Friday, March 26, 2010
Smoking....
Don't get me wrong... many of my good friends at least here in China do smoke. It doesn't make me love them any less, but I wish they would stop, for their own health.
I just know that as long as I can remember.... so roughly 20-25 years, you haven't been allowed to smoke on airplanes. I would say that is long enough that it should be known the world over that smoking on an airplane is forbidden.... I would be wrong.
As we are flying to Sanya a guy a few rows in front of me lights up!?!?!?!?!?!?! What is that all about? Even after he was told to put it out, he still lite another cigarette about 30 minutes later?!?!?!?! Only in China!
Sanya Take Two
We woke up bright, but not so early this morning to find ourselves faced with a windy and slightly chilly day. Luckily I had packed one long-sleeved shirt, just in case I had gotten to badly sunburned that I needed full coverage. It came in handy all day today. No swimming, no beach, but a lot of wandering and exploring.
Leave it to me to find in the wandering and exploring a spa! Amazing how they are just everywhere, huh? We got a lovely massage. If you ever go there to the spa near the Tea Tree spa but not the Tea Tree spa... I highly recommend #6 and #12 - strong hands!
After the spa my hound dog nose led us to a place called X-Bartender, which makes a mix of lovely concoctions all of which they will put in a to-go cup. We had a mango daquiri and a margarita, both delicious. We even got a frequent users card...I plan on going back there every day!
The wind is finally dying down...so perhaps a night swim is in the cards, if I can wake Aaryn up from his late afternoon nap.
I'll get some pictures up as soon as we do anything.....
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Desensitized
I sat up when i realized we were going in reverse....
Qui had realized he passed his exit, and in full blown rush hour traffic, decided to reverse on the freeway to go back and take it.
I'm not sure what bothers me more... the fact that it happened, or the fact that once I realized what he was doing, I leaned back and fell asleep. Am I desensitized?
VPN!!!
Monday, March 1, 2010
S'mores
So, we ladies have coffee once a week. One Friday we were discussing back home, and things we miss... and we Americans missed S'mores.
Well low and behold, Aussies have no clue what these delicious concoctions are!!!! So, we had to rectify the situation. We couldn't find graham crackers, so we used "digestive biscuits" which actually worked out really well!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
TGI... What???
But, the Pimm's Mojitos are divine!!! And the Margaritas are almost right (except made with lemon instead of lime?!?!?!) I ordered one of my favorite ice cold beverages and this is the glass it was served to me in:
Thailand Part 2
We did a lot, and I mean a lot, of relaxing by the water. Whether it was the beach....
or the pool.....
It didn't matter to us. We needed to rest, relax, reconnect, and read! I finished 2 books and Aaryn finished Crime and Punishment, which should count as several books!!!
The only other event of note was a cooking lesson we took. They took us to Phang-Nga market, which is very similar to our market here in town. As they say in Thailand "Same, Same...but different."
Then we went back and cooked Green Curry, Pad Thai, and Green Papaya Salad.... it was all delicious!!
And now, since Aaryn took the class with me, I know he can cook something besides migas (which is glorified scrambled eggs for those not in the know).
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Thailand Part 1
We started off our perfect day with a ride off of Phuket, where we've been staying, to Phang-Nga to a wildlife sanctuary. Once we got to "base camp" we set off on our first adventure - Elephant Trekking!
Our elephant, Comtak, was a hairy girl and our mahout was.... well, a hoot! He had us pose a million times trying to get just the right shot of us on our trusty steed.
Once back from our trek, we headed off to the river for some whitewater rafting! Now, anyone who knows me, probably knows that things like this aren't my bag.... I don't enjoy being at the mercy of nature, nor do i like when my rafting guide splashes me with icy cold water. But... despite those set backs, I really loved it!!! I mean really!!! Even the splashing was fun! I only had mild flashbacks to my last toobing debacle....but all in all, it was incident free. Once it was done, I was sad that we had to get out of the river. An hour passed in the blink of an eye!
Rafting sure builds up an appetite! So we headed back to base camp for a delightful traditional Thai meal of soup and fish and rice and vegetables.... really yummy!!!!
After lunch, we hiked out to a waterfall. A gorgeous waterfall! It was set back in a rock, so once you climbed inside it was really loud and the current pulled and pushed you in every direction. We had a whole group of people, that we had met along the way, inside the rock formation all at one time, each taking our turn under the falls..... and only one guy lost his shorts!!!
Unfortunately, after the waterfall, it was time to head back to the island..... but tomorrow brings new adventures. Or, perhaps, a lazy day on the beach.... who knows?!?!?!
Chinese New Year
From what I had heard, one was to expect to feel like you were hunkered down in a bomb shelter waiting for the blitzkrieg to end….. Not far off! The festivities began early afternoon with fireworks being shot off at regular intervals (yes, I know you can’t see them during the day…. But people were doing it anyways). We had a few friends over and watched out over the golf course behind our apartment as the sun went down and the real show began! Our building shook with the proximity of blasts and eventually there was no pause between constant flashes and kabooms. We had bought a box of fireworks (that would rival any small town’s city fireworks display) for $20 USD and at about 11:45 went out front to set off our tiny display…
When we got to the front of our complex we could barely walk by the guard shack… All the guards were there with probably 40 boxes of fireworks, not nearly as puny as our miserable one. They were frantically wiring them all together to a master control box that would shoot them off in sequence. Not too shabby! So we handed them our box to add into the array and stood back waiting for the show.
