Zhoumo kuaile!

I hope you enjoyed this week's recap of our trip to Vietnam.

Tomorrow, we're hosting a Goodbye Shanghai/Come Take Our Sh*t! party for our friends. Besides food and drinks, we'll be having an indoor yard sale, except the stuff will be free, first-come, first-served.

I can't believe time is ticking so quickly.

Coming soon
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/165296248798439643/

Zhoumo kuaile!

A week from today, we'll be traveling to Vietnam... but we may not get to leave the country. Our flight back to Shanghai on June 15 got cancelled, and we're now tasked with finding an alternative. You may have heard that relations right now between the Chinese and the Vietnamese are strained at best (click here for the latest from CNN). Well, the whole thing is putting a wrench in our seemingly perfect itinerary:

Friday, June 6: Arrive in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) 

Saturday, June 7: Explore/eat our way through HCMC 

Sunday, June 8: Fly to Dong Hoi and explore Phong Nha because...

Monday, June 9: At 8:00 a.m., we depart for a two-day caving expedition (wish me luck!)

Wednesday, June 11: Fly to Hanoi 

Thursday, June 12: Depart for a three-day/two-night cruise in Halong Bay (that's what I'm talkin' about) 

Saturday, June 14: Arrive back in Hanoi

Sunday, June 15: Leave Vietnam?  

To be continued...

Zhoumo kuaile!

Can you believe we only have four more weekends here in Shanghai? For those paying attention, you're right, we're not leaving for another six weeks, but we'll be traveling to Vietnam in June for almost 10 days (our finale trip! More on that later). 

This weekend, we'll likely be making our last trip to the fabric market and the antiques market. Scoring custom-made clothing and old treasures before we find ourselves a whole ocean away. 

On Sunday, I'm helping a friend and fellow yogi with a photo shoot for her yoga clothing line. Unfortunately, we're not going to Maldives for it. 

Zhoumo kuaile!

Zhoumo kuaile!

Have I kept you waiting long enough?

Here are photos of where we'll be staying:

It'll be my Pinterest board come to life!

I'm SO excited. It's all I've been thinking about, at night in bed and when I first wake up. I'm already dreading leaving a place I haven't yet stepped foot in.

Mike did well. I'm not sure how I'm going to top this one.  

Zhoumo kuaile!

It's a long weekend here in China. Thursday was Labor Day and the Government gave employees Friday off too so they could have three days off in a row. But Sunday is a work day, making next week a six-day workweek. All Chinese holidays, by the way, work in the same way. The system, to my foreigner mind, is flawed. I don't get it and I don't like it. Isn't working on a Sunday sacrilegious or something? Give me one day off and don't mess with my weekends.

In other, more exciting news, Mike is getting the first part of his dive certification done this weekend (thanks to Padi-endorsed Big Blue). I joined him in the pool yesterday to get my certification refreshed and I was a pretty happy to be breathing underneath the water again, if only in an indoor swimming pool in Shanghai.

A couple of weeks from now, we'll be exchanging the pool for a sea or an ocean in a tropical destination -- or so I'm told. Remember my mystery trip? Here are a few more clues I've received since then:

• Our layover is in Hong Kong. 
• We're staying in a hotel that's not part of a major chain. 
• Our return is a red-eye. 
• It's a country Mike has not yet traveled to (so it could be Thailand since I went there without him). 

Any other guesses? Help me out! 

Zhoumo kuaile!

It's crazy to think that I can count the number of free weekends we have in Shanghai on one hand. Today, we received options for our temporary housing back in San Francisco and plans are already under way for Shima's trans-Pacific travel. It's getting real!

I'll be back next week with more substantial posts. Forgive me as I recuperate from playing hostess with the mostess.

With our most recent guests, Emma and Paul

Zhoumo kuaile!

As Shanghai emerges from a sleepy winter and before she retreats to an air conditioned refuge in the summer, the city is celebrating. There are so many cool events taking place this weekend:

It'll be hard to participate in all of these, especially with our British-Irish visitors in town (my cousin and his wife). But I was never going to make a showing at Formula 1 anyway (we all remember how I felt about it last year). The beer festival, on the other hand, is a likely contender for weekend plans.

Zhoumo kuaile!

Welcome to my 300th post! I suppose I should mark the milestone with some news:

We're going home! 

It looks like we'll be back in the States by the Fourth (of July). Fitting, right?

Emotions are mixed. After all, I've just begun feeling as if I've gotten my groove down. And there are certainly things I'll miss (crepurritos, mostly). But I'm anxious to get back to real life. 'Cause living here isn’t real. It's freelance chump change instead of a corporate paycheck; it's a driver named Bob instead of car insurance bills.

More on the move to come, but in the meantime, we're making our "Shucket list" (Shanghai bucket list) and anxiously awaiting our next (quite possibly our last?) visitors who will be making the trip from London, England.

Zhoumo kuaile!

We're lucky enough to have two of our very good friends in town this weekend. My college friend Rose arrived earlier this week from DC (via Chicago), winning the award for coming from the farthest location. And Mike's childhood friend Jeremy was in Beijing for work and just got to Shanghai for the long weekend (it's tomb sweeping time again!).

Now that most of the sights have been checked off, we can show Rose and Jeremy more of our daily life here. Mike's and mine. He's taking Jeremy to eat soup dumplings tomorrow morning; I'm taking Rose to yoga. Namaste, everyone!

Zhoumo kuaile!

We're off to Moganshan tonight! About 200 km from Shanghai (I speak in "km" now), Moganshan provides respite to weary city dwellers, where they can frolic in lush bamboo forests instead of a concrete jungle. I'm excited. I can't remember the last time I hiked, and hiking was such a critical part of my San Francisco existence (Mike proposed at the top of a trail in the Marin Headlands after all!).

