The Kinetic Canuck

Magnificent Mount Emei

Sichuan’s geography varies depending on the area you’re in. In the eastern part of the province, you’ll find agriculture. In the west, there are beautiful mountains. For our final day in Sichuan, we headed south-west.

Mount Emei is located just west of the Leshan Buddha. You can take the high-speed train there. Book your ticket to Emei Shan, and then either hop on a bus, or hire a car to get to the next part of the mountain.

Unlike the rest of our trip so far, this activity wasn’t about learning or museums. This activity was purely scenic. Even from the parking lot, Mount Emei is stunning!

We decided to go about 1/3 of the way up the mountain, mostly because we didn’t want want to spend 5 hours in a car to get all the way to the top of this very high mountain. Maybe if we’d had more time we would have traveled to the summit, but even 1000m gave us a gorgeous view!

We chose to go as far as Wannian Temple. The peak itself is above the clouds. We both want to come back and go all the way to the summit on our next trip to Sichuan.

Once more, my leg stopped us from doing any hiking (hiking in China is just climbing stairs, which is especially hard for my leg), but the up side is that we took the cable car up and down the mountain and got quite the view!

A 10 minute ride up the mountain and we didn’t even have to share the car!

It was hot in the cable car, and I was happy I had my fan with me

At the end of the cable car, we took a little walk and enjoyed the clean air and beautiful scenery. It wasn’t long before we came across a beautiful area.

This wasn’t quite a temple. It was more like a place where people could write wishes or prayers and hang them.

There was writing on every piece of wood.

After following a lovely, green path, we found the temple we were seeking. Wannian might just be the nicest temple I’ve seen in China!

One of the many beautiful Buddha’s there

The grounds were immaculately maintained by the monks that live there full time. Everything was pristine!

Beautiful trees everywhere. The whole area is so clean!!

Everywhere you turned, there was something beautiful to see!

Eventually, we made our way back down the mountain, and on the way, the sun finally came back out again!!

After making it back down this part of the mountain, we took a shuttle bus to Baoguo temple for some more sites, and some dinner (we booked a late train back). Baoguo has a little town, as well as the temple, and there was plenty to see there.

We got there too late for the museum, but we had a half hour to see the temple before it closed. I’m really glad we did too, because this temple was also incredibly beautiful!!

And this time we had blue skies adding to the color!

We were a bit rushed but managed to get some photos

Prayer candles. One thing every religion seems to have in common, is the ceremonial value of candles.

We enjoyed hot pot for our final dinner in Sichuan, and then the following night, we were off to Kunming, Yunnan!!

The Treasure of Sichuan

Everyone knows about the Great Wall of China and most people know about the terracata warriors in Xi’an, but ancient Chinese wonders don’t stop there. If the Leshan Buddha is the cultural masterpiece of ancient Sichuan, Dujianyang is the engineering masterpiece.

It might not look like much, but let me explain!

2200 years ago, this area of Sichuan was flooding badly. Huge amounts of water were coming down the mountains, and would get trapped in a slow moving area that had a lot of silt. The area couldn’t be dammed because it was an important route for trade. So they came up with an alternative plan: they created a levee… By hand.

I forgot to take a photo, so I had to steal this one from the internet. Thanks internet!!!

It took 10s of thousands of people 4 years to construct this levee. They did it by filling bamboo weaved baskets with rocks held up by 3 giant pieces of wood. They created a diversion in the water sending some of it down a canal dug out by heating and cooling stones until they cracked (this was done before dynamite!). After the rocks cracked, workers removed them by hand… One by one.

They slowly chipped away at the rocks to allow the water to move into a new area.

This levee did 2 awesome things. #1: it stopped the flooding that the area was experiencing. #2: it turned this area of Sichuan into the largest food-producing area of land in the country. The diverted water helped create and improve farmland. A true win-win!!!

It was raining, but we were prepared with our rain jackets!

The whole area is beautiful and we were lucky enough to finally experience some clear weather later on in the day. That’s when we really got to enjoy our day.

The rain DID give the area a very misty and surreal feel… But we were happy for the sun to come out!

It turns out there are beautiful grounds surrounding the levee

There were plenty of beautiful trees to admire, as well as koi ponds and gardens

In the distance, there were pagodas, and of course, the river itself is beautiful (and VERY fast!!)

This was the first bit of nice weather we’d had on the trip so far, so we were pretty happy with it!

We eventually found our way out of the park and ended up seeing a beautiful bridge that led us to a great little market.

That huge arch is actually the entrance to the bridge!

For a small donation, we got to take photos with the Monkey King

The market was full of Chili’s, beef jerky and some well priced souvenirs. When you’re used to East Coast prices, it’s a nice surprise when things cost less than you expect!

A tour of an irrigation area may not seem like all that much fun, but given that this structure is still here and being used 2200 years later (with some very good upgrades, of course…) – it’s probably worth a visit! Dujianyang is yet another incredible example of ancient Chinese brilliance!

And even in the rain… It’s a beautiful place to be!

