Don’t Burn The Day

A bit of a random destination, but I went along with it. Last weekend, the school offered staffers a mini-trip - an approximately 4-hour ride out of Shanghai to seaport-city, Ningbo (means, “Tranquil Waves”).

I was one of two foreign teachers who tagged along on this trip, so I relied on my fellow local colleagues in my (international) department (who speak English) to translate most of what was going on!

Friday, November 7

We hit the road, taking the World’s Longest Bridge route — the $1.54 billion dollar Hangzhou Bay Bridge, recently built to connect Shanghai to the industrial city of Ningbo — cutting the distance between them from about 400 km to just 80 km.  Too bad, it was dark and rainy, making it difficult to see anything!  And then on the way back to Shanghai on Sunday, I fell asleep mid-ride…so technically, I didn’t get to really experience the bridge… but! here’s what it supposedly looks like….

We then checked into our hotel, which was fabulous….and bed was magnificent!!! It reminded of how much I miss my 1000 thread count sheets and awesome comforters at home!  But seriously, this bed was amazingly comfortable! I wish I could’ve packed it up with my return to Shanghai.  (Generally, beds in China are hard, even though, fortunately mine isn’t too too bad here…I would’ve traded it in for this hotel bed.)  Soooo if ever in Ningbo, I do recommend the Haijui Wangfu Hotel. Plus, it is a brand new hotel, service is great and provides a hearty breakfast in the morning!

Saturday, November 8

We headed out to some rainforest/canyon/valley spot… Why so vague? …Because I cannot recall the name of it; I was told a few times in Mandarin, but of course that just went in one ear and out the other. (I know, so bad.. but ah well.)  It was drizzling rain that day, and typically that sets me in a not so chipper mood, however this day was an exception as since it made the valley experience that more enjoyable… adding to the “natural” ambience… The water was so beautifully (and surprisingly) green! Check the flicks!

“Raindrops keep falling on my head”……. Ahhhhhhhh! Refreshing!!…….

The colleagues….

This sign is for a reason…

And with signs like the following, you can’t blame me for tuning in enough for it to enter one ear and exit the other…

Then night time… I was pleasantly surprised with this little city and its’ metropolitan’ess and general cleanliness as well!  (Cleaner than Shanghai for sure! But then again, Shanghai’s 18 Million population is incomparable to a “small” city as Ningbo of 2 Million!)

Sunday, November 9

Off to Dongqian Lake!

Yup, that’s some sort’ve fish…

A satellite. Quite random if you ask me…but I was told, this was a prop that Hong Kong actor, Stephen Chow (Kung Fu Hustle, etc.) used while filming on this lake.

And Ningbo is known for its seafood…

. . don’t burn the day. .

Let’s get down to business.

I was reminded of why I chose to come over to this side of the world by way of an upcoming 4-week Winter Break! I’ve decided that I will spend this time conquering a good part of Southeast Asia…. and now, this is where YOU come into the picture, if you are so willing! ….(and I don’t see why not… you get to share travel experience with moi!!… Priceless!)

So……. COME JOIN ME!

We can meet up in one, or all of my stops!  For more info, direct your fingers to your email account and drop me a line… But here are the basics:

When: Mid January thru Early February

Where: Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia

What: More do you need to know?

. . don’t burn the day. .

I know, pretty odd combo for a title! … But!…..

This weekend was totally awesome in that…..

A) It kick-started Friday night with a lovely wine and tapas affair at Enoteca with a random bunch of expats from all over the globe, gathered together by an Obama supporter who I had met at the Obama Party….and ended at Barbarossa where I met another DJ (this time from Amsterdam) who knows his music!  It was refreshing to hear some Jamie Cullum (”Frontin’” cover), Brand New Heavies (”Sometimes”), Jamiroquai and the likes. Basically NO Souldja boy!!  I’m working on getting some flicks from this night…

B) I actually had time to catch up with folks stateside!  From Boston to New York to Detroit to Atlanta to Dallas to Los Angeles, record-breaking for one weekend (at least for me in the 4 months I’ve been abroad)!….. various voice/video chat programs were put to great use!! Love ya’ll…and MISS ya’ll! But I gotta share with the masses a great new addition to the “stay connected” methods… Introducing Gmail Video/Voice Chat!  This was just released earlier this week to my fellow Gmail users; I had my first of a few sessions over the weekend and it totally rocks!  Almost even better than Skype quality…. and Skype and iChat are both pretty good as is.

