THEY DON’T SPEAK CHINESE IN JAPAN

It was very hard to turn off the Chinese.  I left a lot of conversations moving my mouth trying not to say ni hau.
The Japanese people are all very neat and orderly from their shiny shoes to their perfect hair, their behavior and the cities we visited go along with the neat and orderly.  They would form lines in a situation where lines wouldn’t normally be formed; they were evenly spaced with personal space between each person.  The bathrooms were amazing, heated seats, built in sanitizers and deodorizers, sinks that had motion sensors for the soap water and dryers (all in the sink).  The streets, busses and trains were spotless despite the fact that you were allowed to eat and drink.  Everything was quiet and pleasant.  We decided that when the Japanese do something well it is done to perfection but when they let something fall through the cracks it falls big time. 
Hanging out with Jodie and the baby have made me very aware of stairs and strollers.  Elevators were hard to find (if there was one) and escalators were few and far between.  Normally I don’t mind stairs but when you walk up and down 5 + flights of stairs one way every time you take a train, never mind the stairs to get up to the shrines and temples (those are understandable since they are authentic and old). 
The most challenging part of our trip was lack of clear directions.  All of the other places we have visited so far are very tourist friendly, you get off the train and it tells you what exit to go up and boom you are there!  They also had user friendly tourist maps, which we did not find in Tokyo or Kyoto.  The maps we found were all different some were missing roads, a couple had extra roads and they didn’t quite match the train map so we guessed a lot of things.  I don’t think Adam and I are the smartest people in the world but we certainly aren’t idiots and it took us 3 days to figure out how to buy a ticket for the train.  We also spent a lot of time walking around trying to figure out where to go, thank goodness for our book and specific directions.  As much as I planned we still had a lot of wasted time walking in the wrong direction.
My travel book was a God send; we used that to pick most of the restaurants we ate at.  I picked the cheap restaurants that had cool descriptions.  Most of the restaurants we went to had 8 tables and 5 things on the menu…and they were wonderful!  However the cheapest restaurants in the book still cost us around $35.00 for a meal and a half.  The book also had “walking tours” that took you all over an area and included great places to have snacks or coffee or lunch along the way. 
Despite some of our difficulties it was a WONDERFUL trip and a once in a lifetime experience.

Getting ready for vacation, makes me really need a vacation…

Today I did a major about of laundry…scratch that this week I did a major amount of laundry, I hate having laundry in the basket when we leave for vacation.  I took a break for lunch and conversation with the ladies (so much to do, but I wasn’t going to pass up hanging out with the girls).   I also had to get the apartment ready for the mold people.  We were informed that the mold in our apartment was very common in China and not harmful to our health, however if we still wanted it cleaned it would be very messy.  I love the Chinese people, but they aren’t the neatest people and they don’t take care of things the way I do, so I figured if they think it would be messy I didn’t take it lightly.  We chose to have it cleaned because a) we are bringing a baby into this house…never mind the baby could be effected by it now since I am exposed to it.  b) I have never heard of black smelly mold that is OK for your health and c) it smells.  I took all the baby stuff out of the baby room and hid it safely in the guest room, I took pictures off the wall so they wouldn’t get damaged.  I (with the help of my husband) cleared out the kitchen so that I wouldn’t have to wash everything when we got back.

Packing for Japan meant I had to iron anything I washed and hung before it went into the suitcase.  It also meant a few trips to the grocery stores to pick up snacks that are easy to pack, that will help me survive and are going to travel well.

I was exhausted, and we didn’t get to bed until midnight and we had to get up early to get to the airport on time.

It’s All About The PLAN!

I just spent the entire day (from when I woke up to about 9:30 at night) working out the details of our trip to Japan.  I had already spent a lot of time doing research on plane ticket prices and hotels (which took a long time as well) in July.  For pretty much all the trips we have taken so far I have planned down to where we will eat…as structured as it is for vacation it makes the trip so much more relaxing and less stressful.  I usually plan too much so we can weed out the stuff we don’t feel like doing but we end up with more time to do extra things we see along the way.  I love that we don’t waste one second saying where should we eat…I don’t know where do you want to eat blah blah blah!  Since food is such an issue for me the last thing I want (or want to put Adam through) is being stuck somewhere where we can’t find somewhere to stop for a snack.  This pregnancy puts a whole new spin on everything because not only do we need to be near food, but I need to make sure we go to a Japanese restaurant where they serve cooked fish that isn’t exotic, plus some cool Japanese sushi and fresh fish for Adam to enjoy.  One of the mornings we will go to the fish market where they say you can stop off for sashimi and sushi rolls at booths on the street (this day I had to plan for a second lunch location so Adam could enjoy the very fresh sushi and I can eat something that won’t harm the baby). 

