Traveling day twenty two - when tourist pickings are slim

Arriving in Hue by train at 11am this morning we were taken to our hotel where we gratefully had a lovely shower. Then we ventured out into the streets of Hue.

Due to a combination of typhoon, low tourist season and Chinese national day the tourist pickings are slim in this town at the moment. Hence we were approached by every hawker and rickshaw driver on the street. Annika began to get frustrated and anxious at the people pestering her. I began to use a firm mummy voice and scared some people off.

We went to the Perfume River for a cruise to see the pagoda. We had to negotiate price before we went on the dragon boat - which was $30 - then we boarded the old boat which I think the operators used as their house as well. The husband drove, and the wife proceeded to try and sell us souvenirs. She tried for about 45 minutes and we kept saying no. Annika got overwhelmed by this and needed her iPod. We did not buy anything on her boat, the more she pushed the more I wanted to say no. So she sulkily cut our two hour tour short by half an hour. Which was ok because we wanted to get off the boat. A not very tranquil journey.

Hue is less busy than Han, and more beautiful with trees everywhere and a river through the middle. It has a long history and used to be the political capitol. Tomorrow we will go and see the Emperor's Citadel.

Traveling day twenty-one - from luxury to ...... Well not luxury but still ok

We awoke to a pre typhoon grey morning on Halong Bay, and another seven course meal on the boat. The junk took us to a local floating fish farm where we we able to throw small fish to bigger fish and watch them thrash around to eat it. My pants smelt like fishy water for the rest of the day.

The wind started to pick up and white caps started appearing on the waves as we made the two hour journey back to the harbor. A typhoon was coming, and all the tours for the next two days were cancelled. The junks were all heading back out to the islands to shelter among the mountains.

Our boat was much more luxurious than I expected, and it was amazing to be part of it. We were offered cool little towels and food all the time in wonderful surroundings. It was only later that night that we found out the junk we were on were only mid-range pricing. It is hard for us to imagine what the super-luxury ones would have extra...

We then had a long wait for our 11pm train - a sleeper train to Hue. We hit the shops in Hanoi again and stretched out our dinner as long as we could. But by the time we got on the train the girls were super over tired and emotional and needed a bit of TLC. The train was not luxury. The best word for it is 'functional'.

11 hours of train trip later....

Cultural tips

Chris' Cultural Tip - Girls Are Precious
Our guide today remarked that having two girls is "precious". I couldn't agree more but asked why he said so. Apparently in Vietnam there are more boys than girls (52% to 48%). This is a hangover from Confucianism where boys are supposed to be of more worth than girls. However the result is that girls are more rare, but can then also have more of a pick of the boys when it comes to marriage - especially the pretty ones. In fact with dowries it can be hard for a man to get married without enough money. Our guide, who was not that young, is not married and thinks he needs to save up for another 5 years before he can afford to get married.

So in Vietnam girls really are precious.




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Traveling day twenty - Halong Bay

We journeyed four hours by van this morning to meet our boat that was taking us out into Halong Bay overnight.





Halong Bay looks like God shook his fingers after making the Himalayas and bits of mountains flew off and landed in all of the bay. There are about 1962 islands in this bay and an unknown number of caves. Lots of fishermen, seven floating villages and several tourist junks like the one we are on.




Our boat is beautiful and the staff are very attentive. We had a nine course local seafood lunch and a ten course dinner! Chris and I pigged out on prawns, crabs, local fish, and clams.

We took the option to go kayaking this afternoon all around one of the islands. I had Gabby in my kayak, and when we went through a cave into a lake I managed to do a fantastic kayak three point turn. Kayaking through one of the world's most amazing national parks is something I will never forget. We also jumped into the water and had a swim at one of the beaches at the end of the day. Which was needed - we were a bit sweaty and hot after kayaking about ten kilometers.

I feel so blessed to visit such an amazing place. Sunset over the sheer mountains in Halong Bay was wonderful and an excellent end to a superb day. Chris and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary here.





We are also fortunate because there is a typhoon coming into the South China Sea, and the tour boats are not coming out tomorrow. So I think we had the calm sun before the storm.





