Right now, I’m in the “I’m so super excited” stage of my travel. You know what I’m talking about, right?

That, I’m about to go somewhere new and it’s all I can think about stage. I’m currently reading about 3 books on China and a novel that takes place in Beijing, just hoping that I won’t feel too overwhelmed as a Westerner in the East.

My mind is going a million different ways at once. Will my flights be on time? Will my luggage make it with me? Will I be able to eat with chop sticks? Will I be able to use a squatter and live to tell the tale?

Will I be able to communicate by nodding and smiling? Will I be one of those offensive American tourists? I hope not!

Those are my worries, I guess more than my excitements. Excitements are: new sights, new smells, new tastes, new sounds.

I found my trusty Olympus camera this morning. It’s been around the world, but never to Asia. Now I need to find the charger and make sure there is enough memory. I don’t want to forget one single moment of this experience.

Cannot wait for this adventurous journey!!

I hope you will come along and join this Single White Female American in China.

May 14, 2014

1 Comment

Xiamen

This day was one of my first outings in China. I am at a Buddhist temple in Xiamen. The very nice woman standing next to me, Maggie, took us around to see some sights this day. The next picture I am standing next to Kim. You can see from my big huge smile that I’m having a fantastic time! But wait! I think I am jumping too far ahead. Let me start with my flight to Hong Kong.

Above is my seat on the plane. I guess I really should not call it just a seat. It was my little room! So Awesome! These seats recline completely into a bed. If you look closely, you can see I have my own TV. I watched a couple of movies, had a great dinner and breakfast, read a book, and because of my excitement of what I am about to experience, slept very little.

Kim’s work suppliers (Kim my super awesome travel companion) take us out for fantastic lunches and dinners every night. I am positive that I am experiencing a China that I would never be able to experience on my own. Above, I am standing in a room where we are to pick out our lunch. Wow! It really is this fresh!! I have absolutely no idea what is in these aquariums to choose from. HA! I let Kim and Maggie choose everything. How eating out works here is that many different things are chosen. Typically, a few Meat dishes, a few Seafood dishes and a few side dishes. The dishes are prepared, then put on a very large Lazy Susan in the middle of our circular table. In no particular order, just as the they complete one they deliver it, the dishes just keep coming until the Lazy Susan is full. You choose what you wish to eat as the Lazy Susan slowly gets spun around. I am enjoying many different new flavors and tastes while using chopsticks. Well, that’s if I can get the food into my mouth by using chopsticks.

Here I am picking Yang Mei. It’s a yummy fruit. It’s kind of like a raspberry but larger. This was such a great experience. Driving up this beautiful mountain, looking for a Yang Mei farm. As we were looking for a tree with the sweetest fruit, we were approached by the farmer. This is the time when you pay for the little baskets to fill up with fruit. This is the day that I learned that American sarcasm does not always translate to Chinese people. This Yang Mei orchard has been in this farmers family for hundreds of years. His ancestor’s are buried in tombs throughout the orchard. Kim sees a tomb near a tree that we were to start picking fruit from. He tells Maggie that he does not wish to eat fruit from a tree whose roots go into the tomb. I start laughing understanding the joke. Maggie did not think he was joking and told the farmer and started looking everywhere for a tree not near a tomb. We walked 10 feet, another tomb, and another, and another. That day, we came back to the hotel without any Yang Mei from that farm. Oh well…it’s not like we could take a bunch of fruit on a plane to our next destination anyway. That experience of hiking up a mountain through a Yang Mei orchard was worth so much more. We did leave the orchard with something though, a live chicken. The farmer put it into a box and in the trunk it went.

Though we did not leave the orchard empty handed of yang mei. We did buy a bottle of the farmer’s home made Yang Mei wine. Which we proceeded to drink at the next restaurant. This is a very sweet and fairly strong wine. Put it this way, I was tipsy by the end of lunch and completely forgot about the chicken in the trunk until he started scratching around.

Across the street from the Yang Mei orchard is a duck farm. I have never seen anything quite like it. Let me set the scene. We are high up in the mountains. In a small valley is this beautiful lake with thousands of ducks. I was awestruck by the beauty of it all. As amazing as it was I could of done without the smell of all the duck poo!

This picture is taken from a Yang Mei tree looking down at the lake with the ducks. The man in the picture is of the farmer.

I was able to experience all of this within the first two days of my trip. So amazing! So much to see and so much more to experience. The people that I have met so far have been so nice and do everything they can to make me feel comfortable and have a great experience here in China, not to mention their patience with me and chop stick skills or lack thereof. A common question that I am asked, “Is China what you expected it to be?” My response is always this, when I travel I try to keep an open mind without expectations. That way, every moment, with every sound, every taste, every smell (duck poo excluded), every sight, every conversation is a new exciting adventure. Now I am off to experience more of that adventure!