Chinese New Year in Myanmar

Over the Chinese New Year holiday I finally had the chance to get out of China and travel somewhere in Asia.  I set off to Myanmar with two friends because I knew some friends from college living in Yangon and figured it would be a great way to see a new country and catch up with my friends.

We planned our trip around the major tourist spots- Inle Lake in Shan State, Bagan, Ngwe Saung for the beach, and a few days in Yangon to check out the city and see my friends.  I had high hopes for Myanmar because everyone I talked to told me how wonderful and undeveloped it was and this trip definitely didn't disappoint.

We arrived in Yangon late the first night, stayed in a really nice hostel and collected our tickets for our first internal flight.  The next morning we flew to Heho, which was about an hour from Inle Lake.  The airport was pretty crazy.  We got there two hours early (at our travel agent's suggestion) and proceeded to wait around with nothing to do.  Security took 2 minutes and they didn't even look at our passports before giving us our tickets.  I guess we looked pretty trust worthy.  Once our plane landed the airport staff quickly ushered off the previous passengers and then loaded us in to a pretty small plane with visible propellers.  The flight was uneventful but we did make a few stops before landing in Heho, so it was more like being on a bus than a plane, but at least it was comfortable.

After landing we took a taxi for an hour to our hotel near the lake.  It felt way too touristy because I was expecting there to only be a hand-full of backpackers, but once I got over that it was great.
We rented bikes and road around town, eventually finding a winery that was recommended to us.  The view was great, the wine...not so much.  We still had a great time.

Amazing View!

Look how exited we are about the sun!

The next day we arranged a boat tour and spent 8 hours on the lake, stopping off at different places to check out some of the local culture.  We saw the famous fishermen who fish with their feet (they also tried to pose and ask for money), lots of handicraft shops, the long-necked Kayan Lahwi weaving, a pretty sad lotus textile factory and the first of several thousand pagodas.  

Local fishermen:  They use their feet to paddle while they try to catch the fish.

Kayan Lahwi 

Budda in one of the temples

 That night we also took a cooking class with a local Myanmar family.  They showed us how to make some classic Burmese dishes with a western flare, and it was all amazing!  

Enjoying our dinner

From Inle we took a 7 hour bus ride to Bagan, home of over 1,500 Buddist temples and pagodas.  This spot was much less touristy (strange) but very beautiful.  We spent most of our time here checking out all of the different pagodas and the surrounding area. 

Our first day exploring was very eventful.  We rented electric bikes and rode around town, stopping at different pagodas and restaurants for breaks.  The group (actually just Danielle...)had several issues with the bikes.  Her kickstand stopped working so we had to wait around for a new bike, which the company that rented them happily provided.  We also had a very nice man and a police officer help us while we waiting.  Once the bike was switched, we continued on our way exploring a few of the pagodas in New Bagan.

More pagodas

Danielle trying to fix her bike

Once we got tired and hungry, we decided to stop for lunch.  This was the best part of the day because a.) Danielle crashed her bike in to a fence and it was hilarious--no one got hurt! and b.) we found an amazing spot to have lunch.  Our friend who helped with the bikes told us that he worked at Hotel Bagan, so we decided to stop in to check it out.  It was ridiculously nice.  Part of the hotel was built around an old pagoda and it was right on the water.  We decided to stay there for lunch and a few margaritas before continuing on our journey.  

After lunch we explored more of the town and then headed back to one of the most popular pagodas to watch the sunset.  When we arrived we found that about 1,000 other people had the same idea, so we asked a guide if he knew of any other places to watch that were less crowded.  He pointed us to a much smaller pagoda and we decided to check it out.  It was definitely worth it!

What we avoided for the night.  Too many people!
(We ended up at this pagoda in the morning, though)

Tight Squeeze going down

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Beautiful Sunset

The next day Danielle and I decided that we had to go back to the pagodas for sunrise because we wanted to see the hot air balloons come up over the pagodas.  We left our hotel around 5:30am and it was worth the lack of sleep.  As we were driving in, the sky started to turn purple and it was a beautiful morning.  I forgot the dress code and wore shorts  because I'm an idiot, but luckily there were vendors selling some delightful hippie pants outside.  We opted to climb the main pagoda because it wasn't quite as crowded and my bike was not going to cooperate on loose sand, but it was much less crowded at sunrise and we had a great spot.  

