tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20081491115298246082011-12-27T21:44:21.863-05:00This blog will share cultural and historical notes on China and some other visited Asian countries. It is my way of sharing the Asian experience of my husband and I, with our friends and family, and whoever else could be interested in this fascinating country.Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.comBlogger621100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-86859303491787406852008-06-18T02:29:00.005-04:002008-12-11T09:32:26.491-05:00

I know... I am so sorry I did not write any more stories about China for a while. I would still like to. There are so many things I did not discuss yet: the nice Shikumen houses in Shanghai, the Hakka round houses we visited in a day trip from Xiamen, the wonderful karaoke with our friends Mark and Tina, when we even sang the Canadian hymn! And more...But I am been so busy trying to tell

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-79683874867649143102008-04-10T20:31:00.007-04:002008-12-11T09:32:26.894-05:00

That was a little treasure in the middle of a wonderful day. A few seconds of being transported – it seemed – in another world. On that warm day of spring in Fujian province, I actually witnessed a moment which I thought only belonged to historic books and novels. It was the parade of a traditional Chinese wedding, and a glimpse at the palanquin of the bride. And I could imagine the rest of that

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-17183192291801259572008-04-05T13:43:00.005-04:002008-12-11T09:32:27.090-05:00

As per popular demand, I have loaded some photos from our expedition to Spratly... more photos than you've ever seen from me! You can see them on our radio expedition website N1URSpratly, but I made sure that a number of them were not "radio stuff"!The only thing you won't see is the famous "shark" and the cool sight of divers floating under us, while we were snorkeling! Too bad I did not have

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-77138514484268308452008-03-31T08:07:00.007-04:002008-12-11T09:32:27.337-05:00

We are flying back home. Long, long trip back home (5 flights over 36 hours from Spratly to Kota Kinabalu to Taipei, Los Angeles, New York and Burlington, VT).And while I am flying half around the world (it seems), I hear that one of my friends from Vermont, Ariana, is in Kyrgyzstan, in Central Asia, for a very exotic trip it seems - from horse backriding to skiing to cooking... Quite exotic

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-35833480241153450342008-03-26T23:53:00.005-04:002008-12-11T09:32:27.566-05:00

Here in Layang, Layang, Spratly this week, we truly feel like the odd couple. Everyone here is a diver. One American even asked us - very surprised - "How is it possible?! You are here in one of the top diving spots in the world and you don't realize it?!". Well, we answered: "You are here in one of the most desired remote locations for amateur radio and you don't know it!!".It must be true

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-53157956127866280452008-03-24T20:41:00.001-04:002008-03-24T20:46:34.047-04:00

I am not an expert on Chinese politics nor the Tibet situation and for that reason I have never touched on political subjects in this blog. The closest I got to discussing politics was when I touched on the fact that young Chinese people never seem to discuss Mao time. So, I won’t do it more today than I have before. What I am sharing here is how we felt last week, when trying to get news about

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-81988442785864465652008-03-23T01:00:00.006-04:002008-12-11T09:32:27.810-05:00

After an overnight in KK, we flew to Layang, Layang, a Malaysian Spratly island yesterday morning. One-hour flight to reach this tiny island in the middle of the South China Sea. It is actually a circular reef with the island at the tip of it. Unfortunately I cannot show you photos before we leave because it is forbidden to upload and download photos here at the resort. It is also forbidden to

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-24526985647140136062008-03-20T19:26:00.003-04:002008-12-11T09:32:28.009-05:00

This is where we have lived for the past 7 months (well, 5 months really if we substract the traveling as our expat friends here point out). I will miss Xiamen, China and soon Asia, with all the great people we met, the great places we saw. But for now, our adventure is not quite finished. We are heading for Spratly in 1h30! We will report on our adventure there, may be with no photos for now if

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-18082381707786693912008-03-18T06:12:00.003-04:002008-12-11T09:32:28.467-05:00

In Xiamen, most sidewalks are tiled. I am not sure if it is the case in other Chinese cities, but it is definitely very common here. And some of the tiles (like the yellow ones on the photo) are actually soft, like made of rubber. I always wondered why. So yesterday night, as we were walking home with our Chinese friend Wayne (after some beers to celebrate Saint-Patrick's day with some expats, at

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-42682118762645997152008-03-12T00:52:00.008-04:002008-12-11T09:32:28.864-05:00