Here’s a snapshot of my first video chat with Gmail …. I got to see LES streets in action… the very streets I had stomped on oh so many times. Thanks Jeff for the snapshot tutorial!!

Hope to SEE more of ya’ll soon!

. . don’t burn the day. .

OK, sooo this comes better late than never…I’m only a month and some “CHANGE” late.. ha!

Here’s my Inner Mongolia post!

Disclaimer: PLEASE EXCUSE MY HOT-MESS’NESS!!! You would be found looking crazy too, if backpacking in similar conditions!!

And here’s a mini convo that I had with my Dean before leaving for the trip:

Dean: Mimi, do you know what you are getting yourself into?

Me: Yes.

Dean: You won’t be staying in a hotel.

Me: Yeah, I know.

Dean: You won’t even be staying in a motel!

Me: Yes, I know this.

Dean: Just take care of yourself, ok?

Me: I’ll be fine!

And guess what! I DID DO JUST FINE!!

OK, so now I’m giving ya’ll two options:

First, for the lazy ones, I’ve uploaded my flicks onto a slideshow for ya’ll to just sit back and enjoy with little caption commentaries to give ya’ll the overall gist of my 8-day adventure. However, I must warn… the slideshow has hundreds of photos (of scenery, food, adventures, etc.. but ALL worth the patience….especially the desert flicks 3/4th way thru!!), so I advise enjoying the reel when you have a good 30 mintues to devote your attention to me. LOL (And you can glance below for a few selects…)

Second, for the “I’ve got all the time in the world for Mimi” ones, to enhance your experience with my wonderful slideshow,  I’ve typed up a little more detail about the in/outs of the days, to guide you through…. here’s a little day-by-day breakdown:

Sunday, September 28

• Departed Shanghai and arrived in Hohhot at approximately 11AM.
• Checked into our hostel, Anda Guesthouse and chilled in Hohhot, visiting temples and discovering some good eats……. This temple had Tibetan flags….hmmm/weird…

Monday, September 29

• Hopped in a van for a 2.5 ride out to the grasslands where we would spend the next day and half.

Attempted cartwheel…

• After a few minutes of walking and exploring the grasslands, I was a bonafide master of  “The Squat.”  Squatting became ever-so important throughout this trip, especially in the grasslands and desert as since bathrooms were non-existent. Ya gotta just find yourself a rock, bush, tree etc. dropped the pantalones and get down with it.  Baby wipes and tissue were vital and we had all stocked up in preparation for the trip, so all was good. I know, I know it is T.M.I., but I gotta let the truth be known. Afterall, that is why you are reading this, right?!

i squat.

• For lunch, we were served dumplings, diced tomato and cucumber, coated with sprinkles of sugar (- a first for me).
• The fun began in the late afternoon when we got on for a 3-hour horse riding session! I was of course, initially uneasy about the whole thing ala “what if my horse goes crazy on me.” And I guess my hesitation got to the ears of the horse that was picked for me, because as soon as I hopped on, my horse decided to move away from the  rest of the bunch!  I was saying to myself, “Why?!! Why me??!!”  Trying to shout “Whoaa!! Stop!!” was NOT effective. I finally learned the commands of Go / Stop / Fast etc. in their local dialect, in addition to realizing that my horses’ issue was that all he wanted to do was to be in the front; that is, to lead the pack. Once we bonded and I understood this, ALL of the riding was FANTASTIC!  Many had said that I went crazy with my commands and control of my horse…but all in a good way of course. LOL. I was just having a grand ol’ time! I LOVED IT!!

First though, I am a ninja!!……

Meet my horse….I named him, “Rocky.”…along with his buds… The horses, themselves weren’t really all too tall; sort’ve stunted.

