Entries tagged with “March and April 2008 mom and dad simon cambodia nanjing xian beijing shanghai” from LINDY-LOO'S LIFE
Whew! It has been an eventful few months. So much so that I have been unable to keep up with my blog; or maybe my blog has been unable to keep up with me? To top it all off, I only have TWO months left in my contract here. To me this means time is running out to explore this part of the world! I hope to go somewhere new every weekend until it is time for me to return 'home'. So be prepared for some seriously exciting posts! Until then, I thought I would clean house a bit and catch up on some stories/pictures from the last few months.
I forgot to tell most of you about my first REAL KTV experience. KTV is karaoke for business men, who want to be men together and do manly things and talk business but enjoy themselves. It was an opportunity for me to experience male business culture in Asia.
I bought a girl, learned a bunch of new dice games, and drank myself silly. Here's me with my girls. They were 200RMB (60$) each for the whole evening.
Thanks to A.P and Paul, it was an eye opening and yet safe experience. Mental note: never marry an Asian man....although I think that is the 100th time I have said that since moving here.
Here's me and Paul dancing.
The following week, Gina and I set off to tackle Nanjing for a day. There is so much to say about this city and it's history. In short, it is famous for the 'Rape of Nanjing'. In the 30's, hundreds of thousands of Chinese people were tortured and murdered in such an unfathomable way here by the Japanese. The Chinese still hold a grudge (and to be fair, quite rightfully) against the Japanese for what is referred to as a 'massacre'.
We went to a museum depicting not only the massacre but also the intended peace between these two nations. I felt sort of badly for being insensitive enough to make fun and get this picture. But this is one of those instances where I misbehave and then just tell people I am American and it is all good.
Nanjing has a lot of historical artifacts; one of which is their 500 year old city wall.
I love these things!
Ok, switch gears.....
This brings me out of the country and to South East Asia where I promised you all I would post more about the wonderful country of Cambodia. However, what is more, I failed to mention the dinner we went to in Thailand on the first night, where we had to wear these amazing tourist shirts. At this dinner we were privy to some impressively beautiful 'fe'male dancers (read: the kind of non-girl-girls Thailand is famous for) who even gave us a little girly parts show.
As promised here are a few more pics from Cambodia when Simon took over the job as photographer. I think he did quite a good job, considering he didn't even have to pay for this one!
I wonder what those two boys want to be when they grow up.
At Angkor Wat we made some friends with the local kids who were by far smarter than any Canadian kid I have ever met (ok except maybe Molly).
And we found the most amazing drink...Whatever!
Alright, switch gears again.....
The grand finale. I am back in China and...of course....I want to tell you a bit about my mum and dad's visit.
This ranks up there as one of my more memorable experiences in China. It also ranks up there as one of my more stressful times here too. To no fault of Ma n' Pa, it was like being a parent of two toddlers for over a week. And I can tell you with even more certainty than before that I am NOT ready for that!
My dad did a great job of posting his thoughts, and so here are just a few of my favorite pics from the adventures.
We got so many great shots of the Great Wall, but this is one of my favorites since it is a slight trend with my Dad and I.
The following day we went into the forbidden city where, logically, at 10am my mother and I did some yoga,
and my father and I drank some beer. (sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do to bond with her dad... ok, ok, twist my arm AGAIN!)
A 12 hour night train ride later, we went from Beijing to Xi'an, where dad and I had our first calories of the day:
a beer with the Terracotta Warriors.
Xi'an was one of my favorite cities in China so far. It has so much history coupled with equal amounts of diversity (something which is quite rare over in Eastern China, with the population being 99.9% Han). The Muslim quarters were very cool and the food was amazing. I would certainly consider living in Xi'an next year.
After another night train ride, this one being 15 hours (I can't believe my mom survived it) we landed in Suzhou for a few days where I caught up on some work and we all got some much needed grounding.
But before I knew it, we were back on the traveling train again and off to Shanghai.
Although we had graduated from back-packing-night-train-taking-hostel-staying-street-food-eating "travelers" in Beijing and Xi'an to Four-Season's-upper-class-whitey "tourists" in Shanghai, it was still easy for me to find the road less traveled. One of my favorite things in China is the back streets. Here's mum and I in the thick of it all.