All the steps we had to climb to get to the top

 I have thousands of pictures of the pagodas and the balloons, but I won't bore you with them all here.

After Bagan we flew to Yangon and caught an overnight bus to the beach at Ngwe Saung.  This was one of the worst bus rides I've ever had.  It was so uncomfortable and took forever.  Plus, once we arrived at the resort our room wasn't ready and the hotel staff suggested that all three of us share one double bed.  We politely, but firmly, told them no way and the quickly sorted out our room.

Once all of that drama was dealt with we had an amazing 3 days at the beach.  We lounged under the tiki huts, had drinks delivered to the beach, swam in the Bay of Bengal, and hung out in the pool.  It was so great to be in the sun and out of the pollution.  Unfortunately, all three of us got horrendously sun burnt.  In Inle Lake we bought what we thought was sunscreen (because it said Sun Factor 50 on it!), but after we spent 10 minutes in the sun and turned lobster red we realized we had made a mistake.  It turns out that we bought skin whitening cream (very common in Asia) and it did not prevent sunburns.  We made the best of it, though, and spent the rest of our time in the shade.  Sunburns be damned!  It was our only chance at the beach and we were going to enjoy it!
Our group did walk in to town in search of aloe, but all we could find was some menthol, mushroom cream.  Whatever it was did the trick and we felt much better, just in time to head back to Yangon.

You can already see the sunburn coming in!

Once we begrudgingly left the beach, we headed back to Yangon via taxi.  There was no way we were taking that bus again!  It took us 6 hours, but we finally made it back to the city in time to meet Mark and Kelsey for dinner and drinks.  Our massive group enjoyed some Myanmar BBQ and national beers.  It was a great night out.

The next day we explored Yangon a bit.  We went to Shwegadon Pagoda, famous for housing 9 of Buddas hairs, and spent some time looking at all of the different statues set up in the space.  Afterwards we walked around Kandawgyi Lake and saw the famous dragon boat restaurant.  We also found a shop with some of the best ice cream I've ever had!  That evening we met Mark and Kelsey for dinner and drinks again before heading back to Shanghai.  Our time in Yangon felt way too rushed and I wish we had another day to spend with friends and explore.  I'll definitely be back to see more soon!

Shwedagon Pagoda

Dragon Boat!  

Yay! Reunited with the Cices

Once we made it to the airport we realized there was a little bit of drama because Danielle's flight was the following day, but she was able to sort out her ticket and flew standby to Seoul.  I made it home with no issues and had two full days to recover, which were 100% necessary.

It's been a hard week back at work, but this trip reminded me of why I am living in China and what I have to look forward to for the next few years.   =)

Seriously, January?

As January has come to a close I can finally take some time to reflect on my first 5 months in Shanghai.  When I left to go back to Florida for Christmas I almost didn't want to leave.  I was having such a great time exploring my new city and I was, somehow, dealing with the cold.  Of course I had a great time visiting with family, but I was excited to get back to Shanghai.

Once I got back, I was almost wishing I had stayed in Florida.  It is cold in Shanghai.  Really cold.  And rainy.  Lets face it... I am no longer made for the winter.  I was finding the weather absolutely miserable.  It was bringing my mood now and there was no relief in sight.

The horrible weather was also coupled with the fact that several of my friends are looking for new jobs.  Like I said before, I was happy in Shanghai.  I also really like my job.  But for some reason I was feeling extremely jealous of everyone on their job search.  I want to go to Europe or Singapore or New Zealand.  Why can't I be in the process of figuring out my next adventure?

