to reach a lookout point above the terraces.

Bags of mushrooms and dried goods.

Little boy watching Spongebob Squarepants.

The day was misty, so we couldn't see far, but the view was still breathtaking. The Longshen rice terraces have been constructed by hand over the last six hundred years.

 Longshen Seven Stars and Moon rice terraces.

Tom and I at the rice terraces.

We had lunch in a little village and a local cooked it for us. I was a bit disturbed, because I am pretty sure they killed the chicken to feed us... And the resulting dish was basically boiled chicken chopped up with a cleaver. Every piece had bones, fat and gristle. Some of the meals we've had are very touristy and very reminiscent of Canadian Chinese food. But this time... I REALLY felt like we were in China.

Colourful peppers in the Longshen village.

On our last day in Guilin, we took a 4.5 hour cruise down the Li River. We were able to marvel at the "grotesque" karst peaks (a typo in the guide brochure). And marvel we did. The landscape around Guilin really may be some of the picturesque scenery in the world. We took hundreds of photos over the course of the day. We also shared our lunch table with a generous Korean couple who kept offering us Korean chocolates and mandarin oranges that they had brought with them. In return, we offered them one of our granola bars.

Karst topography on the Li River.

The scenery on the back of the $20 Yuan bill.

$20 Yuan bill.

Water buffalo on the Li River.

Our destination at the end of the Li River cruise was a small city called Yangshuo. Yangshuo's main industry is tourism, so we spent the afternoon shopping at souvenir stalls and taking in the atmosphere. In the evening, we went to see a show called, "Impressions" directed by the director of the 2008 Olympic Games Opening and Closing ceremonies. The show took place on a huge outdoor water stage, with the karst limestone peaks back lit in the background. It involved several hundred actors and dancers from the local school, as well as some participation from local fisherman.

In the morning, we took a two hour ride to the airport so we could move on to our last city in our Charms of China tour, Shanghai.

Xi'an (say it '"She-an"), Population 9 Million

For the rest of my life, when I think of Xi'an, the first thing that will come to mind is pollution. While driving from the airport to our hotel, we saw three coal power plants with smoke stacks pouring clouds of exhaust into the air.  Even in Beijing, the smog was not so bad, but in Xi'an, it was difficult to tell if it was a sunny or cloudy day.

Our tour allotted only one day in Xi'an, so we made the most of it, beginning at the Wild Goose Pagoda. The pagoda, seven stories high and leaning slightly to the west, is now empty, but the temple and surrounding grounds are home to about 200 Buddhist monks.

Wild Goose Pagoda.

We watched visitors lighting candles and incense, and offering prayers to the numerous Buddha statues within the walls of the temple. A large board full of wishes could be seen in one corner. The monks burn the wishes so that your wish will come true.

Wish board.

Later in the afternoon, we made our way to a terracotta factory where we could see where the terracotta warrior replicas are made. This type of stop on the tour is basically a giant tourist trap, but we were willing victims.

Cheesy tourist photo op.

It was actually pretty interesting to see that the replica warriors are made with molds, but the real warriors were made by hand.

A shelf full of molded terracotta warriors.

As you probably guessed, our next stop was the Terracotta Warrior museum. The warriors had been lost to historians until 1974, when the first pit was accidentally discovered by farmers. Since then, two more pits have been discovered, and massive structures have been erected over the dig sites to preserve and protect them. While the other farmers have since passed away, one of the farmers was in the museum-- ready to sign his autograph if you bought a book.

I wasn't prepared for what was waiting for us in pit No. 1. Over 6000 life sized warriors aligned in battle formation.

Terracotta Warriors in Pit No. 1

Zooming in, you could see that warriors have different facial features and facial hair. Even their clothing and armour is different! The detail is fascinating and impressive.

A close-up of several warriors.

We wound our way through the museum and got up close to the various types of warriors preserved in glass cases. There are kneeling archers, standing archers, horsemen, horses, middle ranking officials and generals. Some of the warriors had faint colours preserved on their clothing, and the horses reigns were made of filaments of metal. At one time, there were also wooden chariots, but those were burned many years before. All the remained were the metal pieces from the chariots.

