Travels to China

The trip was amazing. I learned a lot and met a lot of great people. The lifestyle and culture are a bit different compared to the United States, especially in mainland China. 

The people are generally pushy, impatient, rude, spit in the streets, do not believe in lines, and are horrendous drivers. Also, the children are equipped with "split pants" which allow them to pee and poop on the street...no diapers. This is called potty training. 

I ate a lot of different foods: chicken feet, beef stomach, pork dumplings, steamed pork buns, noodles/rice, cocunut/tapioca milk, steamed veggies, baby fish, duck heart, scorpion, ostrich, and fungus...among other things. 

Gas is about $8-9 dollars/gallon in Hong Kong and $2-3 dollars/gallon in mainland China. The currency rate is 7.5 Hong Kong dollars for each $1 and 7 RMB for each $1. 

I was able to pick up a little bit of the local languages but I am not very good. 

I have so many stories and details that I couldn't include in this blog, but enjoy...

Hong Kong (Day 1 - Day 4):

- Harbour Plaza Metropolis Hotel

- Sky Palace

- Repulse Bay beach

- Tsim Sha Tsui shopping district (Nathan Road/Temple Street)

- Laser Light Show

- Jumbo Floating Restaurant

- Financial District (HSBC building)

- SOGO shopping district

- PolyTechnic University of Hong Kong

- Ngong Pong 360 tram ride to Tian Tan Buddha ("Giant Buddha")

Train Ride to Shanghai (19 hours)

Shanghai (Day 5 - Day 8):

- Holiday Inn Downtown

- Bund (riverfront to Hungpu River)

- "Pearl of the East" river cruise

- Pudong (downtown Shanghai)

- Oriental Pearl TV Tower

- Silk Factory

- Old Shanghai Road

- Yuyuan Garden

- Shanghai Museum

- Bullet Train to Suzhou

- Tour of businesses: Coca-Cola, Valmont

- Dinner at New Heights (3 on Bund)

Plane to Beijing

Beijing (Day 9 - Day 14):

- Peking Duck Dinner

- Tour of businesses: Lenovo, Z-Park software park, Khaki Creative Design, Gallup, US Chamber of Commerce

- Drinks with some ex-pat's that we met from Khaki Creative and a local Tea house at a bar in the Hutongs

- Hot Pot lunch (Chinese Fondue)

- Tour of Hutongs

- Tiananmen Square

- Forbidden City

- Temple of Heaven

- Pearl Market

- Beijing Night Market (I ate scorpion!!)

- Silk Market

- Dinner at Kro's Nest

- Great Wall of China (Purdue marching band performed)

- Summer Palace

- Antique Flea Market

- Dinner at Hooters Beijing

- Lunch at Divine Kitchen

Depart for O'Hare (left Beijing on 6/1 at 4pm and arrived in O'Hare on 6/1 at 4pm...weird time travel)

Check out a few of my PHOTOS!

Finally--Celia and I live in the same state!!

On the almost exact 10 year anniversary of high school graduation when Celia and I parted ways, she arrived in CA on saturday to her new home, Monterey.  I helped her explore her new surroundings in a nonstop weekend of fun...

Horseback riding at the infamous Pebble Beach (where the golf course is and the scenic 17 mile drive)

Then a little wine tasting at one of the shops in Carmel--here we are pretending we know what we're talking about :)
And then a spontaneous decision to attend the local outdoor performance of Camelot after seeing a sign for it on our way home.  It was a little chilly after the sun went down, but we sat close to the fire and got some hot chocolate to stay warm!

The next day we shared a bowl of clam chowder at Monterey's fisherman's wharf for lunch...mmmm.  I can't believe Celia's actually here!!--but it began to sink in when we went grocery shopping for her, checked out her new school, and "camped" at her new apartment--her movers don't come until Wednesday, so she didn't have any of her stuff yet.  Her new place is in a great location (1/2 block from the ocean!, a mile from downtown Monterey, and a block from her school...and 1.5 hrs from my place, which is the important part!)

AND...i survived the 2.5 weeks without John!...I'm on my way to pick him up from the airport now...look for a post soon with some pics from China!

