Emily's Escapades

Kangaroos

by emily on February 4, 2010

Tags: Australia, dan & wendy & alex, kangaroos

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

by emily on February 3, 2010

Cuddling a Koala was the only thing that I REALLY wanted to do in Brisbane (other than seeing the Smiths.)  I was super hot and sweaty, but Dan did a decent job of getting a photo anyway!  He was really cuddly, just like a teddy bear.

Tags: Australia, Brisbane, dan & wendy & alex, koala, travel

3 Days, 3 Continents

by emily on February 2, 2010

Monday I was in Australia.

Today I am in Asia.

Tomorrow I will be in America.

Gotta love how easy international travel is.

I was visiting Dan, Wendy and their new baby Alex in Brisbane.  I’ll be posting  more photos of that soon.

Last week, Jon’s grandma Creta broke her hip.  The next night, his mom Jenni was knocked down by a door caught by a massive gust of wind.  She broke her collarbone, fractured five ribs, and punctured a tiny hole in her lung.  I’m going home tomorrow to help out, and Jon will come next week.

Tags: alex, dan & wendy

Lost Heaven

by emily on January 31, 2010

Lost Heaven is a well-known restaurant that serves food from the Yunnan province.  We’d never been so I suggested we go there.

We had a bottle of wine and some drinks at the bar on the top floor.  There was a nice roof top bar that would be amazing in the summer.  (We all are wearing the new glasses we’d gotten that day.)

Hanna mentioned something about singing, and we decided to go to karaoke around 2 AM.  Really, it is a totally Chinese cultural experience!   Here they are rocking out to Queen.

Tags: bar, hanna & henrik, Lost Heaven

Hanna and Henrik’s Honeymoon

by emily on January 30, 2010

Hanna and Henrik stayed with us for a week in January, after three weeks in New Zealand for their honeymoon.  All of these photos are from their travel blog.  Here is their Shanghai entry.

Hanna’s post about the week:

They went on a shopping tour I lead, along with 3 people from Spain.

We’re really stylin’ at the glasses market.

Jon finally bought a remote control helicopter like he’s wanted for 2 years (which is now broken.)

Tags: hanna & henrik, Shopping, shopping tours

Boots playing

by emily on January 25, 2010

I bought a new toy for Boots in the US.  It’s just a ball that can be filled with food.  As she plays with it, the kibble falls out one piece at a time.

Tags: Boots

Hanging Meat

by emily on January 24, 2010

Now you see meat hanging outside all of the time.  These were on our roof.  I don’t think it’s cold enough to keep meat fresh.

Tags: Food, meat, roof

McDonald’s delivered.

by emily on January 23, 2010

In America, we have drive-thrus.  We can get any type of food, do our banking, or pick up a prescription at the drive-thru.  The concept hasn’t been heard of here.

Instead, we have things delivered.  McDonald’s included.  You see the McDonald’s guys on bikes everywhere (petal bikes, not scooters. McDonald’s must be cheap.)  I read how to do this a while ago, and Claire and I decided to test it out.

We called the number…. ordered…  and 16 minutes later a guy was at her door with our order!  We were amazed.

Tags: claire, delivery, mc Donalds

Dropping fish from the bridge

by emily on January 22, 2010

Supposedly, it is lucky to drop a few goldfish from the top of the bridge into the water below.  I don’t think it can be so lucky for the fish as you must drop them from the highest point!

Tags: couch surfers, franz & vivi, water town, zhujiajiao

People in Zhujiajiao

by emily on January 21, 2010

Tags: people, water town, zhujiajiao

Zhujiajiao Scenery

by emily on January 20, 2010

Franz and Vivi from Germany couch-surfed with us (well, Jon was in the US) in December.  Franz had studied Chinese here for a while, and had been to Zhujiajiao.  It’s the closest water town to Shanghai.  He wanted Vivi to see it and they invited me along.  I hadn’t been to any of the water towns yet.

Getting there and back was a bit of a hassle.  On the way, we took a taxi almost the whole way.  It took 1 hour and 34 minutes to get there, and cost 178 RMB.

On the way back, we took a taxi to the nearest subway station (She Shan) which took 38 minutes and cost 68 RMB, and then took the subway back into town.  I think that the subway also took well over an hour (but only cost 6 RMB.)

Tours online start at about $100 per person, so I guess it was good to do on our own!  The only annoyance was that at lunch they tried to keep us from ordering off of the local menu… they wanted us to order all of the expensive stuff (which was the only food translated into English.)