I read our travel book basically from cover to cover and did research on the internet to decide which cities we wanted to travel to.  We decided on Tokyo (of course) Kyoto and Osaka.  We arrive in Tokyo on Friday night and will take the Bullet train to Kyoto next Tuesday afternoon.  On Thursday we will take the train to Osaka and fly out of Osaka on Sunday morning. 

I am excited about everything but there is one thing in particular that I am really looking forward to (mainly because they could turn out to be the best thing ever or a total waste of money).  One of the things is sooooo expensive that I don’t even like to think about but is something that every website I looked at and our book mentioned was something you HAD to do in Japan.  We are staying in a Japanese Guest House (Ryokan)…we will basically sleep on a futon and sit on the floor but it should be really cool.  My only requirement for the Ryokans I looked at was that they had a bathroom on the floor (so glad I thought of that since I wasn’t even pregnant when I reserved this room)…we actually are staying in an updated guest house where they have bathrooms in your room.  It should be a real Japanese experience. 

This has been a tough job because I reserved the hotel months ago (without knowing anything about the areas…mainly looking at the price).  Usually I pick the cheaper hotel with good reviews and we have to spend a little extra on transportation to get to the tourist areas or the City center.  As it turns out our Tokyo hotel is right in the center of the metro system and equidistant from the three different areas we will visit on three different days, our Kyoto Ryokan is walking distance to some tourist things and our Osaka hotel is right in the center of the things I had planned for us.  This trip has also been difficult because I know nothing about Japan and I don’t know anyone who knows anything about the cities we are traveling to.  The difference between this trip and our trips to Thailand or Vietnam was we are going to a much bigger city with many more things to do and I have to plan for 10 days in three cities rather than some weekend relaxation time mixed with a few cultural sites. 

I’ll let you know how it turns out!!!

Vietnam

We had a wonderful trip (as always).  We spent 3 days in Hanoi where a tropical storm was supposed to come through (no wonder the plane tickets were so cheap) but decided not to!  It was crazy hot and humid (not worse than Huizhou, but we were outside all day long) but that is better than a tropical storm.  Anyway we spent each day doing a variety of activities, we saw the sights (Pagodas, Pottery Village, Silk Village, Presidential House, The Old Quarter, and The Hanoi Hilton) we shopped (I LOVE Asian markets, and a whole village with just silk and another with all pottery…of course we shopped!), and we ATE (Vietnamese food, Thai food, Western food…and MEXICAN…we used to try and eat places we don’t have at home if we were traveling when we lived in the states…well we don’t really have anything at home in Huizhou, so yes we are probably the only western tourists that go to Vietnam, Hong Kong or Thailand and choose a Mexican restaurant).  We even went to a puppet show, which is impossible to explain but it was basically a puppet show in a pool in a theater telling the history of Hanoi (I think…it was all in Vietnamese).

I didn’t believe it when I read it but the streets were crazier than in Huizhou the only difference being Vietnamese people slow down if there is a person in the road.  The coolest thing I learned is that Vietnam’s architecture and culture is really a hodge podge of French, Portugese, and a little from the USSR.  The row houses were really cool and were painted bright colors (but only on the front) and they were obviously not built with the next house in mind so all of the houses are different heights and different styles. 

The pottery village was really cool (I even made a pot…well painted a pot…think Mad Platter International).  Families have been working for many generations making pottery.  One thing I read said that the pottery village we went to has been around for a thousand years.  Supposedly some of the best clay comes from that area of Hanoi and is imported to Europe.  The silk village was equally as cool.  Families had their own silk work farms (some of the worms came from India and China but some were Vietnamese) and created the thread and used old fashioned looms to create fabric.  The looms had patterns that looked like songs on a player piano (you know…lots of holes that apparently mean something).  The silk made in Vietnam is a lot different than the silk made in china…they use a more raw version of the silk to create texture, some of the silk even felt like rough linen.