Here I am, assuming my position and leading the pack….  Well, Rocky and I….

• After our horse ride, we cleaned up and had ourselves a delicious chicken and potatoes meal.
• Night time’s highlight involved night-tag with our headlights/flashlights all about the grassland, fire made of cow dung…..and seeing a gazillion stars shining oh so brightly!! I can’t remember the last time being able to look up in the middle of the night and seeing so many!  Big Dipper and all…. I even saw shooting stars!

Tuesday, September 30

• Breakfast = Mongolian Bread/Dough thingy with beautiful sunrise!!

• Then back in the van to return to Hohhot where we checked out more of the city.
• Evening came and we hopped on an overnight sleeper bus to take us back to Yinchuan. It was my first time on a sleeper bus!  Not too bad of a ride as I slept most of the way…and it fit me just perfectly… I don’t know how tall people would deal, but that wasn’t my problem. LOL So this ride was stated to be 11 hours, but our crazy driver got us to our destination in about 9.5 hours.

Wednesday, October 1

• Since we arrived early at approximately 4AM in Yinchuan versus the predicted 6AM, we bundled ourselves up, backpacks on and trooped our way 3km to the bus station that would take us to our next destination of Zhongwei. Once arriving at the bus station, we were prompted to find some eats and fed our bellies with each a bowl of noodles at 5AM. I recall feeling a bit of a hot mess.
• 7:50AM – We hopped on the bus to head down to Zhongwei.
• Upon arrival, we hopped in a tuk tuk to take us to the downtown area where we would just scope out dwelling locales. (All quite a different experience for me because I’m usually, one to have all things pre-planned all the way through when traveling, but this “on the spotness” all worked out too.)



• After agreeing on a place to stay, we booked our 2-day camel trek through the Gobi Desert to take place the following day, then of course we grabbed some eats and checked out the city of Zhongwei… temples etc.

• For dinner, we ventured into the Night Market and got ourselves a good size plate of noodles for about 70 cents USD!

Thursday, October 2

• 9AM – We meet in the lobby and are taken for a little over an hour drive out towards the Gobi Desert. Again, I was a bit nervous at first, especially since I had heard that camels stank and really high and can run like maniacs if prompted to, to the point that there’s no chance in staying on, etc. etc. …. But all of this was nonsense. I LOVED THE CAMEL TREK!!  We rode for about 4 hours straight or so till we stopped for lunch break and decided to mess with sled on the incredible sand dunes. The desert itself was absolutely beautiful and clean. The weather was perfect in the day allowing us to not be too cold/uncomfortable. As a matter of fact, it got pretty hot; and despite the fact that I wrapped my face with a scarf for a good amount of the time, I managed to get a pretty good tan out of the day-trek.   Anyway, after our lunch break, we hopped on our camel friends and headed deeper into the sand. Don’t ask me towards what direction because I still have no clue.

• Our camels were very well-behaved for the most part. They are trained “babies” of our guide…..my camel was soo chill, I nicknamed him “Cool Moe C.” They were no fuss, just doing their job-camels and didn’t smell at all! I’m so glad that I had prepared for the worst, to only be pleasantly surprised!
• As evening approached, our camel guide staked out a spot that he thought was good for us to rest in for the night; We then, unloaded our camels, went off to gather wood and branches for our fire, brought it back to headquarters, pitched our tents and had a very impressive rice, chicken, veggies dinner that our camels were holding for us. The camels were dope!  They had all of blankets, food, equipment and all. Just awesome.

• After a good pile of wood was gathered, tents pitched and bellies full….. I roamed some more to find nearby life (another group of trekkers on the other side of our dune — visiting from the UK) and made use of the sled some more. Our herder saw me talking talking to strangers so quickly yelled for me to return to base. HA!  But it was starting to get dark anyway and he was doing his job to make sure I wasn’t about to get lost nor get into any trouble…so he was forgiven.

I love the next couple of flicks…. The camel eventually got too close…

I’ve said it before…. I love sunsets!!……..

