Ok...this is weird..

I can update and edit my blog but I can't view it. Neither can Colette. China must be blocking all the blogs on this site!

Was it something I said?

I'll just have to make do with bodgy layouts in the future if this continues.

I still call the Australian Garden of the Shenyang Horticultural Exposition Hoooommmeeeeeeeeeeeeee.............

The 'Australian' garden had to be the biggest disappointment of the day... maybe even more than a day for Colette...

There was no barbeque... no Hills Hoist....

Only some bodgy 'kangaroo' rocking chair things, a fake wooden hut, some totem poles that could have from anywhere.... and 24 'Eucalyptus' trees which looked suspiciously Chinese...hmmm

Shenyang 2006 Dead Flower Exposition

Jerry had bought tickets for the Shenyang Horticultural Exposition and had been talking about taking us there since I arrived. He tried to take us to see it on a day when it was pouring with rain and didn't really try very hard after that because of the building works at the school.

Colette, Luz and I took ourselves off to see it when it had 2 weeks left to run.

So here are some pictures of us enjoying the dead flowers.






There were gardens built for all different regions and some other countries.

This is a wall in the Urumqi garden.




They had turned all of the fountains and water features off by the time we arrived. I really enjoyed this stream in the Nanjing Garden...





This is Luz in the hall of 100 flowers... I think it was the hall of 38 flowers by the time we arrived...




They did have some rather choice Engrish signs though...

The Chairman...

Every city supposedly has one of these in the centre of the city. If there's one in Tieling we haven't found it yet... Here is The Chairman in Shenyang...

Sheep Guts Soup....again

Ok so I really only ate it again to get pictures to post on my Blog...that's sufferring for your Art!











Oh and here's the two rude 'reporters' that Jerry had making a TV show about the school and it's foreign teachers. We still don't know if he paid them to make the show or if they approached him. The were very pushy and rude. Colette was the star of the show and I was her sidekick...Just like the Lone Ranger and Tonto...without the horse...

Colette mentioned she liked one of the local Tieling foods -not sheep guts soup but the little pie things that usually accompany it. So they took us along to this restaurant to eat them so they could film us. Then Sherry, Colette's assistant had to pay for our meal!

Holiday Shopping Tips

Tip number 1

Don't haggle with no pants on....

October Holidays - Day 8 - Terracotta Warriors

Hooray I saw them!








I got Antonia and Emma a set of two mini warriors from the gift shop and sent them back with Troy.

October Holidays - End of Day 6 and Day 7 - to Xian We go!

As it was also Julie's Birthday on the 5th we had saved our Beijing (Peking) Duck experience for that night and headed for one of the most famous Beijing Duck restaurants in the city. Quanjude Restaurant off Wangfujing Street.

We ordered one of the duck banquets and enjoyed duck livers, duck web (rubbery mustard coated things) as well as some mushrooms and asparagus.



When our duck arrived a chef wheeled a trolley to our table and carved the duck for us right there. The duck was delicious and definately something to try when you're in Beijing. Anywhere else it's just not Beijing Duck!

After dinner we all went back to the hotel. Julie, Colette and I had bought tickets to see some acrobatic show. It was interesting but nothing very exciting - no pictures allowed (unless you paid for them!)


The next morning we were up nice and early (yeah thanks Julie) for our flight to Xian.



When we checked into our hotel we went up to our rooms and found the staff putting clear contact all over the walls. We never did figure out what it was for!

The first night there we walked from the hotel to the Drum Tower in the centre of Xian. We tried without much luck to find somewhere to eat which had a menu we could work out wasn't full of people (damn the holiday again!). We eventually had to resort to eating at the hotel restaurant which was overpriced and the service was really bad.

October Holidays - Day 6 - The Summer Palace

If you squint you can almost imagine how lovely the Summer Palace must have been in it's heyday...

.....when it wasn't crowded with tourists....







.....when the shops along the canal only catered for the Imperial Family.....









...when the lake wasn't filled with paddle boats and and air wasn't filled with smog....







We only allowed ourselves about 4 hours to see the Summer Palace, I think we could have spent at least a whole day there as the place is huge!


There's always time for a boat boyfriend however...

October Holidays - Day 5 - The (un) Forbidden City

October Holiday - Day 4 - The Ming Tombs and The Great Wall

Because Julie was flying in late on the Monday night we had already booked a day tour to the Great Wall and Ming Tombs for all of us.







The Ming tombs were full of people (It is the depressing reality of only having holidays at the same time as the rest of China).





The wall was also packed with people.












Nonetheless it was still a great feeling to actually climb the wall. I think the tour took us to the steepest section of the whole wall! We climbed up the side of a mountain on uneven steps.






Colette is the fittest. She climbed further than all of us!

Holy shit...now I've seen the Great Wall what's next on my list of things to do before I die?

October Holiday - Beijing Day 3

We did a spot of shopping down a narrow alleyway.....










Then I had a dodgy rickshaw ride through the streets of Beijing (Colette and Troy wussed!).










We headed to The Temple of Heaven.








The Rickshaw dropped me off at the West Gate of the Park surrounding the Temple. The Taxi driver dropped Troy and Colette off at the North Gate. After about an hour we found each other. The whole place was yet again packed with people.





Troy and Colette picked up some posing tips from the locals...

October Holiday - Bejing Day 2....later that evening..

Here are some more pics of Tiananmen Square. It was Chinese National Day so the Square was packed with people. Is this what a million people looks like?


We got there in time to see the changing of the guard.

Troy was really impressed by the whole thing.

Here is a rare picture of Colette and I together. One of us is usually holding the camera!

Panda!

The main reason for going to the Beijing Zoo was to see a Panda. We got to see one frolic and leap in an outside enclosure. Colette got some great pictures:

October Holiday - Beijing Day 2

The next day we got up, got dressed (yeah thanks Colette) and went in search of breakfast...

We eventually ate in a very dingy looking place touting western breakfasts. The western menu wasn't very appealing (flied sausages anyone?) so we opted for chinese. Fried rice with egg and I orded a salted egg (which are quite nice at home). The waitress came out with a duck egg (ew) and when I finally got a chicken egg it wasn't salted. Oh well. Fried rice with egg and...an egg.

We then headed off to find a subway station. Troy was our designated subway ticket purchaser (since it was his idea) We got tickets to the station closest to the Beijing Zoo.

The subway ride proved to be a good opportunity to gather some more train boyfriends...







I should look more impressed since my subway boyfriend is obviously a subway toyboy.

Troy thought it was funny that Colette was photographing him as one of my train boyfriends...but HAHA...if you look to his right you will notice his train girlfriend is wearing the same outfit as him...awww...train couples dressing.