Then I realised that I was being ridiculous.  I know that everyone goes through their ups and downs and January is typically one of the worst months for expats.  This one just hit me particularly hard.  Its still cold and and I still want to travel, but life in Shanghai is pretty good.  I still like my job, even when my students are being crazy.  There is so much of this city that I haven't had the chance to explore yet.  Plus I have quite a few exciting holidays in the works so I know how thankful I should be.

Even though Puxatawney Phil saw his shadow, I am looking forward to the next 6 weeks.  I'll just make sure to bundle up a bit more and continue to remind myself all of the awesomeness that is scheduled for February and March.

February is bound to be better, right?

Chaotic Winter Wonderland--My Weekend in a Chinese Tourist Trap

In my four and a half years abroad I have come to understand how different the United States is to the rest of the world.  You forget that other nations do not operate in the American way and sometimes the results are fabulous, others are hilarious, and unfortunately, some time disastrous.  In Qatar, Honduras, and now China I have been blown away by the fact that "American" logic hasn't transfered over to these other countries.  

For example, the day I drove past a man in a Land Rover in Qatar with an adolescent cheetah as his passenger.  A cheetah.  Why would anyone think it is okay to drive around with a cat that could rip your face off?  The driver was also quite annoyed when our bus full of teachers wanted to take photos at a red light.  Like this was something you see every day.  Oh, Qatar.

Move along here, nothing to see!

Another example: We had a rain day in Honduras.  School was canceled about 30 minutes after lessons were meant to begin.  Many students and staff had already arrived to a flooding school.  Honduras in located in Central America where they have a "rainy season."  An entire season aptly named because it rains.  A lot.   Yet the school and the roads were not prepared for the rain so school had to be canceled.  Only in Honduras, right?

But China seems to be on an entirely new level.  I know I am still adjusting but I do not understand how people think their behaviour is acceptable.  It is completely normal for Chinese people to let their children go to the bathroom on the side of the road, in a trash can at a shopping centre, or even in an apartment complex elevator (yes, that has happened in my building).  I hear people hock loogies in public constantly.  People push, shove, and block passage ways because THEY need to get someone.  People scream into their phones or to each other because they can't be bothered to walk a few steps to hold a conversation in a normal voice.  People throw trash on the ground right in front of garbage cans.  This behaviour is so bad that the Chinese government has planned to publicly shame Chinese tourists if they act this way while abroad.   Check out what the Washington Post has to say.**

This made for a very interesting weekend away in Harbin, one of China's biggest tourist attractions.  

Thanks Google Images!

Harbin is a city in northern China.  It has a a colourful history because of its location.  It was part of Russia, then was occupied by the Japanese, and now officially part of China.  I'd really like to read more about the boarder changing hands because you can see a ton of Russian and Mongolian influence all throughout the city.  It almost seemed like a China town set up in Eastern Europe.  A lot of the architecture seemed Russian, but Chinese writing and red lanterns filled the building fronts.  

We went to Harbin for the annual Snow and Ice Festival.  Every year artists get together to create amazing sculptures in the ice and snow and then thousands (actually, more likely millions) of tourists flood to the city to come gawk at how impressive they are.  And the sculptures are impressive.  But the combination of frigid temperatures and Chinese tourists definitely got the best of me at different points in our trip.

Our group started with the snow sculptures.  We wandered around for a few hours and took in all of the amazing carvings.  There were sculptures related to Disney, Despicable Me, Charles Darwin, and Isaac Newton.  All of them were amazing and we had a lot of fun taking pictures and wandering around the park.  After all the walking, we devoured a Harbin beer (how could we not?!) and about a million dumplings.  

The next stop on our tour was the frozen lake and pedestrian street.  It was just starting to get dark so we decided to take a trip in a horse drawn carriage where we promptly got ripped off, but had a wonderful photo shoot courtesy of our driver.  This is where our luck started to turn for the work.

After our little ride and a few more drinks we decided it was time to head to the Ice Lantern Festival where all of the sculptures were lit up.  We hopped in a cab and with our broken Chinese asked to be taken to the festival.  Unfortunately this isn't want happened.  Our driver took us to a travel agent where no one spoke English and through gestures and google translate we realised that if we paid 300RMB they would give us a ticket.  They ushered us on to a bus where we waited for more people (although at the time we had no idea what was going on) and then were eventually taken to the festival.  

