Our New House!! 2011

Hi Everyone!

We built a new house in our old stomping grounds!  For now, it is a weekend house.  When we retire this will be the house we retire to.  It sure is nice to be near family again!

Here are a few pictures of it.

Enjoy!
Cheri & John

Expanding our photo sharing and you tube

If you want to check out our Youtube Channel - search under cheriwphoto.

Here are a few links.
For 3D viewing on a 3D TV....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbr0s-X5ezE&list=UUKTJ3LZJ5tpMsfaCVVhfwOA&index=5&feature=plcp


A new fish video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imBVK-aHuFg&list=UUKTJ3LZJ5tpMsfaCVVhfwOA&index=1&feature=plcp

October 25, 2011 - Longji

Another early start.  We jumped in the car with Chrystal and our driver and headed for Longsheng Autonomous County to see the terraced rice paddies.  After four hours we arrived.  The drive was scenic and we got to see a good bit of rural life in China by watching the road side.  Oranges and grapefruit were in season and abundantly available in roadside stands.  We purchased oranges for 3¥ in a many places.  They were scrumptious.

We arrived at Longsheng Autonomous County around 11:30.  Crystal bought our tickets and then our driver expertly transported us up a narrow winding road to reach the start of our hike to see the terraced rice paddies of Longji.  Its like one giant flea market all the way to the top of the mountain.  About thirty minutes into the hike  we stopped for a yummy lunch.  We sat on the deck and the sun graced us with her presence.  We laughed, ate, took pictures and generally enjoyed the moment.  Once we were stuffed, we struck off for the top of the mountain.

The local people come from two minorities; Zhuang and Yao people.  Their facial features are significantly different from Chinese and they are much shorter people.  At one time I am sure the were nothing but hand made items on the gauntlet of merchants, today, not so much.  The food was authentic and clearly made there.  The smoked ducks were something to see!  Other than that, it seems that everything is mass produced in China and sent to where they think tourists will buy.  The saddest type of merchandise from my perspective was the selling of Indian scarfs as if they were local.  That said, the silver was excellent quality and hand made there on the mountain.

We came down off the mountain around 3 pm prepared for the long ride back to Guilin and the airport.  We asked to stop off at a pearl store and Crystal delivered.

After that back to the airport, a quick meal of tomato and egg soup, wiener schnitzel, fried rice.  The incoming flight to Beijing arrived late, but somehow we managed to take off on time.    We landed on a Beijing 3 hours later and taxied for literally 30 minutes!!  We exited onto the Tarmac where busses transported us to baggage claim.  The only good news is that the luggage came quickly.

We were exhausted and wanted the three hours of sleep we thought we were getting...not to be.  The only negative experience we had in China happened on this night.  Our hotel was quite close, but because we got in so late there was no shuttle.  No problem we thought...grab a cab and be at the hotel 10 minutes later.  We told the taxi minders where we wanted to go.  The first cabbie refused. So they sent us to a mini van.  The fare should be about 18 RMB or about $3. The minivan driver wanted  400¥!!  No way!  We jumped out and went back to the taxi minder.

She sent us to another cab.  The cabbie proceeded to have a temper tantrum. He used  every excuse he could find to try to get out of taking us to the hotel.  Finally after about 10 minutes of the tirade, we jumped in the cab.  He proceeded to drive about 15 mph, trying to drive the fare up.  We finally arrived at the hotel around 1 AM.  Oh well...our room was waiting and we knew the beds were very comfy because we had stayed at this hotel on the way in.

We got our keys and headed to the 9th floor.  We open the door to a suite and the bedroom is on he 2nd floor!  All we wanted was to sleep for what was now 2 hours...so dreamland. The alarm went off at 3 AM.  Yikes!   To the airport with a flawless departure.

Ahhhh. We will miss China, the food, the people, and the magnificent scenery. John is now a chopstick pro and even a connoisseur.  He's not into the wooden sticks, only the good ones!

Enjoy!
Cheri & John

October 24, 2011 - Guilin

Another early morning.  We met LI, our guide who took us tot he airport.  She was great and had a super command of English,  we both wished we could have had more time with her. She promised to try  to get the local paper and see if we were mentioned.  If we were, she promised to take a picture of it and send it along!

We arrived in Guilin around lunchtime.  Chrystal, our new guide, met us as we exited the baggage claim area.  She quickly got us seated in the airport restaurant so we could grab a quick bite before we headed out to the bamboo raft ride.  The lunch was delicious.  The soup was a very tasty egg tomato.  The main course consisted of a schnitzel like chicken, veggies, and rice.  It was pretty funny that we we supposedly in an Irish Pub that looked like anything but!  We were having a Chinese lunch and out came something that looked and tasted like wiener schnitzel ... The irony was not lost on us.

After re-fueling, we headed out to the bamboo rafting experience.  Touristy to be sure! Unfortunately the weather was iffy and the sun disappeared behind the rain clouds.  So. We rode our raft for a while and then asked the guide to return,  on the way back, they send you over a small cliff and the water splashed all around us. On a hot day it would have been fun.

We got to the hotel with a hour to spare before the Impressions show so we chilled with a G&T before we had the next spectacular experience! The Impression show is choreographed to music and is much like Cirque du Sole.  John had ordered up the best seats for us.  They were spectacular!  They use the mountains as a part of the scenery and in the process  light them up.  Never saw anything like that before!  We both took lots of pictures and videos.  On the way out we saw they we selling the DVD plus 2 CDs for $10 so we bought it!

After the show we were both exhausted and quickly hit the hay in the worlds largest bed!  It's way bigger than a king.  We guessed it must be called and Emperor...who knows where they got the sheets from!

Enjoy!
Cheri & John