Tags: couch surfers, franz & vivi, water town, zhujiajiao

Store in the Subway

by emily on January 10, 2010

I’ve never noticed this store before, but it is right in the People’s Square metro station, by exit 7.  I was waiting to meet someone and noticed it.  Check out the cute little “hats” the little “men” are wearing.

Tags: interesting, random

Bathhouses

by emily on January 9, 2010

I’ve gotten into the whole Bathhouse thing.  First, I went to one with Casey and Helen, and we spent an all-too-quick 5 hours there.  (Helen needed to do research for this article previously, so knew the whole routine.)  The next week, I went to another one with Claire and we spent 6 hours there.  This week, I took Hanna and Henrik and we spent about 7 hours there.  Today, we soaked in the baths, got a body scrub, then an olive oil “body beauty treatment” and cucumber face mask, showered, got a shoulder massage, took a little nap, ate a few dumplings at the restaurant, then got a head massage.  It cost about 350 RMB.

New Star is the one I like best so far.  It’s actually Korean (there’s even dog meat on the menu) and they have some interesting things, like sweat-lodge type things that have special crystals in them.  It’s no-smoking, which is the best, and also headphones in the room where you can lay and watch TV and get a foot massage.  It’s much more relaxing that Xiao Nan Guo.

I feel kind of like a puddle when I get done.  Very loose and relaxed.  Ahhhhh……

Claire and I in the pajamas they give you to wear around.  At New Star, the floors are heated so there is no need to wear slippers!

Tags: bathhouse, claire

From Speaker to Trainer

by emily on January 8, 2010

Last week, CAT (China Advanced Toastmasters) help Yingdan Liu put on a training.  It’s a Toastmasters program called From Speaker to Trainer.  You can see more photos here and read Yingdan’s comments about the training here – part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.

Tags: China Advanced Toastmasters, training, Yingdan Liu

Demolition

by emily on January 7, 2010

I always carry my camera around with me for moments like this – when something interesting is happening on the street!  This was about a month ago before Suzy and I did a tour.  Look at the purple and orange rooms in the torn-down house!

Tags: construction

Stuck in the Mud

by emily on January 6, 2010

The boys got a little crazy off-roading with their sidecars.

Jon S. thinks Oh S*#$!

Oops.

It took Li a couple hours to fix his bike.

Tags: Jon S, sidecar motorcycle

Jon’s Sidecar Trip

by emily on January 5, 2010

Here are a lot of Jon’s photos from the sidecar trip he took with Steve and Jon in November.  They had a lot of fun!!

Tags: jon, Jon S, sidecar motorcycle, steve

52 Weeks, 52 Streets – Anfu Lu

by emily on January 4, 2010

On Friday, I gave my friends KC and Erica a photography lesson.  We discussion composition at my house, looked at a few examples from my photos, and then all went out to Anfu Lu to see what we could find to shoot.  There is always something – you just have to look for it!!  I realized that I could also probably do “sculptures around Shanghai”, “Shanghai Dogs” and “Shanghai’s Dirty Laundry” for photo books too.  Plus a book of textures.

Tags: 52 Weeks 52 Streets, Anfu Lu, Photography

52 Weeks, 52 Streets – Anhua Lu

by emily on December 31, 2009

This year I am going to do a photography book.  It will be “52 Weeks, 52 Streets.” (or something similar.)  Each week, I’m going to take photos of a small street in Shanghai.  I just went out and did Anhua Lu.  Next will be Anfu Lu or Anren Lu.  I’ll go down the alphabet and concentrate on streets in the Jing’An, Old Town and French Concession areas.  At the end of the year I should have a nice coffee-table book!

Tags: 52 Streets, 52 Weeks

Dragon Dance Ceremony

by emily on December 30, 2009

This is one of the most interesting things to watch!  The dragons dance all around, jump up on their hind legs, and are fed and get eyes painted on.  Very interesting!

Tags: ceremony, dragon dance, interesting

Christmas Day

by emily on December 29, 2009

Our little tree – Boots and I shopped a lot while Jon was away so we’d have lots of things to put under the tree!

Boots is a really good shopper, but I had to wrap them for her.  You know… the whole “I don’t have opposable thumbs” deal.