I remember hearing about Chinese women with bound feet when I was young. I thought it was a legend. Probably, Chinese women simply had small feet and they had tight shoes. What a surprise when I realized that it was far from being a legend... There are still some old women with bound feet in 21st century's China... There is an unbelievable photo of them in "Marco Polo: a photographer's Journey"

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-54608184293399372372008-03-06T08:39:00.008-05:002008-12-11T09:32:29.369-05:00

Yep... I am going to add another star on my map of Asia in a couple of weeks. And that will definitely be a very special one. I hope you will be reading this blog then. I am going to be right in the middle of nothing else than... the South China Sea. I know… it sounds very exciting… I have been way too lucky this year with my travels! I am going to have to settle down after these great 7 months

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-20040148410079219092008-03-01T06:02:00.007-05:002008-12-11T09:32:29.730-05:00

My friend Ann took that photo in a flea market in Beijing. Interesting subject... and quite shocking to see that there was a time when even self-criticism (as you can see with 2 of these little sculptures) was the subject of decorative ceramics. Well, I don't think that Chinese people care anymore about Mao. I have not heard one Chinese person mention his name. Not surprising...I am sure they got

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-73728004863238165092008-02-27T21:19:00.006-05:002008-12-11T09:32:30.215-05:00

Last night was a rainy evening in Xiamen. But it was also the night when we finally went and wandered throughout the great displays of lanterns not far from our apartment.Indeed for the past month we have observed construction of large and colorful displays on the little flat and probably artificial island in the middle of the (artificial?) lake on Xiamen island – including two huge dragons with

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-69863526209020654782008-02-18T18:39:00.011-05:002008-12-11T09:32:30.702-05:00

Fascinating people… whom we have met in the past few months. There is something truly fascinating about being in places like China and meeting all sorts of people with intriguing life stories to share. And may be they truly have more interesting stories, or may be – and very simply – we just take the time to listen to their stories. In Canada and in the US, of course we would not talk to a

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-63004388502593498562008-02-09T09:07:00.001-05:002008-12-11T09:32:30.985-05:00

Or may be I should say “the year of the mouse”, like I read in a China Daily newspaper’s article (sounds “friendlier”, no?). In any case, the “year of the rat” is everywhere around us… to my great surprise. The phenomenon is probably nothing different than any other year, but it is definitely something new and surprising for me, living the experience of my first Chinese New Year.Of course, I have

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-54785054717442705652008-01-30T23:34:00.000-05:002008-12-11T09:32:31.459-05:00

We watched a really interesting program on the Discovery channel two nights ago on how Beijing is getting ready for the Olympic Games. It was fascinating. It interviewed some experts who summarized traditions and symbolism in Chinese architecture, a lot of the things I had read here and there before. They discussed the symbols of the square representing the earth and the circle representing the

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-44466617153599618692008-01-27T03:03:00.000-05:002008-12-11T09:32:31.872-05:00

A hidden treasure in Beijing! The former residence of princess Hejing, the third daughter of a Qing Emperor. A place you won’t find in the guide books! Oh well, let me rephrase that: a place you won’t find in the main pages on Beijing but somewhere in the list of hotels of some guide books. Our own adventure all started because of two small lines in our DK tourist book on China. The Hejing Fu

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-80326033644463190252008-01-23T04:55:00.000-05:002008-12-11T09:32:32.335-05:00

The Forbidden City is indeed a remarkable place to see. And it is definitely at its best now, with all its recently renovated golden and red painted buildings, and its contrasting white stones, in preparation for the crowd of visitors during the 2008 Olympic Games.For us, while we spent 3 days touring Beijing, it was definitely the highlight of the trip. I would recommend however to go to the

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-44704215222954798332008-01-20T22:57:00.000-05:002008-12-11T09:32:32.700-05:00

On this Sunday afternoon, I had almost finished writing my next posting on the Forbidden City, when we left with our Taiwanese partner to the Riyuegu Hotsprings. Well, guess what... It was such a unique experience that you will have to wait a few more days to read about the Forbidden City. The hotsprings are not quite as sophisticated as the website would lead you to believe (nope, I did not see

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-45464118923622497562008-01-14T07:40:00.000-05:002008-12-11T09:32:33.236-05:00

There are books listing the 1000 places to see before you die. And this Christmas, I received a calendar on this theme. So, I started thinking about the places I have seen which I found remarkable. Not easy to select. There are the somewhat obvious ones, and then there are the ones which seduced me even though they were very simple and pretty unknown... A few of these places are in Asia, so I

