Cambodia

Leisure Afternoon in Cambodia

Phenom Penh Hotel, Scandania

Bev in front of a great Espresso Shop

Carrying their lunch buckets

Outdoor market pics

Typical butcher is a women and they sit up next to the cutting block

Mangos for sale

I saw many wires like this!

Typical Money Exchange, not really needed for us as US $ are widely accepted and preferred

Typical Housing that can be seen everywhere out of the cities.
Some are open on the ground floor others have been closed in for additional living.

Lots of transportation options

Mopeds carry one to six from a family!

The people sitting side saddle are paying for a ride.

Roadside Gas Station

Going home after school

Over our break this last week we travel with four other couples to Cambodia. We stayed at a very fun boutique hotel for two days in Phnom Penh. Then we took a bus and traveled to Siem Reap, the location of the Angkor temples. Here are some pictures for you to get a feel for what it is like in Cambodia. All of us where quite impressed. Cambodia is in a major transitional time. Opening up for trourist and travel at the same time it has much work to rebuild the country and its infastructure. As an example the road to Siem Reap from Phnom Penh. So from the capital to the most important tourist attraction in the country a little over 200 km. took over 6 hours by bus. Well the road was paved most of the way but avoiding the potholes farm animals, bikes, motorbikes and other devices made for a very swervey ride. We opted to take the 45 min. plane ride back to Phnom Penh.

Severe Weather in China, Coldest in 50 Years!

Read the following link for Severe Winter Weather Info

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/01/28/china.weaterh/index.html

Guangzhou is the Province in China that we live in. It has been unseasonable cold here. The northern areas of the country are being hit the hardest with freezing rain and snow. We had to buy a heater for our apartment as it has no heat! We are staying warm, although Bev has no heat in her classroom and a large wall of windows. It is 2:00 pm and the outside temp is 46 degrees F. Many of you are thinking that would be a heat wave but here it is as cold as -10 would be there. People are trying to travel to their homes for the Chinese New Year which is Feb. 7th. Up to 2 million people are stranded due to a breakdown in the transportation systems. Trains, Planes and Buses have been halted due to the weather conditions.
Our school is doing a humanitarian effort by spending $1000 US to buy and distribute blankets, food, and warm clothing. They are purchasing the items today and will be distributing them to some of the 150,000 that are stranded in the Guangzhou train station. Pics will follow when I get them.

U.S. CONSULATE GENERAL

GUANGZHOU

American Citizen Services

Warden Message: Severe Winter Weather

U.S. citizens are advised that severe winter weather has affected Eastern, Central, and some areas of Southwest China. Snow and ice storms have caused widespread road and rail closures and many flights have been cancelled or delayed. Travelers are experiencing long delays and transportation of food and other supplies has been temporarily stopped. U.S. citizens are encouraged to monitor news and weather reports before traveling to or in China. Even areas of China outside of those receiving heavy snow are affected because of transportation disruptions during this busiest travel season of the year leading up to the celebration of the Lunar New Year next week.

New Bike for Tim!

My New Bike parked in our extra bedroom

The bike shop that I bought my bike from

I have been borrowing a bike and riding with a good friend of mine. We take off right after school and can get in a pretty good ride for about and hour to an hour and a half. It gets me out and allows one to see more of the area and life around Shekou. Even with the pollution issues I think the exercise is good. We do lots of walking but that doesn't get your heart rate up like riding a bike.

As you can imagine, especially if you know me, purchasing a bike was not a "go to the closest bike shop" or second hand bike shop, (lots of those around) and just get a bike. No, I had to drag this out to more than a three week process. (Rob and Sev are not surprised to hear this) That included discovering new bike shops, (not as easy as the yellow pages) taking trips to bike shops, many test drives. lots of discussions about frames etc. In the end I found a bike I really liked at a pretty fair price at a new bike shop that sells to the upscale bike enthusiast. Of course the frame size I wanted had to be ordered and then there is the discussion of the price and options etc. This was much more complex and took longer than my usual car purchase with the language complication thrown in just for fun and of course I involved a few friends to get the final purchase made.

I think I am going to like this bike. Now if I can keep it from being stolen for a while! Some of our staff have lost up to 4 bikes in a two year time frame!

http://www.cyclist.cn

SoHo Hong Kong

Sign in the Middle of SoHo district in Hong Kong

Tim's chosen Lunch Spot, gotta love Italian food!

The Lunch Group minus the celebrity.

Bev likes these plates

Chinese restaurant

Get your lantern and door good luck decorations before Chinese New Year in a couple of weeks!

These are all restaurants down the block that Fat Angelo's was on.

The Cafe De Paris looked very good, we will have to go back.

Tim, Bev and two other couples that are good friends traveled to the SoHo district of Hong Kong to have a great lunch and celebrate Tim's birthday this past Saturday. This is some information about the SoHo district. The restaurant and food choices down the two streets we walked were plentiful and fun. We ate at Fat Anthonys, pretty good Italian food.

This will probably bring back memories for Rob and be mouth watering for Sev. Many great choices to eat and not enough time.

Soho - which stands for "South of Hollywood Road" - is evolving rapidly, even by Hong Kong's standards. The area, perched on a hill above the Central business district, was once home to Hong Kong's traditional artisans, who made and sold everything from ceramic tableware to soy sauce.

It largely remained that way until the construction in 1993 of the world's longest outdoor escalator - which allowed the city's yuppies literally to "escalate" after work to hip bars and eateries set up by savvy entrepreneurs.

Today, Soho is a mixed area, with cheap Chinese street food and French bistros, elderly ladies selling oranges on fruit crates and chic art galleries.

Sihai (say Sue Hi) Park

Click on the title for a google map and another view.

This is a very large statue. I call it the Park Bull

Many people are in the park creating music or singing.

This Man is demonstating a glass cutting tool that he is then selling.

Acupuncture needles are all up and down her arm as she gets a treatment.

Very old bumper cars still provide fun for the kids.

There is a large pond covered in lily pads and there flowers.

On Sunday morning after our typical Honlu western breakfast (well sort of) Bev and I decided to go to the Sihai park and just walk around. The park could be very nice but this time of year it was in need of some sprucing up. We enjoyed seeing the people singing and playing there instruments. We spent about and hour or so in the park. This park is just a few bus stops away from our home.

Stanley Market in Hong Kong

Looking toward the Stanley Promedade

Your name in colorful Chinese characters

Bev enjoys the sun and view

The day after we got back from the States was a Thursday. We realized that we needed additional pages in our passports as they get 4 stamps every time we leave China even to go to Hong Kong. We made an appointment via the internet at the American Consulate in Hong Kong for Friday, as we would be able to go without missing a day of school. Since it only took part of a day we spend the rest of the time going across the island and visiting the Stanley Market which is on the opposite side of Hong Kong island. Very nice and fun day, thanks Bruce for the suggestion. In addition to the market there is a very nice boardwalk and a great Marine Museum. The ride along the winding narrow roads from the second level of the bus was quite an experience that had some folks hurrying to move down to the lower level.

These are the first pics from my new Nikon P5100 camera.