We spent our winter holiday in the beautiful country of Thailand. Some of our time was spent in Bangkok and some on Ko Pha Ngan, where we visited our friend, Lea, in Haad Rin. This area is known for its different moon parties, but we just went to chill. The beaches are incredible, the shopping is great and the food is delicious – an incredible combination! We not only ate different cuisines (which is hard to find in China) but we also took a cooking class to learn some Thai basics. It was a really fun and relaxing trip! Here are some picts:
places we’ve been
Visit to America
I went back to the states for some of the summer and it was nice to reconnect with family and friends. It was also great to do some shopping and eating! A lot of great food in the states! Here are some picts (mostly of food)!
B52’s Roam (China Remix)
We finally finished our China remix to the classic B52’s song “Roam.” It is in homage to the quirkiness of the original video.
Many thanks to all those who helped in the making of the video! Enjoy!
Robin visits China
Robin came to visit us during this winter holiday. We showed her around Zhuhai and Hong Kong, but also took a trip to Beijing together. It was Billy’s first time in Beijing as well. We ate some delicious food, like Peking duck, dim sum and the freshest asparagus ever! We climbed the Great Wall, saw a big Buddha, met up with some old friends and filmed using a green screen. The resulting movie is in post-production at the moment, but will hopefully be released world-wide soon. Here are some picts from our adventures:
Taiyun and Shanxi Provence
For Chinese National Day holiday, we went to visit our friend, Tina, who used to work with us at school. She is now back living in her hometown of Taiyuan. It is the capital city of Shanxi Province, and we met her to do some traveling around the province as well.
We flew from Guangzhou to Taiyuan. The flight was about three hours but from door to door it almost took six hours. We stayed at various hotels during our trip and ate at various restaurants. We visited two UNESCO World Heritage sites, Wutaishan and Datong. Shanxi has one of oldest histories in China. It contains many of oldest temples mixed with Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism. Jinju (Shanxi opera) is also the origin of the Peking opera. Although we knew a bit of Chinese history, it was surely a great opportunity to witness first hand some historical sites. We also experienced a lot of good food. Shanxi people love to eat noodles. There are many different types of noodles you can choose from. Local people say “when you get off a bus, you eat noodles, and when you get on a bus, you eat dumping.” Yes, we had amazingly delicious noodles and dumpling homemade by Tina’s mother.
Both of us enjoyed the trip, but what we really enjoyed the most was spending time with our friend and seeing where she lives. She is not only a good friend of ours but also a great translator and guide, helping us learn during our trip. Thanks to our lovely friend, Tina!
Movin’ on up!
When I speak to people, they often have the opinion that living in China is bad or rough. While this might be true in some places in China, this is not the case for us. We are lucky enough to live in a beautiful community in southern China, with clean air! As a matter of fact, our apartment is significantly nicer than the apartment we had in Melbourne, Australia. We like it so much that we made this video comparing how far we’ve come from our old apartment in Melbourne to our new one in China. We feel that we are “Movin’ on up!”
Mom & Dad visit China
Mom & Dad came to visit us in China!
Their overseas adventure started in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is not only a great place to shop but also to experience great food. Since Hong Kong is a good walking place, we walked a lot and saw many interesting things. We also went to Macau, which is closer to where we live. Macau is also a great place to experience delicious food. We really loved the egg tarts! The main part of their visit was to see where we live, Zhuhai. We enjoyed Cantonese food as well as very local food in Zhuhai. It was great to see three different places through their eyes and experience new things together. We even all put together a closet with no instructions! It was great to hang out and show them where we live.
Yangshuo 2014
We just came back from the Year 5 & Year 6 school trip to Yangshuo. Yangshuo is located two hours drive from the Guiling City centre in Guangxi Province, China. Guiling City is located one hour flight from Zhuhai City where we live. Yangshuo is one of the most popular destinations for both domestic and foreign travelers. Its krast mountains are very attractive and have been drawn by many painters. If you ever seen any Chinese paintings, you have certainly seen the scenery of Yangshuo.
We stayed one night in Guiling city and five nights in Yangshuo. We did outdoor activities including Chinese cooking and boat riding in Li River. We enjoyed biking the most! Unfortunately the weather was not the greatest and we had mostly rainy days. The guide told us that usually April to October is the best time to visit. However, due to the late winter, this time was not a great and is still a wet season. We had great tour guides that helped us in many ways. This place is one of must-to-visit places in China.
Hong Kong – Chinese New Year
Over this Chinese New Year holiday, Chiz and I went to Hong Kong to meet up with her friend John. We did some touristy things like go to the Peak, haggle at the Ladies Market, and ride the cable cars to the Big Buddha. We also scouted out good spots to watch the parade, which was not so great, and the fireworks, which were amazing!!! It was nice seeing John and nice to learn a bit more about Hong Kong!
Harbin Ice Festival
This year, we decided to have a snow Christmas in Harbin. However, it turned out to be an ice Christmas. The city of Harbin was icy and we only got to see snow falling down for a few hours during our stay.
Harbin is the largest city in the northeastern part of China. It has a strong Russian influence and was also occupied by Japan during the Second World War. Harbin is a city with dark yet important history to visit once in a lifetime. We experienced many things that will definitely stay with us as a tale to talk about in the future.
One of main purposes for us to visit Harbin was to see Ice and Snow Festival. The whole city turns into winter wonderland filled with Lego-blocked ice buildings with snow sculptures all around. Since the temperature of Harbin stays well below freezing (-20 degrees to -30 degrees Celsius) the sculptures are in no danger of melting. Of course, we knew it officially starts in January 2014. Yet, there are supposed to be many events starting around the 20th of Dec. 2013. So, we took a two hour bus from Tangjia to Shenzhen, stayed one night in Shenzhen, took a four hour flight to Harbin, took another an hour bus from Harbin airport to Harbin railway station, and finally took a 20 minute tuk-tuk from Harbin railway station to our hotel. It was quite a trip but the cold and crisp air (and people spitting) kept us awake the whole journey.