Tags: Christmas

Opening Ceremony Dragon Dance

by emily on December 28, 2009

I recently went to an opening ceremony where they had the traditional dragon dance!  It was one of the coolest traditions that I’ve seen here.  I’ll be posting a photo gallery later.

Tags: ceremony, dragon dance

Opening Ceremony Fireworks

by emily on December 27, 2009

China lights fireworks to celebrate everything!  Plus it scares off evil spirits.  Businesses will also send flowers such as the ones pictured upon the opening of a new business.

Tags: ceremony, Fireworks

Where are you from?

by emily on December 15, 2009

At the Cuisine Festival, a group of us were walking around but only two stopped at a booth.  Shane and I were interested in more information, and I asked if I could have a brochure too since we weren’t together.  The Chinese guy talking to us asked me to fill out a form so he could send me some more information.

I filled in my name, gender, and country of origin.

Chinese guy:  “Oh, you are from the US?”

Emily:  “Yes; where did you think I was from?”

Chinese guy: ” I thought you were an angel fallen down from Heaven.”

Tags: angel, funny

Thanksgiving?

by emily on December 14, 2009

Two British friends and two Australian friends decided to go out for Thanksgiving dinner, so they thought they’d better invite me.  I mean, how can you celebrate an American holiday without an American present?

Thanksgiving dinner – a cold oyster, turkey, potatoes, broccoli, and “stuffing” which was a bit of gravy with chunks of things like nuts in it.  Stuffing?  Really?

“Pumpkin Pie” – everyone was disappointed in this and hardly ate any.  It taste like pureed nothing.  And it wasn’t even a PIE!!!

After the meal, we stuck around for quiz night.  We didn’t do too bad – the bonus round question was “What is this a picture of and where is it?”  It was Carhenge in Nebraska!!  We got it right, but even doubling our points didn’t let us win.

I also showed the non-American’s how to draw a turkey using your hand and what a Turducken is.

Tags: Casey, Thanksgiving

Spidermen

by emily on December 2, 2009

These guys must be fearless.

Tags: workers

The best job I’ve had

by emily on November 30, 2009

There is a good reason that I haven’t been posting too much lately – I’ve been giving quite a few Shopping Tours.  I think it really is the best job I’ve ever had.  (So far anyway!)  Everyone has so much fun, and they rave about how good it is and how great Suzy and I are.  I certainly never had a job before where people told me daily how much they liked me and what a great job I was doing and how glad they were to have been there with me.  Pretty soon I’ll be getting a big head.  :-)  You can read some reviews of the tour and my and Suzy’s guide skills here.

Arturo and Sophia with me, relaxing with a couple drinks after a tour at Taikang Lu.

Tags: shopping tours

Crappy construction

by emily on

The day Dan left for Australia, we agreed to meet for a burger and milkshake.  I figured he wouldn’t be done packing, so I headed to his place.  He thought we were meeting at Johnny Moo’s…  so I waited for a while until he came back to his apartment.  I amused myself by taking some photos.  The “quality” of jobs here is just amazing. They just slop the paint everywhere (like on the electric boxes and window sills) and just left a paint brush in a bucket of paint (now dried.)  My dad would have been very upset at me if I’d done that….

I did take one semi-creative self-portrait though!

Tags: construction, self-portrait, waiting

Eva & Josh – more couchsurfers

by emily on November 29, 2009

Eva and Josh stayed with us one night, after flying in from Denmark, then left for their new home in Xia’men the next day.  We tried to keep them awake until 10 to fight their jet lag and I fed them coffee in the morning.  They’ve invited us to their home and we’ll definitely take them up on that in a few months.

Eva has a job leading Danes on tours of China and spent a few days in Shanghai with a group recently.  She stayed an extra night with us after they left.  We took the sidecar out to eat, then played some Wii Fit the next morning.

Tags: couch surfers, eva & josh

Glasses Market has Moved

by emily on November 27, 2009

The glasses market moved slightly.  It is now in the South Square of the Railway Station.  (The old, north station; NOT the new South Station.)  It’s on the 5th floor of the building.  Take exit 1 or 2 out of metro Line 1 and you’ll be right there.

I purchased two pairs of glasses and prescription motorcycle goggles for Jon’s brother before we came home.  Jon also got a few new pairs so he can switch it up a bit.  Glasses are between 100 to 150 RMB.  They’ll measure the curve of your eyes, the thickness of your current prescription, and also do an eye test to make sure you have the right prescription.

Tags: glasses market