Tide Pools

Today, even though the beach weather was not going to cooperate again for the 3rd weekend in a row, I decided to head to the coast anyway.  I stopped in Half Moon Bay's downtown area that I had never actually been to before, but due to Memorial Day, everything was closed except for the coffee shops.  So I got a drink and a fresh bakery item and headed to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, famous for it's stretch of coast that has great tide pools.  I wasn't expecting too much, but it was amazing!  I saw all sorts of things I had only ever seen in a aquarium before, but it was so much cooler to see naturally!  Unfortunately, it was a cloudy cool day, so the pictures aren't too bright, but a few of them turned out...I need my photographer hubby back!  :)  

Spring Cleaning

Well, the beach hasn't been cooperating lately...foggy again today, so I decided to stay home and do a little spring cleaning.  I realized we've been in this apartment for 1 year now, and no plans of moving!!  :)  After moving every year for the past 10 years, it's nice to stay in one place for at least 2!  But that means instead of cleaning and re-organizing to move, I figured I should do an annual clean anyway.  Let's face it, this probably wouldn't have happened if John was home, but I'm bored.  :)  I like the re-organizing part, not so much the cleaning part.  So I took a break and decided "blogging" was more fun.  So for those who have never been here, here is a look into our world...you'll get a kick out of what you get in CA for $1350/mo!!  Don't get too jealous!

Our 1-stop wonder:  living room/dining room/office

World's smallest kitchen

World's smallest bathroom:  when my grandma came to visit she got claustrophobic in here!

One-bedroom

Ok, maybe I should look on the bright side right?...at least there's less to clean, and no home/yard maintenance right?  ha.  John, if you see this from China, you're welcome--and don't worry, I know where all your stuff is.  :)

Artichoke Festival

As John flew over me (from Chicago) on his way to China, I had to find a way to entertain myself.  So I took a little road trip to a small town called Castroville (about an 1.5 hr south) for their annual artichoke festival.  I wasn't too lonely cause I found this guy to hang out with :)  While walking around, I had an artichoke/shrimp/crab salad, artichoke/carne asada tacos, homemade rootbeer, and an oreo/strawberry parfait...mmmmm.  I planned to head to the beach after that, but the coast was lookin pretty foggy...so maybe tomorrow.  

KaBOOM!

We spent the day in San Fran for a little picnic of appetizers followed by "KaBoom", a radio station's music fest/fireworks show.  One of John's co-workers got us VIP passes for free food and drinks and a spot right on the waterfront.  Unfortunately, it was pretty cold and the good 'ole SF fog rolled in just in time for the fireworks!  

To surf or not to surf...

To keep with the co-worker theme for the weekend, some of Chey's co-workers got together in Santa Cruz for a little surf lesson from one of our PTs.  Well, between John's bum shoulder and the cloudy 60 degree weather, John and I decided to save our 1st surfing experience for another day.  Unfortunately, those that tried to surf didn't have much luck because the waves were few and far between today.  Attempting to surf is definitely on our "to do" list before we leave CA though, so we'll try again soon.  

Mexican Mustaches

John's co-workers had a pre-Cinco de Mayo party saturday night.  People became quite creative with their "mexican mustaches"--we had a unibrow, sideburns, goatee, etc.   Neither one of us won the poker game this time, but had a good time playing and hanging out.

OUR baby

We don't have cute baby or children pics to share with you...but here's what our kitty has been up to this week...a little yoga followed by watching her favorite DVD.  :)

Aquarium by the Bay

We spent the day in San Francisco today to get John's visa for his upcoming trip to China. But while we waited we decided to check out the Aquarium by the Bay and have lunch at Pier 39. Here's John petting the bat ray!

Chey's first hat

This is the first hat Cheyenne ever bought...can you guess why this was the one? :)

Pinnacles National Monument

Today we took a day trip to Pinnacles (famous for it's crazy rock formations and multi-level caves) for a little hiking and pseudo-camping.  What is pseudo camping you ask?  We had planned to tent overnight, but it was really hot (in the 90s) and cooling off with the campground showers was not an option because they happened to be out of order...so we did the hike we planned to do the following morning right after the first hike, made our pudgy-pie pizzas and smores, and then decided to head home.  Yes, northern CA has spoiled us...we can no longer tolerate any temperature outside of the 50-75 degree zone!  

John's 28th B-day!

After a nice dinner at the new steakhouse in San Mateo (courtesy of Genentech), we had some yummy cupcakes!  :)

Cabo, Mexico

Mexico...ahhh, the memories.  Wish we were still there.  John and i normally like to GO GO GO on vacation and see and do as much as humanly possible, but this time, for the first time, we went on a relaxing vacation.  We thought we might be bored, but it was actually really refreshing to just chill.  Or maybe we weren't bored because we had great company and therefore many moments of uncontrollable laughter with our friends Hayley and Trent.  

There was a LOT of time spent relaxing at the pool or the beach napping or reading or playing cards, but we did do a few things:  a sunset cruise, a snorkeling tour via a "pirate" ship, and Hayley and I also went horseback riding on the beach and took a glass bottom boat over to the secluded beach that can't be reached by car or foot.  