I have 1 more post for Sichuan, and then we move onto Yunnan!!

Lovely Leshan

Leshan was somewhere I knew we had to go when I was reading about Sichuan. I’ve seen a lot of Buddhas during our time in Asia, but I knew this one was special.

After seeing Buddha growing out of a tree in Ayutthaya, I figured there wasn’t much left to impress me.

Leshan is located about an hour outside of Chengdu via bullet train. The town itself is a lot more developed than I was expecting, and had I known, we would have booked 1 night there and saved the time going to Emei (which is just 30 minutes past Leshan). Still, it was a beautiful train ride and not long enough to be a big deal.

The bullet train route from Chengdu to Emei

Didi’s (Chinese Ubers) can’t take you all the way to the mountain, so you get dropped off at the entrance of the park. It’s about 1km from the entrance to the ticket office. You get to walk through a lovely town though, and you can stop for food or drinks along the way. It’s a really nice walk!

The town itself is beautiful and well maintained. I suppose with COVID, fewer people were traveling, so we basically had the place to ourselves

We stopped for some food in town, and got this delicious dessert that we used to get in Guizhou all the time. It had a clear jelly in it, with a brown sugar sauce of some sort, and there are peanuts and dried fruit in it too. It’s very refreshing and very tasty!!

Lots of beautiful buildings to admire on your walk to the ticket office

Because my leg still causes me quite a few problems when it comes to ramps and stairs, we decided to skip climbing up the mountain to the top of the Buddha, and instead took a boat to see it from the front. Whether you want to take a boat or enter the park to climb the mountain, you’ll need to get tickets. For the boat, it was about 80rmb ($16 Canadian).

The view from the boat was spectacular! We were blown away by the size of the Leshan Buddha carving and the level of detail in it as well. The way you come up on it by the boat is truly something to see. Even if you want to hike the mountain, I’d suggest you do the boat tour as well.

This was created 1300 years ago, and took 100 years to complete.

You can see tourists walking around the Buddha to get a sense of scale

After marveling at this incredible feat of artistry and engineering, we wanted to learn more about its history and construction, so we walked back towards to museum that can be found near the entrance to the park.

There is so much to see in this museum, including art, reconstructions, photography and even a display showing all the different ticket designs for the park over the last 50 years.

At the museum, you can learn about the construction of the Buddha, as well as the maintenance that has been done to it over the last 1300 years. There were some great visuals there to help people understand the amount of work that went into this grand carving, and I left there with a better appreciation for the Leshan Buddha. We learned there is a Buddha carving in Hangzhou as well (though not as big) so we’re planning to visit that one next.

The three men who headed this 100 year long project.

I don’t think anyone should leave Sichuan without taking a trip to this beautiful mountain town, to see its incredible giant Buddha.

And while you’re at it… Take a lovely walk through a sweet little village

I’ll be back soon with more about some incredible engineering from ancient China!!!

A Multitude of Museums

We’ve been seeing a lot of rain on our trip, so on our second day of holidays, we decided to stay indoors and visit some museums.

The Jianchuan museum cluster is where we headed. It’s a unique little area with more than a dozen museums, all put together by one guy.

The museum has photography, sculptures and even pigs on display (more on that in a bit). (don’t worry… The pig is alive….)

The museum is divided into 4 themes: WW2, The 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, Cultural History and the Great Revolution. There are 15 museums within these huge grounds, and it’s a very affordable way to spend the day. It only cost about $12 Canadian for each of us, and was well worth the price.

We started with the WW2 era exhibits, because it’s something we both always wanted to learn more about. Everyone in Canada learns about the Holocaust, Pearl Harbour and D Day, but we don’t really learn about what happened in the far East.

FYI…. It wasn’t any better in China than it was in Europe….

China’s part in WW2 actually started earlier than the rest of the war, and in fact, they don’t even call it WW2. Here, it’s called The Second Sino-Japanese War. Japan brutalized China from 1937-1945, killing millions, raping women and using biological warfare that caused disfigurement and death.

There were several wax displays depicting the war.

The museum put a lot of emphasis on the heroes that helped China in this time, including Americans, Russians and even Japanese people who fought for China’s freedom. The many sculptures in this area of the museum were impressive.

These are considered some of the greatest heroes of the war. Among them, there are women missionaries who hid women and children from the Japanese, British and Russian pilots who took part in important missions, and journalists who risked their lives to tell the truth about what was happening to people in China.

As you leave the museum, there are statues showing the Japanese soldiers leaving China after the surrender.

You have to walk between them as you leave, and it makes an impact.

We also learned about the heroic efforts of the Sichuan Earthquake cleanup crew. There were hundreds of photos showing the aftermath of the earthquake that killed nearly 90,000 people and injured many more.

The museum even has displays of cars that were wrecked by the earthquake and some of the debris left behind. One survivor is also present at the museum, and he in fact, calls the museum home. Meet Strong Pig….an earthquake survivor!!

