Shang Hai!!!! What a fun place...check out the Jia hotel!!!

Ok so a few weeks ago....not sure when Doug and I ventured back to Shanghai...the place that we have not been since we arrived in China. Honestly we didn't want to go back because we didn't like it the first time. We were so tired and it was so hot and we had no clue where we were or what we were doing. Anyway we decided it was time. And we were lucky enough to go back with to very good friends Trent and Shawn Citrano. They know where to go how to get there and what to do so we were excited. We also had gotten tickets to the Acrobatic Troupe that is famous in Shanghai.
So here we go. We made reservations at a wonderful hotel called the Jia. It is a boutique hotel that is very new age and amazing. We got upgraded to this amazing room. You could live there with the small kitchenette and the wine bar and free drinks. Yup very nice. We went to the restaurant in the hotel the first night and it was delicious food. it was Italian and we all seem to crave Italian every time we go some where that is not Beilun. The next few days were a blur but I will explain the best I can.

The four of us went to a place called Taekon Lu (or something to that nature). This was a place of just streets that was old housing or something that had been turned into shops, and it was just a maze of shops. This was a photographers dream. The first two pictures are from that area. The first one is of lunch and the other is just cool. We ate pizza and bought presents and just hung out. It was so much fun to be in a place that you could buy anything...I mean anything and there were so many foreigners. (side not: One of the TA's from school went to Shanghai for the first time in her life...she only lives three hours away...but her first comment was that there were so many different people. Funny comment huh?) Ok where were we. There were just tons of winding streets. Doug and I will be happy to go back to that place.

On this trip we also saw some of the sights. The four of us went to the tallest building in Shanghai. Where you took this crazy fake tour thing that was like a laser show on crack and then they shoved you into this elevator...but they did have nice bathroom when you got the the top. Well we went up 474 meters to walk out on this catwalk area that had glass holes that you could all the down to the ground. The third picture is of my feet over the city. It was a little freaky. There were some kids that saw the holes then screamed and cried. This was called the SWFC Observatory.

Well that night after our hiking around all day we went to the Acrobatic troupe. Yup it was like what you see on t.v jumping through hoops and standing on chairs really high in the air. We were nine rows back with no intermissions and the whole time you ohhhhed and aahhhed. I mean it was the stuff that you hear about. You would think that it was going to be cheesy but instead you sat in the audience with your mouth open as this nine to thirteen year old boy bent his body in ways that made him look like he had no skeleton and then he was like this muscle. This kids were young. And every night they do a different show!!! So if we came back we probably wouldn't see the same thing.

Well I guess that's it for Shanghai. You do need to know that moving around Shanghai is one of the easiest things to do. I mean there is so much to do. It is not a small town but the subway is great and so easy to use. I mean it is a little polluted but there are areas that you can do anything in. They also have a running club and hold a marathon every year. Are we considering it...you better believe it. We would have to start training in July but I think it would be a great experience! Ok that is all for now in the world of Kirsten and Doug. But we do love Shanghai!!!

New Years Fireworks in China!!!!!

Can you count all the people? This was just one...no part of one street..if you can find Waldo please let me know!!


Read on for the full story of all these people.







Ok here we go. The same day that Doug and I went to the Big Buddha we also went to the huge fireworks display for Chinese New Year....yup I know now what a sardine feels like but more like a can of sardines being stepped on.

The fireworks started at 8 and Doug and I started to head to the area we were going to meet some friends around 7...but we couldn't get there...The streets had already filled up and the policemen and women had already closed them down. You could get no where...Doug and I barely found a place to stand before the huge crowd caved in around us. And as clarified before the Chines push...no matter what you say they PUSH. So of course nothing the world starts on time...no matter where you are so the fireworks started late...but let me tell you they were worth it. We were on the Kowloon side and watching the firework go off over Hong Kong...they were the most amazing fireworks I have ever seen!

I swear we were holding the camera still!!!!

If you want to know the truth this picture was really taken for my sister Meghan......there were so many stores like this. So shiny and pretty that said come and spend money in may store...and in reality you could go by the same thing but a knock off....two blocks down!!!! (FOR WAY CHEAPER)

Anyway this one is for you....Meghan!!