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-23375307734932790802008-01-05T18:40:00.000-05:002008-12-11T09:32:33.871-05:00

I have been living in China for 4 months and have wanted to write such a post for at least 3. And the recent discussions in Bali and particularly the reaction to the Canadian position, which is simply that “it wants all countries to be part of an agreement, including developing countries such as China and India”, have made it impossible for me to delay writing about it any longer. China has a

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-56169993131369612082008-01-04T10:19:00.001-05:002008-12-11T09:32:34.126-05:00

Suzhou is the capital of silk in China, located one and an half hour from Shanghai. There, I visited the renowned Humble Administrator's Garden (from the 16th century) and the very nice water village of Zhouzhuang (the Venice of the East) but even more interesting, a silk factory. Fascinating. I learned a lot there from the legends of silk, to its history and finally its production. There is an

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-81467140774606660272007-12-30T18:12:00.000-05:002008-12-11T09:32:34.353-05:00

Our trip to Beijing was already two weeks ago, but too much traveling and the Christmas celebrations made it hard for me to have time for my blog! We had such a nice time in Beijing. It is so different from other cities in China, like Xiamen or Shanghai. The history from the Ming and Qing dynasties is so present there... in the historical sites of course but also in the architecture of private

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-29421355292464381522007-12-13T20:52:00.000-05:002008-12-11T09:32:34.647-05:00

Small open shops, retailers in their shop, selling their merchandise but also living right there, on the street: cooking, eating, drinking tea, watching TV, playing cards or checkers, even doing school homework. That’s real China. And it makes for fascinating photography. For quite some time already, I have meant to take more time to walk the streets to capture such moments. I have not done

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-73583475778828072452007-12-11T01:38:00.000-05:002008-12-11T09:32:34.967-05:00

Michael Yamashita's photoI just read a few days ago that the Olympic Torch will travel the ancient Silk Road, on its way to Beijing, going through 113 cities in China! Well, I have been here in China too long, or I have been reading too much about traveling through China (China Road, my favorite book or Marco Polo's Travels), or drinking too much Tsing Tao beer, because my immediate thought to

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-40287218744130540612007-12-07T22:31:00.000-05:002008-12-11T09:32:35.223-05:00

Back to China! In the past few days, I have been exposed to some fascinating readings, which highlight how the intricacy of the relationships between China and Taiwan show its little head even in subjects like the road taken by the Olympic Torch Relay on its way to Beijing next year (read below)! As an ignorant Westerner, I came here a few months ago thinking China and Taiwan were simply 2

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-45425677638239191052007-12-05T18:59:00.000-05:002008-12-11T09:32:36.062-05:00

I could have titled this blog "I shook hands with the descendant of a REAL head hunter!". That would have been a punchy headline - and a true statement. Too bad it was too long! In the few days we spent on the Malaysian island of Borneo, I have done some of the most exotic things I have done in my life. A few of them could be easily added to a top 10 list! I have: yes, shook hands with the

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-6978821534683618342007-12-01T08:48:00.000-05:002008-12-11T09:32:36.477-05:00

The secret destination for our honeymoon! Saturday morning, 2 weeks ago. Finally, I will know where we are going. Singapore airport. The departure board indicates that the 8:40AM flight is going to... Langkawi! Interesting name, hummm, the mystery continues. I had never heard of such place... Well... Langkawi is a group of 99 islands (101 at low tide!), which belongs to Malaysia and are situated

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-49867930006313210222007-11-29T07:42:00.000-05:002008-12-11T09:32:37.022-05:00

A little bit more than two weeks ago... Tuesday night. 6PM. Newark airport in New York. In line at the gate for our flight to Dehli. The agent is desperately searching through our passports. "Where are your visas?". "Visas? What visas? For India? We need a visa?". I know, it is difficult to believe that seasoned travelers like us assumed we did not need visas for India and did not check. Oh, well

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-67771225615503324792007-11-15T22:56:00.001-05:002008-12-11T09:32:37.161-05:00

It seems that a number of people are looking for a map of Marco Polo's travels (as shown by my blog traffic data). So here is the best one I found, which might be useful to some of you. You can click on the image to enlarge it. So where did Marco Polo's travels take him? Well, he left from Venise, Italy in 1271 and traveled throughout what is known today as Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan,

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-56400887766001409302007-11-10T19:13:00.000-05:002008-12-11T09:32:37.850-05:00

There is a nice little restaurant, close to where we live in Xiamen, called Know How. I love the name, it is the most Chinese-sounding English name you can imagine! We like to go there at lunch or dinner, because the environment is pleasant, the food is good and inexpensive. And they definitely have the best "seafood dumpling"! I know, you already imagine the small dumplings so common here.