Things I am glad I packed for our trip:
- Bandaids and paw paw cream - solved a variety of small injuries for poor poor children
- My sarong - mat to sit on, skirt, puppet theatre, scarf, towel, storytelling prop
- the iPad - it has returned on cost tenfold in long airport waits and train trips as an all in one games, video, blogging, music, last resort device
- the upside down show on the iPad - thanks Shane and Dave for making one of the best shows ever for kids
- hand sanitizer - no-one has got sick yet!
- 'good bacteria' pills recommended by the chemist - any funny tummy signs I have had one of these and the tummy funniness has disappeared
- travel towels, good shoes and my fishing hat with a string
- our camera!!

Chris' Cultural Tip: Scooters - much more than a person mover.
There are an increasing number of cars in Vietnam, but the roads are still dominated by motor scooters. And the Vietnamese have perfected the art of balancing huge amounts of cargo on a simple scooter. Travelling to Ha Long Bay for 3 hours gave us a chance to see some of the extraordinary things being carted around. Here are some examples:
- thousands of flowers bound for market
- about 20 large paintings
- a bunch of building supplies
- up to 5 people (including infants) - many without helmets
- about 20 metal watering cans
- 3 polystyrene crates plus luggage for two

Here are some crappy iPad photos as examples (until we get home and can post good ones)








All of this makes it obvious that scooters are much more than a person mover.

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Traveling day nineteen - where we become millionaires in one day

We arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam very late last night. There was a moment of slight panic as the guide from the tour company did not meet us immediately off the plane, but he showed up ten minutes later. We were pretty quick through customs and the plane was early. So that's ok.

We have spent the day exploring the centre of Hanoi by foot, motorbike (Chris) and rickshaw (on Gabby's desperate request). Thanks to Kerryn's training in China we have grown used to the traffic and now confidently step out into oncoming walls of scooters clutching our children. We were even ghost walked by some other tourists today such was our nonchalance.

Vietnamese food is fantastic. I thought I may lose some more weight on this trip. HA. I can only hope the amount of walking we are doing is counterbalancing the amazing food we are eating.

We also spent a bit of time poking through all the shops here. We have only been fleeced by about ten shopkeepers today, so that is probably a good tally for our first day here. Chris is much better at bargaining than I am. The exchange rate is 100 000 dong is $5. So you can become a millionaire pretty quickly.

This afternoon we watched a water puppet show. Pretty amazing stuff. They use a pool of water as a stage, and the rods for the puppets are all under water. There was fire and rice growing and a live Vietnamese band. I tried to think how I could incorporate water puppets into Dizzy's box, but couldn't think how it would be transportable.

I am also enjoying our tour - they have organized our accommodation and transport to different cities but we have been pretty much independent today. Tomorrow we are going to Halong Bay - I am very much looking forward to it.


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Traveling day eighteen - goodbye China

Packing gets more difficult the longer you travel. It took significant engineering to get all of our stuff into our cases this morning, particularly since the purchase of many souvenirs in China.

We are going to Vietnam today.

We had lunch at the same little restaurant we have frequented each dinner and lunch for the last three days. It has an extensive menu and very cheap, and is always busy with locals. This is a good sign. Last night we ordered three plates of dumplings mmmmmm. The owners treat us like old friends as well.

Travelling with children has been interesting - they let their emotions out much more clearly. If they are tired or not coping with the culture we have known it.
On the other hand they have coped far better than I thought with new situations, eating new food, patiently standing on buses and trains and walking quite long distances. Their concept of then world has grown bigger and they are experiencing what it is like to be the outsider. They are always stared at in the street and are often asked if they could have their photo taken. Annika hates it. Gab doesn't mind - which is strange because I thought it would be the other way around.

UPDATE
On the flight to Vietnam we were blessed with air travel gold. We were upgraded to premium economy (bigger seats, more leg room, better meals, more attention) and we were the only ones in the section so we had a whole row each. I may never be able to go back behind the curtain to economy again.....


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Traveling day seventeen - many steps in the streets of Beijing

The pollution level was high today in Beijing and we arose to a hazy morning. We had arranged to meet one of Kerryn's friends at the Temple of Heaven - a large park with a temple in it - so we caught the subway with many many other people. There are a lot of people in China. It feels like the Ekka train every trip.

In the Temple of Heaven park all of Beijing seemed to be there involved in some activity. There was kite flying and harmonica bands and line dancing and ribbon twirling and walking around a tree (!) and jive dancing. We had planned to have a small family Sunday service in a quiet corner of the park, but we were within earshot of the German music of the harmonica band. Both the girls used their gifts well in the service, Gab was the leader and had organized a run sheet, and Annika did the readings. We had music and sharing time as well. It was very special to be with friends and celebrate Sunday together in the middle of Beijing!