Once we "arrived" we had to walk in what looked like cattle pens in strict lines of two while our "tour guide" barked at us in Chinese.  Eventually we got through and could explore the ice sculptures.  Score!

All was going well until our heat packs stopped working and we got cold.  I mean, it was -19 Celcius.  It felt like our toes were going to fall off and we were not happy about it.  To make matters worse, the crowds, with all of these pushing and shoving, were out of control.

No traffic pattern here.  Just shove your way around the castle!  Thanks for the photo,  Danielle

So we left a little grumpy.  To make matters worse, we had to stand in line for a public push for what seemed like forever, only to have people try to push on right in front of us.  Needless to say we did NOT let that happen.  Once we got off the bus we shuffled to the nearest open bar to find food and drinks.  After a very Chinese exchange (money first, bringing the wrong drinks, forgotten order, etc), we finally had food (although we're not really sure exactly what it was) and drinks to lift our spirits.  After a handful of beers and a good night's sleep we were in better spirits just in time to head back to Shanghai.

Almost Human Again

My overall take away from Harbin was that it was an interesting experience.  Would I do it again?  Absolutely.  It was nice to get out of the city and those sculptures were pretty damn amazing.  Am I planning on going back next year?  Absolutely not.  It was way too cold for me and one experience of being pushed around and having no idea what was going on was definitely enough.  I still recommend it to anyone who hasn't lost their patience for China yet.  

With that, I'll leave you with a wonderful picture of me trying to get warm.  The bathrooms were too crowded so I was forced to put on my extra heat packs in the middle of the festival.  Judge me all you like but it was freezing and I needed warmth!

Thanks Danielle for this beautiful picture of me.

**Even though these habits are revolting to me, I understand that I am in their country.  I am trying my best to be patient and learn to accept that I have chosen to live in a country where this is acceptable.  I have met so many wonderful Chinese people and am completely aware that they find certain "American" habits weird/disgusting as well!

New Year, New Adventures!

For the past week I've been reading a lot of resolutions.  Facebook and Instagram are littered with "New Year, New Me!" and "How to Get in Shape" posts.  I have taken a different approach this week, and have instead have reflected on what I loved about 2014 and am going to do my damnedest to continue pursuing my passions.

While I was in Honduras I got to go home a lot.  I saw some of my friends get married and spent most holidays and several weeks in the summers at home.  While living in China definitely makes this a bit more difficult, I want to try to continue this trend.  I loved being home for the holidays this year.  Spending time with my friends and family back home is always bittersweet because I miss everyone while I'm away, but they continue to welcome me with open arms when I come back.  You guys are the best--seriously.

Teaching in China has also surprised me.  Before I took this job I thought I would be switching careers in the near future.  However, getting to work with a fresh group of colleagues and an amazing group of students has given me the energy I needed to continue loving what I do everyday.  Thanks China!


But my biggest passion is life continues to be traveling.  So I have compiled a bucketlist of places I want to see before I leave China.  If the list is any indication, I will be here forever (kidding...maybe?), but I am pumped to explore this part of the world.  After looking at my map I can tell that I need to get a move on my travels if I want to fill it up before I die!

 Maybe after checking out this list you'll want to come visit!  Without further ado, I give you my Asian bucketlist:

China-
Harbin Ice Festival (January 2015 :))
Beijing (Great Wall, the Forbidden City)
Chongqing
Chengdu (Pandas!)
Yunan (Leaping Tiger Gorge)
Macao
Yangshuo
Macao
Zhangjiajie
Hong Kong
Tibet
Xi'an Provice (Terracotta Warriors)

Asia and Oceania-
Myanmar (February 2015 :))
Philippines (March 2015)
Cambodia
Thailand
Vietnam
Japan
Laos
Malaysian Borneo
Bali, Indonesia
Australia
Mongolia
Singapore
Taiwan
Indian (? Not sure if I'm brave enough yet!)