• After sunset, we put on more layers and gathered around our campfire. Our guide whipped out some beers and a bottle of potent baijo (sp?!) and had us all playing rounds of paper-rock-scissors / losers drink a shot of baijo! This got us all warmed up REAL quick! But again….. the shield of stars above were spectacular! I saw more shooting stars

Friday, October 3

• We woke and found a nice little breakfast awaiting us. Our guide had started up a mini fire to boil water for us to make coffee/tea and sliced bread over the fire to make toast with jam!  Shortly after, we got on our camels and rode out of the desert for a drive back to the hotel, shower etc.

• After grabbing quick eats, we hopped into the van again approx. 1:30pm to our “village tour,” “Waterwheel” viewing and rafting in Yellow River excursion. This would’ve been all nice and dandy had temps not dropped with drizzling rain!! But we made due anyway…even seeing a piece of left-over Great Wall (though I found rather uneventful especially in the cold wind and rainy conditions.)  There was a little light at the end of the tunnel though… as we drove back to the hotel, we drove through a full arch’ed rainbow!!! I’ve never in my life seen such a thing, so this was super splendid! Then, I got my wish to just lay in bed for the rest of the evening….

The rafts were made of shaven goat!!

Saturday, October 4

• 9:11AM - We bussed our way Zhongwei back to Yinchuan, arriving at 11:45AM.
• Got ourselves checked in, grabbed some lunch and cabbed our way out to Western Xia Tombs.

• Thennnnnnnnn, rewarded ourselves with a 60rmb (less than $10usd) massage for 100min, an 8rmb (just over $1usd) dinner and called it a night and trip!!   We were out the next morning… back to the ‘Hai life! And similar to the feeling I get when I am returning to NYC from Boston… the Shanghai skyline (as does the Manhattan skyline) totally made me feel happy to be back in city life!!

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooo there ya have it!  Enjoy the flick reel!! I worked really hard on this post, dammit!!

. . don’t burn the day. .

Some time in mid/late September, we had our very first field trip… to the Insect Museum…

Find Ms. Mimi!….

. . don’t burn the day. .

…my trip to Inner Mongolia!

Though I can’t really type much nor do I have pics loaded/ready to share… I did want to touch base with all as since I made it out alive with no bruises, scratches or bug bites!… but I did somehow achieve a bit of a tan from the grassland and desert days.

Real quick though - the trip was quite an awesome experience! I can say that I love horse riding!  Yeah, it did hurt a bit, but I was having way too much fun to really notice; folks were shocked that I was a rookie… I was told that I was riding like a pro — chinese commands and all!

But the highlight I would say would be the 2-day camel trek through the Gobi Desert. Friggin amazing and beautiful!! I can’t wait to share the photos!

Oh, also did a bit of rafting in the Yellow River as well… but cold, rainy weather put a damper on that experience… not all bad though…

Ok, until next time .. when I actually have time.. pics will be up!!

Thanks for the prayers to those who kept me in their thoughts!

. . don’t burn the day. .

While I still have plenty of other things to fill ya’ll in on, I’ll have to get around to it, when I have the time to write and load and stuff…

Nevertheless, please be forewarned that I will be out of contact during the first week of October (this coming week) due to National Week aka Golden Week here. (October 1st is designated National Day in the PRC… celebrated in similar fashion as the US’ 4th of July… but not really…  hmph.)

However, whatever — it basically means I get one week off from teaching, and I’ve decided to tag along on a REAL BACKPACKING excursion with a few experienced colleagues.

DESTINATION:  INNER MONGOLIA

ITINERARY: I don’t know details, but supposedly involving 3 days of desert and camel riding; 2 days of grasslands and possible horses; sleeping in yurchts aka huts; trekking of some sort. I was also told as a response to my “Where do we shower?” question, “Ummmm with a bucket….. if you’re lucky.” BOY OH BOY!!!

WHY? you may ask.

Answer: I really have no idea; it’s not as if I came here and Inner Mongolia was on my top picks to visit. It basically came down to: in the midst of the whirlwind activities with the new school year and National Week fast approaching, I did not have time to think things through nor to PLAN out anything. And as a result, I signed my name on the dotted line for an out-of-the-ordinary experience for this city gal.