The “Hanoi Hilton” was by far the best stop on our trip.  It is actually a prison (for those of you that don’t know your Vietnam war history…like me) that American pilots nicknamed the “Hanoi Hilton” John McCain spent some of his POW days there.  They showed all the horrible things they did to the local people were I guess considered traders.  They locked them up they died of disease, they did slave work and had their heads chopped off.  Then we saw pictures of the AWESOME time Americans had as a prisoner there.  They had Christmas parties, played games, raised chickens for dinner, and were even given souvenirs on their way out.  The print and video in the prison talked about how the Imperialist Americans had destroyed their way of life which was apparently perfect before we intruded. 

The Intercontinental Hanoi...it cost like $60 a night including an awesome breakfast and VIP status

the pottery village

notice I am the only adult painting

Vietnamese people locked up at the Hanoi Hilton

The silk village

My Amateur Travel Agent Skills at Work

I have just finalized plans for 3 more trips.  Adam is unable to take off work until October with exception of one day in July.  Since the first 5 ½ months of living in Huizhou went by so quickly we decided to go ahead and put our trip list into action.  In July we are taking a trip to Hanoi, Veitnam for a long weekend (the flight is under 2 hours and I got an excellent deal).  In September (for my birthday) I am planning a trip to Hong Kong Disney World (it’s a VERY small version of the Florida park).  For October I have planned a trip that was on the top of our list when we found out we were moving to China.  We are going to Japan, 3 ½ days in Tokyo, 2 ½ Days in Koyto, and 2 ½ days in Osaka.  Due to my mad value finding skills we are under budget for each trip (we budget for the travel and hotel, then food and entertainment) and thanks to my travel books I have found great cheap restaurants with views.  Our Thailand trip was so successful (I planned what we were doing down to the restaurant) with no “what do you feel like eating…I don’t know what about you”.  I did the same thing for NY (at least planning what area we would find a restaurant).  So for our next trips I am planning everything.  I go in with the mindset that it is OK if we don’t do everything, but we have a plan if we need it. 

And our plan was so perfect...

Well in our original plan we were getting to Hong Kong on Sunday Night our time which would mean we could get back on our sleep schedule right away.  Adam was going to catch the van with the other Hong Kong employees on Monday morning and I was going to run some errands in Hong Kong then pick up our tailoring in Shenzhen, and explore in an effort to keep myself awake to totally get back on track.  Adam would get to work in time to present to the visitor to the Huizhou factory and be able to make it to the Grand Opening celebration on Monday night.  I would get back to our apartment and begin getting it ready for our stuff, I would be able to return Jodie’s stuff, un pack, do laundry, re organize cabinets and shelves, and be able to feel totally ready for whatever came at us!  Our shipment is coming on Thursday and we didn’t get home until Tuesday night (well 5:00 pm) where I fell asleep until 5:00 this morning .  Today is the dragon boat festival, a holiday in China where no one works, so Adam will get to work from home a bit and take it easy, hopefully and forget all the things that he has to do.  I will hopefully be able to get all the stuff done today so that I can be ready to unpack and take care of whatever “disaster” appears in the boxes.  In God’s plan we were able to see Amsterdam and have safe travels back home, Adam got to relax a bit more before jumping in with both feet, and I get an excuse to travel to Shenzhen next week.  Enough coulda, woulda shoulda…I have work to do!

AMSTERDAM…yeah we were surprised too

Well we decided to take the positive attitude approach of this situation…for me it was easy, I mean we get an extra trip on our already exciting unexpected trip.  I never in my wildest dreams figured we would get to go to Amsterdam during our stay in China.  We have a huge list of places that we want to see and Amsterdam didn’t make the “reasonable trip” list.  After spending some time doing research (thanks to our layover in Detroit) I found out that it is really easy to take the train from the airport to the “central” area (I used quotes because that is what the train stop is called I don’t know if it is actually the city center) where there are café’s and shops and museums.  For Adam the extra trip meant he missed a very important meeting and the Grand Opening ceremony of his new factory.  Thank goodness he is so easy going and loves adventure. 

