Animals!

staying in today given the no. 8 typhoon so figured might as well post some pics. animal related of course. ;)

Hong kong...

Arrived in hk yesterday afternoon after taking a sleeper bus from yangshou to guangzhou followed by a train into hk. Sleeper bus wasn't too bad despite warnings from charles and mike chan. Prob worse for erik given that he's a foot taller than me and I barely just fit into my little bed on the bus. No bathrooms on the bus though!

Was greeted by lou and her coffee minus her house keys though. Haha! We eventually found the keys in her other car. We then went out for a typical hk sunday day...brunch and shopping!! I do love hk shopping although prices are higher than I remember.

We then met up eugene and thuy and their friends at an asian fusion placed called sweet. Was yum! Lou plans to bring ann ming when she visits next week.

More pics from Africa....

tina has posted her pics from our african adventure. yipeeee!!!!

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/tina.hsiung/DubaiAfrica808#

Rock climbing

In yangshou which is a beautiful city. Cmc was here a few months ago so she hooked us up with some friends of hers at china climb.

We went up "wine bottle" for a half day climb. Was exhausting but thrilling as well. Our guides xiao an and liang really helped us up quite a bit. P and a took some videos. Am proud that me and p did all three of the climbs the guides set up for us.

After, we headed to lizard lounge (china climb headquarters) for a "bath party.". Good thing we wore suits cuz it really was a bath party. By the end of the night, not one person was dry. Was also fun being the person dumping the water ;)

Was pretty hungover this morning so a, p, and e headed to the mud caves on their own. Jack, cmc's friend, picked me up on his motorbike and we headed for another rock climb called baby frog. Climbed it with jack's help of course and then cooled off at a nearby river.

Resting now before heading out again tonight.

Shanghai

We arrived in shanghai via train. And typical of china, we got assigned seats which was good since we almost missed our train yet again. We have yet to figure out our train timing.

Neways, the heat in hangzhou got to me so as soon as we got to shanghai I put myself to bed while watching chinese tv. I think my chinese is improving as I am understanding more.

Feeling better this morning which is good as we are meeting a friend of my sister and one of mak's buddies.

Ni hao!

So am in chengdu now...in the sichuan province which is known for the spicy food. Spicy is not my thing, but oh the hsiung mao (pandas) were soooooooooooo very cuuuuuutttttteeee. We are heading to hangzhou next.

We started our china journey in beijing which was a great way to get acclimated to china. P and I stayed with charles who showed us aorund and taught us a few chinese words and took us to some amazing restaurants. We saw all the basics: Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace and the Great Wall. Am glad we took the road less taken (Jingshangling to Simitai) with the wall. We also celebrated Erik's 35th bday in which erik actually drank 35 drinks throughout the day. I don't think he felt too great the next day.

Our next stop took us to Xian by way of overnight train. We of course saw the Terracotta Warriors (ping mao yong) and even met the farmer who found the warrios back in 1974. We paid 20RMB for a postcard with his autograph.

Have been loving China so far and incredibly impressed with how modern the cities have been given horror stories I had been told. It is true, English is not really spoken so I have been brushing up on my Kindergarten level Chinese. Its gotten us by so far so I guess its good enough!

zi jian for now!

Packed-filled adventure in Livingstone

We are heading to capetown today via joberg. Hit our first snag with our RTW ticket cuz apparently my name disappeared from the manifest list. Am hoping this will sort itself out. (Post: tickets are all good!)

We have spent five adrenaline packed days in Livingstone and saying our zambia leg was awesome would be the understatement of the year.

1. White water rafting on the zambezi river - falling out of a class v rapid (no. 8) and cruising down the rapid sans raft was quite exhillerating. As I fell out, all I could think of was simba one of the guides saying, "you have a life jacket. You will pop back out from the rapid". Good thing I also grabbed on to alan and cruised down with him. Fell out a second time but with less dramatic as I grabbed the safety line.

2. Lion walk with mukuni big 5 safari - spent a morning walking with two lions (moshi and saka). As it was early morning, both were very playful and chased each other quite a bit. Was also able to pet them and walk quite close to them. Both were beautiful lions. Def walked away with an even greater appreciation for the lions even though I was already obsessed before.

3. Bungee, gorge swing, and zip line - We went on the freedom bridge between zambia and zimbabwe and jumped off the bridge overlooking the zambezi river and victoria falls. I had no intention of bungee jumping, but watching priscilla, alan, mike, and vas do it made me want to do it also. I'm glad I wasn't deterred after joel who looked quite blue from the jump. Of course, it was already lunch break for the bungee guys but they fit me in. I also didn't have any money with me so vas was kind enough to lend me the moola. Her payment was two position switches in the asshole card game. Good bargain in my opinion. bungee was way scarier than I even expected and not sure I was the fan of being upside down. The gorge swing was way better because after the five second freefall, you hang off the bridge and enjoy the scenery.

4. Swimming from Livingstone Island to the edge of victoria falls. We all agree that experience was the most unique and special of all our activities. Right at the top of victoria falls, there is a small pool called "devil's pool" where we all jumped in. We were literally one foot from the edge of waterfall. Quite unbeliveable!!

Our evenings were packed with a-hole and beer. I introduced trivia and plaw introduced the "wild 4". We also tried taboo and finger game. Nate, you will be sad to hear that no one has taken to the finger game. So sad. I am still an avid believer and will hope to convert some folks.