admin

Glass Bridge adventure Qingyuan Gulong Canyon

I rented a car and driver on December 28th to take Becca, Ryan, and I to Qingyuan to walk out on the glass suspension bridge and glass pedestal platform at the Qingyuan Gulong Canyon, part of the China grand canyon. It is just past the furthest reaches of Guangzhou and took over an hour to get there. Seriously, Guangzhou is massive in size. The blue dot is where I live. Qingyuan is in the Northeast and Hong Kong is southwest. It takes 2 hours by train to get to Hong Kong.

This is something we really wanted to see. There are 8 glass bridges in China and there is another one at the opposite end of this canyon which is further up but much farther away to travel.

Once we bought tickets and another bubble waffle for Ryan, we were bussed up the hill.

The entrance to the park.

Bubble waffles.

From there we climbed up through the canyon to the base of the waterfall. Yes there is snow white and the seven dwarfs among many other western attractions.

We climbed further up to the glass suspension bridge that traverses the canyon.

Here is a video I took as we crossed the suspension bridge. There was a little sway as we crossed and we wore slippers to go across.

After the suspension bridge, we climbed a little further to get to the pedestal bridge being held by none other than a gorilla.

In a Santa hat!

Here is a video of the pedestal bridge.

Images at the end of the video.

And a picture of me with my phone against the glass. This is the last part of the last video.

On the climb down we took some family pictures. If you know my kids they are usually goofy.

More pictures walking back to the lobby of the resort.

On the way home we ate the dried fruit we bought the day before.

Liwan

Becca wanted to visit the Bruce Lee ancestral home (especially since the star walk and Bruce Lee statue was under construction in Hong Kong.)

We traveled to Shamian Island. It was an important port in guangzhou up through the Qing dynasty. It was given as a concession to the British and French after the opium wars which were fights over trade and governance. The term gunboat diplomacy was given to how the problem was handled with naval force. They dug a river on the northern side, creating an island.

From shamian we walked into Liwan to the Bruce Lee home.

As we were headed to Beijing Lu pedestrian area, we decided to walk through Shangxiajiu residential and commercial pedestrian streets.

The residential streets have so many stores and shops.

By the commercial market…

The commercial market had tents with dried fruits and vegetables and another for meats. Of course we bought a bag of assorted dried fruit.

From there we worked our way to a metro stop to go to Beijing lu and found the cultural park. There were small museums explaining the history of Liwan and Shamian and the significance of buildings known as the Thirteen Factories.

At Beijing lu, we walked around the insane number of stores and malls. It is overwhelming and a bit concerning with the level of consumerism.

I took Becca and Ryan to the rebuilt temple.

I was told there was a great vegetarian restaurant inside. When we arrived, they were performing prayer so we walked around and looked at the Buddha statue.

The food was great. All tofu and vegetables… On the left is dim sum. You turn the bun over to place the veggie filling inside. I want to know what it is made of… It is so delicious. On the right is fried seaweed.

Below is tofu (left) and sweet and sour vegetarian meat and dragon fruit.

After the metro ride back, they were tired. Might be an early night…

Hehe… In the elevator…

Sheung Wan street art

A great suggestion (thanks Daniel!) was to visit Sheung Wan in the north west part of Hong Kong island. We took an uber from Wan Chai to there. It was fun to wander around the streets with Ryan and Becca looking for the street art. Many little cafes, bakeries, and eateries. We also stumbled upon antiques. This is one of the coolest and most creative areas of Hong Kong. It is also the place I week most likely stay the next time I travel to Hong Kong.

Here are some of the great street art we found. I know we missed some as we arrive in and out the streets and alleys.

Haha… Hipster…

We found a great Cafe that was vegetarian with gluten free options. Better yet they are sustainable, compost, and are environmentally and socially conscious. Their burgers were great.

There were other noteworthy graffiti…

And the day is not complete without talking about the wild Street food.

Lobster balls

Cuttlefish

Botanical gardens and Hong Kong park

From central Hong Kong to Wan Chai, you can easily get from one place to the other through the botanical gardens and then Hong Kong park. Both were very beautiful and an unexpected way to get around. I was surprised to find that the gardens and zoo were free.

