A Glimpse of Hong Kong

I've recently caught a glimpse of Hong Kong and my only regret is that Daniel and I couldn't stay longer. We didn't see much of Hong Kong but we saw enough to realize that it is absolutely beautiful. Let me recount our (too) short stay in the gorgeous city.

Our Hostel Experience
Once Daniel and I boarded the plane to Hong Kong late Wednesday night, things went pretty smoothly. The plane ride was only three hours-most of which we slept through, given the craziness of the day. Once we landed, I used the airport's public phones to call a hostel (Rainbow Lodge) that our friend had recommended to us. The woman on the phone was very helpful and told us exactly how to get there.

It took about an hour on bus 21A (which left directly from the airport) but we arrived at the hostel at about midnight. By that time, we were very much looking forward to getting a decent night's sleep. Neither Daniel nor I have ever slept in a hostel but the Rainbow Lodge was pretty decent. I didn't know what to expect, but I was very grateful that it was clean and very non-creepy. Also, the front desk manager was very nice and really helpful. When we woke up in the morning, he helped us call the Hum Hom train station to see if we were going to be able to catch the train to Beijing that same day. They told him that we simply had to go and purchase the tickets at the station, since the train that day had plenty of room.

Our Tiny Glimpse of HK

At about 10 a.m. we took the subway to Hum Hom station (luckily it was only one stop away from the Rainbow Lodge). Once there, we purchased two one-way tickets for Beijing. The tickets were pretty cheap. They cost us about 1100 Honk Kong dollars (about $140 in U.S. dollars) for the hard sleepers. The train left at 3:15 so we had a couple hours to roam around the area near the train station. Unfortunately, we couldn't get out near the water, but we enjoyed the beautiful climate that reminded us of California.

Our Train Experience
At 3:15, the T98 train left for Beijing. Let me mention that the T98 from Hong Kong to Beijing is a twenty-four hour train with no wifi. Also, Daniel and I got the economy class tickets (because we had just shelled out a fortune on plane tickets) so I thought that the trip was going to be pretty bad. Luckily, things were nowhere near as dreadful as I thought they would be. The train was pretty empty, so Daniel and I got the whole compartment to ourselves (there are six sleeper beds in a compartment and we had the bottom two). Unfortunately, there was no door so the smells of the train and the adjacent bathroom sometimes wafted in but all we had to do was get up and close the bathroom door every time someone left it open. We also brought plenty of our own snacks since I've read up on the train before and bringing your own snacks comes highly recommended. The ride was fairly smooth, a little loud when you're trying to sleep and the train isn't the cleanest thing in the world but overall, I'd say it was a bearable experience. If we do ever take the train again though, I really think it'd be worth it to invest in the soft sleeper or the deluxe soft sleeper. It just means more privacy and I'm pretty sure they have outlets in those compartments.

Here Daniel and I are enjoying cups of coffee and tea for breakfast. Again, we were so thankful that we brought our own snacks. The menus on the train featured less-than-appetizing meals. We'll stick with our granola bars, thanks.

Overall, our trip to Hong Kong was all too short but very enjoyable. We were there for less than twenty-four hours but we will definitely be back!

Misadventures in China

I haven’t written in a while because Daniel and I have been busy having the worst month ever here in China. Let’s take these misadventures one section at a time.

Lost Wallet

One night in early November, after enjoying an evening out with some of our fellow Best Learning friends, Daniel and I took a cab home. As we were getting out of the cab, Daniel said to me, “Make sure you have everything.” I did. But before leaving, I asked the cab driver for a receipt, just in case. Then we got out of the cab, walked right up to our building gate and went up to our apartment. Somewhere along the way, though, Daniel lost his wallet. He remembers having it in his hand as he said, “Make sure you have everything,” but the next day we discovered that he did not in fact have everything.

I have this theory about problems that goes like this: When in a foreign country, any problem you have will be about a thousand times worse than it would have been in your domestic country. In losing his wallet, Daniel lost not only some cash and both his American and Chinese bank cards, but also, his passport (and subsequently, his visa).