A couple things put a slight damper on the trip.  1) John got injured in hockey 2 days before our trip and tore 3 of the 4 ligaments connecting his collarbone to his shoulder blade.  So he was either wearing a sling or keeping his arm close to his body.  2) I got stung by a jellyfish while snorkeling.  3) Hayley got a bad migraine one AM and we had to cancel our kayaking tour.  4) Trent got a bad sun/heat rash.   But other than that, the trip was a blast!!!  

Cheyenne's birthday

This is out of order...I can't believe I almost forgot one of the best weekends and best birthdays i can remember!  

John picked a little town called Cambria, CA which is about 3 hours south of us on the coast.  We stayed at a great little B&B called Pelican Cove Inn which was right on the ocean and had complimentary breakfast, afternoon wine and cheese tasting, and evening dessert and warm drinks in addition to a public outdoor hot tub and fireplaces in every room.  We enjoyed taking walks along the beach, watching the sunset, and eating and window shopping in town.  

On our way back home we stopped at the Hearst Castle, an amazing mansion built in the 20s? that is high in the hills overlooking the ocean.  We also made a stop at the elephant seal lookout...these huge seals have trunks like elephants!...and then we drove home via Hwy 1 through the beautiful Big Sur coast before stopping at an outlet mall for a little shopping.  

Easter

Another holiday without family.  :(  We try to make the best of them though.  This time we decided to enjoy the beautiful day by first dusting off our bikes and taking a long ride along the Bay.  However, this turned out to be quite the task.  Since we hadn't used our bikes in about 6 months, all 4 tires were flat.  I asked John almost immediately if he would run next door and see if the gas station had a pump while I looked for our little hand held one.  Well, John assured me that the gas station did NOT have a pump.  So we spent the next 2 hours looking for our pump, attempting to use our pump, trying neighbors pumps, and finally walking our bikes a few blocks to a store someone told us had a pump only to find out that the store was of course closed on Easter.  On our walk back to our apartment after accepting defeat.. as we passed the gas station across the street from our place, i saw out of the corner of my eye, a PUMP!...what do ya know John, there IS a pump there.  It took us 30 seconds and all 4 tires were full.  We tried to laugh that one off and get on the road.  :)

We then had a great Easter meal which consisted of my family's favorite, ham loaf and our friend Brooke's texas potatoes.  Here's the ham loaf recipe for Hayley who recently asked me for it and anyone else who might want to try this AWESOME dish!  

1lb. ground ham, 1/2 lb. ground veal, 1/2 lb. ground pork

1 egg

1 cup bread crumbs

1/2 cup milk

3 T brown sugar

3 T tomato soup

salt/pepper to taste

Mix well and bake 1.5 hrs at 350 degrees.  Put sliced onions on top.  Last 1/2 hour remove excess grease,  add 3 T of water and remove onions.  Mustard sauce (do in double boiler):  2 egg yolks, and 1/2 cup of each of the following:  tomato soup, yellow  mustard, brown sugar, and vinegar.  Cook until thick and hot.  Serves about 5 people...or 2 with leftovers!  

The Twisted Sticks

John's work hockey team, the Twisted Sticks were given the opportunity to play at the NHL rink where the San Jose Sharks play.  It was a fun day...John's team played, then the rink was open for all the guests to skate, and then we stayed for that night's Sharks game.  Can you find John in the picture above?

Visitors

Northern CA must be the place for midwesterners to get sent for work!  We had multiple visitors in the last month due to their work sending them here.  We had dinner with our friend Matt one week followed by our friend Kellee and her boyfriend the next week.  My aunt Kim was here a couple weeks later, but we missed her because we were in Mexico.  We LOVE visitors though...so if YOU're in the area, let us know!

Blossom Trail

The first weekend in March was a beautiful day and we decided to take a road trip to the "Blossom Trail" near Fresno, CA.  There were miles after miles of fruit tree orchards in bloom with a view of the mountains in the background and great food stands along the way to stop and snack.  

Vegas baby!

In February, we took a weekend trip to Vegas after "winning" a package on the radio (which turned out to be a timeshare scam).  On the first day we hung out with my parents who were also there that weekend and on the second day John and I hung out on the strip.
The third day we took a long bus tour to the Grand Canyon which I had never seen before!  It was a long trip, but the view of the Canyon was amazing!

Jumping on the bandwagon...

We've really enjoyed reading our friends' blogs, so we thought we'd give it a shot...maybe it'll be better than our mass emails?!  :)  This way only people who really WANT to see what we've been doing will do so.  And we can add pictures!  Speaking of pics, don't mind the crazy guy behind us in this one!  We'll catch you up on what we've been up to since my last mass email, and then we'll move forward....