Home Photos--Sunrise

Miko says, "Do I have to share? Really?"









A view to the northwest at sunrise.













Mika enjoying a chew in the morning.


Even Hermione, my witch cat, was happy to see me home.











A view to the south at sunrise.

Good Coffee!!

Finally did make it home Saturday evening, thanks to many people as you will read. Had a great reunion with Mika and Miko and my cats...Cap't Jack has a head wound, a puncture wound, but it appears to be on the mend. He was happy for the doctoring and stayed close to my pillow last night. After 30 hours without any sleep, although lots of sitting, I crashed last night with the sun. And now at 5:00 AM am enjoying some Good Coffee and watching the sunrise.

It's weird how in China the sun rises and sets at about 7:00 every day. It was dark by 7:30-8:00 every night. Here, the sun went behind the mountains at almost 8:30 and will be rising here before 5:30. ??

On to my travel stories from Seattle to Sunnyside yesterday. So, it took me 15 hours, and two plane flights, to go about 7000 miles from Shanghai to Seattle. It took me 7 hours to travel 180 miles from Sea-Tac airport to home with a mountain stop, several mini-crises and surprises on the way... ; 0

Luckily, Becca and Michael were flying to NYC just as I was getting into Seattle, so our loving parents (Thanks Mom & Dad!) kindly delivered them and picked me up. But, no time for a lunch break, we had to get to the cabin in Cle Elum to meet up with Kristi and/or Matt to get me the rest of the way home. Mom & Dad wanted to spend the night at the cabin. I, on the other hand, was most antsy to get home to my own home & hearth.

It was very lovely up at the cabin, enjoyed the warm sun (not hot or muggy), fresh air, blue lake and sky. Anyway, about 4:00 we decided to meet Matt at Thorpe because Kristi was still out hiking somewhere...

...Now here's where the craziness starts...As Dad & I are driving through Cle Elum, Matt calls saying he has car trouble up wherever he is in the mountains. As he is trying to figure out the problem, Kristi calls to see if I'm going to get the dogs out of the kennel so she can stay for dinner at the cabin. Dad wants to stop for JC food, I want to get Mika out of the kennel, Matt is supposedly stranded on the road somewhere, Kristi's in no hurry to leave the mountain air for the valley heat.

Dad & I stop at Safeway, I pick up a few essentials, Matt's still working on his car & Kristi finds some kind friend to get the dogs out of the kennel before 6:00 PM. Dad & I are trying to get to Matt to figure out what to do next, he calls & says 'I shifted and it stopped.' What, the car is dead? 'No, the noise stopped, I'll see you at Thorpe.' Ok, great, another crisis solved and/or averted.

At Thorpe, I'm picking out some corn and who shows up? None other than best friends Gail, Gary and Kevin (with Kevin's newly-bought car!). So, there I am meeting friends and family in the middle of small-town USA, still wondering if I was going to get home by dark (it's about 4:00 PM by now), but at least I had all bases covered somehow; Mika is getting home, got groceries, corn and more than one way to get back home thanks to the timely meeting with Gail. : )

Dad goes on his merry way back to the cabin with plenty of corn for dinner, Matt and I (with Gail's cell number) head east for home, knowing that Kevin will be happy to give us a ride if Matt's car goes weird again. After a Big Miner stop, Matt and I arrive home safe and sound about 7:00 PM with a burger for Mika and Miko as well. I made it home!! Again, no small thanks to my Budda protector (God) and lots of great family and friends.

The end of my tale, but photos of home, pets (and probably China) will follow.

Thanks to all for following my travels, hope you enjoyed my narratives. I can see my entire blog now easily, so post comments or questions and I can easily send up responses.

Steph

Saturday, July 28th x2

Saturday #1:

Shanghai: Hot, muggy, smoggy, crowded. Using my Chinese crowding skills to squeeze up to the front of the check-in line, though throngs of Chinese with stacks and stacks and stacks of luggage filled with shoes (!,yep, shoes, Off to some kind of shoe convention in Las Vegas apparently). After coffee and fruit I head off through lax security, change my $$, email home and catch a 12:00 Noon flight to San Fran.