Lemurs

Birds

The monkeys were having quite a bit of fun.

The flowers were quite beautifully arranged through the areas.

On the way to Hong Kong park I saw an interesting religious site.

Hong Kong park seems to be a popular place for weddings.

Walking through Wan Chai we passed through Times Square. There is high end shops here and like other areas was decorated for Christmas.

The street in front of our guest house had Marvin the Martian props for people to enjoy.

We were glad to get such a large walk in (at least 10 miles or 16 km) and we saw the sun rise over Hong Kong! Soon we will checkout of the guest house and will be in the last part of our adventure before we take the train back to Guangzhou!

Victoria Peak

The morning of the 26th, Becca and I took an uber to the peak tram terminus. The peak tram takes people from the bottom of the peak in Central to the mall and observation deck at the terminus. From there you can walk further to the peak. I have been on the tram before. At the outsude of the terminus.

We walked the road to the botanical gardens. This area is like an oasis in a very busy city.

We took paths around the peak from the gardens.

We finally found the highest point we could go. There are towers in restricted areas in the highest points.

On the way down we found the governor’s walk which was our favorite. It was more like a first path.

Trees grow around walls.

We also saw lithe streams and falls.

It was a great way to see the sights of Hong Kong. We used maps to find our way down the rest of the way, eventually passing the start of the peak tram and ending through the botanical gardens and Hong Kong park. We realized we were not too far away from our guest house and we walked back. See the next posts for those images!

Hiking in Hong Kong

On the second day in Hong Kong (Christmas day), we checked out of our first guest house which was very convenient in location for the previous days activities, and headed towards the ferry to go across to Hong Kong Island from Kowloon. The hike we had planned are on the island and staying in a new place allows for us to explore a new area. I had met Daniel, an expat for 30 years in Hong Kong, at a cute little coffee shop and he showed the way to the ferry. Very informative about Hong Kong over the years and persoectives of global life. Good thing he pointed out Elvis, I might have missed that!

The ferry ride was short and we were only a short walk away from the next guest house.

https://youtu.be/j9x7QAnXI24

After charging phones, we took an uber to start the hike at dragon back. What on the map looked like the trail actually ended. We met others on the trail who had done the same thing. We decide to pick up a trail across the road (Hong Kong trail). It went down by the water and around a little village.

It eventually climbed back up (quite a good leg workout), and meet up with the Dragons Back trail. It was getting late in the afternoon and we were sure we would not finish the whole thing so we went up part of the way and made sure we were at a peak before coming back to the road as there was a bus stop there. Beautiful!

On the way back on the trail, we saw the other couple who eventually found the start of the Hong Kong trail just to the right of where we were. Oh well. We still saw some great sights and met wonderful people. This seems to be an expat place to be!

After the bus ride back, it was time to explore a bit more! The plan for the 26th is to hike Victoria Peak, the highest point on Hong Kong Island.

Christmas morning

Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone! I hope you are centenary with family or friends. So glad my kids are able to be here with me!

It may not be where you are but it is already Christmas here in Hong Kong.

We stared the day with a walk along the water. It is really quiet considering how chaotic it was last night.

I did not think about places closing here for Christmas. We found something to eat at 7 eleven until places open.

Peacefully chilling in the hotel room until places open.

This room is in a guest house. Very clean and no frills. 3 beds close together and a small bathroom with no defined shower space. You shower in the small open area in front of the toilet and sink. That is the end you hold to shower fixed up on the wall.

Funny. For one night it is fine and it was central to everything we wanted to see. Today we are planning to take the ferry across to the island and go to our next hotel. I actually like staying in unconventional places from time to time. Interesting way to meet people and see different things.

Christmas eve in Hong Kong

Becca and Ryan flew around the world to come to China to visit and I walked them around a few of my favorite spots on the 23rd.

We woke up early on the 24th in Guangzhou to make the train to Hong Kong.

This little girl Phoebe kept looking at us and walking by. She was so shy and wanted to talk. We started talking to her and I practiced my Chinese and she practiced her English. She was so cute. When I used a wrong word she would scratch her forehead and have the cutest look. I have her one of our granola bars which she promptly ate! I so need to practice my Chinese more but have learned some phrases and have enough to get by and cause confused looks!

