Archive for October, 2007
Saturday, October 27th, 2007
Marching Up the Dragon’s Backbone
We’ve just emerged from a 600 year-old village in Southern China, where we climbed countless hills and took a truly embarrassing number of pictures (over 400 in one day!; here’s a link to some of the best). Called Ping’an, the small-but-ever-expanding locale where we happily passed two days is situated on the main ridge of an […]
No Comments » - Posted in China by Shanna
Friday, October 26th, 2007
We’re Not in Kansas Anymore
Wanting to see the karsts in their natural surroundings (i.e., not in the middle of a bustling city), we made our way to Yangshuo, an hour south of Guilin. Our first order of business was to rent bikes and hire a guide who could show us the way off the beaten path. We wound through […]
2 Comments » - Posted in China by Derek and Shanna
Monday, October 22nd, 2007
Beware the Chinese tour group!
After having dim sum with Wensi (our new friend in Guangzhou) and her husband, Andy, and daughter, Sunny, we took a short flight to Guilin. For centuries, poets and painters have celebrated the beauty of Guilin’s natural surroundings. A famous inscription in the town explains that its scenery “excels all in China.” As we drove […]
No Comments » - Posted in China by Derek
Saturday, October 20th, 2007
In Honor of Maggie and Carly
If Derek and I weren’t going to be on the road for the next eleven months, I’d say there’s a fair chance that, sometime during the last four days, we would have adopted a Chinese daughter. We’ve just returned to Guangzhou from the Social Welfare Institute of Yangxi, an orphanage in the southeastern part of China. I’m not […]
16 Comments » - Posted in Community Service, China by Shanna
Wednesday, October 17th, 2007
I’ll take this over Eggs Benedict any day!
Around the world, there are many different styles of eating. Due to our famed individualism, Americans are accustomed to ordering our own meal at a restaurant and rarely sharing with anyone else at the table, unless that person is our significant other (in which case we will sometimes share, but begrudgingly). This style of eating […]
2 Comments » - Posted in Hong Kong, Food by Derek
Wednesday, October 17th, 2007
New York with an Asian Twist
We just spent a wonderful four days in Hong Kong. Although I’ve loved nearly all of the places we’ve visited so far, this was the first one since Paris where I could actually picture myself living. It felt to me a lot like an Asian Manhattan, and I have to say, the familiarity was kind of refreshing.
Our […]
3 Comments » - Posted in Hong Kong by Shanna
Saturday, October 13th, 2007
Portugal + China = Excellence
As discussed in a prior post, Macau was a Portuguese colony for almost 450 years, only becoming a semi-autonomous part of China in 1999. During this time, the Portuguese left an obvious mark on Macau. We took a taxi from our hotel to Largo do Senado, a square in the heart of the historic district. […]
No Comments » - Posted in Macau by Derek
Friday, October 12th, 2007
[It’s Kind of Like] Vegas, Baby!
Macau has an interesting history. In the 16th century, the Portuguese began trading with the Chinese and, in 1557, were granted the small islands of Macau (located a few miles off the coast of China on the South China Sea) as a reward for driving away the pirates that inhabited the area. It became a […]
No Comments » - Posted in Macau by Derek
Wednesday, October 10th, 2007
Faith Restored
My negative encounter with one of the Eat, Pray, Love characters didn’t lessen my desire to track down the other. Soon after we left Wayan’s, Derek and I set off by motorcycle in search of Ketut Liyer. Given the morning I’d just had, I wasn’t expecting much. Happily, Ketut proved me wrong.
We arrived at Ketut’s […]
No Comments » - Posted in Indonesia by Shanna
Wednesday, October 10th, 2007
Bad Medicine
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I read Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat, Pray, Love” at the beginning of our trip. For those of you who haven’t read the book, it tells of the author’s year of travels through Italy, India and Bali. Like us, she spent most of her time in Bali in the city of […]