Saturday #2:
I get off the plane at 8:30 AM (yes, 4 hours before I flew out of China) and I'm on standby for a flight to Seattle, hoping that someone will get me home from there. At 12:00 Noon on Saturday July 28th, I get off the plane in Seattle! (Yep, the same time that I (think?) I flew out of Pudong in Shanghai!

Maybe I never really was in China? Maybe it was all a dream and I was just on a short seminar about China in San Fran??

Well, for some reason it is really wonderful to see blue sky and green trees! It's wonderful to breathe fresh, clean mountain air scented with pines and drink crisp, clean well water from the tap! It feels good to hear English everywhere and not be jostled around walking through the airport. It's good to see a fairly orderly flow of traffic (it is Seattle still : ) using the roads and freeways without playing at bumper cars. I do feel blessed to be a US citizen AND I give credit to my Buddist birth-year red agate protector for the lucky and safe travels, hmmm, I must have been in China then, cause I didn't know about this protector in June....

Next: How I get home from Seattle....

Flight Home

Had enough. Today I changed my flight back for Saturday, 28th. I've just had enough pushy crowds, melting humidity, dirty air, filthy water and Chinese, chinese food. The extra charges are a wash with three extra days in a hotel, food, taxis and spending $$. I will have to re-book to Seattle from San Fran tomorrow, but that's OK, I'll be on the West side : ) Closer to Mika darling, Cap't Jack and of course, you Matt.

Anyway, my flight to San Fran is United #858 leaving Saturday at 12:30 PM and arriving in San Fran at 8:30 (I guess on Sunday morning? or maybe Saturday morning?, not sure) I'll call when I get into the airport. I am trying to check out Alaska Air for flights to Seattle from China end, but of course, as always, there are technical difficulties, ie. the site is blocked.

Tonight I'm staying out here close to the Pudong Airport, there is a shuttle that will bring me back, I think about 10 minutes away. It's called the Jinjiang Inn Star Pudong Aiport Hotel, at Jinjjiang Zhixing, Qihang Lu 8. Phone number (just in case) is 021-6835-3568.

The airport is about an hour from the Bund and the Pearl, I didn't want to mess with it in the morning. I took a shuttle bus out here just now for $2.50 vs. a taxi for something around $20.

Matt, I will probably be calling you for a ride from Sea-Tac, but I have to get the flight set first. I'll let you know ASAP. Thank-you, (chee-chee, Chinese for Thanks)

Talk w/ You Saturday, Steph

Starting Eastwrd

I'm leaving Xiamen shortly back to Shanghai. I get so confused about directions! I keep thinking I'm looking west when I look at the ocean, but I'm really looking east. And when I head back home, I won't be flying west like I'm used to but flying east, at least until I pass the International Date Line.

I've been walking around the city and the beaches as much as I can, but by about 2:00 PM it is too hot and humid to do anything, but take a nap until 5:oo or so, so I'm pretty rested up from the fast pace we set with the group. Last night I had dinner with a couple from Canada. They have an architect firm in Montreal and in Shanghai. We ate on the rooftop restaurant here in the hotel. I'll send photos up when I get to Shanghai. Hope everyone has safe and fun travels to Mexico, NYC, the mountains and the beach. The nice cool mountains and ocean breezes of WA STATE sounds pretty nice to me right now. Matt, how's things?? I'll write from Shanghai,

Steph

For Fulbrighters

Hi to All,

Steph's Blog:
In China:

http://pkblogs.com/pioneerinchina

In USA: Well, I'll have to send it to you from there, because I cannot get even the link posted from here. I'll try from a straight email.

email contact: hutchsj@mindspring.com

Well, I am in Xiamen tonight. The trip to the airport, flight and hotel reservations went as planned. I like the area where I am. Xiamen is smaller than any other city we've been in together, only 1 million people and I am located right at the harbor and old downtown area, close to the ferry and the beaches. It's hot, but there is a slight breeze from the ocean. Tomorrow I think I'll head over to Gulang Yu, the small island a very short ferry ride across from the harbor. There are lots of colonial structures, gardens and overlooks as well as beaches there.