Overall, it is pretty amusing as it seems that everyone in the group (there will be 5 of us in total), seem to have this concern for “how Mimi will survive” this trip. To be quite honest, I am worried too! (Well, sorta.) For one thing, this Manhattan chic has NEVER been the first to raise her hand for a ride on an animal as a means of transportation, especially if there’s been such great invention such as the 4-wheeler. And the list could go on……

But!  This will most definitely be a personal challenge for me: To withstand being away from all the modern luxuries for one entire week….. could perhaps be somewhat liberating….. just me and my camel on a desert (and well, with four other travelers of course.. but still…).

As my friend Anthony recently encouraged me,

That sounds like an amazing trip honestly. I am all about pushing myself to do things I never thought I would do…. I want to be able to look back at my life and say, ‘Wow…. I really did that?!’

Ant, you’ll dig your Peru trip, I promise!!

Anyhoots, so yeah, that’s where I’ll be for the next week. Wish me luck; Keep me in your prayers for this one!

I wonder if I’ll get a one or two-hump… Hmmmmmmm…

. . don’t burn the day. .

Word travels fast. I received news today from nephew, that one of our former teachers, Mr. Cook (taught Health Class in junior high school) reached his dream of 33 years just a few days ago…… via reaching the top of The Appalachian trail. Back in my youngun’ days, I recall Mr. Cook being a tad different from all the rest; A random memory: I do recall a poster-sized picture of him skiiing on some snow-filled mountain, hung on the wall of the classroom, with some story of his (which is a little blurry to me right now). But regardless, he was a man full of intensity, and year after year, talked endlessly of how he took up running (marathons especially) as a result of the early-age passing of his father, and of course, the importance of maintaining good health, andddd the big one:  some time in the mid 70’s he met a man who had hiked the Appalachians…. and since then, became a major goal in life for the Cook-man.

I am happy to announce that my Mr. Cook truly stood by his words of inspiration and encouragement back in my school days. “I hope the kids I taught will see I am following through on my dream,” Cook said in the local paper.

Here’s are some words from Cook aka “Old Buzzard” himself, upon reaching his dream!

Three different people were planning to hike Mt. K with me this day. I said no. There would be too many emotions in me this day. Mt. K is the greatest vertical of the whole trail. There is a very steep and dangerous mile or more in this climb. I tried not to think about my fall on Labor Day during this time, but it kept haunting me. One step at a time. Just concentrate on one step nice and easy as she goes. The trail eventually leveled off and then rose gently again. I saw a sign that I was but a mere 1 mile from the summit. I was alone and my mind started going over the past 33 years of my life from the time I met Hiram in 1975 to this moment. My pace slowed. I did not want the 33 years that changed my whole life to a positive vein to come to a close. I missed my family, my wife was waiting, my friends, life. I can come here again. I can go out my back door in Maine and hike the most beautiful parts of this glorious wonderful trail again whenever I want. I thanked God for keeping the Old Buzzard healthy and giving me this chance that so many never have. I looked around to see if I was alone–I busted into tears and I laughed at the same moment. I was the happiest man on earth. I am one lucky person. I touched the sign. 2176.2 miles!!

Wanna read more?! By all means, check his blog here.

I think it is appropriate for me to say to all reading this right now:

But rushing around seems what’s wrong with the world,

Don’t lose the dreams inside your head,

They’ll only be there til’ you’re dead.

Dream little darling,

DREAM!

- djm

Thank you Mr. Cook, for encouraging your students to stay on the right path and to never lose sight of our dreams; Gotta chase ‘em down!

. . don’t burn the day. .

Lonely Planet China says it best:

If Hong Kong was a person, she’d be a difficult woman to understand. She’d be constantly changing, without losing touch with her heritage. She’d be superstitious, but scientific when she wanted to be. She’d love dim sum, and pizza too. She’d be exotic, but familiar; sexy, but never easy; a gambler, but she’d always know the odds. She’d be immaculately dressed, but she’d know how to let her hair down. She’d be all of this, a contradiction and a conundrum, but more than anything, she’d be a lot of fun to be around.

