USA - Summer Plans

I hope I can see many of you on my around the eastern coast of the USA trip this summer.  Sorry Torontoians can't make it there this summer!

Depart Singapore late June 26 - go through London - go through Boston - go through Charlotte - arrive on Hilton Head Island late on June 27.  At parents in SC for 10 days.  Visit with my grandmother too!

Depart SC via Jacksonville airport through LaGuardia to Burlington, VT on July 8.  Spend time with my niece, and nephew and sister at their cottage in Vermont.

Depart VT via road trip to LaGuardia airport - depart NY to Washington, DC July 15.  Stay with friends in Potomac, MD to see many people in this area - here for 2 weeks.

Depart Washington, DC on July 29 to Manchester, NH airport where Mom and Dad will pick me up and we will drive up to Goose Rocks Beach, Maine.  Stay in Maine for 10 days.

Depart Maine on August 9 - early roadtrip down to Boston Airport - early flight to/ through London arrive in Singapore at 7pm on August 10.

Begin work on August 13.  Students arrive on August 21.  And the circle of life continues on!

40th Birthday Weekend - Koh Phi Phi Island, Thailand

Wow!  It's been a long time since I blogged.  Maybe I turned 40 and I couldn't keep up anymore!  No!  Just a busy time of year as a teacher!

Tanya, Andrea, Kerry, Debra, Jill, Gina

Fortunately, my birthday fell on a Saturday of a long weekend in Singapore - how cool is that?  Although I love sightseeing and seeing new places, I really do love relaxation and so that is exactly what I wanted to do for my birthday.

So I asked around to get people's advice of a great tropical, beach place and though there were many options - Koh Phi Phi (pronounced PP) kept coming up.

6 of us (Debra, Andrea, Gina, Kerry, Tanya and myself) left on Friday night and flew to Phuket, Thailand.  Stayed at a hotel that was very inexpensive yet clean (www.chinotelphuket.com) near the ferry terminal.  Saturday morning our driver from the night before picked us up and drove us to the ferry.  It was about 1 hour 45 mins. ferry ride to Koh Phi Phi Island and then someone from the resort picked us up from there to take us to the resort, another 20 minute boat ride.  The resort was Phi Phi Island Village Beach Resort and Spa and here is the link to it....http://www.ppisland.com/



It had been raining all morning but when we got off the boat and were greeted with pina colodas and a refreshing facecloth and asked to sit down overlooking the ocean, the rain vanished and the sun came out!

Gina and Jill drinking Miss Phi Phi drinks!

After checking in, we all made spa appointments for the day, got into our bathing suits, had lunch and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon by the pool and in the spa!

I had a wonderful, relaxing 85 minute aromatherapy massage. Oh so relaxing.  And my therapist (for the weekend Ann) put this sideways French braid in my hair which acted like a head band - and then added a white Franchipanchi flower.

Andrea, Kerry, Tanya enjoying the bumps and breeze on the speedboat!

Before dinner I opened the cards from my family and then we had a great seafood dinner at one of the resort's restaurants and sang with the band!

Sunday morning we rented a speed boat for 4 hours to drive us to key areas to snorkel, play around in the water, see Maya Beach (from the movie The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio) and took us to the town of Phi Phi for some souvenir shopping!  It was a great day.

Tanya, Kerry, Gina, Andrea, Debra, Jill on Maya Beach

We all came back for our spa appointments.  This time I had a Thai Herbal Scrub and a head, neck, back massage!  Hair done again!  We met  for cocktails at 7 and dinner at 8.  We had a special dinner on the beach under the huge bright full moon.  Mom and Dad surprised me and bought 2 bottles of Prosecco which we enjoyed!  We were serenaded on the beach by the resort musical ensemble.  We had pre-chosen our set meals which was about 5 courses long.  And after dessert when we couldn't eat another bite, a beautiful birthday cake arrived!  It was also Tanya's 40th birthday on that Monday and that's why we had the beach dinner birthday on the Sunday!

