Sarah Grace

Last China Adventure Part 1 - Beijing with No Passport

2011-08-03T11:29:00.000-07:00

June was a busy time for me in Beijing. I had just organized all my belongings to be sent by boat back to California (they have now arrived at my new home), school was finishing up, and I had some visitors arriving for a last trip around China. The plan was to have them (Dad, Uncle Geoff, and Aunt Heidi) arrive on the Friday before school was out (June 10th) and we'd leave for Tibet the day after school was out (June 16th). We would arrive back in Beijing on June 25th and then all fly back on the same flight to San Francisco on June 26th. We had already paid for the trip and had our itinerary. All was good until...

Tibet got closed to tourists about a week and a half before we were planning to go so our permits were not granted. Apparently the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party is a big deal.

So, we changed plans. The crew already had their flights into Beijing and I reorganized with my travel agent friend, Hunter, for a Silk Road trip. School was finishing up and I made arrangements for a driver to pick up my family at the airport on Friday afternoon and I'd meet them at my apartment. All was good until...

I lost my passport and Foreign Expert Certificate. This was not good. When they arrived, I had my dad help me look through all my packed suitcases and throughout my apartment. No luck. I also searched my classroom with the help of several coworkers. No luck either. Nothing else was missing from my bag so it was unlikely that they were stolen. I called restaurants I had been to since I last saw them and they had not been found anywhere. My best guess is that I had them in my hand at some point and set them down and walked away. I didn't really have time to continue searching for them hoping to find them so I needed to get them replaced.

I informed my school's Government Affairs Office and they set things in motion for me to get replacements. I figured I would get things done but also show my visitors around while we were still in Beijing. At the moment, there was a possibility that we wouldn't be going anywhere due to me not having the correct identification. Hunter began planning a new alternative trip but he was waiting until we knew exactly when I'd get a new passport. I made an appointment at the US Embassy for Monday morning.

On Saturday, Dad, Geoff, Heidi, and I went to the Dirt Market in the morning where we found some things to buy.

I had a splinter in my finger that had worked its way down to the point of needing surgery to remove it. Thanks Uncle Geoffrey. Dad tried to open an umbrella and failed to do so safely - probably because he was opening it in my living room. We got matching band-aids.

In the afternoon, I went to the police station near my apartment to file a police report but it turned out to be the wrong police station to do that so I had to walk up the road to another one. There, no one spoke any English so, with a Government Affairs person on my cell, we passed the phone back and forth to get all the information they needed. They gave me a police report all in Chinese to take to my embassy.

On Sunday, I went by the photo place to get photos for my new passport, new Foreign Expert Certificate, and new visa. We also went to the Temple of Heaven.

In the afternoon, we had a driver take us to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. We were there in time to have nice afternoon light and fewer other tourists walking around with us. We took the chairlift up and rode the toboggan slide down.

While on the Wall, I began to think that the photos I got were not the correct size so we'd need to go back that evening to get new ones printed. We got them.

On Monday morning, I dropped the crew off to have breakfast while I went to the Embassy. I had to have a half-day substitute teacher for my classroom. The Embassy trip was quick and pretty painless. They apologized that it might take nearly 40 minutes for them to get me an emergency passport and I could leave and get a coffee if I wanted to. I opted to stick around and wait patiently and coffee-less.

With my new passport in hand, I picked up my family and we headed to school. Once at school, I went to the Government Affairs Office to give them my passport so they could get started on getting me my new Foreign Expert Certificate and visa. They told me that I would need to give them the money for those plus an expedited fee plus a fee for posting in the newspaper that I had lost the two things, etc. They said it all looked good until...

They asked for my new Temporary Residence Permit. Shoot. I didn't go back to that other police station to get it. I had my old one but it had my old, lost, passport's number on it. After school, I went back to the police station and got across that I needed a new Temporary Residence Permit. These are good for one year and you need to get a new one anytime anything changes, like you lose your passport. When the officer opened my new passport and saw that there was no visa, she started looking very surprised. I asked her to wait a second while I called the Government Affairs person to help again. All worked out and I was able to get my new Temporary Residence Permit.

On Tuesday, Dad, Geoff, and Heidi had a driver take them to Tian'anmen Square, the Forbidden City, a museum, and the Confucius Temple.

While they were being tourists, I went back to school to give them my new passport back plus the new Temporary Residence Permit (and also to work). By this time (June 14th) they expected to get my Foreign Expert Certificate back by June 20th or 21st and an expedited visa by the 24th. This meant that I wasn't flying anywhere until then. I let my travel guru know and he arranged a new alternative travel adventure. China by train! I was advised by some that this is not a good idea as I would still not have a passport with me. Some said even if I was able to travel by train without it, I would need it for checking in to the hotels. I was betting on my photocopied passport to be enough. Plus I had that police report saying that I lost my passport and I also had my Chinese driver's license.

Wednesday, Geoff, Heidi, and Dad got to be tourists again. Geoff got a haircut.

Wednesday was the last day of school and was a short day for the students. I gave hugs, packed the gifts my students and coworkers gave me, and headed back to my apartment to see what Dad, Geoff, and Heidi wanted to do for the evening.

Part 2 up soon. Will traveling by train without proper ID work out for me? Will I get my passport with a new visa back in time? Find out soon!

--Sarah--

P.S. Sorry this post took so long. I've been busy.

Beijing Visitors 2008-2011

2011-07-04T17:00:00.000-07:00

I had three great years in Beijing and I had several people come to visit me. Thank you for visiting! In order of appearance:

Cousin Hallie, November 2008

Mom, March 2009

Dad and Jessica, June 2009

Leah, Richelle, and Roger, October 2009

Mom, May 2010

Jon, October 2010

Jon, November 2010

Jon, March/April 2011

Jerilynn and Ray, April/May 2011

Joann, Splash, Clem, and Kristen, May 2011

Dad, Geoff, and Heidi, June 2011

Thank you for visiting!

--Sarah--

Year Three Completed!

2011-07-01T20:41:00.001-07:00

I tried to post this several times while I was still in Beijing, but I was having internet connectivity issues.

I finished my third year teaching in China and my eighth year in total. I wrote about the last day of school tradition my first year and second year. All of the teachers go out to wave at the buses as they carry the kids away. There are also fireworks crackling while the bus horns are blaring. This year, we had a new Head of School (I had his son in my class.) and I wasn't sure if the tradition would be any different from the first two years. I have a video of our zillion buses leaving on the last day of school 2010-2011, but every time I try to load it, something doesn't work. Now that we are in July and I still have China posts to post, I better just get on with it and post this one videoless. The video was pretty similar to the first two years.

