By Becky: Oops, it’s been a while since we’ve blogged. But, we’re back! It’s been a relaxing and productive summer in America. I had a successful (teeth) implant surgery and luckily didn’t have to get a gum graft surgery. My husband recorded (most) of his first album and it was a great success. We visited…
By Becky: It’s always hit or miss with visiting Buddhist temples in China. Sometimes they feel utterly fake, serving only as a tourist attraction, or a park and garden, or a place to pose for pictures. This was not the case with Yuantong Temple in Kunming. Yuantong is an active temple and we were fortunate enough to arrive during…
By Becky: Our five day New Years holiday took us to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province. Yunnan is known for stunning mountains, unique world heritage sites, many ethnic minorities, goat cheese and more. Many people told us we should travel to other cities, like Dali and Lijiang, but with only five days of vacation, we didn’t…
By Becky: Living in China sure has its perks sometimes. Before living here, I never dreamed that I would be getting to custom design my wedding dress. After trying on dresses at home with my mom and sister, I had a good idea of the color, style and fit that suited me and I was…
By Becky: I have been fortunate enough to see the Moscow Ballet, in Moscow, Russia. The Bolshoi Theater in Moscow is breathtaking and the experience watching such a high caliber ballet perform “Spartacus” was awe inspiring. So, when Neal told me we could go see the St. Petersburg ballet perform “Swan Lake” right here in…
By Becky: Everyone always asks me, do people really celebrate Christmas in China? The answer is a bit of a gray area, but ultimately, based on my two years of Christmases in China, the better choice between “yes” and “no” would be: NO! The Chinese certainly enjoy decorating for Christmas. There are enormous Christmas trees outside the…
By Becky: Just to remind you, we live in a very large “compound,” all owned by one of the biggest real estate companies in China: Country Garden. It’s the size of small town and inside are all the homes, schools, grocery stores, a few restaurants and of course: the Luxury Club Holiday Resort. I…
By Neal This past week I had the great opportunity to travel to Pattaya, Thailand to be an adjudicator for the Thai World Music Championships. It was an amazing opportunity both from a traveling and professional perspective. The trip began with a late night flight into Bangkok. After landing at the airport I needed to…
By Becky: Finally we’ve reached the last installment of Hong Kong Trip 2, a very belated summary of our second trip to Hong Kong last June (don’t blame us for this delay, blame my accident.) On our last full day in Hong Kong after an amazing dim sum experience at City Hall Maxim’s Palace, we all made…
By Becky: Last year a branch of Foshan’s “Little Italy” opened up very close to our Country Garden compound AND they delivered for only 8RMB (1USD) AND it was owned\managed by a real, 500 lb Italian. To our dismay, when we returned from summer holiday this year Little Italy was closed for “remodeling” but rumors…
By Becky: On our third day in Hong Kong last June we ate delicious food, as usual. I’ll skip the middle of our day, for now, and just let you know what we ate for brunch and late night dinner. For brunch we ate at the famous City Hall Maxim’s Palace. It’s one of the…
By Becky: A few weeks ago it was International Teachers’ Day! It felt good to be showered with flowers, cards and cookies!