Ming and Prof. Rick, sorry I didn't get a chance to say 'so long, farewell and goodbye'. I do thank you both for all you've done to help make China special and a friendly place to travel for us all. Thanks to all who saw me off this morning at breakfast. Sue, the water bottles came through just fine. The airport security made me open my carry-on bottle and take a drink from it, but were very friendly about it.

Nicole, check out the photos of how to do a salad bar at Pizza Hut! I went there tonight for dinner and watched several people making a watermelon wall and filling in the center with lettuce, dressing and whatever else was there! Some of them had watermelon towers at least 10 high in a circle on their salad bowl! They spent at least 15-20 minutes building this creation and carefully carrying it to their tables! And then, as I was getting a meager lettuce salad (on my plate instead of the bowl)
they came and told me to use the bowl! : 0

Thanks Nicole for the books,I will use them the next few days, hope your plane trip home went well. Also, the best to everyone else in Hong Kong, Vietnam and China. Hope to hear from everyone on the US side!

Steph

Xiamen

Across Xiamen Harbor to Gulang Yu, cat photo and my own room!! It's very nice.












Old Town Xiamen and the Pizza Hut salad bar watermelon tower.

On My Own!

We enjoyed our last lazy susan meal together today at lunch. The way a lzay susan works is that the dishes are put on there and then you just turn to the dish you want. Of course, the susan is filled with many dishes, vegiies meats, soups, rice, fruits, etc. It's pretty slick. Today I tasted the dragonfly fruit. It's sliced like a watermelon, but it is white with small black seeds in it. I don't know what the rind looks like. It's really good!

Anyway, we said our goodby's as a group. I leave first thing in the morning for Xiamen. Jeff is heading off by train to Vietnam and then to a rickshaw race in India. Clare met up with her husband and brother today, they are traveling around China for a couple more weeks. Nicole is heading back home tomorrow and the rest of the group is going on to Hong Kong. Oh, Ming is leaving for Beijing and home tomorrow.

I am glad to know that everyone is fine at home and my cats and dogs are doing OK without me. My countdown has begun now, 9 more days (that's including two Tuesdays, the day I fly back home. I bought a birth year protection jade necklace today at the Shanghai City Buddist Temple. Prof. Rick (born the same year) says that as it is our 'year of the Pig' this year, we need extra protection from unpleasant (or worse) events. This piece of red jad (agate) has my yearly protector (a general of some sort), so I will be able to travel even more safely now : )

So, a few of us are heading out for a nice dinner somewhere for our last night. I can tell you it will NOT be Chinese food! Maybe a soup and sandwich place, pizza or an Irish pub...not sure. I will write from Xiamen.

Steph

Thanks Matt for taking care of the house and the yard this weekend...write to me!! Mom

More Photos

The famous Shaghai dumplings, and I can't remember what else I uploaded, Oh, maybe the big city of Shaghai..












The old and the new in Shanghai. Sue and Denise sweltering and shopping in the market, Rick and Ming saying goodby.

Cathy D

Cathy,

Thanks so much for writing! I am torn between coming home (which I wouldn't mind)..and being on my own for a while trying out my poor skills of navigating in China. It's been a wonderful trip, but as always with a group, it's nice to have time on your own as well.

Not sure if you will get this as there are many technical difficulties when using computers in China. Nothing like Europe or the States, even Mexico is easy to get things posted and connect with people.

So tomorrow is our last full day with the group and then some of us head off on our own adventures. I am off to see the South China Sea, hoping for a nice cool swim in the ocean. China can get brutally hot and humid in the summer in the Eastern cities.