On the Sunday after school ended I was off to ~~Tibet~~ different cities in China via train with my dad, uncle, and aunt. We all returned to California on June 26th. There were a few bumps along the way which I will write about soon!

--Sarah--

Happy Father's Day Papa!

2011-06-19T04:45:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day to my dad. I am so glad that you were able to come with me on this trip. Thank you for being a great listener, supporter, advisor, and everything else. Also, thanks for being here to once again help me move! I promise that I will only move a few more times until I stay in one place for a while!

Dad and I are currently off traveling in China by train so he will see this when we return.

--Sarah--

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

2011-05-09T16:53:00.001-07:00

This was the sign in the lobby and elevator area at my building wishing a Happy Mother's Day to all the moms around.

Above the English translation was the Chinese version but I didn't take a photo of it and as it warned at the bottom, they did indeed take it back on May 9th. Rather than "Mothers are the best disinterested in the world" I wonder what it was really supposed to say.

Happy Mother's Day Mom. I don't think you are the best disinterested. Let's go diving again!

I love you!

--Sarah--

Jerilynn & Ray's Visit

2011-05-09T06:41:00.000-07:00

On Friday, I met Jerilynn and Ray at the airport and we smooshed into a taxi. Imagine two large suitcases, two carry-on suitcases, one garment bag, one backpack, three people (plus the driver), and a good sized walker. I wish we somehow got a photo but we couldn't really move once we all got squished in. The taxi driver even had to help us get it all in. We made it though! We arrived at home just in time to catch the Royal Wedding coverage on CNN!

On Saturday, we had a leisurely morning and Jerilynn and I walked over to the grocery store. After lunch, we took a taxi to the dirt market where we had a great time people-watching, checking out all the things for sale, and buying things too. The air quality was not good because of a sandstorm and we had quite a bit of wind blowing us around, but we had a good time.

For dinner, we went to a restaurant that I have been wanting to try. It is called Din Tai Fung and it is on the New York Times Top 10 Restaurants in the World list for their wonderful dumplings. We thought it was pretty good too!

On Sunday, we hired a driver to take us to the Mutianyu Great Wall. It was a holiday this weekend so everyone else was going to the Great Wall as well. There was lots of traffic but lunch was tasty and we had a good time. We rode up in the chair lift and then we rode down the toboggan! We had lunch at the Schoolhouse Restaurant.

On Monday, Ray rested at home while Jerilynn and I went to the Forbidden City. But first, we had an ice cream.

I lost my sunglasses, but I found an elephant.

We had some excitement getting from the Forbidden City to the Pearl Market. We took a little three-wheeled putt-putt vehicle there!

On the way home from the Pearl Market, we had more excitement. We got in our taxi and he promptly got in a car accident. No one was harmed and we didn't see much of anything on the cars either, but we didn't stick around long. We hailed a new cab and hurried on home.

On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, Jerilynn and Ray had a driver drive them all around Beijing. I didn't get their photos from them for these days so I can't show you what they did. They went to many places though - some I haven't even been to yet! They also came to visit my school on Thursday afternoon for a little while. One day we had dinner at Pure Lotus - a vegetarian restaurant with interesting and flowery language to describe each dish. We drank tea that made our childhood memories bubble up into our pockets, or something.

In the evening on Thursday, we went to see the acrobats. We think the acrobats were tired because there were more mistakes than expected. We still had a great time though.

On Friday, I said goodbye to my lovely guests before I left for school and organized a driver to take them to Tianjin where they met up with their ship. Enjoy the rest of your trip Jerilynn and Ray! Thanks for visiting!

--Sarah--

Dressing up as Opera Stars

2011-04-20T03:51:00.019-07:00

While Jon was visiting me, we spent an afternoon getting makeup applied all over our faces and hands, nails painted and fake hair applied (for me), feet squished into too small shoes (for Jon), and dressing up to get photos taken. Jon was suffering through terrible allergies and was not enjoying this at all but we both think the photos we ended up with are pretty neat. Here are some photos of the process of getting dressed up and the unedited photos. I have to wait until June to get the final edited photos back. The whole thing took about 2 1/2 hours from start to finish. Enjoy!

Starting out:

Adding more makeup:

Jon's least favorite part:

Adding my fake hair one loop at a time:

>Ready for photos:

And now the poses. They placed us exactly - posing us from head to toe:

--Sarah--

Jon's March Trip - Spring Blossoms and Makeup!

2011-04-08T05:09:00.008-07:00

Jon spent two weeks visiting me in March and our trip to Inner Mongolia was just the beginning. We had a few more days during my spring break holiday before I had to go back to work.

We visited Chaoyang Park and saw the beginnings of spring!

And also some clean trash and unrecycling:

We went to the old Summer Palace with too many other people.

Jon visited my classroom and all the kids were excited to see Mr. Jon again. One student even brought us kimchi for lunch.

The day before Jon left, we got all dressed up in the style of Peking opera. Jon was suffering through terrible allergies so he wasn't enjoying it much, but thankfully I think our photos turned out pretty great! I have to wait until June to get the retouched photos back but here are a couple of the originals. I'll have to put up a post just for this soon.

We also finally lit Jon's birthday candle that our driver bought for him in Inner Mongolia. This birthday candle is the most amazing birthday candle I've ever seen!

Jon took my cat, Lao Wai, back with him and she is learning to get along with his cat and dog.

I have 45 more days of school and only 79 days until I repatriate!

--Sarah--

Inner Mongolia - Yurts or No Yurts

2011-03-26T03:55:00.009-07:00

Jon and I decided to head to Inner Mongolia for a few days during his trip over here this time. We left early on Sunday morning and arrived in Hohhot an hour later. We were met by our guide and driver and left Hohhot for the grassland in Xilamuren. We found that in the winter, there isn't much grass in the grassland. It was too cold to stay in the grassland yurts so we just spent the day there and then went to a hotel for the night back in Hohhot. While in the grassland, we had a great lunch, rode very furry horses, and drank Mongolian milk tea. I had to borrow a jacket because it was too cold.

The next day, we drove to E’erduosi City to visit the Gobi Desert. It was also very cold in the desert so again we didn't stay in the yurt we had planned on using. We decided that instead of riding the camels (Bactrian, if you were curious), we just wanted to walk in the desert for a while.

Jon had his birthday in E’erduosi City the next day. We visited Genghis Khan's mausoleum, an aobao, and went for a walk in the park across the street from our hotel. In the park, we found a pack of wild dogs, a crime scene, and an old dragon boat ride. In the evening, our driver bought Jon a cake (Yes, it says "Happy Btrsday" on it.) and a bottle of Red Star bai jiu.