A friend is running the Moganshan Half Marathon and organized the trip there for about 30 of his closest friends. We had heard great things about the place (nature! fresh air!) and jumped at the chance to go. What's perhaps most exciting is that Shima will be joining us -- our first family vacation! I see this as going one of two ways: somewhat disastrously or rather effortlessly. Hopefully it's the latter.

Credit (and for more info on Moganshan): click here

Zhoumo kuaile!

I hope you enjoyed this week's recap of our trip to Taiwan, which was actually just a recap of what we ate in Taiwan.

Spring has sprung here in Shanghai this week (kind of -- it was hot and sunny on Tuesday and rained on Wednesday, but I'm sporting my sunglasses regardless) so I'm thinking dog park days are ahead of us.

Enjoy the weekend and these China news links --

• Michelle Obama and the girls are here! They just arrived in Beijing and will be going to Xian and Chengdu. I bet a baby panda gets to sit on their laps instead of just next to them (jelly). 
• An interesting article on China's brain/wealth drain. 

Zhoumo kuaile!

Hello from Taipei! The highlight of the visit so far: Grandma saying, "her Chinese is on point!" -- although she did forget my name a few times. I forgive you, Grandma!

I've always heard rave reviews about the food in Taiwan -- from Mike, his sister, and others. But to be honest, I didn't feel the same way after my last visit here. I remember a lot of stinky tofu and a glutinous rice cake combined with pig's blood on a stick. I'm an adventurous eater, but I drew the line there.

This time, however, the food fest has begun and I'm enjoying it a lot more. Here's a sneak peek of next week's Fatty Tuesday.

Zhoumo kuaile!

I'll sign off this week with the image below taken on Nanjing Pedestrian Street, the Third Street Promenade of Shanghai, part of the Goubran-Wang city tour. Where Third Street is home to not-so-professional musicians, Nanjing features not-so-professional dance troupes. Or jazz-ercisers. (What is that thing he's standing on?!)

More on Chinese street performances. 

Zhoumo kuaile!

Koh Samui reminded me of Bali, but with better beaches. Both islands are consumed by tourism, with one resort located just a few feet from the next, a profusion of stands selling cheap souvenirs, and mediocre restaurants trying to capitalize on hungry foreigners. While Bali may be more geared toward the honeymooners, Koh Samui seems to cater to the partygoers (ever heard of Thailand's full moon party?). And it has an overabundance of gyms (an outlet for those famous Thai boxers?) and hair salons (a front for another kind of service provider?).

What makes me sad, however, isn't the crowds or locals trying to make a buck, it's the trash on the side of the road, on the beaches, and in the water. On my last morning in Thailand, I decided to take a quick dip in the ocean before heading to the airport. I ended up swimming next to a floating flip-flop and a large piece of styrofoam.

But Koh Samui and Bali have the kind of natural beauty I hadn't ever seen before and I certainly don't regret my experiences there. I just think it might be time I start volunteering for the Surfrider Foundation.      

And so as I try my mightiest to hold on to my tan in rainy Shanghai this weekend, I wish you all a good one!

Zhoumo kuaile!

I'm hoping the next few days will be a lot of this:

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/165296248797904330/

Wishing you a happy weekend! I'll be back next week (tough life, I know). xo

Zhoumo kuaile!

Before I close on the Japan trip, here's a fun video recap (courtesy of Mike and his new toy):

I hope you've enjoyed this week's posts about the trip. I really loved Japan and would actually jump at the chance to live there. Maybe it's the stark differences between the Chinese and the Japanese, the fact that the latter seems to take such great care in all things -- from creating beautiful products and exquisite meals, to maintaining a high level of self-respect and respect for others. For example, it was a breath of fresh air (literally, in fact) seeing passengers politely line up single file to board a crowded subway train while allowing others to get off first.

On a different topic and in exciting news, two of my girlfriends are coming to China. Similar to what "the team" did back in May, the girls are flying into Beijing and out of Shanghai (and on to Thailand for one of them, whom I'll be joining! More on that later.). Mike and I are meeting them in the capital on Sunday, so you'll have to forgive me if posts are sporadic as I play hostess (and traveler) again.

P.S. I just added a few more photos to my Flickr account. Click here and enjoy!

Zhoumo kuaile!

We don't have too much planned for this weekend; maybe a winter bike ride with Shima, dinner with friends, a Saturday morning yoga class. Mike is off to Shenzhen Sunday evening, leaving me to my own devices for the week.

So I leave you for now with this: a missed opportunity; a gigantic, bigger-than-life-size portrait of the newly betrothed at the reception site. Why didn't we think of this?

Zhoumo kuaile!

I know I've complained about the air quality before, but it's really, really bad today ("beyond index"!).

This time, I can really feel it in my chest and I've had a nasty cough for few days now. If only Shima knew how to use a toilet, I wouldn't have to go outside. But she hasn't acquired that skill yet, which means I've given in and will be sporting one of these accessories on our walk this afternoon.

Only one more week 'til I see the blue skies of California! My lungs and I can't wait. 

P.S. More on the current "airpocalypse". And some think artificial rain may help.  

Zhoumo kuaile!

This weekend, we'll be getting ready for Thanksgiving here in the Goubran-Wang Shanghai household, which means (if you remember last year's Thanksgiving) making the first of several trips to the various foreigner-friendly grocery stores around town. I've been browsing recipes, weeding out those with such "exotic" ingredients as evaporated milk and cornstarch.

We'll be hosting again this year, keeping the tradition going with some of the friends who joined us last year, and introducing the holiday to some new friends we met this year. Below is the invite and here is my expert Thanksgiving timeline.