Singapore!

After a quick return to Shanghai, we had the chance to escape for a long weekend to Singapore for warm breezes and beautiful flora and fauna!

Our hotel was the new Marina Bay Sands Hotel featuring an amazing infinity pool on the 57th floor! It looks like a surfboard suspended by the hotel columns and a high end Promenade Mall is in the waves below. Although we wish we could say it was a fantastic place, it fell short on comfort and charm!

Marina Bay Sands Hotel from inside the Cloud Dome

Right next door, Gardens by the Bay provided an amazing view from our room!

Gardens by the Bay is a government project being developed on reclaimed land from the sea.  The first phase includes these hanging gardens with an elevated walkway to get a bird's eye view of the marina area.

Taking in Gardens by the Bay!

There are also two domes - the Flower Dome and the Cloud Dome. The Flower Dome was like being at the Philadelphia flower show every day of the year! Beautiful plants and trees from many parts of the world were showcased here.

Flower Dome statue

Flower Dome - Year of the Horse

The Cloud Dome is intended to simulate a mountain region with plants that grow in cooler regions. The waterfall provided relief from the heat outside but also provided moisture to nourish the mountain inside the dome.

Cloud Dome - Man -made waterfall

We could not get enough of this space - it was really well designed and the plant varieties were incredible.

Amazing plants on the back side of the waterfall

National Orchid Garden

Phil was a real trooper and took us on the Metro to walk in the Botanic Gardens on the other side of town. We went specifically to see the National Orchid Garden. So many varieties of orchids - 

Our time in Singapore was short, but a great reprieve with a feast for the eyes! We made one last stop at the famous Long Bar in the Raffles Hotel. The hotel has not changed since we visited it 10 years ago, but the price of Singapore Slings has. They were $27.00 a piece and the bartenders were making them 10 at a time, barely keeping up with demand!

Huangshan - Yellow Mountain

Our journey to the mountain began with a van drive for an hour, a bus drive up dangerously sharp "S" turns for about 20 minutes and a steep cable car ride for another 30 minutes. It was hard to believe when we arrived at the top, that we were so high - above the clouds with beautiful granite mountains all around us.

A view of the "sea" clouds at the top

 We arrived at the top with our backpacks and small duffel only to realize we had a 40 minute uphill climb to get to the hotel. We took in the "looking points" all along the way. I was not as adventerous as Phil as the heights were astounding with low railings barely keeping you secure.

Phil on the viewing platform with some of our new friends!

One of the more remote places - I was not going out there!

As we traveled up the mountain peaks, the sea of clouds below began to move up the mountain and obscured some of the view. It was still magical.

We stopped for lunch - another delicious Chinese meal of greens, peanuts, some kind of spicy meat and rice. Yummmm. Our guide mentioned a famous artist in residence who paints scenes of Huangshan on rice paper and silk, was nearby. We sought him out and immediately fell in love with him. With limited English and Mandarin - we stumbled through an exchange that made us feel like we were old friends. We bargained hard and bought 4 of his paintings to represent each of the four seasons. 

Master bargainer and Master Painter & Calligrapher

We finally dropped our bags at the hotel and ventured out to climb some more. Every where you looked there were stunning mountains. 

As the sun went down, we settled on a peak and waited. You felt like you were on the edge of the world!

Sunset on Huangshan

The next morning we woke up to beautiful sunny skies with views better than we could have hoped for. We hiked out to Lion's Point, the highest point, to see the Monkey on a Rock. The stone really did look like a monkey looking over the valley!

Monkey Rock

 Across the canyon, we spotted a new walkway being built. We were amazed that this was even possible - evidence that safety regulations differ from those back home.

New Walkway

Our legs were beginning to ache and the mist was growing in mass. It was time to move on, but after one more climb to the top.

As the morning turned to early afternoon, the clouds began to rise and before we knew it, we were in a "milk bottle". You could not see anything in front of you - we began to wind our way back down the mountain!

Sea clouds rising

Huangshan Lovers

Huangshan left such an impression on us. The scenery was spectacular, the climb difficult and the challenge a welcomed change from the busy city life! We are ready to see more and are anxious to begin planning our next adventure.

xoxo, Kathy & Phil

Huangshan, Anhui Province, China - Xidi Village

Huangshan - Yellow Mountain

We have a few trips on our short list and this weekend we experienced one we will never forget. Huangshan - meaning Yellow Mountain - was pure scenery everywhere you looked. Even though we shared the mountain with a thousand other local guests, we still felt we were somewhere special.

Our trip actually started with an overnight stay in a 600 year old Ancient village, a World Heritage UNESCO site -  about an hour away from the base of the mountain in Xidi Village. Xidi is a traditional Chinese village with its own waterways, narrow alleys and ceremonial ancestral halls.

Xidi Village

We stayed in a traditional home called "Pig's Heaven Inn" and were pleasantly surprised to find our accommodations very simple and comfortable. The Inn was someone's home converted in to a small B&B Chinese style!

Entry Hall to Pig's Heaven

Pig's Heaven courtyard

Kitchen where our meals were cooked - delicious!