We spent our last day back in Hohhot City visiting various sites. My favorite was the Dazhao Lamasery. Unfortunately, it was the coldest it had been the whole trip while we were there plus it was very windy so we didn't stay as long as I would have liked.

Jon and I did enjoy our trip and we would love to come back again... just not in winter. More photos at Flickr.

--Sarah & Jon--

Chinese New Year 2011

2011-02-26T04:15:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year fireworks go on every night for two weeks. Some people here start complaining about them after the first few days and quite often by the first week or so. I love them! My only complaint is when they set off really exciting sounding ones after I've already gone to bed. I can't help jumping up again and looking out the window so I tend to get less sleep for a couple weeks. It is pretty amazing seeing the magnitude of these fireworks right out on the street between buildings. I'll definitely miss these when I move home to where even sparklers are illegal!

Here are some photos and video I took last year when I lived on the second floor and the fireworks were being set off right outside my window.

This year I moved all the way across the street and up to the 30th floor. I had a buildings in the way more often this year but I could see more fireworks being set off around the city.

Here is my video from this year. (I think last year's video is better though.)

--Sarah

Japan - Kawagoe

2011-02-13T20:57:00.000-08:00

On my last full day in Japan, I took a train to Kawagoe. Kawagoe is known for sweet potatoes and there is even a beer made by Coedo that uses them. I bought a couple bottles to share with Danny when I returned to his place in the evening.

In Kawagoe, I walked around the shopping streets and visited the clock tower.

I also walked to the candy alley where kids were buying candy and sweet bread loaves. I didn't even have to look at my map to get to the candy alley, I just had to follow all the kids.

In the afternoon, I visited a temple which turned out to be my favorite part of my whole trip.

On the temple grounds there is a Buddha statue garden with hundreds of statues. Each Buddha is different and I took my time looking at each one.

The most famous ones are these two whispering and the one behind them who looks like he is listening in.

On my walk back to the train station, I saw some chopsticks lifting some noodles and a horse.

More photos at flickr.

--Sarah--

Japan - Hakone

2011-02-13T02:07:00.002-08:00

Daniel and I went to Hakone for two days during my visit to Japan. We took a train in the morning to Hakone where we got off and walked around a bit before heading a bit further to Gora where we stayed the night. Our hotel had onsen (hot baths) which Danny and I used. There were some that were available to all the hotel guests and each room had one right on the balcony!

We had tasty soba noodles for lunch.

We walked around a park. It would have been beautiful if the flowers were blooming but instead, it was pretty dead except for the flowers in the greenhouses. We saw a very creepy looking pitcher plant.

At our hotel, we dressed up in kimonos and had a fancy dinner with a great view. We had several courses including fugu hotpot!

In the morning, we rode the cable car hoping for a great view of Mount Fuji but it was cloudy and we were disappointed.

Next, we boarded a pirate ship and Danny was nearly shot.

Finally, the clouds went away for just enough time for us to take a few photos of Mount Fuji!

After we got off the pirate ship, we took a walk through cedar trees to another park and then caught the bus back to Hakone.

We had time to visit another temple before it was time to catch the train back to Tokyo.

Nice trip Danny!

More photos at flickr.

--Sarah--

Japan - Tokyo, Ueno, Asakusa

2011-02-12T01:02:00.010-08:00

For my Chinese New Year break this year, I visited Daniel in Japan for a week. Danny sent me directions to the train station near his house and met me there. We spent the first few days of my trip walking around Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya, and other Tokyo areas.

We had lots of delicious food - Okinawan, Izakaya food, Kushiage, ramen noodles, and sushi. The weather was chilly but sunny my whole trip and it was great being in cleaner air for a week.

We took a trip to Hakone for a couple of days, but I'll write about that in my next post. After returning from Hakone, I spent a couple of days exploring on my own while Danny worked. One day, I went to Uedo and then to Asakusa.

In Uedo, I walked around in a park and visited a shrine.

Next, I took the subway to Asakusa. The first thing I saw after leaving the station was the Asahi brewery building (looks like a frothy glass!) and the golden object on the building next door.

I walked around the shopping street in Asakusa. People-watching, sake tasting, and temple visiting...

After returning from Asakusa, we went to Danny's neighborhood shrine to celebrate Setsubun. People born in the year of the rabbit went on the stage and threw soybeans out for us to catch. Can you spot the back of Danny's head? We ate a bean for each year of our age and then said, "Demons out! Good luck in!" We also ate a special Setsubun sushi roll and drank celebratory sake.

More photos at flickr.

--Sarah--

Christmas Party 2010

2011-01-19T19:31:00.005-08:00

Each year my school puts on a pretty big shindig when all the teachers get dressed up. I've put up photos each year (see 2009 and 2008).

This year I got photos with some of my Grade 1 team (Dianne, me, Linda's husband Chris, teammate who moved to Grade 2 Sue, and Ceci):
with my friend, Manatsu:
with my friend, Emily:
with my friend, Sara:
and also photos with the other girls who came to Beijing at the same time as me who are also leaving this year (Emily, me, Manatsu, and Aixa):
--Sarah--

Christmas in Southern California

2010-12-23T11:58:00.004-08:00

It has been quite a while since I last posted anything. School has been busy and I need to get some photos organized before I put up another China post. Last Friday, only a few hours after school was out, I hopped on a plane to fly back to California. Jon met me in L.A. and we enjoyed Smith Family Christmas in Huntington Beach. I met two new family members, Mason and Lyra, and loved seeing everyone else. Here is our four generation family photo with everyone who was able to make it:

Pictured:

First generation: Great Uncle Burl and Great Aunt Pat

Second generation: Jerilynn & Ray, Geoff & Heidi, Mom, Mark & Nadiya, Cynthia

Third generation: Catherine & Naysan, Jon & me, Ashley & Ryan, Jessica, Sergey

Fourth generation: Mikial, Kian, Isla, Mason, Lyra

Now, I am up in Santa Cruz and looking forward to spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Jon's family and then my dad's side of the family.

--Sarah--

My Family is Famous...and Awkward!

2010-11-11T01:55:00.002-08:00

I love my family and the strange family photos we took growing up! We just got posted on Awkward Family Pet Photos for this photo:

November - Jon and Kids' Fall Photos

2010-11-10T02:35:00.006-08:00

Jon managed to get in another visit to Beijing last week and this time school was in session so he was able to come visit my classroom. The kids loved meeting Jon - they decided to call him Mr. Jon - and I think Jon had a pretty good time as well. While he was at school, we took the kids out to the playground to take pictures that remind them of fall. I love seeing the pictures they take - sometimes arranging the shot:

or directing their buddy on how to pose:

Some close-ups:

Here are some more photos by the kids:

And of course, our special guest for the day made it into a few photos. Here's my favorite:

Only five more weeks (and a couple of days) until I am in California for three weeks!