Then like true McGrews, we celebrated having survived yet another day with spicy food
and none other than...more beer.
And last but not least, on mum and dad's last night we treated ourselves to a nice drink or two in the 4 Season's, Shanghai - where I misbehaved and acted inappropriately, dancing by myself while waiting for the elevators.
I forgot to tell most of you about my first REAL KTV experience. KTV is karaoke for business men, who want to be men together and do manly things and talk business but enjoy themselves. It was an opportunity for me to experience male business culture in Asia.
I bought a girl, learned a bunch of new dice games, and drank myself silly. Here's me with my girls. They were 200RMB (60$) each for the whole evening.
Thanks to A.P and Paul, it was an eye opening and yet safe experience. Mental note: never marry an Asian man....although I think that is the 100th time I have said that since moving here.
Here's me and Paul dancing.The following week, Gina and I set off to tackle Nanjing for a day. There is so much to say about this city and it's history. In short, it is famous for the 'Rape of Nanjing'. In the 30's, hundreds of thousands of Chinese people were tortured and murdered in such an unfathomable way here by the Japanese. The Chinese still hold a grudge (and to be fair, quite rightfully) against the Japanese for what is referred to as a 'massacre'.
We went to a museum depicting not only the massacre but also the intended peace between these two nations. I felt sort of badly for being insensitive enough to make fun and get this picture. But this is one of those instances where I misbehave and then just tell people I am American and it is all good.
Nanjing has a lot of historical artifacts; one of which is their 500 year old city wall.
I love these things!
Ok, switch gears.....
This brings me out of the country and to South East Asia where I promised you all I would post more about the wonderful country of Cambodia. However, what is more, I failed to mention the dinner we went to in Thailand on the first night, where we had to wear these amazing tourist shirts. At this dinner we were privy to some impressively beautiful 'fe'male dancers (read: the kind of non-girl-girls Thailand is famous for) who even gave us a little girly parts show.
As promised here are a few more pics from Cambodia when Simon took over the job as photographer. I think he did quite a good job, considering he didn't even have to pay for this one!
I wonder what those two boys want to be when they grow up.
At Angkor Wat we made some friends with the local kids who were by far smarter than any Canadian kid I have ever met (ok except maybe Molly).
And we found the most amazing drink...Whatever!
Alright, switch gears again.....
The grand finale. I am back in China and...of course....I want to tell you a bit about my mum and dad's visit.
This ranks up there as one of my more memorable experiences in China. It also ranks up there as one of my more stressful times here too. To no fault of Ma n' Pa, it was like being a parent of two toddlers for over a week. And I can tell you with even more certainty than before that I am NOT ready for that!
My dad did a great job of posting his thoughts, and so here are just a few of my favorite pics from the adventures.
We got so many great shots of the Great Wall, but this is one of my favorites since it is a slight trend with my Dad and I.
The following day we went into the forbidden city where, logically, at 10am my mother and I did some yoga,
and my father and I drank some beer. (sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do to bond with her dad... ok, ok, twist my arm AGAIN!)
A 12 hour night train ride later, we went from Beijing to Xi'an, where dad and I had our first calories of the day:
a beer with the Terracotta Warriors.
Xi'an was one of my favorite cities in China so far. It has so much history coupled with equal amounts of diversity (something which is quite rare over in Eastern China, with the population being 99.9% Han). The Muslim quarters were very cool and the food was amazing. I would certainly consider living in Xi'an next year.
After another night train ride, this one being 15 hours (I can't believe my mom survived it) we landed in Suzhou for a few days where I caught up on some work and we all got some much needed grounding.
But before I knew it, we were back on the traveling train again and off to Shanghai.
Although we had graduated from back-packing-night-train-taking-hostel-staying-street-food-eating "travelers" in Beijing and Xi'an to Four-Season's-upper-class-whitey "tourists" in Shanghai, it was still easy for me to find the road less traveled. One of my favorite things in China is the back streets. Here's mum and I in the thick of it all.
Then like true McGrews, we celebrated having survived yet another day with spicy food
and none other than...more beer.
And last but not least, on mum and dad's last night we treated ourselves to a nice drink or two in the 4 Season's, Shanghai - where I misbehaved and acted inappropriately, dancing by myself while waiting for the elevators.
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