Filed under: alex
After an 8 year run, the relationship has ended. With the relationship, so too does So Civilized find the end of the road. If Elizabeth has anything planned I’ll update this post with a link. My story continues over at my new blog, Clean Cut American Kid, which is titled after an Ill Repute song. Thanks for reading.
Filed under: travel | Tags: China, karsts, Shekou, Shekou International School, Yangshuo
The Shekou International School had just finished classes the day of our arrival so we didn’t have a chance to meet any of Sarah’s students. However, we did make a trip to the school to check out her classroom and we ran into some of the teachers there as well. The building that houses the middle/high school students is only a few years old and is very modern. It is a short walk from her new apartment and on a good day (there are very few unpolluted days) you can see Hong Kong from school.
Sarah at her desk
The hallway outside Sarah's classroom (Alex & Mark)
Alex & I outside the school
We had a few days in Shekou to do laundry, catch up on emails, and check out the city before we were heading to Yangshuo for some Chinese language classes. Sarah helped us discover the joys of cheap good food in China and of course took us on the obligatory trip to Walmart. Not your typical Walmart experience, this was Chinese Walmart, complete with fish for your dinner tanks in the back.
Intersection in Shekou
Another fun experience in China is the “wet” market. This is where all the local fresh fish, meat, and vegetables can be found. A unique food that those of us living in the Western world aren’t accustomed to is dog. The Chinese eat dogs. However, it’s not clear why, but dog is a winter meat and is only found during the colder months. So for our visit we had to settle for much more normal things like butchering half a pig and live fish filleted open on the tables.
Alex observing the slicing up of a pig
Various shellfish
Blue crabs
A variety of eggs for sale
From Shekou, we head to Yangshuo where we were all going to take Chinese language classes. Sarah and her friend Lisa, already had some Chinese language so they took a more advanced class and began learning characters, while Alex & I started from ni hao (hello.) Yangshuo is a beautiful area in China known for their karsts which are beautiful, green, steeply peaked mountains that fill the area.
After Australia we headed for China, where we would be meeting up with my sister who is a teacher at Shekou International School. We first had a few days to explore Hong Kong before heading to mainland China. We splurged on a fancy hotel for 2 nights, which also served as my birthday celebration from the previous week. The days were rainy and humid but Alex & I kept ourselves busy checking out electronics deals and maneuvering the subway system.
Hong Kong skyline from our hotel
Hong Kong Intercontinental Hotel lobby
Hong Kong is just as you would expect, a very well organized, wealthy and high tech city. We both were equally impressed with the high standards set by Hong Kong and ingenious things like checking in for the airport at the subway station. My sister and I later did just that on our way to Malaysia and it was brilliantly fast and easy.
Umbrella vending machin
Streets of Hong Kong
View of Hong Kong from the peak tram
After only a few days we head for the mainland to meet up with Sarah (my sister) and see where she has been living and teaching the past year. A short ferry ride take you to Shekou, a suburb of sorts, of larger and better known Shenzhen.
Filed under: travel
Similar to the previous countries we’ve visited, we began our visit to Australia staying with a couchsurfer. Matt and his lovely dogs, were our fantastic couchsurfing hosts for our first few days in Sydney. We used this time to organize a campervan and explore the city of Sydney.
Matt's girls - Scout, Tess, and Rosie
We both appreciated being back in a city for a few days and found Sydney to be an easy and enjoyable place to explore. We did the obligatory trip downtown to view the infamous opera house and took a ferry ride to Manly to walk the scenic beach path.
The opera house by day
The opera house by night during a light exhibition
Sydney skyline
Walking in Manly
Once we departed Sydney in our Australian campervan, we headed for Featherdale Wildlife Park so I could see some Australian animals. Most of you know I am a big animal lover, so Alex had to tear me away from all the cute fuzzy animals. I could have stayed all day.
Feeding a kangaroo
Kangaroo feeding over and I am happy
Looking for more
Alex and his new wallaby friends
Kangaroo crossing
Albino wallabies
Kangaroo mama
Wombat crossing
Adorable chubby little wombat
Dingo pups
A koala
Learning our lesson from New Zealand, where we tried to cover too much ground, we chose to stay close to Sydney and keep driving to a minimum. We headed for the Blue Mountains, where we encountered rain and fog, completely obscuring any glimpse of the mountains. Moving on, we made our way a few hours south of Sydney, to a town called Nowra. A local rock climber in Sydney had recommended Nowra for sport climbing, where he assured us there would be plenty of easy routes. Nowra ended up being a perfect spot for us. We settled into a caravan park that provided a camp ground just across the river from the climbing spot, Thompson’s point. They loaned us a canoe we could use for accessing the rock and the weather finally cooperated with blue skies and sun for the next few days. We spent our mornings running and climbing, with afternoons in town at a local coffee shop where Alex could work while I made friends with the owner. Niryan, owner of the Tea Club Cafe was so good to us. He opened his shop when they were suppose to be closed (so we could use his wifi), had us testing his new batch of chai tea and sent us home with all sorts of vegetarian goodies leftover from dinner the previous night. If you ever find yourself in Nowra the tea club should be a definite stop.
Canoeing to the rock climbing spot
Alex rappelling at Thompson's Point in Nowra
Our campsite in Nowra
We ended our time in Australia with a few more days in Sydney. We stayed with Greg and Katie whom we had met at Palmer Station, during a sailing trip they had taken to the Antarctic Peninsula. Greg is the CEO of WWF (World Wildlife Federation) Australia and he invited Alex to give a short presentation about our work in Antarctica. What better audience than a bunch of environmentally friendly NGO workers, with whom to discuss climate change. We had a wonderful visit with them in their beautiful home and we all talked longingly of our time in Antarctica. Katie & Greg’s unborn baby may be one of the few children that can claim a trip to Antarctica, albeit in utero.
Katie & Greg with Ella at the dog park
A hilarious duo we met at the dog park