--Sarah--

More Jon & Sarah Photos!

2010-10-23T04:25:00.006-07:00

I heard from a few people that they wanted to see more of the photos of Jon and me from the photographer. So here they are:

Jon and I had fun during the shoot - making each other laugh and being silly.

I got some good news a few days after Jon went back home. He's coming back! Now, instead of looking forward to December, I get to look forward to just one more week from now! This time, he will have to explore more of Beijing on his own while I am at work, but I won't be complaining any time he is over here.

--Sarah--

Jon's October Visit Part II

2010-10-09T22:21:00.011-07:00

We left off on Wednesday when the air here took a turn for dangerous with an AQI over 400. It has continued to be some of the worst air we get over here but we couldn't stay inside everyday.

On Thursday, we took the fast train to Tianjin hoping to have better air there. It was better than Beijing but still not great. Jon and I had no plan in Tianjin so we just walked around until we were starving and then found a place to eat. We walked through the financial district and looked at the old buildings while everyone else looked at us. We had our pictures taken many times - even on security guards' cell phones!

Later, we walked in another direction and ran into Italian Style Town! (Or as the sign told us Ltalian Style Town.) There were many couples getting their wedding photos taken and Jon and I had an Ltalian lunch that he deemed 'not bad' or maybe it was 'pretty good' but nothing like the food he and his family makes.

On Friday, we spent the morning walking around the 798 Art District in Beijing and then had delicious dumplings for lunch. Later, we had some photos printed and did a little more gift shopping. Jon enjoyed some pork buns from a sidewalk vendor on the walk home in the evening.

On Saturday, Jon and I went on an easy, short hike outside Beijing. We walked through the old walled village of Huang Hua (Yellow Flower), their farms, and then up to the Zhuangdaokou section of the Great Wall. This was a better way for Jon to see the Great Wall for the first time. Unfortunately, the air continued to be poor. Later, we went out for dinner with a couple friends at a Sichuan restaurant.

Here is Jon at the Great Wall:

Just kidding. Here we are:

Jon is now on a plane on his way back to California. We had a great week together but it went by entirely too quickly! We are both looking forward to December when we will see each other again!

--Sarah & Jon--

Jon's October Visit Part 1

2010-10-07T07:23:00.007-07:00

Jon came over to visit during my October break. We've had a pretty relaxing trip without much rushing around which has been nice. He is coming back in the spring so we didn't have to get to all the big sites on this trip. Here are some photos of the first half of his trip:

On Sunday, we went to the dirt market - panjiayuan. Jon and I enjoyed walking through the stands and bought a few things. Here is the calligrapher painting names on scrolls:

Later that afternoon, we headed over to Hou Hai Lake to walk around and meet up with a friend for dinner. Jon liked these signs:

and this family in their hats:

and this dog/superhero:

The lake was busy with boats and looked great with the lights reflecting in the evening.

On Monday, we visited the Lama Temple. This was the first time I'd been to this temple. It was very busy because of the holiday so we may come here again in the spring.

On Tuesday, Jon and I had some photos taken at Ritan Park. Before the photographers came, we had a tasty lunch and took some photos while walking around the park.

Then we were models.

My new cat finally came out from under the couch and has even begun to let us pet her. I named her Lao Wai, which means 'foreigner' in Chinese - exactly what she will be when I bring her back to the States with me.

On Wednesday, the sky was no longer blue and we began to have trouble seeing down the street. We decided to do something indoors so we went to the Blue Zoo. The Blue Zoo is a small aquarium downtown. They had some pretty good critters to look at but most of the glass had smudges so photos were difficult to take. Here are some lobsters that weren't too smudgey:

Next post will be what we did Thursday (today) and what we will do on Friday and Saturday.

--Sarah & Jon--

Making Applesauce

2010-09-24T22:20:00.011-07:00

What do you do with 9 apples from an organic orchard that are very quickly going bad? Decide to make applesauce for the first time!

Wash, peel, and core all apples.

Be proud of yourself when you manage to get a peel all in one piece.

Wish you had one of these but feel happy you at least have one of these:

Cut up apples into smaller pieces.

Heat up water in a pot and throw some cinnamon in.

Throw the apple pieces in.

Set your timer for every ten minutes so you can come and check on the apples but not have to sit in the quickly warming up kitchen. Enjoy your lillies while you are not checking on the apples.

Stir apples pieces when you check on them - sometimes.

Accidentally post to your blog when you only have notes and not the actual blog post. (Was anyone lucky enough to see it? I bet it went out to RSS feeds everywhere! Or at least to the 17 people who are subscribed. 17? Nice!)

Enjoy the smell of apples and cinnamon coming from your kitchen. When the apples are smooshy enough, drain the excess water. Using a fork if that is your only smooshing device or a better one if you've got one, smoosh up the apples until they are smooshed to your liking.

Top with a little more cinnamon and eat up while it's still warm.

--Sarah--

Pretty Sure the AQI Site is Lying

2010-09-24T20:37:00.004-07:00

Here's what the site is currently showing:

Here's what it currently looks like outside:

--Sarah--

Welcome to Autumn!

2010-09-24T04:59:00.004-07:00

We have just finished Mid-Autumn Festival here, which somehow also coincided with the beginning of Autumn. I guess that's better than having the Mid-Autumn Festival weeks before autumn begins at all.

I received several mooncakes my first year here and wrote about them. Last year, I don't remember having any except for an ice cream one at Haagen-Dazs. This year two of my students brought me mooncakes. The first one was a small chocolate one, about two inches across. I only got through two small bites before putting it away. My student asked why I wasn't finishing it. I told her that I was saving it for later.

The second one was beautiful with little golden flakes.

Would this one taste better since it was so pretty? Nope. I wasn't able to even get a bite down at all before it went to the same place as the chocolate one. Oh well. I guess mooncakes are just not for me.

--Sarah--

View Comparison

2010-09-14T16:56:00.004-07:00

Saturday:

This morning:

Hopefully after the next few days' predicted rain, we'll see blue skies again.

--Sarah--

Longyunshan "Dragon Cloud Mountain" Hike

2010-09-04T17:51:00.006-07:00

On Saturday, I met up with some other Beijingren to hike Dragon Cloud Mountain. The bus ride was about 2 1/2 hours so I had some time to listen to a couple NPR podcasts on the way while taking in the scenery outside the window.