We got off the plane got our boarding pass for the next plane (even though it was 9 hours later…I am already liking Amsterdam better then Detroit).  We put our carryon luggage in a locker and took the train into town.  We ate at a street café,

 we walked through town and took a bike taxi tour of the city.

  We (well me more than Adam) were getting tired and decided to head back to the airport about 3 hours before our flight.  We hung out in the business class lounge.  I know it sounds wonderful but to me the business class lounge takes away all the things I love about airports.  I mean it’s not as interesting to watch the people; there are no newsstands where you can read the latest Hollywood gossip for free and walk through the gadget shops playing with crazy gadgets you would never use.  Any way our time in Amsterdam was short but sweet.  PLUS WE GOT TO TRY OUT OUR NEW VIDEO CAMERA…VIDEO TO COME (we picked it up on our way to the airport in NC).

FREAKIN DETROIT!

We were lucky enough that the airline provided us with a hotel room and meal vouchers for our stay at in Detroit…or should I say in the Detroit airport.  This morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and watched news and TLC until check out time, when we took the shuttle to the airport.  We were relieves that we wouldn’t have to wait in line as it was 12:00 and our flight left in 9 hours.  The problem was the wonderful ladies at the desk (who have to deal with angry unsatisfied customers a lot) aren’t allowed to print out our boarding pass that early, which means we couldn’t get past security, which meant we sat in the baggage claim area next to a coffee counter until 3:50 (exactly 6 hours before our flight).  The Detroit airport has lots of great little news shops and wine stores and restaurants and bars and of course the wonderful lounge that business class passengers get to enjoy…all past security.  Adam talked to the travel agent and she found another flight that would take us to Chicago, then to LA, then to Taipei, then to Hong Kong and would get us there 4 hours earlier then our Amsterdam connection for a mere $3,000 a piece fee.  We opted out soooooooooooo looks like we are going to Amsterdam.   I have a huge problem with being patient and waiting (being patient with children and being patient in general are two totally different things) and I think I am already driving Adam crazy. 

NY…The Rest of the Story

I decided not to keep writing “and then, and then, and then” so here is the LIST of what we did for the rest of our trip.
SUNDAY:
               Went to the half price ticket booth where we only waited an hour (we got there a half hour before it opened).  On line we enjoyed our new favorite thing…Jamba Juice, for breakfast.  We bought tickets to see Promises Promises starring Sean Hayes (Will and Grace) and Kristen Chenowith (Pushing Daisies and made an appearance on GLEE).
               Had hot dogs from a vendor in front of one of the many Trump buildings.

               Walked central park
               Went through Central Park Zoo (which by the way is nothing like they portray on Madagascar)

               Saw our Matinee

               Ate dinner at Ray’s Pizza

               Walked 5^th Avenue (if anyone is an old movie fan like me I had the song from Easter Parade going through my head the WHOLE time)

Monday:

               Ate breakfast at a NY bagel place

              Took an elevator to the top of the Empire State

               Went to Macy’s

               Lunch at the Stage Deli (can’t beat the pickles…or the sandwiches)

               Took pictures at Rockefeller Center

               Took a tour of NBC studios

               Looked for Marylin Monroe’s subway grate (from 7 Year Itch)
               Walked through Bloomingdales
               Went to Crate and Barrel and the Container Store (I know it’s not really New Yorkie but it’s the container store!)
               Went to FAO Schwartz and played with toys!
               Dinner and Ice Cream at Serendipity (like the movie, and remember the Ice Cream scene of One Fine Day?)

               Back to the hotel to repack and rest

I do realize that it is totally sad that we went to bed early every night even though we are in our 20’s and in New York City…but we were worn out!

