Beautiful but Cold

It's quite beautiful when the whole village is covered with a blanket of snow.This is the road to the school in Fung Chuan. The road is icy, on top of being very bumpy!

Visit to Chung Gi

We had to get up at 7:15AM for an early breakfast, so as to take Dominique to the school. He wanted to finish his work here fast so he could hurry back to Peking as soon as possible. Later, he decided to take the 11:45 AM bus back to Tai Yuen, where he could catch a train or plane to Peking. Christine hurried to get him some take-out lunch, while he waited impatiently, he was afraid to miss his bus. Unfortunately when we got to the bus station, we only saw large crowd waiting but no bus in sight. Due to the bad weather, all the buses were caught in traffic jams on the road. We had no choice but to hire a private car for $400.00 to send him off. All expenses for him was paid by the school, so all he cared was to get out of here quickily and safely.
Christine then decided that we should spend the afternoon going to Chung Gi, to fetch some ordered books that got lost and wandering around in the delivering process. Traffic came to a complete stand still when we got to the market place. The road was packed with people coming to watch a road-side opera show. We had to wait more than half a hour before we could squeeze through. Chung Gi is a bigger city than Sin Yuen. This is where all the government offices are located. It is quite modern and clean, comparatively speaking. After circling around, we finally found the place that we were looking for. It was behind the main street, at some back alley. Outside that ugly old messy office, all kinds of parcels and packages or boxes were lying around. The guy at the desk cared less. He kept asking the same questions - who ordered the books, what's the name again etc, etc. He flipped his order book slowly. After I did not know how long, he finally found the order sheet. I thought it might take them forever to hunt down our books in all that disorder mess. To my surprise, they did it. Ha! lucky for us.
Afer mission was accomplished, we decided to look for a department store. For one reason, we all need to go to the restroom real bad. We also want to buy a better electric heater for the two teachers. After relieving ourselves in their dark, dirty yukky bathroom, we passed by the television displays. Christine said the teachers had been asking her for a TV for quite some time, so we may as well take the opportunity to take a look at the prices. They were looking at the ones that cost around Two thousand dollars. I found a smaller good brand one for about $850.00, so I showed it to Christine. Guess what the teacher commented,"It is too small." I was quite upset at that comment, because I feel we should distinguished what we need from what we want, and that we should spend the donors' money wisely but not lavishly. Christine finally decided to buy the small one, which she intend to put in the guest room later on. Actually that was good decision, because later we found out we hardly had enough room to put the TV in our car. Well, we also did buy a better electric heater. So we headed back to the school happily. However, the weather was still quite chilly and both Christine and I were still suffering from our cold.

Cold, cold, cold,
It's 9 degree below, I was told.
Run, run, run,
Nose kept running was not much fun.
Puff, puff, puff,
We bought a lot of stuffs.
Turn, turn, turn,
A good night sleep is what I yawn.

Car trip to the School in Fung Chung

Before heading back to the school, first we had to go to the airport to pick up Dominique, who was coming to take measurements for furnishing the school library and computer room, the guest rooms as well as the dining hall. Our trip took us over 4 hours, traffic was slow because of the icy condition of the roads. When we arrived at Sin Yuen, we stopped for lunch at our hotel restaurant. Then we went on to Fung Chung where our school is located. It took us about 20 minute ride to get there. The scenery was beautiful. Everywhere, the fields and the houses all were covered with a blanket of snow. I took a few pictures while they showed Dominique around to look at the school. He decided to come back tommorow to take the measurements, because he was getting too tired.
Nothing exciting about dinner at the hotel restaurant, a dish of meat and a dish of vegetable, that was it!

Cold Day at Tai Yuen (Capital of Shan Xi)

We had our buffet breakfast at the hotel restaurant at 8:00 AM. Christine called Mr. Lee for car service to allow the chauffeur to have a day off. Mr. Lee and Christine get to know each other quite well. He came to pick us up at around 11:00AM. First we went to look at cars, because Christine plans to buy a school bus and a van for the school. Our next stop was to get some paint samples for the school floor. It was about time for lunch, so we asked Mr. Lee to take us to whatever restaurant he thinks that is good. We had two orders of Tin Ging dumplings, a dish of eggplants, a dish of fried pumpkins plus soup for everyone. The place wasn't that pleasing but the food was delicious. Everything included it only cost me $29.00 Chinese money, around US$3.00 only for the three of us. Can you imagine it?
After we satisfied our tummy, next we went to look for security guard uniforms, long coats and torch lights. Finally, we had Mr. Lee drive us to a wholesale place where we bought a lot of cleaning utensils. By this time, it was freezing cold, about 9 degree below, so we hurried back to the hotel for a nice warm dinner.

Off to Shan Xi !