The story behind Dragon Cloud Mountain (as I remember it):

A dragon lived in the heavens and came down to the mountain one day. He thought the scenery was so beautiful that he wanted to stay and help the villagers there. But the dragon also wanted to see all of China so he decided to have one of his nine sons stay at the mountain. This way, the dragon could always come back and visit his son. The son's name was Mr. Bai. Bai means 'white' in Chinese which is how the river at Dragon Cloud Mountain got its name - White River.

Some of our hike was on dirt trails, some on rocks, and some on metal paths stuck into the wall.

A kung-fu movie was filmed on this mountain and they decided to leave some of the set in place - a house and a fake tree.

Our local guide brought along his scythe to point out interesting things.

We also saw several creatures on this hike. I didn't take a picture of the spider that was as big as my palm or the cicada that was stuck in its web, but I did snap the snake and praying mantis.

After our snack break, we took off our shoes and socks and crossed the river. The water was about knee deep at the deepest and was a refreshing end to our hike.

After the river crossing, we walked through the village to have lunch at a local restaurant before heading back to Beijing. More photos from the hike here.

Also, we've had a few thunder and lightning storms since I've arrived back here. One night, the thunder was so loud and the lightning so bright that it woke me up. I took a little video but it doesn't quite show how crazy it was - especially being up on the 30th floor and seeing the lightning outside the window!

--Sarah---

798, Hubbub, and Views

2010-08-21T16:42:00.005-07:00

I went to an area in Beijing called 798 last weekend. This is the art district where there are lots of little shops, exhibits, spray paint, and sculptures. I didn't take very many photos so I will definitely have to go back and take some more. It was really hot but a nice, sunny, blue sky day. My friend, Fiona, and I had lunch outside on a patio and walked around until we were too hot.

I moved to a new apartment a week before school got out in June. I'll have to be careful here with all their lobby rules:

Also, here are a couple of photos of the view from my apartment. The first one is the building across the way in June and the second one in August.

--Sarah--

Summertime

2010-08-06T15:56:00.014-07:00

So, what else happened between getting engaged in early July until early August when I flew back to Beijing? A lot of relaxing and hanging out in Santa Cruz mostly.

I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium with my wonderful friend Amelia. I love the jellyfish there, as you can also see here and here.

Jon and I took his dog Gypsy to the beach where they chased each other around in the surf and then came and dried themselves off on me.

I also met and was able to stay unscathed by Jon's cat, Dori.

Jon and I went to his friends' wedding.

We also went to the zoo where he turned into a giraffe and complained I was taking too long to take his picture. Really, I was just waiting from him to make this fantastic expression:

He took me to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk where I grabbed the metal rings while riding the carousel and tried to toss them into the clown's mouth. If you know what I'm talking about - you've done it too, I bet!

I also had some time to catch up with friends and family. I managed to catch two of Uncle Steve's games this summer - one the day I arrived from China and the other the evening before I left to return to China.

This is my last year over here in China before I move back to California. There are still a few adventures here I want to have before heading back so stay tuned! And if you are thinking about visiting while I'm here, you better hurry up!

--Sarah--

Backpacking Adventure!

2010-07-15T22:46:00.011-07:00

My next adventure was intended to be an 8 day, 7 night, easy backpacking trip. Jon and his friend Ian had planned out a route that Ian had mostly done on other trips. He expected that one day would be challenging but in general it would be an easy trip for me - it was my first backpacking trip other than an overnight trip in Alaska after all.

Jon helped me pack - advising me on what I needed to bring and what I should leave at home. We went shopping for food and got ourselves all packed up.

Then, we drove over to where we'd meet up with the rest of our group - Ian, his wife Lizzie, and their two boys. We started out on Day 1 in the late afternoon and had a pretty easy four mile hiking day up Onion Valley on our way to Kearsarge Pass. That night, Jon told me that he thought this first day would be one of the tougher days of the hike due to the steep hike. He was not correct.

Day 2 we hiked about ten miles. It started off alright while we hiked the rest of the way up Kearsarge Pass (11,760ft) and then down into the valley. The views were wonderful. We saw waterfalls, streams, lakes, snow, mountains, etc.

We stopped for lunch at Bullfrog Lake where we didn't hear any bullfrogs. We had started the day on a trail but when we found out the river we wanted to cross was uncrossable where we wanted to cross it, we changed plans a bit and went off trail. Our plan was to cross the river earlier on and then meet back up with the trail on the other side of the river. Off trail hiking is tougher than trail hiking, I found! We hiked over rocks, through streams, across large thickets of a bush I am now not very fond of called Chinquapin. It has burs on the stems that leave splinters in your hands when you grab on to them after you step on a rock that rolls away and you nearly slip down the hill and fall over the cliff into the waterfall. Trust me. Chinquapin also likes to cover up large holes lined with sharp rocks so that you nearly fall into them but narrowly manage to roll over to your side and miss the hole but end up cutting your hand and having your ice ax removed from your pack but not noticing it until a day later because you are exhausted. Trust Jon.

The part of the river where we crossed was about waist-deep and icy cold. Jon and I went across together and I nearly pulled him down the river with me when I slipped. He was able to keep us upright though and we made it across.

We camped at a flat area near the river with a beautiful view of the mountains and a waterfall.

There were piles of rocks around, old glass, and burnt metal in the campsite and we tried to figure out what the area had once been. During our hike the next day, we ran into a couple of trail workers who told us it was the site of an old hotel from the 1920s.

Day 3 began with some tricky climbing over more landslide/avalanche rocks but much easier going when you aren't exhausted. Of course, the great views continued.

Day 3 was about 6 miles and we were still off trail. In addition to telling us about the hotel, the trail workers told us that the river crossing we had avoided was indeed too dangerous to cross. That made what we had done seem a little better. After all, the trail workers were taking our same route through the Chinquapin just to get to work - although, they brought loppers with them.

We made it to Lake Reflection (10,027ft) on Day 3 and planned to stay there for two nights to get some rest from the earlier days and to rest up for the next tough day. Lake Reflection was a beautiful place to spend a couple days. The boys fished and managed to catch several fish - maybe 9? - for dinner one day. Jon and I did some laundry and we all played many games of Pass the Pigs.

To get over to the side of the lake where we camped we had to cross another river. This one had several logs and rocks all the way across, so one by one, we crossed and only got wet shoes when a log wobbled. I think we all managed pretty well. In the picture below, that larger bush is about halfway across the river. There were more logs on the other side.

On Day 5, we left Lake Reflection to hike over another pass. Ian had checked out our choices and read up on Lucy's Foot Path (12,800ft). It was described in the trail book as being "a convenient and easy way to connect the two valleys" so we thought that a backpacking newbie (me) and the two kids (7 and 10yrs) would be able to do it with no problems. We were expecting possibly steep hiking but with switchbacks to make things easier.