Our Unexpected Detour

We were cutting it close when we had to wait in line at the car rental return, and I was starting to freak out when the self check in didn’t work, then I started getting annoyed at the fact that all the Delta employees seemed to be moving at a snail’s pace when checking people in.  Our flight was scheduled to leave at 12:40 and at 12:05 we were at the end of a very long line.  We ended up telling someone our flight was leaving soon and they put us at the front of the line (yes we were those people that usually annoy me).  It took us 20 min to get through security, so we were ready to board.  Unfortunately the plane hadn’t arrived to the gate yet…so EVERYONE was waiting, but the good news was the plane had just landed.  Normally a small delay (5-10 min) wouldn’t be a huge deal, but our international connecting flight was scheduled to board 10 min before our flight was scheduled to arrive and our flight was scheduled to leave only 40 min after we arrived.  Then comes the worst part…bad weather somewhere between NC and Detroit.  We sat on the runway waiting for clearance for about 10 min, then they announced that they were waiting for a reroute to Chicago, we waited for another 20 min.  They finally came on and announced that we were in fact going to Detroit…this was at about 2:00.  We arrived in Detroit at 3:45 only 10 min after our flight to Hong Kong left. 

Our rescheduled flight is as follows…

Leave Detroit at 9:50 on June 13 (TOMORROW NIGHT), fly to AMSTERDAM!  After a 9 hour layover, fly to Hong Kong.  We will arrive in Hong Kong on Wednesday afternoon Hong Kong time (3:30 am Wednesday your time).  Which puts us at about 3 ½ days of travel time.  There are no other flights out of anywhere in the US (by Delta…because we can’t switch without buying a whole new ticket) that will get us there sooner.

Start spreadin' the news...

I’m leavin’ today…I want to be a part of it New York, New York.  These vagabond shoes, they’re longing to stray right through the very heart of it New York, New York!  I want to wake up in a city that doesn’t sleep, and find I’m king of the hill, top of the heap.
My little town blues, they are melting away, I’m gonna make a brand new start of it New York, New York. 
New York, New York!  I want to wake up in a city that never sleeps, and find I’m king of the hill, top of the list, head of the heap, king of the hill!  These little town blues are melting away, I want to make a brand new start of it New York, New York. 
And you bet baby, you know I’m gonna make it just about anywhere, come on, come through, NEW YORK!

And I Pity Any Girl Who Isn’t Me Tonight

West Side Story was AMAZING.  I already loved the movie and pretty much had the songs memorized but seeing it on stage was something that will probably not allow me to have the same appreciation for the movie.  In High School my mom brought me to London and I loved that trip…not because we saw West Minster Abbey or Kensington Palace (but trust me they are amazing) but because we went to the half price ticket booth every day and saw a show each night.  Adam doesn’t love the theater like I do and especially not musicals so he was great to allow me to choose West Side Story.  I just know I would be totally satisfied with our trip to NY if all we did was see shows.  I have seen shows in Charlotte and in London but this was my first Broadway show…and I am bringing home my first Playbill!

“You’re Lucky…There Are No Red Necks in NC!”

Well according to the street performer who entertained us while we waited to board the ferry to the Statue of Liberty.  He would ask people where they are from and then sing a song about them.

This morning we woke up at 7:00 and were WIDE AWAKE…which was great it allowed us to get an early start.  We had breakfast at Dunkin Doughnuts and took the subway to battery park where we got our ferry tickets and waited in line.

We spent about an hour at the Statue of Liberty

then spent about an hour at Ellis Island before heading back to Manhattan.  We walked to ground zero (they were doing a lot of road construction around the area so we didn’t get too close, then had a delicious lunch at a NY bakery.  We took a taxi to the half price ticket booth and got tickets to West Side Story.  The ticket booth we went to was right at the South Street Sea Port which is a very cool area to hang around…unfortunately we were crashing and I was getting cranky.

After a beer on the street we went back to the hotel to take a rest before dinner and the show.

…and I said “If you don’t like it here…go to McDonalds!”

After 26+ hours traveling and less than 2 hours of sleep we spent the evening close to the hotel in “Little Italy”.  Our hotel happened to be right next to China Town and Little Italy…we chose Italy.  We had an amazing Italian meal I ate the best Ravioli I have ever eaten (and that is my Italian restaurant staple…I am a creature of habit). 