Steph

Pudong

Well,

We had a great day today. Started and ended at the Bund and in between we went to the Shanghai Museum, Urban Developemnt Museum and the Children's Palace. Also included some shopping at the Forien (sp) Language Bookstores, I picked up several titles to use for my project.

The Children's Palace was really good. It's an after-school facility started in teh 1950's by Sun Yat-Sen's wife, providing cultural opportunities to the children of Shanghai (that can pay for it). It's housed in a 20-story building, most floors devoted to classes in computer, dance, music, arts, sciences, etc. One of the photos I posted is with a girl who goes here several times a week during the school year for enrichment activities. This is similar to the kind of things we provide for under-priviledged kids at the schools in the States and that middle-class families provide for through private lessons. It's so amazing to think that these children have no concept of the couhtry-side or small town stuff. Everything is done in huge, I mean HUGE, high-rise buildings.

I found cherries on the street today!!! Don't know from where, but they were really decent cherries, fresh, but expensive. Something like 50 yuan ($7.00) for 1/2 kilo! See the posted photos.

The Pudong area and "pearl of teh Orient" is really quite stunning from the Bund side. We stopped by tonight after dinner for a photo opp. Crowds and crowds. We left all important things on the bus. Did I tell you about the B&B I'm staying at in a few days? It's quite nice and comfortable, a quiet residential area, but still eaty to get to other places by cheap taxi.

So tomorrow we head out to the Old City, final shopping for some, I am mostly done. BTW, Krist, i am sending everything to your place....DO NOT OPEN!! or not, I forgot already what I have sent. Tomorrow is mostly books and things for my unit.

A final lunch with all of us tomorrow. Some go to HonkKong, some back to the States, some to other places in Asia. Hope all is well at home. Do Mika and Cap't Jack know I wil be home in less that ten days now???? w/ love, Steph

Shanghai Photos

On the Bund, cherries in the city of 17 million and the ballet class at teh Chilren's Palace.























One of these is the meltdown I had at the Hagendaas. It was beastly hot and I finagled my way into an empty chair where I nursed this Mango Milkshake for an hour or so cooling off in the AC. The others, I think, are from the Bund. I can't see the photos themselves, so I forget what I have sent up. Sorry.

Melted in Shanghai!

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday I melted in Shanghai. It was sooooo hot and humid! We had a free day,
so I used it to get oriented in the city. I found the little B&B I'll
be staying in the last few days before coming home. It's in a really good area,
right around the corner from the Hilton. Nice shops around and an attached restaurant
that serves 'fusion-style' food. A mixture of East and West.

I went to the Best Buy today because the group has been trying to figure out a nice
gift for Prof. Rick and Ming. Most thought that a GPS similar to mine would be
great. Some of them say it's a 'guy-magnet' : ) In Guiyang, people
were always asking what the elevation was. It's really nice here in Shaghai
as well, because I can know which is N, S, E or W to figure out which side of the
road to go to get a taxi. Well, anyway, even here in Shanghai, they don't have
anothing similar.

Taxi's are really the way to go here in Shanghai. I read about a man who got
crushed to death on the subway a few days ago, because the doors were not closing
correctly, so I don't think I want to give that a try. You see, the Chinese
do not know how to line up in an orderly fashion. Once a month, they have an 'orderly
queu day', it's on the 11th of every month I think. Well, even then, they
don't....they always want to push to the first and front of whereever, and us
Americans are shoved and pushed to the back of the line. It's pretty weird,
really. Cause most times, they push up to the front of whatever and then have to
wait...anyyway, taxis are cheap and fast, I took four taxis today for a total of
about 80 yuan (about $10). A couple of drivers tried to sucker me, one asked for
200 yuan to travel probably less than 2 miles. You have to make sure they start
the meter and then always get a reciept when you pay, and there's no tipping.
It works
well, you just have to get the place you want to go written down in Chinese. I
have a book that has the Chinese words written so I did OK.

