Monday, February 13, 2012

Spring Festival Travels Part 5: Shenzhen

Well the last stop of our journey was Shenzhen, China. We came to this city in southern China just to visit our great friend, Dawn. Dawn moved to Shenzhen from Huangshi over a month ago for work and to visit her sister and we missed her too much! The three of us got to go and spend a few days with her. Basically every single day we were there we went to Dawn's place of work, Illy Coffee, to hang out, grab a cup of joe, talk to Dawn, and getting some good reading time in! We were so exhausted by this point from all of the traveling that we weren't really motivated to be tourists around this city. Not to mention we came from 90 degree weather in Thailand jumping straight into 30 degree weather in Shenzhen. It was a rough transition for us and left us wanting to stay warm and cozy inside her coffee shop. 


One day, however, we were tourists and went to the Window of the World. It is a huge park filled with miniatures and models of all of the world's most famous sights. Here are Camille and Aaron just before going inside the park.


We got to see the miniatures of the famous sites in Bangkok, Thailand that we had just seen days before!


Aaron finally got to see the Grand Palace...the small version anyway! (I told you in the Bangkok post that Aaron couldn't go in because he was wearing shorts and there was a dress code)


Look! I'm in Japan now!


Its Camille! She looks so tiny in Asia!


We are in Asia! It looks pretty!



Camille is at the Taj Mahal!


It was my first trip to Australia :)


Camille's first trip to Italy!


Its the leaning tower of Pisa! With the Eiffel Tower in the background! Typical...Camille is destroying everything and I am the one trying to save it! Ha just kidding, I only said that because I know Camille will read this! You're welcome Cam! By the way...I'm writing this while sitting right next to her!


Stonehenge.


Eiffel Tower picture. We are such typical tourists.


Camille enjoying Paris!


They also had an indoor ski ramp and snow area, but we only went to look at it and take a picture, we didn't actually ski.


Tiny Colosseum. I guess I should have put a disclaimer that pretty much all of my pictures are of Camille! Its just how it worked out from the trip... I take a picture with my camera so I make Cam stand by whatever I'm taking a picture of and then she does the same to me. So in the end I have a ton of pictures of her and she has a ton of pictures of me...whoops! Guess Cam is the lucky one? Just kidding...again I know Cam will read this!


I got to see the Pyramids of Egypt...one of my goals in life!
Unfortunately, once it got dark we couldn't really see anything and none of the pictures came out. Foolishly we started out in Asia, the place we currently live and see all the time and didn't get to see Africa or the Americas. They also had rides and events you could partake in, but since it was cold and dark we didn't get to do any of it! Since I am a cheesy tourist, I still enjoyed the visit!



Remember how I told you I can double dog dare Camille to do lots of fun things?!?! Well this was one of those times. Camille was complaining that she was tired so I dared her to sit on the floor of the subway. No one in China ever does this because usually the ground is dirty, but this one looked pretty clean, so we figured it was ok. She got some pretty interesting stares from fellow passengers. To make it more fun for the foreigners and Dawn, I dared to her to welcome all of the people who came on the train in Chinese and say goodbye to all of the people leaving the train. Theres a good chance I am the only person who found this highly amusing, maybe Dawn did too, but thats probably it. Something to know is that the later at night it gets, the more delirious and tired I get it, so the more I find Camille funny. Seriously, she can say and do just about anything and I will laugh. This stunt brought on fits of laughter and as I recall, a few tears of joy! Ms. Teri, aren't you so proud of your daughter right now?


These faces pretty much sum up what they thought about Cam sitting on the ground! This was our last night in Shenzhen with Dawn! I miss her already! 


We had to end the trip early because we found out from our boss that we had to start school a week earlier than we thought! I'd just like to point out that Camille and I were the ONLY ones on our team that had to start! It was ok though, because we were tired and freezing. We were staying with Dawn's kind friend who didn't mind having three foreigners camp out at her apartment for a few days. But, Chinese people don't use heaters during the winter, they just stay constantly bundled up, take hot showers, and drink hot water. We are not used to living like this at all, and as I mentioned earlier it was in the 30s and 40s while we were there. Rough! Dawn was so funny though. She was worried Camille and I were too cold and would use the blow dryer to warm up the bed for us! HA it actually worked quite well! Thanks Dawn! We were sad to say goodbye to Dawn, but were looking forward to being back home in a warm bed and catching up on some much needed sleep.

THE END OF SPRING FESTIVAL TRAVELS. 

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Spring Festival Travels Part 4: Koh Kood

After Bangkok, we headed to Koh Kood Island. Camille, Aaron, and I met up with our friends from Huangshi, the Randalls, and their family friends, the Kos. We had to take vans from Bangkok to Trat, which lasted about 3 1/2 hours and then got on a speedboat for about 1 hour just to get to this beautiful, relaxing, oasis! It was so worth it!
Here is a picture of our bed inside the bungalow and a picture from the outside. I loved the bungalow and wish that I had better pictures to show you. It had a small porch, a large room with this huge bed, a bathroom, and an outdoor shower. The shower had an open roof so you could see the sky. It was amazing!