Adam had a delicious chicken dish!  The title of this blog was what we overheard one restaurant manager telling another.  The streets were lined with restaurants and shops selling t-shirts about how amazing Italians are.  It was just like being in Italy…the smell of marinara, garlic and basil, the sound of Italians greeting one another, the Italian singer in our restaurant singing Beatles songs (OK so I know the Beatles aren’t Italian but when an Italian guy sings with Italian style background music…well it almost sounds Italian).  Top off the night with a cup of gelato and you almost forget that how sleepy you are…that is until your head hits the pillow.  

Can you beat seeing NY's bravest hanging out in Little Italy?

I LOVE Free Upgrades

When we checked into our hotel for the night in Hong Kong they had upgraded our room free (exactly what happened in Macau).  We aren’t elite members of any club and we aren’t Hotel brand loyal…it’s usually whatever is decent, cheap and near something.  Whatever I am not going to complain...keep ‘em comin’.
BTW this isn’t exactly an upgrade but we happened to be on the Inaugural Delta flight from Hong Kong to Detroit (it’s the first direct flight Delta made from Hong Kong to Detroit).  The announcement made said they bought the plane (it was BRAND new) for 200 million dollars and they paid cash for it…can you imagine?!?  All the flight attendants were obviously specially chosen (and old…meaning with the most seniority) and I feel like we had executives of Delta on the flight…we consider this an upgrade.  We have certificates and luggage tags to prove it.

Back from one trip and on to another

We are leaving for NY in a couple days…well tomorrow actually (we need to stay in Hong Kong overnight because we have a flight at 9:30 am (if we left Huizhou we would have to leave at 3:30 am and take the car and the train).  I need to pick up some things from Shenzhen and Hong Kong before we head back to the states so I am leaving Thursday morning and Adam will take the bus after work.  This trip still seems crazy and surreal…I know I am saying it is crazy and surreal to go to NY and NC when I live in China and just took a weekend trip to Macau.  I am totally over packing and bringing an extra suitcase with gifts (it was more expensive to send packages then the gifts inside cost…so I have been collecting Christmas/Wedding/Baby/Birthday gifts so I could carry them in a suitcase rather than pay to mail them).  The extra suitcase will come in handy to bring stuff back for my friends here and a few essentials that I can’t buy here (ie: poptarts).  I have completed our NY itinerary with some help from my mother (who is totally awesome and used to live there), much to Adam’s surprise I included all the tourist things (I have seen them…and I hate tourist things, but Adam has never been there).  I have even planned out what we have to eat while in NY (Hot Dogs from a vendor, NY pizza, and sandwiches from a NY deli).  We will hopefully see some of you…realistically we can’t see too many people in 4 days.  HERE IS THE RULE WE ARE NOT SAYING GOODBYE…WE DID THAT ALREADY AND DIDN’T EXPECT TO SEE ANYONE FOR 18 MONTHS…SO THE GOODBYE THAT HAPPENED IN FEBRUARY LASTS UNTIL AUGUST NEXT YEAR!

Celebratng My Man

Let me start at the end by saying we have decided to begin planning our next trip!  Yeah…it was that good.  We got to the hotel (I picked the cheaper hotel that was still nice but not attached to a huge casino…but close enough) where we learned that they upgraded our room for free.  I booked the room through the Chinese version of Orbitz (giving us an excellent deal) so the only reason I can think of that they upgraded us was because we were Americans.  Our first night we took it easy and went to one of the big casinos close by. 

After 3 hands of blackjack each and 2 hours on a slot machine we were down 380 Hong Kong Dollars (FYI: I budgeted for 1500 in entertainment gambling which is under $200 US).  Saturday I had tons of plans but we ended up spending the day at the casino…it’s really fun to watch people and to try a little luck yourself.   Last time Adam had luck at the roulette table while I stuck to losing money at the 2c slots (with the exchange rate it comes to like nothing in US).  This time we teamed up and conquered the house at roulette.  Well made a small dent in their large profits. 

When we walked away from each table we made a personal bet with no money on the line...after being up 2000 HKD Adam's personal bet was put everthing on 24...