Also, today I went to the Old City to see the Yu Gardens, typical Chinese-style
gardens, surrounded, of course, by commercialism. I wormed my way into a tiny HaagenDaas
when I was about melted to the size of a Chinese child and nursed a mango milkshake
for an hour in the AC. I have a really good photo of it, but as usual I am experiencing
technical difficulties. I will try to get some photos posted by tomorrow night.
My earthlink won't come up here in the room, but will come up down in the business
center. But this hotel charges alot to use the internet, so I have to go in an
be really prepared to get things done quickly. I'm writing this from Yahoo
and will send it to my Earthilink, upload to my blog and try to upload a few photos
quickly.

Finished my last lecture yesterday!!! : ) The people going on to Hong Kong have
about 5 or six more lectures to look forward to, but the rest of us gave a "BIG'
hurrah at the end of the last one yesterday. Tomorrow we visit the new Shanghai
Museum which is supposed to be really good. yesterday, we visited the 'Pearl
of the Orient' and did the museum on the history of Shanghai. Very well done,
it was. Also, tomorrow we visit the Bund and, I forget what else. So I will send
photos when I can. Hopefully, I won't melt away completely, but dang, it is
HOT!!! Looking ofrward to lots of swimming soon! I probably will not get out of
the pool for days!!! Remind me next January how hot I was in Shanghai...

Hope everyone is well...Matt...write....Give Mika and Cap't Jack a hug for me...Love
Steph

SHANGHAI

Nihao

Well, here we are in Shanghai. We just arrived at dusk (7:00'ish) and did our recon of the area where we are staying, by the Main train station. We have located the China Post, KFC, McDonald's & Starbuck's. So we have all the necessities of good ole American life.

Quite a heat spell going on. The next few days will be hot, hot, hot! Highs in the upper 90's with possible thunderstorms in the afternoons! Tomorrow we have a packed day, lecture in the morning and then some sights in the afternoon, dinner with some business big-wig of one kind or another. The next day is a free day! And the days after that are mostly sightseeing and free time!

Thanks, Kristi, for the update on the animals! Maybe I can bring you back a Chinese baby girl as a gift ; 0 hope everyone is staying cool, take many swims for me, please!!

Steph

Goodby Guiyang

So, tomorrow we leave Guiyang for Shanghai. We had a long bus ride today! Over three hours one way, luckily, it was a most beautiful drive through the mountains, I'll upload some photos. The end destination, though, was a huge dissapointment! We end up in the hills at what is supposed to be an authentic Maio village...The whole village is there to greet us & welcome us with rice wine. They play some music, dance a couple of dances and then surround us (literally...surround us!) with their baskets of trinkets for sale! It was really bad! We even had to pay to use the bathroom! I did not buy a thing & didn't even use thjeir facilities! As we were leaving, a couple more busloads of tourists were being warmly greeted into their lair.

Again, it's the way things are done here. The local tour guide is supposed to arrange the things that you wish to see, BUT...inevitably, they have their own agenda and places that they want to take you8. Prof. Rick was discussing lunch options for tomorrow and it was a major accomplishment to get KFC take-out instead of sitting down for a full meal at a restaurant of the guide's choosing! And you wouldn't believe how tiny she is! I think I have a photo of her.

Yes, the Pizza Hut pizza was just like at home to me. Tonight, I'm staying in and blogging, then while I'm packing up for tomorrow I'm going to splurge on a room service hamburger! It is such a waste of time to sit down for an hour or more for both lunch and dinner every day! Lunch I have to, because we're out and about somewhere, but dinner is optional. Not that I don't enjoy tasting the foods (some of them) and talking with the group, but time is a precious commodity.

I really enjoyed being able to see some of the countryside the last few days. It's nice to be out of the cities for a while. If I had lots of money and was going to live in China, I'd probably live up here in the countryside, it's cool & green and pretty. The only problem is some people around here eat dogs!