I was grateful that Daniel could accompany me all the way to the Shum Chun Airport, which is the nearest one in China next to Hong Kong. From here on, I would be on my own. The flight was about 2 hours and 45 minutes. The snack was lousy, but I wasn't hungry, so it was all right. The first thing I had to do was to run to the nearest bathroom once I got off the plane. The line was long because one of the two toilets was not usable. Finally it was my turn to get in, only to find out there was no lock or any hook for me to hang up my heavy coat, and of course, there is no toilet either. It was quite a job to make sure my coat won't get soaked with urine. Going through the custom and getting my luggages were easy, since I spent so much time waiting in line for the bathroom, everyone already went ahead of me. I was relieved to see Christine and the chauffeur waiting for me outside. Temperature was rather cold, 3 degree below zero and it was snowing a little bit. The street was icy, but we did not have to walk far to go to the car. About half a hour later we arrived at the hotel. After we settled my luggages inside our room, we went down to the restaurant for our dinner. Guess what, we even had Peking duck because Christine said the chauffeur loves it. Oh, I forgot today was Thanksgiving Day, so Peking Duck was quite aprropriate for the occasion.

Running around with Kung Kung & Po Po

The one and half cup of coffee after dinner kept me awake the whole night. I got up at 3:00am to check e mail and wrote a little bit. Crawling back to bed around4:00pm, I still couldn't sleep at all. Oh, another unpleasant experience. My head was heavy when I got up to go to Ching Yee for dim sum with Kung Kung and Po Po. The purpose of this meeting was to get the advice of a lawyer relative about the aqusition problem. He made contact with his lawyer friend and took us to see him right away this afternoon. Attorny Lee suggested us to try to get old record of my grandma from the Immigration Office. However, in order to do that, first Kung Kung has to present evidence of his relation to Sin Yuk -his mother. So we went over to the Kowloon side right away to see if the government office at our old dwelling place still have record of our rent contract, hoping the information from this record will prove their relationship. The people at that office were not too helpful. It suddenly dawn on me that I might have a copy of that paper at home. We got hold of Amy and praise to the Lord, she found that paper for us and the fax copy we received was quite clear.

Concert at the City Hall

Today is Sunday. After church we had Shanghai Food for lunch. We went window shopping after lunch, and found a very nice dringking up with a straw. Even though it is quite expensive, we bough it for Nicole, hoping that she will like to use it and drink more liquid. At 4:00PM we headed to the city hall for the concert which Yolanda takes part. Then we had dinner at the restaurant there. The lamb chop I ordered was a little bit too raw. It gave me a little stomach-upset, and I also started feeling a little sick again with symtoms of the flu. Since there were too many of us to fit into one taxi-cab, Daniel decided to visit the night street market in Kowloon. More walking and running after him!! I wasn't too thrilled.

Visit to the Water Curtain Cave and Goodbye to Moo Yee Mt.

This morning's walk was much less streneous. It was not too long for us to get to the Water Curtain Cave. There is a hugh and tall mountain cliff hanging over the cave, when it rains the wind blows onto the rain creating a very beautiful water curtain. Unfortunately, there was a drought this year, so we cannot get to see any waterfall or water curtain. Otherwise, I am sure it would be a very pretty sight.

After the tour to the Water Curtain Cave, we headed back to the hotel for lunch and check out. There was a little time left before we had to go to the airport, so we took a leisure walk to the town center. With this, we wrapped up all the events for this school reunion. Upon arrival at the Hong Kong airport, everyone bid each other good-bye and went our separate way.

Our dreaded 800- steps mountainclimb

Around 30 people from our group chickened out, especially those who went for the hour-long foot message last night complained that their messager made their feet even more sore. So instead of climbing uphill by themselves, they hired coolies to carry them up. The long line of coolies carrying them in their wooden seats was quite a fabulous and unusaual sight. I wasn't too sure if I can make it to the top and once you started the climb there is no turning back. However, I thought it would be more fun to climb up myself and actually it looks quite risky to go downhill trusting the coolies. So Daniel and I took up the challenge and we did make it uphill almost to the very top. The scenery is absolutely breath-taking and the view was clear today because we took the climb in the afternoon instead. We were totally exhaused by the 3-1/2 hours mountain climbing, so after dinner we headed straight to bed and skipped the karaoke at night.

Pleasant boat-ride on the creek

When we got to the dinning room for our breakfast, we were utterly shocked to see the room was packed with another group of local Chinese tourists. They had consumed all the food, and used up all the bowls, spoons and chopsticks. It was total chaoas and unacceptabe. After they finally satisfied their stomach, waitress bought out more dishes and bowls for us, all still dripping with water! Food was scarse but all of us were excited about going to the boat ride though.