See somewhere on the list you want to explore?  Come visit and I'll go with you!!

The Best of 2014

As another year wraps up, I've taken some time to reflect on this year and all it has thrown at me.  I turned 27, had a MAJOR move, left Honduras and really great friends, and traveled to some amazing places.  So here are some of the highlights of the past year.

Finishing my Time in Honduras
Leaving SPS and my school in Honduras was bitter sweet.  I was beyond excited to try something new, but terrified of the changes I'd be making.  I would miss the comforts of Honduras and all of my wonderful friends, but it turned out to be an easier transition than I thought it would be.  I still miss Utila and my Honduran family (have some wine for me on the CNA balcony, guys!), but I am confident I made the right choice.

"If you've got something wrong go to Dr. John"

Travel
I got to go to so many places in 2014!  I rang in the new year in London (amazing), and spent multiple weekends in Utila and Copan.  My brother even came for a visit in Honduras, which was really exciting!  I also traveled to Panama and Nicaragua before I left Central America.

Moving to China
I can't believe I am living in Shanghai.  When I was searching for jobs last February, I was positive that China was the one place I would NOT end up.  Angola and Brazil were higher on my list when I left the job fair in Boston, which is pretty insane.  That being said, Shanghai is a great fit for me.  I love how busy and exciting this city is.  Public transportation is great and I can actually walk around. At night.  With money and my phone.  Such a nice chance of pace from Honduras.  China definitely has its challenges (like how everyone spits everywhere, it is pretty crowded and the kid who pooped in my elevator...while I was in there...but I digress), but overall I am really happy here.  My job is great, I've made some good friends, and I will be able to save money AND travel around Asia, so its a win, win, win.

My Best Friends Wedding!
I was lucky enough to be able to make the journey from Shanghai to Charleston in October to see Kathy get married.  It took me 3 days to adjust to the time difference and I was only in town for 6, but I made the most of my time in Chucktown and was even able to squeeze in a trip to target.  Woo!     Being apart of her special day was amazing, plus I got to see most of my Newington Forrest family. It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Coming Home for Christmas
When I left Orlando in August I was sure I wouldn't be able to afford to come home for Christmas.  Luckily my new job pays me quite well and I have recently been informed that my company will pay for 1 flight home a year, so coming home for the holidays was a possibility I couldn't pass up.  I leave next Saturday and I am beyond pumped to see my Florida family for a whole 10 days!

Can't wait to see these guys!

Best Trip of 2014:
Either my time in London with Jill over New Year or Nicaragua with my Honduran roomie Alexa.  London is always amazing and it was great to celebrate with friends in my favourite city.  Its a tie with Nicaragua because I had such a blast volcano boarding in Leon and loved the town of Grenada.  I can't wait to go back!

Now I have plenty to look forward to in 2015.  I should finally be able to pay off my student loans and I have several amazing trips in the works for this year.  When I come back after Christmas I have plans to go to Myanmar for 10 days and then Cambodia or the Philippines in April.  I'll also be checking out the west coast for the first time this summer, heading to Vegas for the first time to celebrate a friends birthday, and possibly heading back to England and Brussels in July.  Heres hoping 2015 is even better than 2014!

Thanksgiving Success

Being away from home during the Holidays never gets any easier.  This year marked my 5th(!!) Thanksgiving abroad.  And while I still miss my Uncle Tom's carrots, I am finding it a lot easier to celebrate with friends from all over the world as my culinary skills improve.

This year, a small group of us decided to try out a restaurant here in Shanghai that was serving up an all-you-can-eat/drink Cajun Thanksgiving.   It was delicious.  They had all of the Thanksgiving classics that I was missing (minus green bean casserole and the famous carrots mentioned above), plus some amazing Andouille stuffing and a Shrimp Cheesecake that definitely need to be added to my list for future gatherings.  I had a great time and I actually got to eat a Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving, 12 hours before everyone back home.  I'd consider that a major success.