It began with these ropes of poppers that sounded like we were being attacked with machine guns… and were very nearly were, as we were standing right next to them when they began going off!!! I’m still partially deaf in my right ear! Then the real show began….
We moved to the safety of the dry grass field (hahaha) a few meters away to see the big explosions go off. They were absolutely amazing! Beautiful, big, colorful, loud, and totally unsafe…. But hey! This is china!! Mei Wen Ti!
Now I should probably give you a little geography lesson… no, I am pretty sure if you are reading this you know where China is… I mean a geography lesson of our apartment complex in relation to other buildings. We live on one of the major street in our town, TEDA, Second Avenue. Our guard shack sits back about 100 feet from the street and then twice again back from there the apartments begin. We live furthest away all the way to the left from the guard shack. But… directly next to the guard shack, on second avenue is a new high-rise, still under construction. They are probably up to the 17 or 18th floor in the construction at this point, and the entire top is wrapped in scaffolding and some type of fabric to catch debris…. Or I guess I should say was wrapped…..
Halfway through the amazing fireworks display put on by the Warner Gardens Guards the wrapping caught fire…. Not a huge fire, but a steady smolder. New Years Eve just got a little more exciting! At this point my fingers and toes were icicles, but who could leave such a show????
Not to be dissuaded, the guards quickly grabbed as many boxes of fireworks as they could and ran into second avenue, one of the main streets in town, and began setting them off…. While we waited for a fire truck to arrive.
The first truck was too small and ill equipped to put out the fire, so reinforcements were called in….. And then more reinforcements. This had become what we call back home a “3 Alarm Fire” !!! Luckily the last truck was a ladder truck. They parked it on Second Avenue and began setting the supports to be able to raise the ladder up, the Bronto Lift. Aaryn and all the guys we were with said in unison…. They parked way too far away, it’ll never reach! And…. They were right. But it got darn close! Rather than move the truck and try again, they decided to send men into the building with fire extinguishers….. You heard me right. These men ran up the stairs and in a matter of 7 minutes had all the fire out. Why didn’t we do that first? Too obvious…..
Welcome to the Year of the Tiger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Skiing in China
Monday, December 14, 2009
I'm Baaack!!!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Disney - TEDA
I was wasting time searching the web and happened upon this depiction of TEDA, the little hamlet in China where I live. This looks a lot more like Tomorrowland at Disneyland than anything I have ever seen in TEDA. I mean, we do have a tall "space needle-esque" building, but not like that. And I have never once seen the sky that blue with white fluffy clouds. I call this false advertising!!!Friday, July 31, 2009
Expat Wife does NYC - Day 2



Thursday, July 30, 2009
Expat Wife does NYC - Day 1
Butter Lane has the tastiest cupcakes I have ever eaten. I highly recommend the Chocolate with Peanut Butter icing and the Espresso Cupcake.
Just when you thought all we were gonna do is eat our way thru the city - we decided to mix it up a bit and go shopping. We hit Fab 208, an absolutely mah-velous re-purposed vintage store that Dinah turned me onto. The owners are inked and fabulous! On official Maid of Honor duties we accompanied Dinah in picking up the veil from the veil maker (yes her entire store was veils and headpieces!!!). We tried them all on and had a grand ole time. Next stop, Cloak and Dagger where we met the designer and chatted fashion thru a rainstorm.
Once the rain subsided we headed up to the hotel to drop off Jami's veil and Summer went home to rest and relax. Dinah and I then ventured on to torture small dogs.
This picture says it all. My apologies to Linda, Darcy's mom. In our defense, she did seem very interested in that strapless bra!
Well it had been almost an hour since we ate . . .
Mmmmmmm FroYo!
We hopped into a taxi and hot-footed it to Jersey Boys where we met up with Jami, aka Mrs. Andosca, and some of the wedding party, family, and friends. Living overseas I am constantly reminded of what a small world it really is. To prove me right once again, my friend from waaaaayyy back, Heather Ferguson, happens to be in Jersey Boys!!! Heather reminded me of her first role in a play. It was as a squirrel in Snow White. Her oldest sister Jenna played the lead role and I was the evil queen Brangomare (yeah, I bet none of you knew what her real name was!). I think I was 14 or 15 when we did that show and Heather is one year younger. I guess I really can say, "I knew her when . . . "
If you haven't seen or heard of Jersey Boys, I'm sorry. It was a spectacular evening. The show is the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Season, complete with all the hits that you know and love. I told my father, this is one Broadway show he could even stay awake through (if you know him, you know that means a lot).
Hanging out at the stage door with Heather was only made more exciting by the first real-life street fight I have ever seen that happened mere feet from us. It was so enjoyable to watch, mostly because they were drunk imbeciles, but also because even after the cops came and the "Perps" ran for it, they circled around the block for more. After an hour or so of that repetition, I finally grabbed a cab back to "The Heights" to rest and prepare for another day in New York!