After freaking out for about an hour, we called our agent, Sam, who helped us call the cab company to see if Daniel had dropped the wallet in the cab. The cab company was wildly unhelpful, saying that they called the driver but that no wallet had been found (we’re convinced they didn’t even look, but that’s just our suspicion). After establishing and accepting that the wallet was lost, Daniel froze his Chinese bank account and filled out a form asking our company to put his next paycheck into my account. I also made an appointment for him to go to the U.S. embassy and apply for a new passport.

Of course all of this happened just a month before we had to leave the country for our visa run (December 4^th was the last day we could legally be in mainland China). We were lucky enough to get Daniel’s new passport at the cost of 1000 kuai ($165) two weeks before we would have to leave the country. However, his new passport only has a one-year validity, because that’s apparently how the embassies punish negligence. Anyway, after getting his new passport, we had to go to the Public Security Bureau (PSB) and apply for his replacement visa. After three days of them telling us that we needed to bring additional documents, Daniel was finally able to apply for a replacement visa. It would be ready for pickup on the 28^th of November, just six days before we had to make our visa run. All we had to do was pay another 1000 kuai ($165) for the visa upon pick-up.

We thought things would go smoothly after that.

Lost Bank Card

On November 24^th, I discovered that my Chinese bank card was missing. I tried to remember the last time I had used it and realized that it had been almost a week ago at an ATM. I figured I left in the ATM and panicked, thinking that somebody may have stolen all of our money. I immediately called our agent, Sam, who told me to go to the bank and fill out a lost bank card form to start the process of replacing it. At the bank, they told me that they would have to freeze my account for seven days and after those seven days, I would be able to pick up my new card. This meant that we couldn’t pick up Daniel’s passport/visa and that I couldn’t plan our trip out of the country because I didn’t have access to our money.

Seven days later (December 2^nd), I was able to pick up my new bank card (none of our money had been stolen, thank goodness) and Daniel’s passport/visa. However, that meant we only had two days to figure out how to get out of the country.

Visa Run Gone Awry

I had been doing some research and figured that a trip to Erlian, where you can cross the border via jeeps and then come right back, was the cheapest and best bet for our visa run. I estimated the trip to cost us around 1000 kuai (about $165) including a cheap hotel room and transportation to and from. We wanted to leave on the 3^rd, but the train station only had tickets for the 4^th. We bought those and got things ready to leave at 8 a.m. on the 4^th. However, the morning of our planned trip, our cab driver took us to the wrong train station (Beijing South) and we ended up missing our train. We took a different cab to the correct train station (Beijing Central) and tried to change our tickets, but they only had trains leaving a week later. We also tried to see if we could get a train to Hong Kong, but they also only had tickets for a week later.

At this point it was all panic and stress as we tried to figure out how to leave the country that same day so as not to overstay our visa (which could spell BIG TROUBLE, as visa regulations in China seem to be pretty tough). We decided to go to the airport and see if we could get a flight out to either Taipei or Hong Kong, since those are closest and therefore cheapest. We ran around different counters asking for prices to Hong Kong, but they were all over 3700 kuai ($600) for a one-way ticket. In addition, we had called Best Learning’s visa agents to see if it was possible to take a bus to Erlian (since I’ve read that Beijing has sleeper buses to Erlian), but they weren’t able to get through to the bus stations. It seemed like there wasn’t much hope.

At about 4 p.m., the ticket counter for a flight to Taipei opened and we thought this would be where our luck would change, since flights to Taipei are generally less expensive than flights to Hong Kong. However, we discovered that the flight to Taipei was overbooked and all they had available were one-way, business-class tickets for 10,000 kuai ($1650) each. This is the part where I could be spotted sitting on top of our suitcase with a lot of panic and what may have been a lot of tears on my face.

After a flight to Taipei was ruled out, Daniel went around different counters again asking about tickets for Hong Kong while I helpfully sat on our suitcase and cried some more. He eventually found out that we could buy two one-way tickets to Hong Kong for 2700 kuai ($445) each and then we could plan to take the twenty-four-hour train back to Beijing. We decided to do that (it was really our only option as we had to leave the country that day) and at about 8:30 pm on the last day of our visa, we were finally able to leave the country and head for Hong Kong.