Since so many of my friends in Shanghai don't normally get to celebrate Thanksgiving, a friend decided to host a party at her apartment and I agreed to cook the turkey.  Everyone who knows about my bone phobia is probably wondering how I managed to pull if off, but with a little help and only a few tears I was able to cook a 16lb turkey in a toaster oven and it turned out pretty well...if I do say so myself.  Check out the picture below of it cooking:

Photo Credit: Danille

We had a great night celebrating with people from South Africa, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand, England, Ireland, China, and the US.  These are the days that remind me why I love teaching halfway around the world and can tolerate (barely) being away from home during the holidays.  

Now its only 3 weeks until I am back in (hopefully) warmer Florida, celebrating Christmas with my family.  Woo!

xoxo

Surviving Chinese Winter

Having lived in places that rarely see temperatures below 50 degrees for the past 10 years, you can imagine how poorly I am adapting to the "frigid" climate here in Shanghai.  Today it was 10 degrees Celsius...which I think roughly translate to 50 Fahrenheit.  I bundled up with a winter coat and gloves to bike to work and still found it unbearable.  I honestly do not how how I will survive once it gets really cold.

Apartments here have no central heating or insulation, so its typically colder in my apartment than it is outside. Luckily I have found a space heater, portable radiator, and an electric blanket to help keep me warm.  And hopefully I won't burn my apartment down in the process.


Besides complaining about the cold I have been keeping myself quite busy.  Two weeks ago I took 30 9th grade students to a Miao village in rural China for a week.  It was an amazing experience, but we were very excited to get back to civilisation after 4 freezing nights with the water buffalo.

 Beigao, the village we stayed in, is up in the mountains of Guizhou provence southwest of Shanghai. To get there, we flew into the capital of Guizhou and drove an hour to a "small town" of about 600,000 people.  From there, we had to hike four and a half hours up the mountain to get to the village.  It was challenging and cold, but we had a lot of fun.  We spent the next four days living with the villagers who welcomed us with eager, open arms.

Miao people are extremely friendly, but they live a completely different life from us city folk.  In Miao culture, water buffalo are considered sacred, so most of the families kept one in their home.  The buffalo usually slept downstairs and the people had rooms upstairs.  I was lucky enough to stay in the teacher's house.  He didn't have a buffalo but he did have several pigs.  I had to walk through the pig sty to get to the bathroom, which was pretty interesting.  Most of the boys, though, had to share their bathroom with the livestock so I consider the pigs a blessing.

We all shared delicious meals together and the students spent time working on building an irrigation system for the villagers.  They built their very first road into the village last year and needed some help building a drainage system to keep the road functional.  The students also got to try fishing in the freezing cold rice patties, and helped an elderly lady prepare food for her animals.  (They removed corn kernels off the cob....they were not impressed.) The best day was when we hiked to a neighboring village and our students taught the locals English for the day.  It was great to see them all interact together.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip:

My room in the village.  Notice the sweet poster of the Chicago Bulls from 1993:

Village life

And our students showing off their smartphones and taking selfies with the locals

The following weekend I took some more students to an Model United Nations conference in Hangzhou, about an hour's train ride outside of Shanghai.  It was a great trip and the students did well, but I had been with kids for a week straight and had a whole new week to look forward too.

This past weekend I had my New Staff Retreat, which meant I had to work on Saturday and spent my 15th day in a row working.  Sunday was a much needed rest day.

Now I have Thanksgiving to look forward to.  Tomorrow I'll be celebrating Cajun style with some of my American and Canadian friends.  We've found a Cajun restaurant that is putting on a feast for some of the expats and we are all excited about the deep-fried turkey, grits, and other Cajun delicacies that we'll get to experience.  I'm also going to a potluck on Saturday with lots of friends from work and around Shanghai, so I'll be lucky enough to have 2 Thanksgivings this year.  I'm certainly not complaining!

Hope everyone at home has a great holiday and enjoys a lot of pumpkin flavored deliciousness and some honey glazed carrots.

xoxo