In Hong Kong we dropped off our bags and went to find some food. We came back to check in and napped (at least I did.) We went for a walk to do some shopping. It is so commercial here. And, I’m not a big shopper.

Becca and Ryan surprised me with a cheesecake for my birthday. We went to Kowloon Park to eat it. Mango cheesecake! It was yummy. I can’t believe we ate the cheesecake for dinner.

More walking the streets and looking at Christmas lights.

On the way back to the hotel, they had so many singers and a parade. So many people everywhere. This place is insane.

One of the malls caught our attention with this:

Inside they had a ball pit for kids. This was taken on the second floor looking down.

We walked a lot and sampled some great dim sum. Ryan loves egg tarts. Becca loved all of the dim sum.

We bought bubble waffles and bubble tea.

A good birthday, a good night’s sleep and now it is Christmas! Off to hike Dragons Back mountain!

The end of the semester

Wow. That is over. One semester under my belt! When they say it takes a year to get used to international living and teaching IB they were not kidding. It did not help that I agreed to coach cross country. Actually the athletic director kept visiting (badgering) me until I relented. Never mind I had already agreed to student government co-advisor prior as well.

For the new teacher awards I received the “dive right in” award for taking things on right away. There is usually a rule that new teachers don’t coach but they were short on coaches. It was tough but I survived. Our awards were printed on paper plates! We had a great celebration dinner that night.

Above, my friends Nicole, Killian, and Steven. Below, Nicole and Siqin (Steven’s wife).

A Chinese alcohol with gold flecks in it.

Anyway, the start of the year is a blur as I barely figured out the day to day back then. 5 months in I feel I have hit my stride. There is still a lot to learn but things are a tad easier. I say that now right before my students start their IA (internal assessment which is a full research lab and paper.)

What has changed?

Things don’t seem so over whelming. I learned to settle in and stop fighting what was holding me back.
I know where to get my basic supplies. That is huge. When you are foreign and here for awhile you need to figure it out. I have not bought too much online either. If I can’t find it locally I decide what I can substitute instead.
I have learned a few useful phrases. Microsoft translator definitely helps. I am now taking a Chinese course. This is a tough language to learn.
I know how to get around on the metro. In fact I know how to get around above ground walking many places I need instead of the metro. For those who know me, I have no sense of direction!
I DON’T know yet how to get around by bus. How hard can that be? None of the stops are in English. You may know what bus number you need, but you may not know where you need to get off the bus. Still very difficult.
Many of the places we were at during orientation I have now found on my own. They seemed far away from each other but not so on the map. This city is HUGE and not sure I will actually see it all.
The frame of reference you use to understand biology is very different for other nationalities. In my last school, some kids had different experiences than others. That is still true here, but my American lens is different from theirs. Not better, just different. I have a lot to learn and for those who wondered why I left the states, IT IS FOR THAT REASON ALONE. I can be better by learning from others. (This next statement is political as I do not believe in American exceptionalism: We are part of a bigger world. Time to learn from it.)
I made a connection at an exercise class that led to joining the local Nike run club with another teacher. I seemed like an outsider a few times but everyone now is so welcoming. They come up to talk to us (those who know English that is.) I used that same exercise group to make connections for biking. Knowing Chinese Nationals outside of school is going to be helpful.
Grading mid terms takes a long time. 2/3 of my test is free response (that is about 53 points). It needs to be so to get them ready for their IB test. My stack of papers I graded. Grading is a pain. The kids have a lot of pressure with these tests.
Take time to try something new. I printed a 3D ornament using the 3D printers in the innovation lab. While I was there I also played with the VR headset. We have a human anatomy program. My classes will use it next year. Here are pics of a colleague using it. It is seriously cool as you can choose disease states of organs, slice through sections, and step into the center of the organs. As I play I’m going to look at screencasting and see if student teams can create tours.
3D heart:
Cats helped me by having something to come home to. I could just be carefree but like taking care of a critter.
Reflecting on where your are at now and possible plans for the future allows for many choices!!