In the end our visa run cost us about 6000 kuai ($1000) more than we planned for and wanted to spend, leaving us broke just in time for Christmas, but what really matters is that we got out in time and that we made it through the madness together.

I feel I’ve written quite enough about our crazy month of misadventures, so I will detail our trip to Hong Kong (which was rather short but pretty smooth) in my next blog post. It should be a much more fun and less stressful read!

National Week Adventures

When I first found out about our week-long holiday (National Week), I made lots of plans for sightseeing and getting things done. Of course when the actual holiday arrived, much less got done than was planned. Part of it had to do with Daniel being sick, and another part of it was just us being lazy. In the end, our holiday basically involved a frustrating trip to IKEA, a stroll around a beautiful park (that I didn't get any pictures of), and a visit to the amazing Summer Palace, which happened to fall on Daniel's birthday. However, the Summer Palace is the only thing that's really worth elaborating upon.

Summer Palace - On our last day of the holiday (go figure), Daniel and I visited the Summer Palace with a few of our coworkers from Best Learning. I had seen many pictures of the palace and I was really excited to go. Even though the weather was terrible that day (the fog was everywhere and made it difficult to take good pictures), we really enjoyed seeing all the beautiful structures. Of course the area was huge, and there was a lot of walking involved (which meant joining a long, slow procession of people in order to get around) but the sights we saw and the company we had completely made up for it.

What's Up, Duck?

One of the first things we saw at the Summer Palace was this 18-meter-tall duck (above). Apparently, a Dutch artist named Florentijn Hofman created it, and it's been traveling the world since 2007. It will remain in Beijing until the 27th of October.

Birthday boy and me at the Summer Palace

Summer Palace View

Spotted: Cutie at the Palace

To the right, Daniel and I are standing in front of the Tower of Buddhist Incense, which is the most popular building. Inside sits a giant Buddha, but I got yelled at in Chinese as soon as I took my camera out, so I couldn't get a picture.

On the top left is a view from the tower. Even with bad weather, the view is amazing! 





One of the things I was most looking forward to seeing was the Marble Boat inside the Palace. It took us a long time to find it because the place is so big, but we eventually found it sitting calmly on the lake. Of course it's not actually made of marble but of wood and it isn't a real boat. We were disappointed to find that we couldn't get on it, but we enjoyed looking at it all the same.

Marble Boat

Marble Boat

Daniel for Dinner

Besides the Marble Boat and the Tower of Buddhist Incense, there were several other interesting things inside the Palace. Many sculptures adorn the place, such as the dragon (eating Daniel's head) to the right. Additionally, we found a great set of beautiful bridges (below). 

As we were walking around the grounds, Daniel and I got stopped three or four times by Chinese people asking to take pictures with us. I never know if the correct response is to be weirded out or flattered, but most of the time I'm flattered. Since we've gotten here, we've gotten lots of stares and I've gotten way more compliments than I've ever gotten in America! 

Love on the Bridge

Hanging out on the bridge

Walking around the palace grounds made for a great adventure, and that night we had to celebrate Daniel's birthday! We decided to go to La Bamba, a "Mexican" restaurant we had discovered the night before. We ate a heaping plate of nachos, chimichangas and enjoyed a small keg with some of our coworkers from Best Learning. Happy 29th Birthday, Daniel! It's actually the first one of his birthdays that we've gotten to spend together, and that again reminds me of how thankful I am that we are living out this great adventure together. So all in all, we didn't do much but spent the day that mattered (Daniel's birthday) at a beautiful location and with great company. What more could we ask for?

Dinner at La Bamba

Cheers!

Pilot

Let me start by saying hello to all my beautiful friends and family that are reading this! Tomorrow will mark one month since Daniel and I have arrived in China! I know I have been doing a dismal job of keeping everyone updated on my adventures, and for that I apologize. It's been a constant Go!Go!Go! since we got here, from training for the job to finding an apartment in Beijing (no easy task, mind you). But since this week is a major national holiday here in Beijing, I'm taking the opportunity to catch my breath and catch everyone up on what's been going on.