Can I get an Amen?? AMEN!!! Hong Kong spoke to me in volumes! - figuratively (as above) and literally, as since I was able to understand and put my Cantonese to the test!… I believe I passed! Oh how wonderful it was to be placed in public and actually COMPREHEND what the hell was going on around me and/or what was asked of me!

About Hong Kong:

• Along with Macau, Hong Kong is one of two special administrative regions of the People’s Republic of China. Hong Kong was a dependent territory of the United Kingdom from 1842 until the transfer of its sovereignty to the People’s Republic of China in 1997. The Sino-British Joint Declaration and Basic Law of Hong Kong stipulate that Hong Kong operate with a high degree of autonomy until 2047, fifty years after the transfer. Under the “one country, two systems” policy, the Chinese government is responsible for the territory’s defense and foreign affairs, while Hong Kong maintains its own legal system, police force, monetary system, customs policy, immigration policy and delegates to international organizations and events.

With that preface, Hong Kong was simply fabulous to me!! It was totally awesome to enter a territory in which streets were impeccably clean (automatic fines of 1500HKD/ $200USD are handed out for littering, spitting etc.), people were very much courteous, (please and thank you’s were frequently heard and folks were actually willing to lend a helping hand), civilized (none of that pushing and shoving business that happens in the mainland), plenty more speakers of English if needed if ever Cantonese proved to be an issue (but not for me, thank goodness I grew up in a household that enforced the importance of picking up the language). The pinyin itself in Hong Kong was much more efficient and followed Western sounds vs. Mandarin pinyin where letters are trickedified, ie. “q” makes the “ch” sound — No wonder mainland Chinglish is a level below Hong Kong Chinglish. In fact, as a result of the Brits footprints in HK, some natives there speak with British accents! But enough about that… I can honestly go on and on but will save it for some live talk if you’re interested in finding out more, you know where to find me; for now, I’ll cut to the chase and show a fraction of some flicks I took in my travels.

First off, I dim summed everyday! Love it! Love it! (Back in NY, my friends Joy, Jeff, Edric and Kristin would always invite me to dim sum excursions so that I can order for them…. guys– we gotta do it up in HK!!) So here are food shots… Mmmmmmmmmmm I miss it already!

Now, for some lovely sights of HK:

They drive on the right side!

Off the pleasant shores of Kowloon:

Hong Kong Dollars:

CLEAN streets!

Rode the tram to Victoria Peak for a splendid view of all of Hong Kong!

I love sunsets:

To be continued with Macau, Zhongshan and Shenzen … shrug…

. . don’t burn the day. .

I’m on the move!

Soo before even coming to Shanghai, I had planned on hitting up Hong Kong during my holiday before the commencement of the new school year. But of course with a few hiccups of visa-waiting (school had to apply for my foreign expert visa and residence permit) and toe mishaps, I’ve been kept hostage - hence, I was left to just explore and wild out in the ‘Hai. (I was accused of “hob knobbing” today by my stateside friend, Alison… and you know what, I can’t blame her. I stand contently guilty. LOL) Anyhoots, all this doesn’t matter, because I purchased a roundtrip flight today, that would put me on a plane tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow! I’m feeling a bit adventurously spontaneous, despite the fact that the prospect of this trip has been looming over my head forever-long now. But still, I did it. I pulled the trigger. All this out n’ about-ing has been fun for sure, but with my crew slowly dissipating by the day. (Lisa is back in the States at the moment, E returned to Austria this past weekend, Cubes will head back to Germany this coming weekend, Max will too head back to Germany at the end of the month, and R is Thailand-bound this weekend on business.) I figure, it’s about my time! (Plus, my toes are OK per the doc.) And really, the ‘Hai is sorting getting to me because I now feel comfortable enough here, that I’m ready to capitalize on “free time” before I hit the lesson plans and such.

Soooooo, after getting quotes from a good handful of travel agents, I booked at approximately 4PM. But get this, agents here SEND COURIERS OUT to HAN