The Temple was hugely beautiful - blue and gold everywhere. Apparently it was built with no nails. I felt calm being there.
Apart from the crowds.
And the microphones of the tour guides.
And the whinging children.

After some Beijng duck we said goodbye to Kerryn and Ellie who caught the train back to Wuhan this afternoon. It has been awesome catching up with them, one of those friendships that will last a whole lifetime even though we live in different countries.

If I was wearing a pedometer today I think I would have stepped 10000 steps. We walked around the shopping streets this afternoon checking everything out and buying some little presents.

There plates of dumplings later we are back at the youth hostel wondering about luggage and packing for going to Vietnam tomorrow.

And my quads are still sore from climbing the wall!

Chris' Cultural Tip - Marriage Can Be Different in China.
When walking through the Temple of Heaven park today we came across an interesting section of the park. There were many older people there, many of them with sheets of paper which seemed to be contain the description of a person (name, gender, height, etc). I was intrigued and asked further what this was. Was this parents looking for missing people or something? Nope. It was basically a "marriage market".

In a culture of arranged marriages sometimes normal networks get exhausted. In this case one option is this "marriage market. It is a place were parents can gather and see if they can find a suitable match for their offspring. The old-fashioned equivalent of Internet dating in a culture of arranged marriages. It shows that marriage can be different in China.





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Travelling day sixteen - and the tour goes random

Our day started at 6 am when we were picked up for our $8 tour to the Great Wall. We had chosen to go with a local tour, mostly based on price. We knew we would not understand any of the Chinese, but we had Kerryn our trusty translator with us, so not to worry. Our expectations were pretty low - mostly just hoping to see the Great Wall. The tour was advertised from 7 am to 6 pm.

Off we went on the bus. Breakfast profiteroles in a bag.

Our tour guide - let's call her 'Miss Hannigan' ( Annie reference....) gave us an hour and fifteen minute monologue without drawing breath all in Chinese as we drove through the thousands of apartment buildings that make up the suburbs of Beijing. There were strict instructions about what time to be back at the bus and how much to pay for souvenirs. Into a microphone. It was fairly strident.

We arrived at the Great Wall before all of the major tour buses. The wall was great. And long. And an amazing feat of engineering. It took only 10 years to buiand with 700 000 workers and 300 000 soldiers to make them work. We climbed up to the first watch tower, which Gabby informs me was 855 steps (she counted). What a view! The steps were uneven and worn, so I clung to the handrail on the way down and went at nanna pace.

After a Chinese tourist toilet experience - lining up in front of individual cubicles and using the hip and shoulder to gain position, and guarding a toilet for the girls - we were ushered off to our next tour stop. We were shown a jade factory and told how they make jade, then saw all the different things you could buy made from jade. And Miss Hannigan gets a commission when the tour buys something. We did not buy any jade. We were given a stern look.

Back on the bus and driven to another shopping experience. The crazy supermarket. We were swept along in a tide of Chinese desperate to buy glaced fruit and dried Beijing duck. By this time we were the only foreigners around, and we were well off the foreigner tourist path and deep into machine-like Chinese tourism. We did not buy anything from the Ikea-mazed market. We were given another stern look. We were giving each other bemused looks. We were plying the children with snacks.

At the beginning of the tour Miss Hannigan had indicated that the included lunch was not very good. When we got to the lunch part of the tour we realized she was correct. It is fortunate that we all enjoy plain rice. The other dishes were stirfrys. Of some sort. And a sorry looking whole fish. We didn't eat much lunch. A stern look. I bought many bananas from a stall outside.

Back on the bus and then we were driven to another stopping point. Many tour buses had converged on this place at the same time and it was super busy. I am grateful for Gab's red hair - she is easy to spot in a crowd of Chinese. It was a wax museum of the Emperors of China from the 12th century to the 16th century. It was quite fascinating, with some descriptions even in English. The girls even got to dress up in clothes from the time period and have their photo taken. Which may possibly make it into some promotional brochure - 'even red haired foreign girls come here!'. Some of the wax displays were quite graphic - battle scenes, emperors with concubines, famine victims, torture chambers and enemies of the emperor being burned in a pot. The girls recognized some of the Forbidden City from yesterday so they had a bit of context. It is interesting to come to a country and know very little of the history - they have no reference point for the stories and the culture.