We wrapped up our day by snapping a few quick pictures of the giant warrior sculpture in the courtyard of our hotel. It must have been at least three stories high!

Imposing hotel warriors.

We were happy to leave the smog behind.

Next stop, Guilin!

Charms of China - Beijing

China is 14 hours ahead of Canada. And no matter how you spin it, Tom and I were exhausted when we arrived in Beijing. Our flight through Vancouver and on to Beijing was blissfully uneventful, but we were both looking forward to crawling into bed and getting a good sleep. Imagine our surprise, when our tour guide picked us up in the airport, and we then spent two hours in traffic. Traffic. I will never be able to think of bad traffic the same way again. The amalgamation of cars, buses, trucks, bicycles, motorcycles and pedestrians in one chaotic mass of merging lanes and honking horns was overwhelming. In some ways, the Chinese are the worst drivers I have ever seen-- but at the same time, they must be the best drivers too. They appear to have a 360 degree awareness of everything going on around them, and they are all so nonchalant about it!

Our first day in Beijing started the same as many to come-- with a breakfast buffet in the hotel. Most hotels have a Western/Chinese mixed buffet, so fried rice next to waffles is not a surprise. In fact, as the days progressed in our tour, I started to enjoy my morning fried rice.

Each day had a busy itinerary. Much to our surprise, our tour guide, Rebecca, informed us that we were the only two who had booked this particular tour, so we would have a personal guide for the entire 13 days.

On our first day, we went to Tianamen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, a pearl market, and finished off the day at a Chinese King Fu Show.

Tian'amen Square was crawling with tourists and giant tour groups. The tour guides were hollering through bullhorns and waving flags so that the tourists could locate them in the crowd. Some groups were wearing matching hats for the same reason.

Tom and I were amazed by the shear size of the Forbidden City. With six different layers, we went from one to the next while we learned about the uses of each building with respect to the emperor and his family. The intricate marble carvings and decorative paintings were everywhere!

Marble bridge in the Forbidden City.

Outside the Forbidden City, a senior was hanging out entertaining himself, and others. He had a mass of fabric rings, and he convinced Tom to play a game with him. From about 5-7m away, he would throw the rings at Tom, and Tom would catch them around his head. At the end, he laid out his rings to make the Olympic symbol, and gave us his address so we could send him a picture. He has a huge mass of pictures from tourists like us with him.

Old man entertains us!

By the second day, I had become a serious toilet paper hoarder. It never occurred to me that TP would be considered a luxury in China It is very rare to find toilet paper in any public washrooms, so I compulsively stuff every pair of pants and shorts or jacket pocket with toilet paper and tissue. And while I am on the topic of toilets... This trip was also my first experience with squat toilets! Squat toilets are not glamorous, and they are never clean. That's all I am going to say about them.

Moving on!

On our second day, we visited the Ming Tombs, and went to a jade workshop. The sculptures and carvings made from jade were truly remarkable. In the afternoon, we drove out to see one of the highlights of our trip-- the Great Wall of China. I was so excited when we pulled up in the parking lot. Seeing the length of the wall stretch out into the landscape is spectacular, and Tom and I took hundreds of pictures while we hiked up the steep stone stairs. We decided that the soldiers manning the guard houses would have had to have been in great shape, otherwise they would have been done for if they had to run up and down the steps during an attack!

Great Wall of China.

Great Wall of China.

On our final day in Beijing, we took a rickshaw around the narrow alleyways known as Hutongs. In this area of the city, some residents open their homes up to foreigners and cook lunch as a source of income. We ate a tasty meal in the home of a lady who owned a small white dog. When we first arrived, the dog was no where to be seen (only photos of it on the wall), but the dog arrived about 2/3 of the way through our meal. It's ears were dyed yellow, and it was wearing a bumblebee costume. It may have been one of the most ridiculous things that I have ever seen. It was also one of the least friendly dogs I have ever met. It barked angrily until we left.

Tom and I in a rickshaw.

Little dog in bee costume.

