Huating Lake Qianzhuang Hotel Anqing

... to get down ON the 4th, so we felt very fortunate.

We were able to eat at our favourite restaurants before we headed on out. We also got to meet up with Kensie and Scott for a little while. Both certainly made it worthwhile and we did get to say goodbye to the down we had called home for a year.

This year 28 May is Dragon Boat Festival for the Chinese. This is a very special festival for many reasons. Last year they changed around the holidays a little and Dragon Boat Festival is now a national holiday, so it has become more popular to celebrate it again. The story behind it is about Qu Yuan. He was a loyal political advisor to ...

... and split pants. This kid is probably wearing three or four layers of clothes or more. Traditionally this can be done between National Day (1 October) to Labour Day (1 May). Many of our students ask if we are cold when it is 25 degrees (75 degrees) in April and we are wearing a t-shirt. We were also able to go over to a new friends', Erna and Dagwin, home for dinner. They own two birds and one was very...um...vocal and loved heads.

... Afterward we went to this large property where the owners have a restaurant. It is surrounded by orange trees and in one area, fish husks. They also have a stocked pond that they allow people to fish in and they are also renting out an area to film a movie on the history of the city. Then comes Sara's favorite, the graves! Very beautiful and relaxing.

Christmas was sure different this year. Christmas is a western holiday, that has little to no presence in China other than consumerism. Sure if you are in one of the big cities or in one of the areas that has hundreds of Westerners, the Chinese people understand that it is something that westerners do. But they don't understand why. They just know that Westerners have Christmas. We went to dinner Christmas Eve with John ...

They are continuing to build onto campus here at school. The interesting part is that they tend to do things a little different over here when it comes to construction. They LOVE cement and safety isn't terribly important. There is also no such things as unions, so the same people start at 7:30am and sometimes go until 9:00pm or a little later. Here are a few pictures and we will continue to post updates here :)

... along with representatives from the hotel. They are often given two stuffed animals from the hotel. This is given as a hope that a baby will come soon. The bride has either two or three dresses. A white one, red one (traditional Chinese), and a purple one. Our bride a red and white. Everyone eats and drinks and goes home. Pictures are usually taken a week or two before hand. Also gifts usually consist of money in a red envelope.

... time after leaving. A few minutes later on a four lanes road full of trucks and 2 wheels, 3 wheels and 4 wheels coming from everywhere, a lady and her daughter on an electrical scooter crosses the road and badaging we hit her! None of us was hurt except maybe the daughter! This was lucky as we did hit with quite some force, enough to brake off the thick protection bar on the sidecar, which while it ripped off made a dent on the engine. Then big drama ...

... tait seulement pour l'autoroute et nous ne sommes pas autorisé à prendre l'autoroute ! Nous sommes arrivés, et nous avons presque aussitôt commencé à travailler sur la moto en face de l'hôtel ! Nettoyage du carburateur, puis de nouveau ajustement de la roue avant et du frein avant ! Nous avons attiré beaucoup d'attention! Une petite fille chinoise, qui voulait pratiquer son anglais est restée avec nous jusque tard le soir ...

... Deng Xiao Peng og senest Jiang Xi Min. Bygnings projektet blev startet i 1992 og forventes færdigt i 2009. Vandstanden i De Tre Kløfter er indtilvidere steget 120m, når det er færdigt vil vandstanden være 176m over hvor den var før opfyldningen begyndte. Den første dag vi sejlede var der ikke så meget at se, bare flod og flot landskab. Forresten, vores "luksus" værelse havde air-con, men hvis besætningen syntes at der var koldt nok uden for blev de centralt slukket... Dag ...