This is adam's face after the marble landed on 24 with none of our money on it

Adam kept track of numbers and I was in charge of picking the combo’s and saying when to leave the table.  Now with Adam’s good number sense and my instinct and hate of wasting money we made a pretty good team.  We walked away from the first table up 500 HKD (after you count the money we started with and the money we lost the day before).  We went to another table and lost the 500 (mainly because we started getting aggressive).  After being back at 0 we went to the Hard Rock casino and saw a show (YAY FOR FREE SHOWS) and went back to the tables.  This is where we perfected our strategy and won 3525 HKD (after subtracting what we started with).  We started with 500 and played conservatively splitting chips among 4 numbers (4, 14, 24 and a number that hadn’t been played in a while…our 14 and 24 are our birthdays and 4 is our anniversary) once we collected a few times we would split between 2 and pick 1 number to put a chip on.  Once we collected from those we set aside what we started with and started playing more numbers that hadn’t been picked in a while.  Then when we were VERY safe we became more aggressive.  Since it was raining we went to ANOTHER casino after dinner at the Macau Tower (the highest place in the world to bungee jump from…or something like that) and went back to the roulette tables.  We were a lot more aggressive in the beginning and that was our downfall…we lost 1000 of our winnings.  In the end because of what we won we were able to pay for the hotel room and the ferry tickets, all our cab rides and 2 meals…so basically our weekend in Macau cost a trip to Starbucks, a lunch and a small dinner.  On Sunday we decided to do the sightseeing that I planned for the day before but it turned out that it was the same place we went the last time we were there…oh well it’s always nice to see something a second time.  We really didn’t do even half the stuff I planned but we had a good time and hardly knew it rained a lot.  We (control freak Lindsay and Adam who is better at everything then I am, plus with our competitive nature) really learned how to work as a team…I know it’s an odd thing to learn at a casino.  Adam had a great birthday and personally I am much happier giving him a trip rather than a present he doesn’t need.

Macau For Adam’s Birthday

Rather than gifts for birthdays or what not we go on small trips to create memories.  Being in China has put us close to many exciting short trip places.  This weekend we will go back to Macau.  The last time we were in Macau we barely spent 1 day there.  This time we will have a chance to do some sightseeing a little gambling and see the city at night.  Not to mention trying some local cuisine.

It takes moving to China for us to visit NY!

We have booked our hotel room and flight.  So it’s official we are taking a long/short trip back to the land of aisles of cereal, variety of people and food, stores and restaurants that take credit cards, high standards and great expectations.  While at home I plan on restocking our “American Food” pantry and bringing back some necessities for my friends here…baby formula is like GOLD.  Goal number 1 is to complete the paperwork for our resident’s visa and pick up our letter of invitation from the Chinese Government.  Goal number 2 see people we didn’t think we would see for another year or so (this time no good-byes...been there done that…only happy times).  Goal number 3 see as much of NY as we can (Adam hasn’t been before).  Goal number 4 FOOD!  That includes shopping in a proper grocery store and eating at non Chinese Chinese restaurants (I’m talking about the Chinese restaurants in China…not American Chinese food…we will defiantly stop off for some general sou’s chicken or maybe even some PF Changs). 

Here is our itinerary:  Leave Hong Kong at 9:15 Friday morning (our time) take a stop in Detroit and arrive in NY 5:30 EST.  Hang out in NY until Tuesday morning at 8:15 when we fly to Raleigh NC.  We leave Raleigh on Saturday at 12:30 and we will arrive back in Hong Kong at 7:00 pm our time.

The Thailand You Don't Hear About On The News

When we arrived at the Bangkok airport I was a little nervous and again trying to get transportation from the Phuket airport I kept expecting for people to screw us over or something…boy was I wrong!

This is just my overall opinion after just 4 days in Thailand but I have to say that Thai people are some of the nicest, most welcoming, joyful people I have met.  The people in the airport that work behind the counter will bend over backwards to help you, the people in the market will joke around with you while you haggle, the people that you see walking on the street are always smiling.  Either there is something to be said for the sunlight or they are genetically predisposed to happiness.  When we told our cooking school teacher we were living in China her comment was “no one there smiles I asked someone why they don’t smile and it’s because they don’t have a job or money”.  I didn’t see anywhere in Thailand where it looked like the local people had money but they are happy anyway.  Never mind that we were on vacation, but walking the streets of Phuket with the smiling Thai people made me very happy.