Final Holidy for 2012/13 School Year in TAIWAN

One of the good things about teaching in China is that we get alot of vacation time - which means time to explore somewhere in Asia.

The last holiday for this school year is coming at the end of this week.

Me and Alisa are going to Taipei city in Taiwan, leaving Friday June 7, after work, and returning 5 days later on Wednesday. Looking forward to time off work, a better climate, and eating at Western restaurants. Can't Wait!

Back To BC June 28

Me and Alisa bought our flight back to Vancouver. We leave China at 5:30PM Friday June 28 from Zhengzhou in Henan province. We get a connecting flight in Shanghai, then an overnight flight over the ocean to Vancouver. We arrive in Vancouver at 7:40pm Friday.

We are both looking forward to it so much. Livin abroad for 9 months has gone by very quickly, but sometimes when you're ready to return home it doesn't come quickly enough.

Caves, Mountain and Water - Scenes of Guilin April 2013

We took a night time cruise through the lakes of Guilin, seeing these nicely light up Pagodas along the way.

 The start of the cave descent.

Guilin is made of Karst formations, which is why there are so many strange hills/mountains popping up all over the place. As well, there are many enormous caves the Chinese have opened up to tourists. This caves were discovered by people looking for a hiding place during a Chinese war.  

 Of course we went to all the tourist attractions, like this rock that looks like a camel. The gray sky is pretty typical of anywhere you go in China.

Super lush green vegetation - so much nicer than the dry desert dirt where I'm living now.

Rooftop Photos

The Sun rises in the East. This is an early morning April Sunrise over my city, Kaifeng.
The tall building is a radio tower, not a revolving restuarant like
I first hoped when I moved here.



This is my building's complex. I never use the courtyard
but it's nice in theory. This photo is 5:30am, hence why the only
person you can see is the lone women on the right. The 3-wheeled bike
with the broom in the back is the 'Garbage Truck'. The women's job
is to clean-up in the complex and take out all the trash. It goes from the Green Bin, (Standing centre at bottom)
into the box on the back of her bike. Then she peddles it to a pile beside the complex where it gets dumped on a burn pile.
Garbage dumps don't exist here - Garbage gets burned everywhere. Definatly contributes to the city's horrible air quality.

Chickens that live on the roof of the apartment. I used to go up here and read every morning, then one day these 2 birds appeared . This city has 1 confirmed death from H7N9, yet they still allow chickens to live on the rooftop of one of the most expensive 'luxury' apartment complexes in the city.

Panaroma of Kaifeng, from my apartment roof. Facing East

Facing North. I am facing another building in the complex, so my apartment looks the same as this. I have 9th floor, corner unit, with windows facing North, East, and South. Lots of Sunlight!
 

Small garden beside my apartment where people are always working.

Regular Townhome in Kaifeng. Not much of a yard, mostly filled with piles of dirt, gravel, and garbage.

Yangshuo

April 2013 - Cruising down the Yangshuo River

Can you see the 7 horses hidden in the mountain? If you find all 7 Chinese people think you're lucky.

The River is really high and really dirty. In many spots water was spilling over the bank of the river.

Guilin, China

Kiwi Resort in Siquijor, Phillipines

Mangroves in the early morning sunlight

This Gecko is one of our friends. They eat the misquitos and bugs we don't want around the cabin. They're fun to watch, because they jump and prance around from place to place.