After the wax museum (where Gab and I narrowly missed being left behind by the bus after another Chinese toilet tourist experience) we were driven again to what we thought was another Jade shop. This is where the tour got even more random. And Chris and I got the giggles. We were lead upstairs to a room with the whole tour group for a mandatory rest. With free water. And we sat and listened to a man give a very polished monologue for forty minutes about his family business. In a room with gold wallpaper and a sign saying no photos. We did not understand anything. And from the cynical expressions from the rest of the tour group they were not enjoying it even though they understood what he was saying. Then we were led back out to the bus. Why? Why did we sit in a gold room for forty minutes? Not even led through a shop? Miss Hannigan had disappeared and could not enlighten us.

We travelled back to Beijing passing the birds nest stadium on the way, which was quite cool. Then bus driver dropped us off and we caught the subway home.

I think today we had a fully cultural Chinese random experience, with extra money demanded before we were allowed to go on the Great Wall (which bumped the price up to $15 each). We did not buy the souvenir quotient expected from us.
I feel confused. And my quads will be sore tomorrow from the step climbing at the wall. I guess they are not looking for repeat business. The sheer number of people in China ensures Miss Hannigan will always find people for a random tour.


Chris' Cultural Tip - Midriffs Are Cool
I have seen more than my fair share of Chinese bellies in these past few weeks. But it isn't the sort of bellies you are thinking. It is not young girls displaying their latest piercing. Instead it is middle aged men displaying their usually ample bellies for all the world to see. You see when you get hot here a common way for the common man to get cooler is to lift up his shirt and bare his belly. So it hasn't been a pleasant sight at all, but you clearly see most hot days in China that midriffs are cool.

PS Sorry about the lack of photos - Will add them when we get home and can connect the camera to the computer - am currently blogging from the iPad which has no USB port

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Traveling day fifteen - it's all in the way you look at it

The Forbidden City - is it:
(a) a magnificent palace built hundreds of years ago and a wonderful testament to the emperors of China where there is even a hall built for the empresses birthday party and the emperor's change room
(b) a structure that is a five kilometre walk from beginning to end that takes three hours not to be attempted with children in the hot Beijing sun with no ice-cream breaks after also walking through tiannamen square

Chinese architecture is certainly very imposing. And marble based. And symmetrical. And big. I read in the lonely planet guide that tiannamen square could hold one million people. And today it felt like a good proportion of them were there.

We walked and walked today and caught every form of public transport available in Beijing. I was very proud of the girls and they walked a very long way without complaining.....much.

We went to the night market for dinner. Chris ate a SCORPION. He said it was crunchy. I stuck to meat on a stick and noodles.

We are staying in a youth hostel which reminds me of back packing in my twenties. It is a typical Beijing style with three stories around a courtyard.

I have also started perfecting my steely anti hawker's glare. If anyone comes up to try and sell me something I glare at them and firmly say BOOYAH ( I don't want it). Most of them have given up after the first attempt. I must look sufficiently intimidating. Or poor. Or harassed by children. I am also training the girls not to just take something somebody gives them because we will probably have to pay for it. Annika is getting good at her steely glare as well. Everyone just wants to pat Gabby's hair.

Tomorrow we go to the great wall.


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travelling day fourteen - pandas to the left, flamingos to the right

Our excursion today was to the Wuhan Zoo.  Specifically to see a panda.  It was a quite different experience to Australia Zoo, with hawkers at the front gate and concrete caged enclosures for most of the animals.  But there was quite a variety of animals - tigers, pandas, flamingos, jabirus, bears, elephants, monkeys, lions, peacocks, rhinos and swans.

pandas.  in China.

Annika was particularly upset by the young men who had stripped down a long piece of bamboo, and were poking it through the bars to stir up the sleeping lions.  They were roaring and swatting at the stick, being quite ferocious.  Hence the origin of the phrase 'don't wake a sleeping lion, particularly with a long stick'.  Gabby decided she needed to report them to the zoo keeper - but we did not see one.

Our time in Wuhan has come to a close and we leave on the train to Beijing tonight.  It has been a great growing time and amazing to see some of the work here.  We have had an introduction to living in China that we would not have had if we had been tourists.  No-one has been sick yet, and the children are only slightly crabby sometimes!