This was the view of China from the plane. Definitely a step up from the twelve hours we had just spent looking at clouds...

Our Arrival
Arriving in China was possibly the most confusing part of our experience so far, but our recruiter from Best Learning was there to pick us up (which we weren't expecting), so that was a really great surprise. We spent the next thirty minutes or so trying to get a taxi, and it didn't help that we had each brought huge suitcases. Eventually, we had to get two taxis to lug all of our stuff to the hotel that Best Learning provided for us. That taxi ride may have been the scariest ride of our lives. We weaved in and out of traffic just as every single other car on the highway weaved in and out of traffic. We somehow miraculously survived the ride, and spent the next three days adjusting to the fact that we knew absolutely no Chinese. 

Our first meals in Beijing! We thought there would be many English-speaking people in China...and there aren't. So we're limited on restaurants by whether or not they offer pictures in their menus. But the food has been delicious and pretty cheap.

Our (Lack of) Tourism
Aside from the three days we had before training started and the entire week we have now, we haven't had much time to really go out and explore China. The one thing we did see, however, was the Olympic Park. Our hotel was situated a mere two blocks from the park, so before our training started we headed over there to meander about. It is huge. It was really refreshing to see that much open space, especially since everything in Beijing is so compact and directed upwards.

Above is a great statue that we came across towards the north end of the park. How graceful do you have to be to run in a dress...and with fire? Awesome, ladies.

Look at how adorable Daniel looks posing by the Olympic torch (left). We also managed to find the  the Water Cube (right). Apparently they've turned it into a water park on the inside, but we haven't confirmed it for ourselves yet.

Of course after much difficulty (little bit of sarcasm), we were able to locate the Bird's Nest (left). We didn't go inside because we had a lot of ground to cover, but the outside was pretty extraordinary. To the right, Daniel is posing with the Olympic sign.



Though the tourism has been limited, we plan on making up for it during this holiday. We're just waiting on Daniel to feel a little better (he got sick for the second time since we arrived), but trips to the Summer Palace and the Forbidden City are on the agenda for this week! 

Our Brand New Jobs
Even though we did a lot of research on Best Learning before we left, we were still pretty nervous and uncertain as to what things would really be like once we got here. However, both Daniel and I have found that working for Best Learning is pretty awesome. They have done so much to help us get settled here in Beijing, and all of our coworkers are extremely nice and helpful. It also helps that the children we work with are adorable.  Daniel and I didn't get placed at the same center as we had hoped, but our centers are not too far from each other, and we were able to find an apartment right in between the two. We will begin working with our year-long classes soon, and as far as I know, I will pick up a Mommy and Me (they are so cute and tiny) and a PreK class at my center. Daniel will be taking on K level and G level classes. We are so excited to start!

Our New Home
Finding a home in Beijing was no easy matter. The first day we went apartment hunting was an exhausting, fruitless search. That was the day that we went with a popular housing agency in Beijing, and I would really recommend against doing that. The second day, we were able to get in contact with Samvia, an agent who works specifically with foreign teachers. She was able to find us an apartment that we liked (and in the area that we requested) that very day! She also helped us with basically everything we had to do once we were in our apartment (things like setting up internet, registering with the local police, etc). She is an absolute gem and I'm so thankful that we found her. Because of her, Daniel and I were able to find our first little home :) We're still working on making it feel more homey, but the picture on the left is the view from our indoor balcony. On a really clear day, we can see the mountains from our kitchen window!

Of course we can't forget about our new, bigger home: Beijing. Oh, Beijing. A city swarming with blaring horns, thick crowds, and neon signs. Even though the roads here are uneven, the pollution is pretty bad and the people spit a lot, we still love the delicious food. We love the fifty-cent-beers. We love the giant, hectic malls where everyone bargains in loud tones. We love the little farmer's market that is set up every single day in front of our apartment building. But most of all, we love that we were brave enough to take on this great adventure to start building our life together and we thank all the people who support us.

Those are all the updates I have for now, but I will be sure to post more soon!