Oh and we never found our friends there...but we did find ice cream...that was nice!

A day at the big Buddha

Ok so here are some pictures....more pictures of our trip to Hong Kong. The explanation of the whole excursion down below. I had a little trouble with Blogger so deal with the backwards stuff of this. The picture above is at the monastery place...they are burning incense. Huge incense...and the smell was overwhelming...it was pretty cool.

No this is not the huge Buddha this is a Bodhisattva...and they were surrounded by this metal fence so you wouldn't climb on them...there were also signs that said do not throw coins at them...which is a praise thing...and what were all the Chinese doing? Yup throwing coins! These statues were gigantic....not as huge as the Buddha but pretty big!

Doug and I witht he large huge Buddha in the background....can't see it can you? Well that's becasue of the fog...you could barely see the hand in front of your face that day...but we did get to eat real doritos....

Doug climbing the stairs to the huge Buddha...there were a lot of them but it was easy...funny how everyone says we are lazy Americans and the longest Doug and I stopped was to take this picture....

HERE IS THE REAL EXPLINATION OF WHERE WE WERE....REMEMBER HAD A LITTLE TROUBLE WITH BLOGGER SO DIDN'T FIX IT....LIFE GOES ON!

Ok so while Doug and I were in Hong Kong I wanted to take him to a few places I had gone when I was in 8th grade with my family. This was our first full day in Hong Kong and I thought going to the big Buddha would be fun. Now it wasn't warm out and you couldn't really see too much but Doug and I were up for anything. (Sometimes it is hard to do things in a different country when you don't speak the language. or know where you re going)

Ok so we got on the subway...as said before is wonderful....and we are on it for about half an hour or 45 mins and then we get on a bus to get to the temple and Buddha. The bus ride was like a being on a roller coaster for 30 mins. All a long the mountains, through the forest and all the FOG! We fell asleep for a little while otherwise you probably would have gotten car sick.

Anyway we finally make it to the big Buddha and the walk begins!

Random Pictures of Ferry ride over to Hong Kong

This is the ferry terminal to take the boat over to Hong Kong. The boat ride is about 50 minutes and we were thinking it was going to be a beautiful ride over there. The ride cost about 120 RMB...so about 15 bucks or so. And yes you have to go through customs and get your passport stamped and everything else. It is pretty amazing since China and Hong Kong are the same country but yet not...and not the same money. Very strange...ANYWAY the boat ride.....

Picture of the boat.

Here is the inside of the boat...it was almost like riding in an airplane. The seats were very comfortable. The view was great...and it was great to look at the insides of my eye lids!

Random pictures of flowers that we saw in Shenzhen!

Also another random picture but this was taken in Hong Kong. This is one of the many alleys in Hong Kong. And the thing about these alleys they aren't easy to walk up. They are all on hills...so all the stores are built into a hill...amazing. All the stores are usually open except for the week on Chinese New Year. But it was neat to walk up and down them!

More Chinese New Year

We stayed in a town called Shenzhen which is on the water across from Hong Kong Island. This town...sorry not a town...huge city was awesome. Doug and I got to have Starbucks every morning and eat food that you would find in the states every night. Our first night in Shenzhen we ate at an Italian restaurant. Oh my god it was delicious. Doug and I ordered a meat and cheese plate for an appetizer and we ate so much bread...we don't eat a lot of bread here so it was like heaven.....I had salmon Alfredo with asparagus and Doug had tenderloin. It was the most amazing meal we had in a long time. Amazing..we would go back in a heart beat...of course we spent more money on that one meal than we had in a long time it was worth it though!



Now what was really amazing was the fact that so many people spoke English. We could almost talk to anyone...listen I'm not saying that we are slackers and are not learning the language but Chinese is way hard....



Also the great thing was their public transportation. Which there is a picture of up above. The picture is when Doug and I were on the train. The train...subway...was probably the cleanest line of transportation that I have ever been on and it was so easy...everything was electronic and easy. So easy, and everything also had an English name written out or in pinion.