There will be a break in regular blog programming when we are in Beijing due to the limited computer access.

Hopefully I will write more from Vietnam!

travelling day thirteen - where the ancient art of Chinese camponology is explored

Camponology is bell ringing.  Nothing to do with the great outdoors.  Today we saw lots of bell ringing.  We went to the Wuhan museum today which involved a very long taxi ride to get there - we chose a taxi with an even-ended number plate and he was not allowed to cross the number one bridge as it was an odd day.

Pines on the steps at the Wuhan Museum

At the museum there were many many ancient artifacts, including a complete set of amazing musical instruments that were preserved in a tomb from an emperor thousands of years ago.  They had created some replica instruments and we went to a performance at the museum - which the girls really enjoyed.  Thankfully.  Because before that there was serious museum fatigue happening.  There was a set of two toned bells - very impressive.

the bells the bells

bells in performance

China is also the place for very random sculptures from the ancient world - a crane sculpture with antlers took my eye.

 After the museum we went to the nearby East Lake - very much like a botanical gardens.  It was a beautiful clear day for Wuhan and the perfect temperature.  So we decided to go for a paddle on the lake in a ducky boat.  Of course.  Accompanied by icecreams.  We paddled all over the lake - the girls loved it.  Mucking around in boats is much better for young things than looking at old things inside a museum.

And check out what I had a turn on this afternoon (thanks to new friends up the street).

vrroommm vroommmm vroooommm.  If I lived here I would totally get an electric scooter.

Chris' cultural tips: Never forget tissues.
Tissues are handy things.  They are handy for blowing your nose, wiping mouths, cleaning up spillages, and a myriad other uses.  But they are even more prevalent here in China.  Especially the little pocket-sized packets.  In Australia the tissue section is dominated by boxes.  Here it is dominated by pocket-sized packets.  And there is a good reason.  There is no toilet paper in public toilets.

Apparently it sometimes gets stolen.  Or businesses are stingy.  Or something.  Whatever the reason there is no toilet paper in public toilets.  There is sometimes even no toilet paper when you visit people's apartments.  Everyone is expected to have a handy pocket sized packet of tissues for all toileting needs.  And if you think of the 1.3 billion bums in China that is a lot of tissue packets required.  So it is VITALLY IMPORTANT that wherever you go, never forget tissues.

travelling day twelve - food street revisited

Annika and Gabby went to the international school with our friend's daughter today.  We had to have them ready, lunch and all, to walk out the door to catch the bus at 7.30.  It took some doing - but it happened.  And they were gone until 5 in the afternoon (there was art club after school).  So we had a long day without children to fill in.

Hmmm what shall we do?

We decided to revisit food street after Saturday's not so successful visit in the heat and tiredness, and get a massage.

food street - so much food, such limited stomach room

squid on a stick

We ate:
- banana fritters on a stick
- lamb on a stick
- little doughnut things on a stick
- rice tofu square things with chopsticks
- fried meat bread on a stick
- meat in a wrap
- squid on a stick
- rice balls on a stick
which proves my long held theory that food tastes better on a stick (think about it - kebabs, lollipops, iceblocks..).

We passed on the crabs, fried tofu and snails.

This afternoon we also tried a Chinese foot massage.  Awesome.  Ticklish.  Invigorating not relaxing.

Speaking of food, one of the things in China I have enjoyed is the supermarkets.  In a lot of ways they are similar to Woolies or Coles, except for the tanks of live fish, crabs, turtles, eels and sharks that are placed in the middle of the fruit and vege section.  You grab a little net and select your edible sealife of choice, then they gut and fillet it for you in the middle of the supermarket.  It's a little bit of reality right there in the fresh produce section.

Chris’ cultural tip: Don’t drink the water

No-one drinks the water in China.  The tap water at least.  It is mostly untreated and unsafe to drink.  Most places that can afford it have water coolers, and the rest simply boil their water before drinking.  It is apparently so culturally ingrained that the authorities have said that even if they did start to treat the water no-one would drink it because they are so used to boiling it.  It is an interesting thought to trade off the expense and energy required to treat all treat all water, or have all the energy used by individuals boiling or buying bottled water.

Regardless you will see bottled water everywhere, both in water coolers and individual bottles.  And everyone knows everywhere – don’t drink the water.

travelling day eleven - a cold wind sweeps across Wuhan

Rest day today.