We stopped at the bottom of the pass and Jon and Ian looked through binoculars to plan out the way we would go. There was still quite a bit of snow that we wanted to avoid and some loose-looking rocks as well. We made it up some of the first parts with not a lot of trouble. At one point, I was following Jon over some large rocks, stepping on the same ones he had just stepped on. Jon sometimes would pause and look back to check on my progress and see if I needed a hand. He looked back just as I stepped on a rock about the size of a VW Beetle. As soon as I stepped on it (the same one he had stepped on), it started rolling right out from under me! I jumped up to another rock (which thankfully stayed put) and then continued on my way.

Then, we got to the scary parts.

We came to a snowy section that would have been fine except for the steep hill you'd slide right down if you slipped. We decided to break out the rope and harnesses at this point. Ian is an experienced climber and he had all the gear we needed to get across this section (and later up the whole pass) safely.

I don't have any pictures from this point until we get to the top, but this is how it went. We went up each section one by one, or two by two, with rope and harnesses all the way to the top. It got dark. It was cold and there was a lot of snow. We were all exhausted. We ran out of water. Rocks would sometimes come loose while you were grabbing them and the number of bruises and scrapes we got was impressive. The last couple of sections were vertical - with one part past vertical. The only way I made it up that part was by standing on Jon's shoulders. And of course, we were doing this all in the dark with our packs! Part way up, Jon said to me, "I've got something in the car for you. The second we get down, I'm giving it to you. We're not waiting any longer!"

What was supposed to take a couple of hours to climb ended up taking about 10 hours! The whole day was about 13 hours of hiking and we only went about 2 and half miles. But, we made it! Here's a picture of the last bit the following morning with our tents in the background:

Here are a couple of pictures of Lucy's without the snow. It still seems pretty amazing to me that we all made it up in the dark and snow safely. We had camped at the top of the pass and were treated to a pretty sweet view in the morning.

Day 6 was about six miles but was one of our easiest days (especially compared to what we did the night before!) hiking down into the valley, past Lake South America to another lake near the trail. Yes! Back onto a trail at last! Still, we had to walk in some squishy wet ground and through more snow so my feet and shoes were pretty wet by the time we got to where we'd camp.

Our campsite was around a number of Foxtail Pine trees which get pretty gnarly when they die.

Day 7, we hiked to the top of Shepard's Pass. We had a 6 mile, easy hiking day to get there but my feet had had enough. This is when my feet really began to hurt. I'm not sure if it was just the amount of hiking or the number of times they got wet for so long or a combination of the two, but they weren't happy. We camped at the top of the pass at about 12,000ft. It was cold and windy there with not a lot of protection for our tents. Jon built up a little wall for our tent and we had an easy afternoon. Down at the lake, getting water, we saw thousands of ladybugs. They must have just hatched. Some were alive and flying or crawling around, but there were many in the snow and floating on the lake near the shore.

Day 8, our last day, was between 8 and 12 miles depending on whose map you believed. I believe it was closer to 12. It began with a worrisome hike down a field of snow:

Ian had gone over it the night before with his ice ax and made some good steps for everyone though, so it ended up being much easier than I expected. Then we walked and slid down the loose rocks to the trail. Getting down the pass this direction was not too difficult but I definitely would not want to be going the other way.

Finally, we got this treat of a view:

We still had to climb up what the map told us was 500 feet but seemed much much more than that and then back down. The downhill part ended up being much tougher than I expected because at this point, I was really tired, my feet hurt so bad that it felt as if I was walking barefoot down the mountain, and my slightly twisted ankle wasn't happy. Also, I was out of water and hadn't had enough to eat. Jon was a star though and kept me going. At one point, he even forced me to let him put more of my stuff into his pack. We should have taken a photo of his pack then because it was pretty ridiculously filled with everything. We had to cross the same stream four times. By the fourth one, we just walked right through it with our shoes on since we were nearly to the bottom.

We made it though, back down to where we thought we parked Ian's car. Ian went looking for it and came back a little over an hour later - with no car. He couldn't find it. At that point, another hiker came down and drove Ian around until he found the car - which had a dead battery. After the jump, Ian came back and picked us up to take us to Jon's car at the Onion Valley trailhead where we started this adventure. Jon and I got some gas and stopped in Bishop for dinner. It was nearly 11pm by this time.

We decided for safety we better stay the night in Bishop and drive back up to Santa Cruz in the morning. So, after showers we were ready for bed and pretty exhausted. Finally, Jon made good on what he said on the mountain and slipped this on my finger:

And THAT is the story of our crazy backpacking adventure and of our engagement!

More pictures at flickr.

--Sarah--

P.S. People have asked if I'll go backpacking with Jon ever again after all that. Yes. I will.

Back in CA then MA then CA again!

2010-07-15T00:44:00.000-07:00

I arrived back in California with just barely enough time to do some wedding shopping, see Mariah and the twins, see Jon, and jump back on a plane to go to Massachusetts for Leah's wedding. It was great spending almost a week with Leah - helping with the preparations, catching up with what's been going on, and just being in her company, even if we were busy getting everything ready for her wedding.

Brunch with the ladies:

Out-of-towners' dinner:

Getting her in the dress:

Wedding party:

Next, it was back to California. My uncle Geoffrey got married the weekend after Leah, so I got to spend about a week down in Redlands with Emily and my southern California family.

I got to see Jessica's garden:

Mom, Emily, and I got Nate water, coffee, and pizza while he waited in line for 7 hours for a new iPhone. When he came out without one due to a snafu on billing address vs. phone number, Emily and I sent him back in. No way were we waiting around for 7 hours with no iPhone to show for it:

Mom and and Emily met Jon:

Geoff and Heidi's wedding was on the beach in La Jolla and their reception was the following day at his house in Del Mar.

Up next: The Backpacking Adventure with surprise ending!

--Sarah--

Year Two Completed!

2010-06-11T03:47:00.005-07:00

Today was the last day of school here in Beijing. Again, there was the send off of buses, but this time I filmed the buses with the compact video setting on my camera which gives me a teeny video. Enjoy it anyway.

Buses ready:

Fireworks ready:

And....GO!

I've completed my second year teaching here in Beijing now and my seventh year teaching in all. Tomorrow, I head back home to California for the summer. Before then, I better finish unpacking from moving to my new apartment (On the 30th floor! Well, actually the 26th floor because there are no 4th, 13th, 14th, or 24th floors.) and packing my bags for the summer.

Also, I saw this on the way to school today.