This picture was taken at a one of the largest shopping areas that I have every been to. This is Tim Allen and his daughter Rosalee. This shopping area is called Lo Hu...pronounced Low Who...and I think it is spelled Lo Hu. Well it is this shopping mall that is about 6 stories tall and huge. There are a million little stores, and you can buy anything there, I mean fake purses, CD players, MP3 speakers, DVD players, anything else you can imagine!!!! We started at the top and maybe made it three floors down. we definitely did not have enough time. You can bargain with anything. You have to remember to go half the price they are giving you and go from there. No worries they are always making a profit! Dad would have loved it just because you could bargain.

So just like a typical mall it had a huge display in the middle. well this display was of an Ox...yes I know it doesn't look like an Ox but it is. I think...since it is the year of the Ox..yup welcome to China!!!!

Doug and I being silly in the elevator to our hotel. This hotel was awesome. It was a five start hotel and they actually had a no smoking floor which we got to stay on. It was so beautiful. We went running in the gym, we could have putted on the putting green, the pool was so cool, and the people were so nice. And to tell you the truth this hotel was one of the least expensive places we have stayed in. It was called the Sunshine hotel in Shenzhen. If we have time when our family comes we will take them there not just for the shopping but to stay in the hotel.

Not the best picture in the world but the hotel decorated everything for the Chinese New Year!!! So AWESOME!

Da Fen

On our Chinese New Year trip we spent a few days in Shenzhen with our friends Tim, Wendy, and Rosalee Allen and Avis Larson. We tagged along with them as they went around and explored an area that they had lived in before. On our trip Tim and Wendy had the plan to visit a city called Da Fen which is like a suburb of Shenzhen. This place produces 95% of the world reproduced art. I mean Mona Lisa, Van Goghs and anything that you could possibly buy in Bed Bath and Beyond or Kohls. Now you might have heard about this place because it has been on the news lately with the closing of so many stores the painters are slowly going out of business.

Anyway that was the sad note to this...but the place was any artists dream. Painters just line up and paint all day long...now mind you not all the reproductions were great but it was still art.
In the picture about two gentlemen are wheeling probably over hundred painted canvases on their bike to the store where they will be sold. It was pretty cool.


Here is just one building...store where they sold artwork...most of these places had a store with tons of artwork just stacked up and then some hanging outside. Also many of the people that worked in the stores also painted. When you walked in the store there was usually a little area with paint everywhere and two or three artworks being worked on at once. They usually had a folding chair and that was it. Pretty amazing.

Here's a close up of some of the artwork....I just found it so amazing...In mean I could have just bought replications of so many artworks so my students good understand the greats. Doug was so great through all of this we just kept looking at art and talking about it and discussing things. We just had a blast...and for lunch after buying tons of stuff we got to have KFC.

This is me walking around with some art we bought and going into every shop I could even though they started to look the same. It was great to buy presents and hang out...even though it was freezing!

Here's a picture of an artist's studio area...pretty coll huh? Mixing paint, working on two or three artworks and in this store like so many others there was no heat!!!! Da Fen was pretty cool.

Here's a random story...

OK I was able to get the school to buy some bulletin boards so I can hang up artwork a lot easier. Well I was told that when WASC comes they need to be covered so you can not see the cork board...which I think is ridiculous...I like the plain look...whatever doesn't matter.....so I said if I need to cover them, then I want to cover them with fabric so it will look better.

Well my wonderful Vice President of business says what you want you get!!! And we are off...here is the interesting part.
I was thinking that we were going to a fabric market where you can buy any type of fabric you can imagine...but wait instead...I get in the van with Wendy the VP, the librarian, Robbie, the handyman, William and our Driver. We are off...yes of course we have a driver and if you came to visit you would find out why.

We were off, beautiful day driving in Beliun...none of them really know where we are going because Beliun is so confusing to navigate. We do a U-turn or two and then drive down the wrong side of the street for awhile to a huge apartment building where there is a gate but it doesn't really matter because they let everyone in. So we pull in...and I am thinking that there has got to be a store or something in the back but instead we go into the building...pretty dark in there. Little sketchy, not very well lit and smells like stale cigarette smoke. We head straight back and get in the elevator which smells horrible and you really don't want to touch anything. We go up to the 6th floor and when you walk out the elevator on your left there is a door that is open and very bare and to your right is a very nice decorated entrance way. Well that explains the dichotomy of China.