Rainy day today.

Grocery shopping today.

Puppet completion today.

Temperature dropped 10 degrees today.

Burns from the hot glue gun today.

Gabby lost her carry bag in a taxi today.

Made new friends today.

Enjoyed the food today.

Quiet day today.

Chris' cultural tip: It ain't a wedding without fancy dress.
We all expect to get dressed up for weddings in Australia.  But when we get dressed up we all sort of look the same.  And we also expect wedding photos.  But again they all tend to turn out the same.  Back home Catriona & I are going through another season of weddings.  We went through one when our peers where tending to get married.  But being involved in youth ministry leads to a whole bunch of connections and a whole bunch more weddings.  So we can safely say we have been through our fair share of weddings.  And really, they all tend to look the same.  All very nice.  All very fancy.  But basically from the same mold.

Not so in China.  Where we are staying in China is right next to a favourite local spot for wedding photos.  And we have seen that here in China they take the "fancy dress" part seriously (or is that not so seriously) for weddings.  When we first saw some wedding photos being taken we thought it was for a strange modelling shoot, but we have seen since that this was just one of a string of wedding photo shoots.  They may not take place on the actual wedding day, but apparently it is all the rage in China to get dressed up in strange costumes and have a photo shoot to celebrate your wedding.  Here are but a few examples of what we have seen:

All strange but true.

You can clearly see that it ain't a wedding without fancy dress.

travelling day ten - where I become an international puppet consultant

Mr Orange modelling with his unfinished monster mates

construction zone - hot glue is really hot

From a tiny hair brained idea to a full afternoon of fabric, foam and hot glue guns.  The Sunday school teachers from the international community had a wonderful afternoon of puppet making and learning about how to use this puppeting tool to tell stories.  It had become a Project with a capital ‘P’.  It was a real blessing to being among these people and teach them my small amount of knowledge about puppets, and to witness their creativity.  Mr Orange was turned inside out many times to investigate how he was made.  And I now have a contact in Wuhan who can tailor make more puppet bodies for me.

Look what we made!

We have been here just over a week, and I feel that we have been placed for a purpose at this place at this time.  I am leaving a little puppet legacy behind that will hopefully help more children and people engage and learn about the Kingdom.  

I also helped with Sunday school this morning at the weekly meeting.  We had a pitched battle with balloon swords between Jonathon and the Philistines (after a quick check on the net on how to make balloon swords!).  And Annika and I introduced the actions to three Colin Buchanan songs.  Fun times.

Annika and Gabby are making their own puppets to bring home tomorrow.  I am getting concerned about our luggage – I will possibly need to buy another bag!

travelling day nine - walking and walking and walking and walking

Today's plan was to visit on of Wuhan's most famous landmarks - the Yellow Crane Tower.

 

 It was an hour bus ride there - then about a three kilometer walk.  With toddlers.  But we made it.  And it was worth it to be at a site of cultural significance.  Even if I was not quite sure what the significance was.

Our lovely hosts Scott and Kerryn

from the top of the tower - smog in the city

Annika being pulled into random photos with Chinese kids

on food street

our kids were the star attraction on food street today

Also today I had the opportunity to give a talk to about 50 parents from the kindy regarding language and speech development.  I had researched Mandarin speech sound development (Dodd 2000), and talked about Blanks levels of questioning, as well as language strategies, stuttering hints, semantic webs, early literacy and bilinguilism.  My brain had a bit of a workout answering all their questions!  It was very exciting to see so many parents interested in language development - particularly translated from a foreigner.  What great opportunities are here.

Tomorrow we make puppets.  We picked up the bodies today from the tailor at the fabric market and they look awesome.  She managed to make 27 in three days. Bring it on.

Chris' cultural tip: Apartments are the norm in China
Apartment living is very much the norm in increasingly urbanised China.  People are moving to the cities in China at a phenomenal rate, and that means high density living.  We are staying in an apartment.  4 adults and 5 kids squeezing into an apartment about half the size of our house.  But it is all normal for urban China where even the fridges are half the Australian size on average.  Houses are rare, expensive, and basically for the rich.