Each bamboo raft could carry six people. The local tourist guide asked us to arrange ourselves into groups of six. There was one classmate who weighed over 200 lbs. I guessed nobody wanted to seat with him and his wife fearing the raft might overturn because of his weight. So finally, the tourist-quide had to assign them to who else but us. Well, in spite of that we totally enjoyed the ride, the absolutely beautiful scenery and the magnificent mountains as well as the jokes the boatsman cracked up. On top of that, the sun was out and the temperature was just perfect.

Our first 500- step climb up to the top of the mountain

After a so so breakfast, we headed off to our first climb up one of the famous mountains here. Temperature was much colder than in Hong Kong. There were a total of over 500 steps by hill on a narrow steep path. We puffed and huffed, climbing up using both hand and feet. Unfortunately, after all the hard work of getting to the top, we could not see anything because it was too foggy. We were told this is only a warm-up exercise for us. The climb tomorrow would be much longer, at least 3-1/2 hours and much steeper. With groans and moans we went back to the hotel for our lunch.

In the afternoon, we visited a historical site where a famous philosopher used to live and teach there. We were allowed to browse around the garden and gift shops. This walk was much easier and enjoyable. Dinner was not so impressive. Everything tasted bland and tasteless. Most dishes are vegetables, preserved raddishes. The fish was very bony. hardly any other meat was offered. After dinner, quite a number of fellow tourists took a beeline for their hour-long foot messge. Daniel and I hurried back to our hotelroom to rest our soar feet.

Old school visit & flight to Moo Yee Shan

We started the morning with a visit to the old school. The Principals showed us the new facilities and future plans for the expansion of the school campus and branch into college levels. Lunch was held at a chinese restaurant near the school. During the luncheon, the money collected for the building-fund of the primary school and high school was presented to the two Principals. After lunch, Daniel rushed off to find his bank again, even though we were told there is none around the restaurant. I went with my new friend to the drugstore to get some medicine to fight mosquito. then we realize it was time for us to get back to the school to fetch out luggages, for the two buses had to leave the campus by 3:00pm - time for the kids to get off from the school. We ran back upstair for our bags which were the last ones left in the room. Everyone we ran into keep telling us to hurry up. Imaging me dragging the unlevel 3-legged suitcase, plus our travelling bag down the stairs. We thought the bus is waiting outside the school. After turning around the street corner and found no sight of the bus, we hurried to turn around only to find the school gate was locked and the buses were waiting inside. While we were yelling to get someone to open the gate for us, luckily we found Daniel coming back towards us. I was afraid we would have to leave without him. I was quite relieved to have him take one piece of our luggage for me. Guess what, he cared less for anything, left me with the two luggages and took off for the restroom. The 3 legged suitcase kept twisting around, making it very hard for me to drag them to the bus. One of his schoolmate came to my help and sent me straight up the bus. Oh, I felt so bad that we all had to wait for him. The bus sped off and headed for the airport the minute he climbed up.

We had to wait for quite a long time at the airport before it was time for boarding. the flight was about one hour. We were served with a simple snack. By the time we arrived at Moo Yee Shan, it was dark. The local tourist guide took us straight to the dining hall and distributed the hotel room keys to us after dinner. That concluded all the activity of this date.

Hong Kong Land Tour

Nothing exciting in the morning. First we visited a Chinese Temple. Then they took us to the Peak - the one place Wing Sang Suk loves to take us. The buffet lunch at the revolving restaurant was not bad. We were supposed to leave the restaurant at 2:00pm, but Daniel insisted to run off to his bank to cash some money in Chinese currency. We looked around the nearby area but we could not find any branch of that particular bank. We had to rush back to the bus because I did not want to hold up the whole group, all 75 of us. After that they took us to Stanley Bay. We browse around the shops and booths. Sure wish Amy could be here with us because she is the one who knows what is good to buy. That was the end of our one-day tour.

Next, they took us to the Travelling agent's office for a prep talk on our trip to Woo Yi Shan, China, telling us what travelling documents we need, what clothings and other necessary stuffs to bring and what kind of climate and temperature over there etc. At the end of the talk, they passed out to each one of us a handy travelling-bag. Just what Daniel needs to replace the ugly old one that he loves to drag around every time he travelled.

Dinner was held at a restaurant very close by the Travelling Agency. So we just walked over there. Wow, what a party. Quite a few old schoolmates who did not joined us on the last two tours showed up. Every one was excited greeting each other and chatting with old classmates 40 years after graduation. Everyone was busy taking pictures. It was so noisy beyond belief!! Daniel was not feeling too well after the cold day at sea. His voice was getting coarse. He did not join in the excitement much. What a pity!!!

ROUGH DAY AT CRUISE !!!