So now it is time for me to put on my angle wings and fly on home to California! (Like that?)

--Sarah--

P.S. Here's the video from last year. The video is bigger and we had more fireworks last time.

Mom's Trip 2010 - Chengdu, China

2010-05-28T23:29:00.013-07:00

Mom came over this month for her second trip to visit me. Most of her time here this trip she had to entertain herself and she did a great job at that! She walked all over Beijing or took taxis to further away sites and had a great time. Our big trip while she was here took place over Mother's Day weekend (good planning, eh?).

I planned our trip down to Chengdu to see the giant pandas and the giant Buddha.

At the Chengdu Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding, we walked through bamboo-lined paths and saw giant pandas and red pandas.

We also took some photos with an 18 month old giant panda. The baby pandas were sick so we were not able to play with them.

We were very scareful.

The next day, we went to Leshan to see the giant Buddha. We climbed up some stairs, then down a whole lot of stairs, and then up the other side.

On the way, it was a little rainy and there were some interesting characters to photo-op with.

When we were at the top, I whispered to the Buddha and Mom poked him. The Buddha wasn't very impressed.

Eventually, we made it to the giant Buddha in the side of a mountain.

We had some lunch.

Mom shared her lunch with the guy in the wall.

Chengdu gets more rain than Beijing and is nearly always overcast (according to our guide). It was nice to be in some weather and Mom and I had a great time traveling together.

Thanks for coming to visit me again, Mom! I love you!

More photos at flickr.

--Sarah--

P.S. Two weeks of school left!

On the Drive to Work

2010-05-02T19:17:00.009-07:00

On my drive to and from work each day, I often wish I had my camera ready for the sights I see. I managed to catch a few shots last week. We have a bus that has seen the light:

Next, a large truck pulling another large truck with a thin, worn rope:

And finally, we have our friendly policeman keeping all the traffic flowing smoothly over the bridge (which currently has a bunch of construction happening on and under it):

--Sarah--

P.S. My mom made it over safely and is ready for China adventures. Stay tuned.

Black and White Masquerade Ball

2010-04-28T04:49:00.004-07:00

My friend, Fiona, and I went to the Australian Black and White Masquerade Ball a couple weekends ago. We brought along two masks each - one that tied and one we held up with a stick. We also tried on other masks (like the robot one). This was my first ball over here other than the ones thrown by my school and it was a good excuse to get dressed up. It was a great night and we had lots of fun!

My favorite mask:
We had dessert. It was milk and white chocolate cleverly shaped into a mask. So, before we ate it, we took photos with it.

We also took some pictures on the Caterpillar tractor that was there. Why was there a tractor at the ball? Well, there was a bunch of beer in the scoop on the front, of course!
--Sarah--

It is Hot in Thailand!

2010-04-07T06:10:00.001-07:00

I finally got down to Thailand for Spring Break to go diving and get some warm sun. My friend, Sara, and I flew down to Bangkok after school on Friday, March 19th.

We had a few hours in the middle of the night to kill so we decided it was worth it to check into a hotel and get some sleep. At our hotel, we got free water. It was labeled and everything:

The next morning, bright and early, we hopped on our next flight to Phuket.

We arrived in Phuket with a few more hours to kill but this time, we got to spend them during the day. We walked from the airport to the nearby beach and relaxed on the beach until it was time to head back to the airport for our pick-up.

The diving we planned would take place from a liveaboard so we were picked up from the airport and taken to the dock about a hour or so away. This was our first liveaboard and Sara's first dive trip. She did her 'pool' dives in the aquarium here in Beijing and finished her certification on this trip.

We met the rest of the people on the boat and had our briefing while we rode from the dock to the Similan Islands where we would do dives first thing in the morning.

Early the next morning, we had a snack, had a dive briefing, and got all our gear on. I love 82 degree water. We saw a frog fish. They can be hard to spot.

While we ate breakfast, I mentioned that I had never seen a cuttlefish even though I had been on dives where others saw them and that I really hoped to see one here. We got geared up again and hopped in for our second dive. And what do you know? Look what I saw:

While I was getting excited about seeing the first one, I looked over my shoulder and a second one swam right by my head! As soon as I surfaced, I said, "Okay, I've never seen a Manta Ray!"

Next dive, I had some trouble with my right ear, but the dive went okay and we saw some more great sealife.

I passed on the night dive, hoping my ear would feel better in the morning. In the morning, I decided to give the first dive a try because it was a shallow one and I could always come back up if things were not working out well. We saw a turtle who didn't seem to mind all of us watching him for a while and more fish.

My ear was not better though and was actually getting worse. This ended up being my last dive of the trip. Four out of the fourteen dives I had planned on was a big disappointment, but when your ear won't equalize, you can't dive. This was Monday morning though, so I was stuck on a dive boat until Wednesday night. At least the food was good thanks to this cook:

I spent the time reading, relaxing, napping, and taking pain killers for my ear. Ouch. Sara had a great time though and loved her experience diving. Here's where I spent time:

After our boat days, we were dropped off at our hotel for three more nights in Phuket. Our hotel was right on the beach and had several pools as well. This picture was taken from our balcony. You can see the ocean not far away.

I was able to get in to the doctor on Friday morning when I found out that I did indeed have an ear infection and was given some medications to help me get through it and make it go away.

I loved walking on the beach, swimming in the warm water, and listening to the waves crashing. The sunrises and sunsets were beautiful.

My ear was finally able to equalize in time for our flights back home on Saturday. While we were gone, Beijing had more snow and a huge sandstorm! I'm glad I missed looking out my window and seeing this:

Instead I got to walk on a sandy beach and look at this:

Sara and I had a great time!

--Sarah--

P.S. More photos at flickr.

March Snow

2010-03-14T15:35:00.003-07:00

We had some snow last week and thought that was surprising and then I woke up to more snow yesterday. It snowed most of the day but not enough to give us a snow day today. Will this be the last of it? Can we have spring now?

It begins:

Later on:

--Sarah--

Chinese New Year Fireworks

2010-03-14T06:03:00.003-07:00

Here are some photos and a video of the fireworks that go on during Chinese New Year here. Every single night. Right outside. For two weeks. When I wasn't trying to sleep, I loved it!

Here's the video:

More photos at flickr.

--Sarah--

Langkawi, Malaysia - Sunshine and Saltwater

2010-03-13T02:31:00.002-08:00

For Chinese New Year this year, I escaped the cold Beijing weather and enjoyed the sunshine in Malaysia. We thought about staying here:

But, there was no vacancy. We didn't do much on this trip. Mostly, we read books, spent time in the sun, swam in the pool and ocean, and relaxed.

We were visited by wildlife poolside.