The normality of apartment living was brought home to me today.  I was visiting a local fellowship.  It was meeting in an apartment on the 7th floor.  The meeting was all in Chinese so I was pretty much lost, so I decided to play with the only child there - a small girl about 3 years old.  We had no common language so we took to drawing on the whiteboard together.  One thing she did draw was a "house".  It was the international language of house drawing with a triangle roof, a rectangle chimney and windows consisting of a square with a plus through the middle.  The only difference was her "house" was far taller than our usual square ones, and it had a LOT more windows.  So it was obvious that even in the international language of house drawings, apartments are the norm in China.

Traveling day eight - the only blonde on a bus

Chris and I did a double performance at the international school assembly today.  It was great working on something with him – he is one talented person.  At home we are usually doing our own projects – he is involved in youth and I muck around in kid’s work.  But it was wonderful for a change to have a shared focus and work out together how to tell the story of Esther.  There was a puppet involved.  And a song that I made up.  And Chris playing the part of a reporter for "In Persia Today".  I even shamelessly used my children as stagehands.

I can hear Timothy (the three year old at the house where we are staying) still singing the song we made up!

We followed the school assembly time with milk tea – a Chinese favourite, and the local specialty Wuhan hot, dry, noodles.  We ate them sitting on the footpath and were the conversational topic for all the locals sitting around us.

Then I went to the kindy to do another round of storytelling and caught the bus to the kindy ALL BY MY SELF. I hopped onto the bus armed with 4 yuan and a little note with then characters explaining what stop I was getting off at. I asked a few people on the bus if they could help me, and a lovely gentleman not only got off the stop with me, he walked me all the way to the kindy and delivered me to our friends. I have been told that the whole history of China and the impression it gives is dependent upon whether you are kind to strangers on the bus. Or something like that. In any case, I have not met a Chinese person yet who is not friendly and helpful and patient - even though they may have lots of their own jobs to do.

Thanks helpful Chinese guy

On the bus trip back home I got off at the correct stop, and a cheer went up from about 8 people who helped me find the stop. Then I had to cross the major road outside the apartment block. It looked like a wall of traffic. I spied a local to follow, and started my 'ghost walk' strategy. This is when I realized the local I had chosen to follow was a young teenage fellow who weaved in and out of the cars. But I kept on him like a champion and crossed the road unscathed.

So now I have travelled around like a local. Yay! Feel a big sense of accomplishment.

At the kindy when I was doing some storytelling it was with a group of 8 year old boys.  And as with all 8 year old boys on a Friday afternoon they were being rascals.  I had learned only two phrases of Chinese before I came - and one of them was 'fong pai' (who farted?).  Needless to say, I heard this phrase amidst much giggling from the boys in the story time this afternoon.  8 year olds.  The same the world over.

rascals....fong pai?

travelling day seven - yes it is a market - a big, big, random market

The expedition today to the CRAZY market was successful - if you count success as Annika and Gabby spending pocket money on Chinese bitsy things and Chris actually finding something to buy.  It was like shopping in the street version of Crazy Clarks but with motorbikes and pushcarts and products everywhere.  I bought two lanterns that I thought would fold up - but just kind of become smaller.  They may or may not make it into the suitcase to come home.  I became better at bargaining as we went around the market, learnt important Chinese phrases such as 'how much', 'too expensive', 'I don't want it', and 'yes please I'll take it thank you very much'.  Annika even had a turn at bargaining!  For numbers I just used my fingers. 

We were searching for specific items at the market - a ukelele (we did not find one), long balloons (found a packet of 200 for $1), scarves (purchased) and gifts for friends (much list ticking from the girls).  And we also found random items - a pink puppet sized umbrella for dizzy and 140 ping pong balls for the eyes for the puppet making project (yes it has become a project) that I have going here.

to market to market

 

a normal intersection

trash can bread - mmmmmmmm

 

a rare slow moment in the crazy market

shopping face.  and 140 ping pong balls.

In other news here are some things about China that I have noticed;
- I have had a persistant cough now for a week - the Wuhan air has settled in my lungs
- I am missing the lorikeets at our house in Brisbane - there is a strange absence of animal life in this big city
- I love Chinese food
- friendships are more instant and intense when you are travelling
- we are being used for the Kingdom with what we know - this is exciting and a blessing, and you get the feeling that we are here for a special planned time
- we are not sick yet, and this is not from our strength

Tonight we also helped with an English conversation class.  This is always fun, and I really enjoy talking with new people.  Actually, I really enjoy talking.