The school reunion started off with a day cruise. Unfortunately, the weather was unusally rough. Oh, what a journey! The boat was rocking left and right. In the beginning, all 75 of us were happily greeting and chatting with each other. Later, quite a few qot seasick and started throwing up. Finally, we had to cut short the trip at sea. We were really happy when we finally could get on shore for lunch. They decided to take a different course going back, so we could take the subway to cut down the time at sea going for our dinner at a small island. They also promised it would be rough for only 10 more minutes and the rest of the return cruise should be much smooth. However, it turned out weather was so bad it was just as tough on our way. Thanks to God even though I was beginning to feel quite sick, I managed not to throw up. Since we still have to take another boat in order to get to the place for our dinner, I told Daniel I rather go home and skip dinner. Again they promised, this trip shouldn't be as bad and long, so I tagged along. I tried to make friends and kept a conversation with them, so this boat-ride went much smoothier. Dinner was great with all kinds of seafood. It was worth all the suffering of this unforgetable day.

AUNT SOU CHUEN"S BIRTHDAY !

Today is Sunday. We attended church in the morning. Then we had our family lunch at Tai Woo Restaurant. After that, I went for a haircut. What an unpleasant experience. First, the hair dresser gave me a lecture on the hairstyle that I requested, because he said that this is so outdated. Then he commented how ugly is my hair coloring. To top it off, when we pay they asked for $8.00 over the price indicated outside the shop. Oh, how irritating and upsetting. It now makes me feel I must look much worse than before.
Well, we learned from Po Po that today is Aunt Sou Chuen's birthday, so we went to meet with them and took their whole family out for dinner.

Praise God for a safe flight.

What a big mess at the LA airport!!! Daniel was waiting for us at the arrival door at Eva Airline while we were looking for him at the Departure area instead. Thank God we could communicate to each other by cellular phones. I was shocked to see the long line of people outside the entrance to Eva airline. So I left Becky and Baby Nicole by the curbside to go in and check to see where we should line up for checking in. I was told all Eva passengers had to pass x-ray inspection first and that means we have to line up like all the other people outside the building. Well, Daniel finally found us. While he took a peep at the sleeping beauty, I hurried to the end of the line. After saying good-bye to Becky, Daddy went inside to check. He came back to get me out of the line and took me directly to the long line for checking-in. Then we found out we had to go to seperate lines - one for delux class and one for economy class, however, since I had to check in two pieces of luggages, we were told the luggages need to be inspected first. The line was long but we had no choice and we had plenty of time. We waited patiently for our turn. After passing inspection, a porter carried our luggages to the Eva Check-in area. We went ahead to the proper line. It did not take me too long to get my luggages checked in and get my boarding pass. As for Daniel, he had to wait for over half a hour. For the first time, I really appreciate the power of money. The delux line went so much faster and I saw two American girls passed a tip to one porter, so he let them go to the front of the delux class instead of waiting like every body else at the long line for the economy class.
Since I did not get the chance to allow Daddy to sit instead of me in the Delux section, my flight was comparatively comfortable. I enjoyed the food and the Chinese newspaper they provided. My neck was hurting me, so I couldn't sleep well, but I am thankful transit in Taiwan went smoothly and our friend picked us up at the Hong Kong airport with no problem. Praise the Lord, we finally got here safely.
The first thing we did was trying to get in touch with Kung Kung, Po Po. We were surprised to find them back in Hong Kong. We also got to talk to Christine on the phone to find out she is now in Shanxi. So what is left for us to do is to get me a ticket to go to meet her there.

Good Bye, my darling!

A month and half flew by,
it's time to say good-bye.
I am going on a jet plane,
don't know when I'll be back again.
So sleep well, eat well, my babe,
till I return to see you sweet face again.

Wonderful Visit to the Getty Museum

Hello everybody! Here we are at the grand Getty Museum!
Don't you love this beautiful fountain at the courtyard here at the Getty Museum?
We are on our way down to the Central Garden - just can't wait to see the beautiful landscaping.
Babbling brook on our way, what a heavenly tune they play!
After all this walking, it is time for napping. Welcome to the Princess' chamber!
Princess Nicole is ready for her bedtime story.
Looking for more stories!...
Peek-a-boo! I see you! Princess Nicole, it's time to go.

Fun Day at a Birthday Party

Today, I went with Nicole to the most extravagant child's birthday party I've ever been to! Nicole sure had a ball!
The party comes complete with party decorations, party hats, toys and games and prizes, a Dora pinata (look closely at the picture - you'll see it!), a big huge bouncer in the backyard, tons of food...all with a Dora the Explorer theme!
There was this beautiful and humungous birthday cake, specially decorated with Dora and her friends.
Look how happy Nicole looks when she got her goody bag at the end of the party!