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-33603750598332866742007-11-08T14:16:00.001-05:002008-12-11T09:32:38.007-05:00

You guessed right. This photo is not of China, but of our house in beautiful Vermont. If you are a loyal reader, you probably think that I have being too quiet in the past week... Well, for the past 2-3 weeks, I actually have been in Vermont and Quebec (even though I continued to write about China because I still had untold stories). And I have been traveling in my mind as well. I listened to the

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-62639628134909917162007-10-31T19:22:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:32:38.235-05:00

Intriguing illustration, don't you think? My husband received an issue of a New York magazine dated 1895 as a gift from my parents. And, surprisingly, the center spread was this illustration (you can click on it to enlarge it). The Chinese emperor, looking rather ill, is being served ultimatums (hard pills to swallow) from Britain, Russia and Japan. Humm, that got me really curious. What was

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-76546565887657943512007-10-28T09:08:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:32:38.789-05:00

Small stone sculptureWhen we visited Gulang Yu,I got really intrigued about the history of China in the middle of the 19th century and the relationship with the Western nations (see Gulang Yu posting). Because of the perception that China "had been humiliated" that you constantly read about, when the subject is being discussed here in China, in museums, guides, books, etc. There is not one time

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-26616530840242873082007-10-28T07:38:00.000-04:002007-10-28T07:51:51.389-04:00

You have a few blogs you like to check regularly. You wish you could be told when they have a new posting without checking each blog individually. Well, then you have not discovered Google Reader yet. With Google Reader, you can list the blogs you want to keep up with ("subscribe to them" is the technical word) and your Google Reader page will show you the new postings when they are written (

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-13704808375222129472007-10-24T16:16:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:32:39.008-05:00

I hope National Geographic and photographer Mike Yamashita will forgive me for borrowing this beautiful photo. Afterall, it is to talk about their articles. I discovered this really interesting series of 3 articles from National Geographic, while searching for a map showing the route Marco Polo took during his travels. Interestingly enough, National Geographic has followed the same route as Marco

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-60338240027723411622007-10-21T11:54:00.001-04:002008-12-11T09:32:39.191-05:00

Yep. Two lunches of noodles for a total of 28RMB ($3.70). Nice dishes. Great taste. Same price as the nice iced coffee (29RMB) I can get a block away from the noodle place. Without mentioning the cafe latte they wanted 69RMB ($9.20) for at Xiamen airport (I revolted against that last one and refused to pay more than for a Starbucks coffee!). It is tough to figure out price relationships here. I

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-12928669795287835772007-10-20T17:35:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:32:39.785-05:00

What an amazing book that was. I quoted it already a few times in previous blogs to explain some of China's reality and I am sure I will quote it again. Rob Gifford was National Public Radio's Beijing correspondent in Shanghai for 6 years. In this book, he recounts his travels along Route 312, the longest route in the world's most populous nation. And as he speaks fluent mandarin, he has during

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-53499919378978567372007-10-20T17:33:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:32:39.992-05:00

My last blog on Bhutan. My husband Ed and I were very curious to compare the tourism industry in Bhutan to the one back home in Vermont, because both places are about the same size. And we were actually lucky enough to find recent articles for both countries. Bhutan welcomed 17,000 visitors in 2006 (it limits the number of visitors however) and tourism revenues were $25 million in 2005. On the

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-72760654928452182892007-10-20T17:01:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:32:40.349-05:00

7:00 AM. The sky is blue with a few white clouds. The air is so crisp and so clear. The light is unbelievable in the rising sun. Everything, the trees, the monastery seem to take the nicest colors and the crispiest lines. I am starting to believe some impressionist painters who were saying that light can be very unique sometimes, in some places. I am so glad I got up early on that sunny morning,

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-9038434171561199542007-10-17T22:44:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:32:41.096-05:00

We hiked the Long Trail in Vermont a couple of times for 2-3 days, carrying tent, sleeping bags, food and clothes on our back. But hiking in Bhutan is quite a different experience, both exhilarating and tough.We had a wonderful crew for just the two of us, my husband and I: 5 people (guide, cook and horsemen) and 6 horses carrying dining room tent, table and chairs, other tents, food, propane

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-58439355397464176382007-10-16T09:27:00.000-04:002007-10-20T11:36:38.807-04:00

Don't know what happened and don't know if it will last, but tonight we can read blogs in China (and if you read my previous blog on the subject Blog Censure!?, you know that their access was blocked before and why). Let's enjoy!

