China Part Two

After arriving in Guilin we decided to bus/boat down the Li River to Yangshuo.  The ride was amazing!!  There were karst limestone towers were everywhere and it was stunning!




The Cat:




A fisherman on the river:


Dave and Mikelle:


We walked through some super cool old stone villages:


We ate lunch with a cute Chinese couple from the boat ride (which tasted a lot better than dim sum!) When we got to Yangshuo we found a $10 hotel and went to a night show created by Ang Lee, the man in charge of the 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremonies. It was very cool to watch!  The show was all in Chinese so we had no idea what it was actually about. :)




The next day we hiked a peak in the park for a nice view of Yangshuo:


Mikelle enjoying the view:


There was a fortune teller at the top and for $0.50 I got to pick my fortune.


Apparently this means good luck: (Actually, I think that's the only thing this guy could say in english, never mind which card I chose)


Dave made a friend named Michael who agreed to take us to the village where he grew up. We took a bus to a tiny village covered with rice fields and helped the locals sow rice!

 


Rice:


Sesame Seeds:


A farmer hard at work:


It was beautiful, everyone was reserved but welcoming, and they fed us a lunch of fresh peanuts, chestnuts, and an array of packaged snacks. We ate lunch with Michael's mother, and with him translating we were able to ask her about her life. Oh, and of course we drank tea.


Michael's mom:


Her kitchen:








Here's another local showing off his grandchild:


We ended up giving Michael some money to buy a "dictionary" that he claimed could only be bought in a different city." We're pretty sure it was a fib to get our money, but we didn't mind paying him after he spent his day giving us such an unforgettable tour.

Later that night we found a firework store! They're all legal, as long as you light them at the river. We lit a bunch of cool fireworks and then ended with the grand finale. We had an enormous roll of giant fire crackers- at least 6 feet long- and I was nominated to light them since I was holding the lighter. The "wick" was about a third of an inch long, and as I tried and tried to light it I was suddenly aware of explosions in my ears and firework material exploding against my face. Without even thinking I ran away screaming, worried about my ears (and new rip-off Northface jacket.) I got firework stuff everywhere! In my hair, my mouth, and I could hardly hear out of my right ear for being so close to the darn thing! After nearly blowing my face off, and when everyone else managed to stop laughing, we found the wick- 6 inches or so with 30 seconds of time to run away.
I'll post the video, it's pretty funny to see me scrambling away in a panic.

China Part One

Our big trip this year was to China! We started in Hong Kong and met up with Dave and Mikelle, some friends from home.

Utah was stunning when we left it:




Hong Kong is a massive city, with endless sky scrapers. The view at night from Victoria Peak:




We took a ferry to a little fishing village on a mile-wide island. We wanted to go fishing, so we approached some people with fishing boats at the pier...but how do American tourists communicate to Chinese commercial fishermen "take us fishing for fun, we don't want to keep any of the fish?" We thought we'd communicated well, but we ended up with a 2 hour boat ride with no fishing, breathing diesel fumes. Oh well. :)

Our Captain:


At one point during the boat ride our captain took out a plastic bag with a fish steak in it, put the fish on the roof of the boat, and tossed the bag right into the sea. It was the most exciting moment of the entire boat ride because we thought he was getting bait ready for fishing, but no, just putting piece of fish on the roof.

Some of the many boats docked:


Here is an apparently disliked political figure:


Some stuff for sale at the market:
I think these are sea horses.  They're also sold at the pharmacies apparently for medicine.


Blow fish skin:


Organs.  Thanks to my anatomy class, I could identify most of them and it was pretty strange because they were about human-sized.




I also had my first encounter on this trip with the squat toilet:


There were sometimes sitting toilets too:


When we got hungry, we decided to try "Dim Sum," a popular dish among the locals. I got chicken and rice, and after picking through it a bit I found several pieces of meat that didn't look like chicken. Eventually I found one with legs! I was pretty much done with my dim sum upon that discovery!


Dave inspecting his mystery meat meal:


Todd with a mouth full of dim sum:


We went straight to a McDonalds. French fries never tasted so good!


We ended up swimming in the South China Sea- there was garbage in the water, but it was still fun.  Sorry no photos of that.

Here's one incredibly tall building (there are a lot of these)


We made it back to our hotel in one piece. Here's the tiny bathroom where you can shower, brush your teeth, and use the toilet all at once:


After a few days in Hong Kong we took a hard sleeper train to Guilin on the mainland. It was a bit tight, but we didn't care- it was fun and comfortable once we laid down!


Mikelle snoozing:


Todd and Dave played the balloon popping game on Todd's I-phone with a toddler who nearly broke the screen slamming her finger into it.  It was pretty funny.  We met several Chinese travelers that knew english and Todd stayed up late talking with one of them. 


Todd with a person he met on the train


Todd's eye:

RAV4

We got a new (used) car! It's a 2006 Toyota Rav4 with 78k miles on it. And it is bright, bright red.

RAV4 means "Recreation Active Vehicle with 4 wheel drive."  That suits us perfectly!

My nephew Asher needed a good commuting car, and I sold him my Camry(which I loved) so he
 could drive to college.  Well, within a week the darn car was totaled! :(

My poor nephew!!!  Someone hit him hard and he cracked the windshield with
is head and wrapped his torso around the steering wheel. :(  :(  :(
 And he's the one who was ticketed. :(

But-- he is OK and I think a little excited since now he can use the insurance moneyto buy the car
of his dreams! No more cool college kid driving an old iris colored auntie's car named Butter Bunz.  :) 
I think he's looking for a truck.

Anyhow...

I LOVE the new car- it is an SUV but gets 27 mpg and it has optional third row seats that fold down.
 We could have 5 kids and be fine!  (Or 5 cats that can be safely seat belted in.)

This isn't actually our car, but I don't have a photo of it.  It looks exactly the same though.

I hope it lasts us 20 years!  Unless another niece or nephew needs a good car for a good deal, that is :)

...I'd like to document for my future self that we paid cash for this $14k car!  I am so proud of us.  That's a lot of stinkin' money. 

The P.E.

For the past four months Todd has been studying for the PE exam.  It is an eight hour hard core
crazy exam.  He has to take it to become a Professional Engineer, which can happen after working
 for four years as an Engineer In Training.  (He became an EIT upon passing the Fundamentals of
 Engineering exam- another eight hour test you can take before graduating from college.)

This test is very important in most engineers' careers, as it allows them to approve and supervise
projects like bridge or building construction, street maintenance projects, storm drain
construction, etc.  

However, I want my husband back!

I try to stay out of his way since he has serious eight to ten hour study sessions and practice
exams on a regular basis (seriously!)  But I'm running out of things I've wanted to do alone. 
Like blog about the PE exam :)

The test is a week from Saturday, and Todd won't be the only one overjoyed that he's put it
behind him!

Let's hope he passes and he doesn't have to

do this all over next year!

I just have to document that Todd is so SMART!!!  He just amazes me with his self discipline and
commitment to school, work, and everything else he does.  I feel so lucky to be married to him.

I sure love that man! :)

This is one of many study books.  It is a hair shy of
three inches thick and it weighs a ton!

Notice the clock.  8:18 pm.This is how we spend our romantic
Friday and Saturday nights.  And come to think of it we spend
most other nights like this too.

Here are most of his study materials.

My smart babe!