Surviving in Hangzhou

I made it to Hangzhou.  The school isn't originally where I thought it was, turns out it's way outside of town in a rural area.  It was hell trying to find a taxi that knew how to get out to the school, but Lingli who picked me up was very sweet and helpful and we finally made it.

Things have been very hectic and communication isn't very good here, but we're slowly figuring things out.  I'm getting ready to teach my first class tomorrow.  Turns out I'll also be the "training" teacher for the other teachers since most of them are undergrads in other majors.  The other teachers are really nice so far, although much younger than me, and the Chinese teaching assistants have all been very friendly and eager.  Here are some pictures of my accommodations.  Don't worry, I managed to get a real pillow and bedding for the bed after a pretty hard first night of sleep.

Hangzhou New Oriental School

My dormitory

The dining hall (not air conditioned) :(

Classroom and teachers

My luxury bedding accommodations

Squat toilet in shower.

It's about as awesome as it sounds.

We had a great last day in Hong Kong.  We wrapped up with a trip to the botanical garden and zoo and went back through the Hong Kong Garden to visit the tea museum, although sadly I couldn't get any pictures of that.  At the zoo amongst the monkey cages we found the highly exotic raccoon, which the sign informed us hails from North America and is widely known as the "washing bear".  Just so you North Americaners know. 

Yesterday was a tough day since it was the last one with Nick for a while and the heat and humidity made it a little difficult on my skin, but I'm feeling better right now.  I said a tearful good-bye to Nick at security about two hours ago and tried to make myself feel better with some dim sum.  Free wi-fi at the airport will distract me until the flight, and then I hope once I get to Hangzhou I'll be too excited to remember that I miss my husband, friends, and family.  It's been a wonderful vacation so far and I'm happy for the adventure to continue.

Getting fueled for a long day

Breakfast Buffet Round 1

Breakfast Buffet Round 2

Inside the Botanical Garden

At the monkey cages.  This gibbon was holding

hands with the baby monkey.  Sniff.

A sweaty Miranda not in her natural habitat

Last picture of Hong Kong Garden

Ice Cream and A/C break at the mall

One of the local Hong Kong delicacies we didn't try

The Man Mo Temple

Women worshipping at the Temple, which was

 much less touristy than the Big Buddha.

They had incense coils hanging from the ceiling and it

was like being in a smoky sauna.

Delicious Korean BBQ for dinner

Nick got me back on the ferry one last time to see the night skyline.

The white building on the right is the Art Museum we went to on Wednesday.

Going to the airport. 

A little bit of rainbow to lift my mood.

Dim sum for breakfast by my lonesome.

We spent a second day in Kowloon (happily no ferry this time) and went to the Hong Kong History Museum, which was a really great museum.  The meteorologists have been threatening thunderstorms since we arrived and we finally got one this morning, but it didn't keep us from going out.  Got to buy my own Hong Kong umbrella.  Because of the rain we spent a lot of time inside today, including a lot of malls.  Hong Kong definitely has a ton of them.  We walked down Canton Street, which seemed like the equivalent of Rodeo Drive or Fifth Avenue, and then spent the evening wandering around the Temple Street Night Market.  Quite the dichotomy.  I'll join the million of other travel advice blogs out there and recommend anyone going to Hong Kong get the Octopus Card since they can be used for the subways, small shops, bakeries, etc, etc.  They are so convenient!

Thunderstorm outside our window

Starbucks for breakfast in the Queensway Plaza Mall

Seven Sisters Festival display at the Hong Kong History Museum

Giant Paper Mache gods

Bun Mountains!  People would climb them

apparently to get lucky buns.

Kowloon Park

They had flamingos, and warnings not to touch

 the flamingos because of potential avian flu... :(

Nick had beef and kimchi bowl for lunch

I had salmon sashimi bowl for lunch

Temple Street Night Market

Lots of vendors

Lots of street food

Food on a stick?

Yes please!

Went over to the Kowloon Peninsula today.  Another beautiful day, and we went through the Art Museum, which was free!  Wish I could have taken some pictures of all the beautiful artifacts.  We then wandered down the Star Avenue to see the Dragon Boat Races they were doing in the harbor.  What team was competing in the next race?  University of Portland.  They even won!  We also had dinner at the IFC Mall and then went back over to Kowloon to see the city lights of Hong Kong.  Can't believe we only have two more days left.

Breakfast at Starbucks.

I got a signature sandwich, which was a surprisingly delicious

combination of egg salad, basil tuna salad, and a california club.

Going to the ferry to get to Kowloon

My enthusiasm at being on a boat

Hong Kong in the day time

Calamari rings for a snack

Asian Star Walk.

One of the few actors we recognized.

Dragon Boat Carnival

University of Portland team!

I did not envy how hot and hard this race must have been.

The temperature and humidity outside was brutal.

Dinner!  Congee and rice vermicelli!

Hong Kong at night

Hong Kong at night

The street by our hotel.  Yes, that is a Circle K.

Today's adventures consisted of traveling over to Lantau Island to see the Big Buddha.  It was a very giant Buddha.  We also took a cable car over the beautiful part of the island to get there.  It was a gorgeous day.  This evening we met up with a few people a friend of Nick's knows and ended up having drinks over at a yacht club, which was very colonial and very British.  Got some great night pictures.

Some general observations about Hong Kong so far: On the street level you can never escape this soft beeping and then trilling that are the crosswalk alerts.  They are constant.  Also, subways are awesome.  I really wish America used them more.  And finally, the irritation we Americans have with cars going slow in the fast lane still applies here, just with people instead of cars.

As promised, first pictures of Fooooood!

Breakfast!

Afternoon tea break

Oregon is only a potato chip bag away...

Dim sum!!!!

Sooooo good

Chocolate Sticks and Strawberry Creamcheese Cake

Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car (kind of pricey)

Going to Lantau Island

People burning incense near the Big Buddha

Ready to climb to the Big Buddha

At the bottom of the Big Buddha

Hi!

The view from the Big Buddha

Lin Po Monastery

Circle of flags

Kowloon Peninsula at night

(From the Yacht Club)