So we go into the apartment that is just cement and a little hard wood floor. In the room are wooden shelves of fabric and one sewing machine. Now you don't actually want to touch anything because it is pretty dirty and the fabric is just shoved everywhere and you don't know what is growing in it. Well it's China, so you roll up your sleeves and dive in. Yup that's life. We spend maybe a half an hour looking at stuff and I buy some fabric that will please everyone...now if I use it that is another question. But while we are there you look around the apartment because pretty much if you see something you liked then you offer them a price and take it home. Well looking around the apartment I wonder if the woman sitting at the sewing machine lives there...so you see that there is a small kitchen like thing that looks very incomplete...I didn't see a bathroom but I do not think that I really wanted to either.

Ok so we are leaving and Wendy turns to us and says...if I lived on this floor I would be angry if they were my neighbors....and with that note we leave.

Now we didn't pay for the fabric at that moment in time but had to take it somewhere else to pay but the two white people get dropped off first because if we had shown our white faces the prices would have gone up...yup good old money seems to run through white people blood.
(THAT IS SARCASM)
Adventures...yes good old adventures!

You can dress China up but you can't take it out!

Reasons Why:

Hotel room huge, but the rugs were rotting, the wall paper was scary so Doug and I left the curtains drawn. Can I mention it was the Suite at this hotel?

Doug and I were told to use the Hotel van to take to the airport but the driver was no where to be found.

Yup Pizza Hut is like a five star restaurant. People just get the salad bar and stack up watermelon and fruit creating larger walls, so they have a bigger bowl to put more food into...Doug has a picture of this.

We have gotten really good at spitting because you don't have use a tissue.

So one day Doug and I were getting in an elevator. We had our luggage...and kind of the middle of the elevator well this gentleman gets on and stands extremely close to me. He is wearing a wrinkled suit coat and it looks like he had a hard night of drinking. He starts looking in the mirror behind Doug and I so staring directly at us. He licks his fingers a couples of times to smooth out his face and hair and then yup he farts. AHHHH!!! Special moment in time!

What else...even though the sun is shining China can still burn enough to make it smokey.

Next up our adventures for Chinese New Year!!!!

Last but not least....Petronas towers.

Ok so this was our last day in Kuala Lumpur. Doug and I got up really early to go to the Petronas Towers. It is free tickets but they don't start giving out tickets until 8 or 830. So you have to line up until they open and stand in this line. We ate yogurt and counted down until we could get Starbucks which we can say in Chinese now.

We weren't completely bored while we waited we met a nice couple from Australia. The young man was there for the military and the young woman was visiting. They were very nice and it passed the time.

We also got hassled by a woman who was giving us a sob story about how her friends couldn't make it quite yet and she wanted us to get as many tickets as possible. Pretty sure she would sell them later on to other people. UMMMM so that was big no!

Before we could go up the towers we had to listen to movie about how the pertonas were so wonderful....not how they were built...but how petrol rules so much.

One of the views!
Me sunny and happy we got to see one of the things that is an artists dream!!!! They are a great example of pattern and they are very beautiful!

This is my favorite picture. We took it Christmas night. I could have stared at them all night!

That is the end of our trip in Malaysia. It was amazing and wonderful we can hardly wait for our next trip. What and adventure!

Christmas..YEAH!!!!

So for Christmas Doug and I went to the mall that was attached to the Hotel in Kuala Lumpur and separated and then got back together. we had so much fun buying each other gag gifts and then real gifts. Only things that we could fit into our suitcases that were already really full. We had a great time laughing and hanging out together. Doug even got us a small metal Christmas tree and stockings...it made us feel like we were at home. We missed family and friends but we had each other so everything was going to be alright. How can it not be when you look this happy.

So for Christmas dinner Doug and I had made reservations to the Smokehouse restaurant that I had found on line before we had left China. Honestly we were not sure what to expect since...well let's just say the Taxi drivers had no idea where it was and had to call one of his friends to get directions. Well when we got there I think we were the second people there but this place was like a home that had been turned in to a Restaurant. Like the one we took Mom and Dad to in Colorado Springs to celebrate my graduation. Anyway on the tables were these hats and packages of stuff almost like it was New Years.