Birthday Gals!

We burned a few more calories singing and dancing along with the band and then called it a night!

Full Moon!

Dinner on the beach

Thanks Mom and Dad!

Monday was the most beautiful day of them all and fortunately we had until 12:30 to enjoy it.  I went for more spa treatment - a facial!  And a hair-do!





It was certainly an extraordinary birthday!

High Tea at Raffles Hotel

To start by birthday week off right - I kept up with my "overseas" tradition to have High Tea at a fancy hotel for my birthday at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore.  Fortunately, May 1 is a holiday here (Labor Day for Singaporeans) and therefore no school. 

My friends Dorthe, Janice, Isabel, Jacqui and I went for High Tea in the Tiffin Room.  It was lovely.  Not only do you get your 3-tier goodies on your table, there is a buffet of other goodies to choose from too!

Dorthe, Jacqui, Jill, Isabel, Janice

As these friends are all past their 40s they all shared their stories of when they turned 40!  We chatted and gossiped until everyone else had left and the waitstaff had brought out the buffet servings for dinner!  Good times!

Inside the Raffles - grandeur!

The Raffles Hotel is this huge white colonial grandeur.  Founded in 1887 but recently restored in 1991, it is well-known for the Long Bar where you throw the peanut shells on the floor and drink a Singaporean Sling and for these bellmen at the entrance of the hotel!

Day 7 - Summer Palace and Pearls

What a day!  No tour today but up at the crack of dawn and so thought I should start my day!  Was on the metro by 8:30 on my hour long trip up to the northwest area to see The Summer Palace. I obviously went in the entrance not used my tours or tourists as I was wandering around for a good hour in the woods wondering why everyone thought this was such a great place to visit and then finally I get over the hill and low and behold there is the lake and loads of people.

Long Corridor

I walked around this palace forever! It was so windy the paddle boats which usually are all over the lake were parked, unable to rent. But I walked over the seventeen -arch bridge made with marble lion on top of the 544 balusters.

This palace was made by empress Cixi.  She is remembered as China's most powerful woman.  She borne one emperor's son as an imperial concubine, she became power to the throne to two more, her son and nephew.  She was known as the leader behind the curtain.  Since she was a woman she was not allowed to be part of the politics so she had a sitting room beside the council rooms separated by a curtain so she could hear what was going on.  Also since her son was so young she needed to know what was going on so she could advise him.  She blocked the state reforms and lent support to the xenophobic Boxers in their rebellion, she paved the way to end the imperial era. 
Then I found the Long Corridor and then took an unpaved path up back up the hill to reach the Tower of the Fragrance of the Budda. The views overlooking the lake and palace were great but I smelled no fragrance and we couldn't take photos of the woman Budda which had 24 arms.

I went back on the metro to Hong Qiao Market (aka The Pearl Market) Oh My Goodness this place was huge. First floor sold watches, silk clothes; second floor shoes, purses, bags; third floor pearls and other gems and stones; fourth floor more pearl shops but more in a store location not like the stalls on the floor below.  Serendipitously I picked this one store called Ling Ling. I saw the price of one of the necklaces and was turning to walk out when someone said they had lest expensive pearls. Long in short, I spent 2 hours there buying so many pearl items, necklaces, bracelets and earrings. I custom made 2 of the which I coin then Jill Jewel necklace. The pearl necklaces come on these strings all clumped together and then once you decide to buy one they restring them putting a knot between each pearl and attach a clasp.  I have many gifts all set for the year!!!

in front of the Pearl Market

So when I got home/back to the hotel and checked my emails Kirsty had recommended Ling Ling pearl store as they had a good reputation for good quality pearls. Jane the woman who helped me said that most of their business is wholesale sellers and not usually tourists.
I did bargain some but it was so cheap to begin with it was difficult and I was on my own.
On my way out, I also bought a new larger Longchamp purse and a bright pink Tory Burch purse.