After lunch, we spent the afternoon roaming the 700-acre Summer Palace. This was basically the Emperor's summer house. In the summer it became too hot in the Forbidden City, so he would move to the Summer Palace which is built beside a lake. The breeze coming off the lake would keep temperatures a bit cooler. Many of the buildings in the summer palace are replicas that were rebuilt after they were burnt down in the 1800's by the French and British.

Summer Palace buildings.

800m walkway in the Summer Palace.

From the Summer Palace, we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Xi'an. It was a little bit of a culture shock (not as much as we expected), but three days in Beijing, well spent.

Packed!

We have finally got the last of our clothing packed for China, and we are off bright and early tomorrow morning. We will fly to Vancouver, and then Vancouver direct to Beijing.

I planned to blog while we are gone, but as a co-worker pointed out to me (thanks, Cole), China has strict internet censorship, and blogspot.com is blocked in China. This means I won't be able to log into my blog until we make it to Hong Kong on October 25.

So... There will be a bit of a hiatus until then. But stay tuned! There will be many posts to come.

Wheat Free Me

Photo Credit

For the last few years, I have been having problems with my digestion. It has been out of wack, and several trips to the doctor proved to be fruitless, so I had basically become resigned to the fact that it would probably never go back to normal.

In the spring, I ran into someone who recommended I give a nutritionist a try. She said that she had had similar problems for most of her life, and the nutrionist had suggested some changes to her diet which had cleared up her problems. I thought I might as well give it a shot.

About 2.5 weeks ago, I went to see the nutrionist, and she suggested that I should cut out food that are difficult to digest. For example, raw broccoli, cauliflower and peas, anything acidic like citrus fruit and coffee, and finally, wheat products.

So for the last two and half weeks, I have been doing my best to be wheat free.

Although wheat free is not quite gluten free, it is close, and I have been trying a lot of gluten free options. I didn't find the first week too difficult, but since then, it has been more and more torturous.

For breakfast, I used to eat yogurt with some cereal that would act like a granola. The cereal contained wheat, so I have switched to a corn-based gluten free granola. This has been my favorite of all the substitutes I've had to use.

Corn-based gluten free granola.

I have also had to cut out my morning cup of coffee. I only have one cup, and I don't even drink it for the caffeine. I have just developed a taste for something warm and creamy in the morning. Instead, I have been drinking tea, but it just doesn't give me the same satisfaction as good ol' coffee.

For a morning snack, I almost always ate a granola bar-- which, you guessed it! Contained wheat. I have managed to find a few rice-based substitutes, (they have a consistency of a Rice Krispie square), but are not particularly tasty.  I've also taken to storing rice cakes and peanut butter in my office as another quick alternative.

Rice cakes and peanut butter.

The bread in my sandwiches has been replaced by 100% corn tortillas, which will never, ever be my favorite. And the biggest sacrifice is my wheat pasta... I love pasta. Tom and I eat pasta almost every week. 

First we tried rice pasta-- which wasn't terrible. It was just a little chewier or gummier in texture. But next we tried quinoa pasta, and it has a surprisingly similar texture and taste to wheat pasta.

Quinoa pasta.

The last few weeks have definitely been a trial. In particular, the Thanksgiving weekend was a struggle. Turkey stuffing has never smelled so good in my entire life! And in one case, I had to scrape the pumpkin filling off the pie in order to eat it.

But not all things have been terrible. In fact, on Saturday, Jeff had us over for a gluten free BBQ. And by "BBQ" I mean extensive multi-dish meal. There were pork ribs, potatoes and mushrooms, asparagus, tomato salad, polenta and spaghetti squash. And to top it all off, Jeff made a spectacular flourless chocolate cake, topped in fresh berries and chocolate shavings.

Flourless Chocolate Cake.

I have never been so thankful for Jeff's cooking as I was this weekend! The whole meal was amazing, but the cake was spectacular!

The problem is, I'm not sure if this change in diet has had any affect on my digestion issues. I haven't noticed any kind of change yet.

And now we're off to China on Saturday, and I will do my best to stick to rice while we're gone. You'd think that wouldn't be too hard. But flour is sneaky... It's even in soy sauce!

Wish me luck!