The view from our bungalow, where you can see the bay that leads out to the Indian Ocean.


The view from the entrance of the resort and restaurant. 


Our first day there, we all went for a tour around the small island where I saw rubber trees for the first time in person. We went on a short hike to see a memorial and then to this fishing village. Unfortunately, this picture of Camille and I in front of the boat is the only one I have of the fishing village. 


Just hanging out at the resort with some of my favorite kids, Mercee and Grace. 


Hope and Camille. I believe the five of us were waiting for our fruit shakes (smoothies) before heading back down to the beach. As I mentioned in the Bangkok post, I'm pretty sure I got a smoothie every single day in Thailand and sometimes twice a day while in Koh Kood!


Just soaking up the sun, warm weather, and beautiful views!


And here begins our girls' random, funny, and awkward photo shoot! Hope is pretty much the coolest 13 year old you will ever meet! 








And then we found a starfish. Hope wanted to keep it and she named him Goober. Sadly, Goober was placed in a bucket of fresh water instead of salt water and he died...oops! 


Camille and I went for a kayak ride! They had the boats, oars, goggles, life jackets, etc. at the resort that you could take out whenever you wanted. 



Here are the pictures of Koh Kood Resort from the kayak.

Camille and Mercee swimming.


My digital camera can also be used as an underwater camera, which came in handy for this trip! 
Grace.



Mercee.


All of the kids. Grace, Hope and Mercee and their family friends Sean and Raymond.


We also went snorkeling! We took a boat from the resort out for about 45 minutes. I will never forget this boat ride...every single one of us was feeling sea sick by the end and it seemed to take a lifetime to get to the end. I though for sure the boat was going to flip over at times because the waves were so big! But it didn't and we eventually made and once off the boat and into the water, we all started to feel much better. This was Camille's first time to go snorkeling so I had to get a picture right when she got into the water!



There were so many fish! All of the boat drivers brought bags of bread with them to feed to the fish so that a ton of them would stay where we were. 


What a cutie!


We tried several attempts to get underwater pictures of us, but this is the best we could do! Its harder than it looks!



Aaron. His underwater picture came out way better than ours!



Unfortunately, a lot of pictures have water spots on them :(


The Randalls minus Hope. Back on the boat, headed to another small island to eat some delicious Shrimp fried rice for lunch before snorkeling some more.


Some of the Ko family.



So beautiful! It was a perfect day for snorkeling. Although we were all pretty sunburnt by the end of the day, which is a pretty funny thing to explain to some of my students who see the pictures of me with a red face. Chinese people try to stay out of the sun because they want their skin to be lighter and they don't understand why we want ours to be tan. I guess people always want what they can't have! I have tried many times to explain that their skin is beautiful and that many Americans envy them, but they insist that "pale" skin is the prettiest. It is a part of their culture, but it is sad that they dislike the way they look so much. Many women even use whitening lotions and makeup to help lighten their skin color. Anyway, I then have to explain that when I stay in the sun too long my skin turns pink or red, because their skin doesn't burn like mine or Camille's.



All of the boats were tied to this one rock out in the middle of the water.


The "kids" picture!


We went on another kayak ride. Sometimes I like to "double dog dare" Camille to do things. It started in Beijing when I dared her to touch a live scorpion and she did! I realized that she can't turn down a dare. I had been daring her to do random things throughout the trip that she kept turning down, so when I absentmindedly dared her to jump out of the boat I didn't actually think she would do it...


But she did! I was in the front of the boat. I dared her to jump and then I heard the splash and turned to see Camille in the water! It was quite funny for Hope and me. Even funnier was the foot cramp she got trying to climb back into the kayak! Lets just say it took a while and several attempts.


The sunsets were absolutely gorgeous at Koh Kood and we made sure to see them every night we were there. We rarely get to see the sun in Huangshi through all of the smog and winter drear. 



These last pictures are all of us on our last night having dinner together in Koh Kood. The resort had the most amazing food! Fresh fruit and fresh seafood whenever you wanted. I had chicken phad thai almost everyday for lunch, which has now become  my favorite meal! We had bbq every night with freshly bbq'd fish, squid, barracuda, chicken, pork, scallops, kabobs, potatoes, corn, and so much more!
Raymond, Sean, and Hope. 


Me, looking a little sunburnt, with Grace and Mercee.


Kids Table.


Grown up table.


Two of the cutest little boys ever. They are sons of some of the workers at Koh Kood Resort and love hanging around and playing with the guests. 


Koh Kood Island was my favorite place that we went to on our trip. It was just so beautiful and relaxing. We had a blast playing around with all of the kids, too. We are so thankful to the Randalls for telling us about this place and letting us come with them! I wish I could be back there right now soaking up the sun rather than freezing my butt off in Huangshi! Although I would miss my students too much to leave them again!

Up next, the final spot of our trip: Shenzhen, China!