Finally got back to the hotel at 5:15 and needed to be at Bryan and Jane's hotel at 6:30 showered and ready for dinner which I successfully accomplished whilst making reservations as well. We went to Din Tai Feng restaurant which is well-known for its dumplings.
And for the last night ended it in an illegal taxi just like when I started!!!!

Day 6 - Temple of Heaven and Forbidden City

Monday, April 9 - Today's tour were joined by Brian and Jane from the UK, a lovely couple heading back to the UK from being in New Zealand for 3 months. 

We got dropped off at the Temple of Heaven. We enjoyed walking around the parks seeing the local people dancing the tango, doing tai chi, playing games, exercising, etc.

Then we continued to the Temple of Heaven (Tiantam) This temple is completely made out of wood and constructed without using nails.  This temple was used to pray to the gods for good weather for good harvest.
Dragons represent emperors and phoenixes represent empresses.
4 pillars inside represent the 4 seasons, then 12 pillars represent 12 months and the others represent  12 hours in the day because that is all they had in the 14th century.

Jill in front of Temple of Heaven

Materials transported to Beijing to build the Forbidden City and the temples were moved during the winter months to use the ice to pull the heavy materials along.

in front of main entrance of Forbidden City

Entrance to the Forbidden City writing to the left of Mao says "Long live to the People's Republic of China" and on the right says "Long live to the great unity of the people of the world"

Tian'an Men Square

Jill, Tommy (guide), Jane (UK)

Forbidden City which goes on and on!

Entrance to the Forbidden City writing to the left of Mao says "Long live to the People's Republic of China" and on the right says "Long live to the great unity of the people of the world"

Jing Shan Park  - great views overlooking the expansive FC - however more steps! 

Bryan, Jane (UK), Vivian (Beijing), Joe (USA/Beijing), Jill, Amy (USA/Singapore)

Dinner tonight at Dali Courtyard - recommended by Kristy Kelly!

THE GREAT WALL

morning awakening

Day 4 - Sat. April 7

What a day! I was picked up at the crack of dawn (6:25) and then we picked up another guy, David from Perth and we headed out of town to the Great Wall of China!  We arrived about 8 and hardly anyone was there. The sun had risen and the sky was blue.

We intelligently agreed to take the cable car up to the wall, instead of climbing the 1000 steps. We had enough steps to climb in our trek, thank goodness we did do that.  We began at Mutiayu Great Wall.
At the top we started at tower 14 and here our guide Tommy left us to hike to tower 20 on our own (and back again).

 David and I got on really well. We both loved to stop and take photos and our pace was the same. David has two daughters 26 and 29 and a wife which permits him to go on his own holidays to places he wants to go. So here he is and she is doing some B&Bs around Perth!

Again because we were the only ones on our section of the wall it was fantastic! The crisp morning air and the bright blue sky made wonderful photo ops. The wall kept going and going and so did we.
Our guide Tommy did say one could possibly go all the way to tower 23 but after tower 20 the wall has not been restored. Tower 23 was on top of the mountain and so that was David and my goal.  Though the steps to tower 20 were brutal, so steep and they kept on going.  It took us about 50 minutes to get tower 20. But with the Chinese flag flying in the sun and the view it kept us going.

After tower 20 it still was restored though the wall just kept going up and up. But at tower 21 then it looked almost impassable  but we kept going.  Though we did have cling to the wall and the few trees to help us and keep our balance. Two hours later, we finally succeeded!!!  The view at the top was amazing!  The wall kept going and going and going!

We had to call Tommy to tell him we would be late as we were suppose to meet him at 11:00 and it was just 11:00 when we reached tower 23!  So 2 hours later we were down at the bottom of the hill. Obviously as we retracted our steps back the sun was higher and it was getting hotter. I cant  imagine doing this in the summer. We had then most perfect day.

We then drove to a place for lunch and when we got back to the city we went for a neck and shoulder massage and then a great foot massage.

Really spectacular day!