You could chose from numerous things off the menu so Doug got the set Menu with the Roast Sirloin and I got the Turkey Christmas dinner. We had about 5 courses and the food was so good. We drank wine and eggnog and just enjoyed the moment.

Yes we were party animals!!!!

I think I was so happy with the food because I had been afraid that it was going to be a horrible restaurant. AND IT WAS CHEAP TOO!!

We had a blast eating dinner...we then went back to the hotel and spent sometime of Skype talking to family members...we didn't go to bed until really late but it was just a wonderful Christmas.

The Dark Cave!!!!!

Ok so here we are...now there are not many pictures of this cave because you can not take many pictures or the bats would probably attack you. Yup the bats...so Doug and I discovered this cave as we were walking out of the Main Hindu cave. And decided to pay for a tour..thinking that it wouldn't be so bad.....

So it said this in four different languages....and we still went. I honestly thought I would be ok because I had done some creepy stuff before but....

So we had to wear hard hat and head lamps and boot that we got to borrow. Doug and I also bought socks there so we didn't have to share as many foot cooties with everyone.

Pretty amazing that you can look this good when you are about to walk in a very dark cave and think that you are not going to get creeped out. So Doug and I and four other people have decided to brave the cave with our guide. We thought it was going to be an half an hour tour but little did we know.....these other people were wearing sandals...no way I was going to walk around in bat poop with sandals on. Ok we start walking and it smells so bad that one lady wrapped a tissue around her face..like that was going to help. Then the guide starts talking about the cockroaches that eat the bat poop...and you can see them run around. Well by then i had kind of blocked him out because I have my fists clenched so tight that there wasn't any blood going anywhere else. All that was going through my head was rabies, bat poop, and cockroaches. Then the next thing I know is I feel something drop on me...yup...I GOT SHAT ON BY A BAT. So me taking pictures slowly became out of the question and I only took a few. Well needless to say I we left the Batu Caves and I went a took a shower!!!

No idea what this is a picture of I just know it was in cave...sometime in the cave!!!!

Kuala Lumpur..Batu Caves

The Batu Caves are these huge caves that you have to walk 200 or 214 steps to the actual caves. At the top are these huge caves that are a Hindu temple where people go to worship also where they have the Thaipusum Festival every year. This is a big deal. They were huge. This is one of the gods that is worshiped there. The place had many sectioned off temples.

This is Doug and I at the top of the highest caves. In the cave the amazing thing was the stores that sold stuff at the top. Crazy..that they haul of that stuff to the top.

This is one of the openings, skylights to the cave. So cool. We got some great pictures.

This picture is the opening to the cave. The statue is probably as tall as the statue of liberty. So amazing.

This is the inside looking out. So neat. we got do so many things that we have never even dreamed about. So that was the Batu Caves.

Canopy Tours in the Jungle

Ok so this is the day that Doug and I signed up for a canopy tour with this German gentleman who has done the iron man. In this tour, zip lines, repelling and other stuff was included. Here I am at 9 in the morning signing our lives away...saying that if anything went wrong and if we die we are good to go. So we wore full body harnesses and had enough gear to climb a small mountain. The tour started off with us hiking up 750 stairs to get to our first...climbing thing.

This is Doug walking across a wire over a small stream like thing. That wire moved like a snake. It was awesome I thought I was going to poop myself. One woman that was with our group didn't do it which was fine. There was a total of 8 of us with two guides. This was the first thing. Next was to check to see if we could repel...that was fun. Next we climbed up a tree and then did our first zip line down to another tree. It was crazy you had to jump off a boulder to get started. HEAD FIRST...I think I threw up a little in my mouth when I did that...but it was amazing to fly through the air.

YUP!!! I know we are cute!

Before we did our last zip line we had to repel down a rock face. Our last zip line was 280 meters into a tree where we have to repel thirty meters down. This is Doug...we spent all day smiling.

This is Doug doing the last 280 meter repel. The jungle was so beautiful and we had so much fun. we got back to the hotel while other people were just getting out of bed. What more could you want from a vacation?