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-11313939552287040772007-10-16T08:47:00.001-04:002008-12-11T09:32:41.500-05:00

What a wonderful place! Back in May, it was the reason why we decided to go to Bhutan and it was just as impressive as we could imagine - and even more. The hike up to the monastery is breathtaking. It is not easy tough. A number of tourists abandon before reaching the top. But you can see the monastery early in the climb, and there is a nice view of it at the teahouse half way the climb. So,

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-28936448791116888112007-10-13T21:37:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:32:41.715-05:00

I know you probably don't want to hear about the economy of Bhutan. But there are some interesting facts about it, I wanted to share. I will try to make it really short, to keep you all awake. The country is of the size of Vermont, USA, in size and in population (700,000 people). Its capital and largest city is Timphu, 70,000 people.While countries look at their GDP (gross domestic product) to

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-59641514884143395832007-10-12T21:51:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:32:42.352-05:00

Our great guide KenchoPeople of Bhutan are so wonderful. Charming people, beautiful faces, colorful clothing. And yes, they still wear their traditional robes every day : gho for men, kira for women, and it is not for the tourists! It made for the most wonderful photography experience I ever had. I would go back to Bhutan anytime, to have more time to wander around, sit down, watch people and

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-13641607325927987852007-10-10T08:27:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:32:43.309-05:00

Can you imagine an entire country (of the size of Vermont and with 700,000 habitants) where all the houses look the same and are all beautifully painted with earth colors? Well, this is reality in Bhutan! Magnificent houses, very square, with white walls, visible structural beams made of blue pine, all painted of the same colors from nature: red, ochre, brown, white and black (no chemical paint

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-8572737061850177982007-10-10T06:06:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:32:43.487-05:00

A week ago, we were arriving in Bhutan. Leaving from Bangkok, Thailand and after a short stop in Kolkata (Calcutta), India, we were finally approaching our destination: Paro, Bhutan.As our A319 plane, and its 150 passengers started to descend, some kind of miracle happened. I was suddenly in a 2-seater private airplane, feeling like the hero from "Out of Africa" when landing in the impressive

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-10607205565125600142007-10-10T05:40:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:32:43.860-05:00

Last week was National Day Holiday in China. National Day is October 1st, and Chinese people got the whole week of holiday, even though there are discussions of reducing the length of this official holiday in the future. Because when 1.3 billion people are on holiday at the same time for a whole week, it can get pretty chaotic!Imagine, the newspapers were revealing that there were 370 million

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-74133333223187346862007-09-30T11:56:00.000-04:002007-09-30T12:00:30.724-04:00

We are in Bhutan and trekking starting Tuesday morning... so no blogging for us this week. But be sure to come back and visit the blog next week. Bhutan is an unbelievable place and I cannot wait to tell you everything about it!

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-49342319555090607312007-09-26T06:13:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:32:44.910-05:00

Spending the day walking around Gulang Yu was such a treat last Sunday! Gulang Yu: “the wave which sounds like the beating drum” (gu for drum and lang for wave) – what a nice name!Gulang Yu is a small island just 5-minute ferry ride from the island of Xiamen. We wandered all day and we felt like we were back in time at the beginning of the 20th century, but in a place where inhabitants were long

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-78299943775915485512007-09-23T05:41:00.001-04:002008-12-11T09:32:45.605-05:00

Xiamen is preparing itself for a celebration. It is mid-autumn festival here in China, one of the most important celebrations of the year. Don’t be confused, as we are end of September and you are thinking it is the beginning of fall. We are on lunar calendar here in China, and the autumn has started sometimes in August. The mid-autumn festival will take place on the next full moon, on Tuesday.It

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-51919501508674414072007-09-20T11:10:00.000-04:002007-09-20T11:13:48.911-04:00