 We loved having this village to ourselves as we walked around and witnessed everyday life. These two women were getting water to use for the day. The barrels were so heavy and they happily walked down to the not so clean creek, filled up and headed home.

Neighbors chatting

Getting water for household use

We saw women washing clothes and shoes on the rocks of the stream, dipping in for drinking and household water and actually washing dishes and brushing teeth - all in the same water source.

The buildings were mostly cement block with no heat and bare minimum as far as furnishings. It is really hard to believe people still live like this. The carvings in the buildings were beautiful.

Wall carving

 When we asked about the leaf carving, we were told that this village is not a good place to be born in because at age 13 or 14 you are sent out into the world to earn a living. Maybe you follow an older sibling or someone you know, but your are on your own. The leaf is to symbolize the child coming home when they are older and established (can earn money). The leaf falls close to the root - the children returning to their parents.

"The leaf should fall close to the root"

They made their own tofu, dried chilies and soybeans and harvested a lot of leafy, green vegetables. And, of course - raised pigs. The morning we were walking around on our own we came across a small truck with a crowd gathered around. They were slaughtering an animal the size of a pig in the back and everyone was taking their chunk of meat home! Good thing we had already had breakfast!

Chilies drying in the sun

Drying Tofu (lots of flies hanging around)

Little girl coloring

 This was one of the main "streets" in the village. Students arrived daily to draw pictures of the ancient architectural style of the buildings.

Students drawing the Hui architecture of the buildings

We said good bye at the Inn and headed up to the mountain. We really loved seeing the local people  in Xidi and felt a great deal of compassion for the difficult life they live. This will stay with us for a long time.

xoxo, Kathy and Phil

Chongming Island

Buddhist Temple at Chongming Island

Earlier this week I took a "field trip" to Chongming island to visit a Buddhist temple during a fall festival. The day was bright and the scenery beautiful. We toured the temple as the monks were chanting and you actually felt like you had stepped back in time. Chongming is the third largest Island in China where the Yangtze River and the East China sea meet, about an hour outside of Shanghai.

As with most Buddhist temples there is the bell tower, shown above to ring in the new day and a drum tower to announce the end of the day.

 The banners inside the temples were beautiful swaying in the wind!

We interviewed one of the resident monks and found them to be very different from traditional Buddhist monks in that they leave their families for life and believe the temple houses their new family.Very isolating but dedicated nonetheless.

Now on to Yellow Mountain for a weekend of hiking and stunning views!

xoxo, Kathy and Phil

A Celebration & Thousand Island Lake

This week started with a wedding anniversary celebration - our 25th! Phil had flowers delivered and we enjoyed a quiet dinner on the river.

Even the sunset from our balcony was one of the prettiest we have seen.

Later in the week I attended an author's lecture on the book titled, "Stateless in Shanghai" at the Peninsula Hotel on the Bund. The view was spectacular, the English tea a treat, and the lecturer - inspirational. Liliane Willens was a spitfire and definitely set in her ways. Her book is about her life growing up in China from the late 1920's until she left in 1950. A few of us sat up front and were entertained by Liliane, now in her 80's, well after the lecture was over. She was a hoot!

View of Pudong from the Peninsula Hotel- the side of the city where we live

Assortment of tea cakes at Sir Elly's Bar

As we were leaving the hotel, my first Hollywood actor sighting in Shanghai was in the lobby -  Robert De Niro was sitting off to the side of the room where he was inaccessible to the passersby and I did not have the nerve to do anything but stare for a few minutes! My heart beating a mile a minute, but too shy to do anything about it.

Friday had us on the road to Qiandao Lake, called Thousand Island Lake about a 5 hour drive away. The area was once a valley that was flooded in 1959 for a dam project to produce power. The saddest part is at the bottom of the lake there is an ancient city built in 25-200 AD, 26 - 40 meters below the surface. The lake is known for its tasty fish, free of pollution and therefore deemed "organic". Hmmmm.

Islands are actually the mountain tops

We took a boat tour with Phil's work team and hiked on two of the "islands".

Replica of temples at bottom of the lake

Beautiful carvings on the temples

At sunset, our boat captain and his family cooked a traditional Chinese lake meal for us. In the center is fish head soup with bean curd - which I was thankful for because i actually like it and can make a meal out of it.

Sunset on the lake

Dinner being prepped on the back of the boat

Our Captain and Cook

Fish head (and tail) soup with bean curd

There were all kinds of sea creatures including full sized turtles, sea snails, frogs and a variety of fish. Thank goodness for cucumber, tofu and very good sweet potato chips! and Beer!!

We woke the next day and took a 3 hour bike ride around the island through the hectic traffic and onto quieter spots. One was so quiet (on the side of a highway) one of the gardeners decided to curl up on this comfy rock!

Sleeping gardener

At the end of this week we head to Huangshan - Yellow Mountain, for a long weekend. The weather in Shanghai has been relatively clear, less pollution than earlier in the month but it is still nice to get out of the city to breathe clean air and witness blue skies!

Hope you are all enjoying the fall weather, sights, sounds and smells! We truly miss them. As Liliane said, "You don't know what you have until it is taken away from you." Of course, she was talking about freedom and here I am complaining about fresh air!

xoxo