Let's see, today our lecture was on the Economic Development of the Guizhou Economy. The speaker talked of opening up more villages like we were dragged to today as tourist draws, developing more roads to connect the province with the coastal regions and turning over the lumber industry to the individual peasants to develop and maintain!! So, it sounds like within a few years, there may not be much beauty left in the province...all in the name of $$ and capitalism. The Chinese have overlearned the concept of capitalism, I tell you!

Well, tomorrow we will be learning some things on the Long March and visit a Research Center for Nature Protection and Community Development to hear their message. I wonder how it will compare to today's lecture? Tomorrow afternoon we fly to Shanghai. Hopefully, the hotel will have a good business cetner like this one so I can easily keep up on my blog etc. We even have one whol, entire free day in Shanghai on the 21st, I think. I'll be figuring out how to get to the airport and the hotel I'll be at for the last two or three nights on my own, without Ming or Prof. Rick to help me.

Hope everyone is doing well and that my animals are doing fine as well. Matt...write...

Steph

Guiyang Photos

At the Maio Village...

































Village and Countryside sights.
























At the Huagguoshu Waterfalls

Pizza Hut!

We had Pizza Hut for dinenr last night!!

It was delicious!

Today we are driving out to a small Mioa village, a minority group here in the Guizjo (sp) Province). I will try to get to the computer tonight to upload some photos and tell you about our days here in Guiyang. Tomorrow afternoon we fly to Shanghai.

Steph

Guiyang

Nihau,

We are back in Guiyang tonight after spending the last couple of days up in the beautiful moutainside exploring waterfalls and village life. It's very beautiful up in the mountains, the photos show only a small taste of the hills and the terraced rice and corn crops.

Unfortunately I can't upload photos of the village life because my camera needs to be recharged...sorry (always something isn't it? I got some great photos of the village kids today, though it was a kind of touristy village. That's how things work in China. We have Prof Rick, our scholar-guide, then we have Wei-Ming, our assistant guide (he does the logistical planning, etc.). At every city we also have city guides who travel during the day trips with us and do the city plans, etc. Also, today we had a village guide who showed us through her village, up to a Buddist Temple, lunch and a short village opera. At every single sight we must walk through the gauntlet of souvenir shops. The Chinese have wasted no time in learning that capitalistic art...even to the extreme. Today, one of the gals tried to buy a corn-on the cob for, maybe 1.50 yuan (not even .25 cents). Well, she only had a 5 yuan bill (about .80), the sellers (old lady villagers) wouldn't give her change, but forced two more corns on her! Prof Rick & Ming had to intervene and track down the culprit to get her a refund!

You should see the look on the Chinese when they hear Prof. Rick speak Chinese! It's really funny. he looks like a regular white American & they don't realize that he is fluent. When he speaks, they 'bout stop in their tracks! It's like when John talks to strangers in Mexico : )

Well, the Huangguoshu Falls walk was really gorgeous, walking through the countryside & seeing mountains, water and green forests on every side. It was even pleasantly not-too-hot, as it was up about 3500 feet. Anshun, where we stayed last night was up to 4500 feet. I really liked being up where it was cooler...

Tomorrow we go back to lectures and a tour of a college (I think) for a couple days before we fly out to Shanghai Thursday afternoon. Kristi, thanks so much for taking care of the cats, Mika and Miko. I wish we could tell Mika that I'll be home in a few days, poor girl. we are in an area of China where they do eat dog meat. I haven't seen any that I know of, and don't want to. I have seen a few dogs around, pretty mangy looking, though. And only a couple of cats. The Chinese are not into pets much as far as I can see, except for maybe a cricket or a goldfish or two.

OK, I go for now. Will write again before I leave our fancy Hoard-Johnson Htel here in Guiyang. There is even a pool here! I am going out for a walk in the nearby park before I splurge on a Hawaiian pizza here at the hotel...really I had to, I had to.

Matt...write...love Mom

Guiyang Photos

Photos of Huangguoshu Falls, the hiking trail, through many tight spaces, the 365 day walkway, and one of the falls itself. I will send more when my camera is charged.
























Beutiful hills of Guizhou Province.