Blog readers of the world: Be content! Why? Because you can read all the blogs you desire! Bloggers from Xiamen, China – like my friend Tina and I - are happy to post blog entries for you to enjoy (as long as we can guess the menus in mandarin), but guess what… we cannot read them ourselves!It is said that blogs had been used to organize protests and that consequently the authorities have blocked

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-51143798056230891432007-09-19T10:34:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:32:45.915-05:00

An evening at the restaurant with Chinese hosts... Food is coming, several dishes at once. We are taking nice portions of food: fish, meat, vegetables, soup… Such a nice assortment. But generous helpings may after all be a mistake! Because more food is coming… and more. After a while, we start asking ourselves: how many more dishes have been ordered? How much more will be coming? Have to try

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-66827242431483462772007-09-17T01:54:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:32:46.066-05:00

I always loved everything about tea and teapots. There is a lot of tradition around tea. When I was young, I was told the “teachings” of the British: warming up the teapot first, one spoon of tea per person and one for the teapot, etc… Did the Brits in fact learn what they know from the Chinese? I wonder.Today one thing is clear: China is at the core of the tea tradition.So, during our last visit

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-59126602525436947372007-09-17T01:52:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:32:46.232-05:00

The Orient: an Australian bar behind the Marco Polo hotel (the reference location for all westerners here in Xiamen). The blind date: Mark and Tina. You can read their blog at http://wichmannstories.blogspot.com. They have some “crispy” stories there (that’s the French expression – des histoires croustillantes – and I have no idea if it translates well into English! Juicy stories, may be?).Anyway

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-64465321218047453902007-09-13T20:41:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:32:46.721-05:00

We had been warned not to exchange too much money into RMB because we won't be able to exchange back to US dollars. Something quite funny happened to us at the Bank of China yesterday on this subject:We needed to exchange dollars to RMBs in this case. Tellers are helping customers, customers are sitting and waiting and we quickly realize we need to get a number to talk to the bank teller. The

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-92141453700962972672007-09-13T08:30:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:32:46.866-05:00

Well, I borrowed this line from the book China Road I mentioned in a previous posting. With 1.3 billion people, this is a busy place. 49 cities of more than 1 million people, most of them you never heard about. Even Xiamen where we are is 3 million people. And most of us have never heard about it, right?People all around... It reminds me of a funny situation. A few days ago, visiting apartments

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-54841267730900783892007-09-13T02:19:00.000-04:002007-09-26T22:48:22.701-04:00

A Chinese wonder! I have read this great tip, a couple of days ago, in the blog from Mark and Tina (arrived in Xiamen two months ago and living the same kind of experience as us): we foreigners who are totally unable to communicate here in the native language of this beautiful country, can be saved of any situation by just dialing 110 and having access to a translator, right there on the phone. I

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-89350700467911044392007-09-11T03:26:00.001-04:002007-09-11T03:40:08.049-04:00

I know. I said I was going to talk culture and history.But just for once, I thought I could share a few practical tips. A lot of us, getting settled in China, seem to have similar experiences: buying phones, renting apartments, opening bank accounts, shopping for food, etc.So, here are our own experience:- yes, beds are hard like rocks in China, when you rent an apartment. That is one of the key

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-47775229982681479182007-09-10T20:47:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:32:47.084-05:00

First day. At the cellular phone store.I am there with a local translator, choosing a cellular phone and phone number. When I am presented with a notebook with hundreds of phone numbers to choose from, I cannot really understand why some phone numbers seem to be less expensive than others. “Because they contain a "4", an unlucky number for Chinese people”.I already knew that luck played a big

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-5523838884967829882007-05-26T22:15:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:32:47.511-05:00

This is truly amazing! A week ago, I saw that photo in a magazine and I said: "That's where we need to go!". Honestly, I did not know anything about the country of Bhutan (and I still know very little about it). But here we are, one week later, and we are planning to spend one week there in October (we are leaving for China early September). Unbelievable. Even more, I just read that it is

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008149111529824608.post-564200935123873062007-05-26T21:52:00.000-04:002007-05-27T08:51:32.817-04:00

Let's try this! It is the beginning of the exploration.When I learned two weeks ago that my fiance and I were moving to China for 7 months this Fall, I immediately thought: "I need a blog!" to share all the experiences.Exploring the blog scene was a little intimidating but I am sure it is nothing compared to what is ahead of us.

Christinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04976043850936149656noreply@blogger.com1