Tomorrow we are helping with the school assembly for their daughter of the friends we are staying with, and I am helping again at the kindy with storytelling.  And Chris gets to watch the swannies game at a friends house.  We have settled in well in less than a week!

Chris’ cultural tip: It’s all a matter of taste

When you come to China you expect all sorts of weird and varied tastes, and we haven’t been disappointed.  From the bizarre to the delightful our palate is experiencing all sorts of new sensations.  One thing I didn’t totally expect though was how some things we know and love in Australia have their tastes changed to suit China.  You get all sorts of bizarre things like green tea ice cream Oreos.  To give you an idea here is a sample of the selection of the flavours of potato chips in the local supermarket, starting from the relatively normal to the… well you’ll see:

• American classic
• Texas grilled BBQ
• Mexican tomato chicken
• Little tomato
• Italian red meat
• Tomato seafood
• Lime
• Lemon tea
• Cucumber
• Blueberry
• And my personal favourite (though I doubt I will try some)…

So as you can see even the tastes of chips are tailored to suit the culture they are in.  And even though they may seem bizarre, considering China’s 1.3 billion people, they are probably selling far more of these flavours than our humble salt & vinegar.  Which just goes to show it’s all a matter of taste.

travelling day six - where we discover the power of recuperative icecream

Today I realised what it meant when the guidebook says 'Wuhan is the furnace of the south'.  And it is only autumn.  We were invited unexpectedly to an orphanage on the other side of town for the orphanage open day.  This was very exciting as the orphanage has not had many visitors from different places before.  We travelled all across town and were let through the guarded gate into the grounds of the orphanage, which were strangely devoid of children.  After about a 45 minute wait we were instructed to stand in lines on the parade ground to view the performances from some of the children.  Very cute - but the introductory speech promoted that there were 700 children at the orphanage, and in the performance there were only about 30.  After the performances we were toured around the ground floor of the building, and then ushered out of the gate.  We didn't meet any children today.  Maybe next time!

I took some photos inside the orphanage, but was requested not to use them.  So here is a photo of a lady and a baby watching us enjoy icecreams outside the gate of the orphanage.  We needed icecreams because we had all melted standing in the lines outside in what was a very humid 34 degrees.

NB babies very cute here but don't whistle when you hold them - they are without nappies and the wee/pooh cue is a whistle

In other news today I was able to visit twin Chinese girls and talk with their family about ideas for their learning.  They had some apoxia at birth, and now presented with learning difficulties/attention difficulties and also had epilepsy.  This is tricky here as the teaching system is not so flexible for students such as this.  I had a lovely afternoon playing with them and doing some informal language assessment through a translator.  I hopefully gave the family a few ideas and resources (thanks Bridget!).  It was super interesting to participate in bilingual therapy, and the girls really enjoyed it.  They also mocked my poor attempts at Chinese.

terrible ipad photo of the twins - I forgot the camera

Tomorrow we are going shopping again in what is locally known as the CRAZY markets.  I am expecting much much randomness.

Chris’ cultural tip: The traffic is odd in China

Over the last couple of days we have been driven around different parts of Wuhan.  This has given us a good opportunity to see first-hand some of the oddities with the traffic in China.  Here is but a few:

• ·        No helmets on bikes, motorbikes, scooters, trikes, etc.
• ·        Passengers on scooters with umbrellas (to protect from the sun)
• ·        Passengers on scooters eating noodles on the freeway
• ·        U-turn lanes (a bit like hook turns in Melbourne)
• ·        Countdown  timers on the traffic lights
• ·        Indicators are optional
• ·        Seat belts are optional

These are all odd to my Western eyes, but this is one of the oddest.  Today we went to the same area of Wuhan as yesterday, but had to go a completely different way.  The reason – it was an even day.  You see with all the traffic in Wuhan one way they have decided to limit it is by only allowing vehicles with number plates ending in odd numbers to cross a certain bridge one day, and vehicles with number plates ending in even numbers another way.  So only half the cars in Wuhan are allowed to cross any given bridge on any given day.  There is always another bridge and another way around but you may have to go quite out of the way to get there.  To combat this the rich even go as far as to buy two different cars and make sure the number plates are odd & even!

So tomorrow if we take a car we will be allowed across the bridge we went over yesterday.  The reason – it is an odd day.  Which all just goes to show the traffic is odd in China.