And on the walk to and from the pool.

We decided one day that we should probably leave the hotel and see something else, so we booked a trip to go check out the mangroves.

We visited a bat cave.

We saw some wild dogs.

We licked salty leaves.

We had lunch in a floating restaurant.

In the evening, we went to the night market.

When we got back, we canceled everything else, so we could lie by the pool and on the beach, read, relax, and swim. We also had massages.

More photos at flickr.

--Sarah--

Sun Outrage

2010-03-02T01:37:00.002-08:00

Uh-oh. I better watch out.

It's so mad.

--Sarah--

Icebiking 2010

2010-02-28T20:30:00.002-08:00

I wrote about the last time I went icebiking back in 2009. We went back in January and this time we had a much sunnier day.

Everything was pretty much the same as last year except this year there were strange little robots pulling kids around as well.

Here's a video of the freaky robots pulling the kids. Yes, that music is coming from the robot.

And once again, we went to the No Name Bar for drinks to warm us up.

More photos at flickr.

--Sarah--

Back to Delhi - End of Three Weeks in India

2010-02-19T17:17:00.006-08:00

When we arrived back in Delhi, we were surprised to see that the weather had changed so much. It was now chilly and very foggy all day long. On the way from the airport, we went directly to shopping at an area recommended to us by several people. At Dilli Haat, there were lots of little stands in a clean environment. We were very happy but we didn't buy much.

We stayed again at our friend of a friend's apartment and again it was great to have a place to call home while in Delhi - even for just a couple of nights. I looked around to see if I could figure out where I would hang out, shop, and go out to dinners if I worked at this school and lived here. I found a couple places but not the variety I have in Beijing. We found Delhi to be dirtier and had many more beggars than Beijing (where I hardly ever see any at all).

We tried to see the Qutb Minar, but it was pretty foggy. We could barely even make out the top. The Qutb Minar is a nearly 73m tower that was started in 1193.

Next, we went to the Baha'i temple that is shaped like a lotus. It was completed in 1986 and is barely seen through the fog in the photo below. The Baha'i philosophy revolves around universal peace and the elimination of prejudice. Photos were not allowed inside the temple (neither was talking), but I can tell you that it was beautiful and peaceful.

Finally, we went back to Old Delhi to have a rickshaw ride around the small streets to get some photos.

Later, we met up with a guy who knows a guy who Carol met in Vietnam. He was great and took us out to a restaurant in an area where I would definitely hang out if I lived in Delhi.

We woke up early in the morning to head back to Beijing. And thus concludes my India trip. More photos might be added when I get them from the friends I traveled with, especially ones of me.

More photos at flickr.

--Sarah--

Back to Jodhpur

2010-02-17T17:16:00.006-08:00

Back to Jodhpur. Jodhpur is called the Blue City because of the painted blue houses in the old city. The Brahmins were originally the ones who painted their houses blue, but now with it being a tourist expectation, many more are blue. I heard that Disney paid for painting and also underground wiring so there wouldn't be any lines blocking the view for one of their movies.

We arrived at 5am and were picked up by our new driver, Danesh. We slept at our hotel until 9am and then headed out for the Meherangarh Fort. This fort is still run by the maharaja of Jodhpur and its audio tour was surprisingly very good.

In the morning, we visited the Umaid Bhawan Palace Museum before going to the clock tower. The palace was begun in 1929 and took 3000 workers fifteen years to complete.

We said goodbye to our last hotel of India and left for the airport to fly back to Delhi.

More photos at flickr.

--Sarah--

Jaisalmer - The Golden City

2010-02-15T17:16:00.008-08:00

We woke up in Jaisalmer at 5:30am and took a rickshaw to our hotel. We went to bed and got a few more hours of sleep before having breakfast on the roof terrace overlooking the city of Jaisalmer. Our hotel was in the wall of the Jaisalmer fort - the second oldest fort in Rajasthan and the oldest living fort in India.

We walked to our friends' hotel to meet up with them before heading out to the desert.

Once in the Thar Desert, we met our camels and took a walk until sunset. We were about 70km from the Pakistan border.

Later, we were entertained during dinner with music and dancing. The stars were so bright and the moon was just beginning to wane.

Then, we went to bed in our little tents.

In the morning, we were brought coffee and had an early breakfast before heading out on our camels once more.

We said goodbye to our camels and headed back to Jaisalmer. Here's Lalu, my camel.

Once back in Jaisalmer, we did some jewelry and textile shopping and admired the Haveli.

I got one ring for free. It is a puzzle ring with four parts. Here's how the conversation went:

Man: "It's a puzzle ring. If you can put it together in less than ten minutes..."

Me: "I can have it for free?"

Man: "Uh, alright."

--About 3 minutes later.--

Me: "I did it! I can have it for free now."

Man: "Well, no..."

Me: "That's what you said."

Man: "Alright."

I did buy some jewelry from him as well so I'm sure he made his money back. It's a nice story to go with my ring though. I haven't been able to put the dang thing together in less than ten minutes since then though.

For dinner, we met up with our other friends again and had beers and momos before saying goodbye to them. They were catching the train south that night while we stayed on one more night at our hotel.

We had breakfast on the rooftop again before checking out more Jain temples and the fort's museum.

Later we took another rickshaw to the station to catch our overnight train back to Jodhpur.

More photos at flickr.

--Sarah--

Narlai Village and Jodhpur - The Blue City

2010-02-13T17:15:00.014-08:00

We left Udaipur to drive up to Narlai in the morning. On the way, we stopped to see a few sites.

A bat tree:

Some people and animals working:

And the Jain temples at Ranakpur:

Ranakpur is carved using milk white marble - 1444 unique pillars in 29 halls. The main temple was built in

1439.

We arrived in the village of Narlai and spent some time relaxing by the beautiful pool before heading out

for a sunset jeep ride. That little white dot at the top of the mountain is an elephant. The rock mountains

reminded me of the Flying Rock area my siblings and I used to climb around on in Riverside.

We saw Siberian geese in the lake and panther prints in the mud around the lake. After the jeep ride, we

climbed up a small rock mountain and had tea and cookies before heading back to the hotel.

In the morning, we said goodbye to this guy and headed up to Jodhpur.

In Jodhpur, we visited the Jaswant Thada. It is a white marble memorial to Maharaja Jaswant Singh II and

was built in 1899. It had a great view of the Blue City.

We also got to see the blue rooftops of Jodhpur.

By now, Carol had started feeling pretty lousy, so we decided to rest while we waited for our train to the

desert. While we waited, we stayed at this hotel:

More photos for Narlai at flickr here and for Jodhpur at flickr here.

--Sarah--