Strong Pig survived under the rubble for 36 days, and as a result, became China famous! He is spending his golden years being guided around the park and even has his own little barn to live in.

Strong Pig… They like literal names in China

We didn’t give ourselves enough time at the museum, sadly, so near the end, Dave went to see some war exhibits (the space and airplane technology exhibit was closed, sadly), and I headed for what I thought was going to be a museum about Lotus inspired art. It was actually a museum all about Lotus (bound) feet.

In other words…. The practice of making feet more “beautiful” by mutilating them.

Foot binding was practiced in China for many years. From a very young age, girls’ feet were tightly bound in bands that slowly reshaped and broke the feet. The result was extremely painful and debilitating. The ‘upside’ was that women had ‘beautiful’ tiny feet. It was very fashionable.

There were different paterns for different needs. Some designs were said to bring good luck and fortune to the woman wearing them. Others were worn to bring more sons into the world.

The museum does a good job of showing the history of this Cultural practice in a fairly balanced way. The practice was banned in China more than 100 years ago because it disfigured women, was excruciatingly painful and often caused death (by infection). They also explained why it was done in the first place.

They have more than 500 pairs of shoes on display at the museum. You can see the difference in styles throughout the ages and even across China. Shoes from Sichuan weren’t the same as shoes from Jiangsu.

Mostly, foot binding was about status. If you could afford to have your feet bound, it meant you were wealthy enough to not have to work (these women couldn’t walk very well, after all …). There was also a sexual element to Lotus Feet (I fail to see how they look like lotuses…). Men apparently found the tiny feet beautiful. I’m just glad that the practice was outlawed.

I really liked the mural near the end showing women throughout the ages that impacted China and made it better. One of the reasons why foot binding was outlawed (aside from it being incredibly painful), was because as long as women were being disfigured in the name of fashion, they could never be an equal (or contributing) part of society. Banning the practice was good for women… And good for China.

There were too many for me to capture in one photo, but you get the idea.

If you’re thinking of visiting this museum, I strongly encourage you to do so. It’s very well maintained and has plenty for you to see. The variety of exhibits is very impressive and the number of artifacts is honestly too much to take in in just 1 trip.

There are some really great sculptures and carvings. This one depicts all the heroes from the Sichuan earthquake of 2008.

I have so much more to write about!! Check back soon!

Panda Paradise

Chengdu is home to some pretty cool stuff. The city has tons of museums, great restaurants anywhere you look, lovely and friendly locals, and of course… Pandas!!

Everywhere you go in Chengdu, you will see Panda plushies, panda posters & other panda paraphernalia (see what I did there?). There are enormous panda statues and panda souvenirs to last you a life time. The city holds its identity in two things: chili peppers and pandas. And this is all for very good reason…

Until very recently, Pandas were considered critically endangered. Chengdu is home to one of the research and breeding centers that has turned the panda’s plight around. We were lucky enough to visit, and we had a great time.

It was pretty rainy during our visit, so my photos weren’t what they could have been, but still, we made the most of it and saw nearly everything the park had to offer!

The grounds at the base are beautiful and well maintained. The enclosures are huge and each panda is given plenty of space. I felt good about visiting the center, which is not something I can say about most zoos in the country.

The base sprawls over a huge area and the scenery is beautiful!

Bamboo provides shade, if you need it. Unfortunately we were there on a rainy day.

The pandas have plenty of places to play and hide.

They have trees for climbing, caves for hiding, platforms for sun bathing and napping, and of course, plenty of bamboo to eat.

There was a lot of information on the behaviors of pandas and how the breeding and research programs are helping these gentle creatures. We learned a lot there, including one interesting fact: Pandas prefer to fall out of trees than to climb down. Climbing takes more energy, and their diet is actually quite low in nutritional value, so they need to save every calorie they can!

Bamboo, though delicious, isn’t great for sustaining a high cardio routine. Luckily, the giant Panda doesn’t really have any predators to run from.

We saw lots of Red Pandas too, and they put on quite a show for us, playing in the rain and running around like the cutest little creatures to ever walk the earth!!!

Basically anything they did thrilled everyone there!

If you’re heading to Chengdu, I think it goes without saying that you should visit at least one of the Panda centers! Bring your running shoes (the park is huge!) And your camera, and you’ll be sure to have a great day!!!

By the end of the day, my feet hurt, but my heart was happy! This panda might have felt the same!!

Our Intro to Chengdu

2020 has been a year for the books. Any other year at this time, we are home, in Canada, catching up with friends and family. This year, a trip home is impossible. With China’s boarders closed to foreigners, if we leave, we can’t get back in. We have 3 cats here and our lives are still very much in Suzhou, so sadly, we couldn’t make our yearly trip to Manitoba happen this summer.

This sweet boy and 2 others rely on us. They’re family and I wouldn’t dream of leaving them behind. For now… We’re staying in China where luckily, it’s pretty safe.

As always, we’ve tried to make the best of things. International travel isn’t in the cards this summer, but we could still travel within the country. That’s how we’ve found ourselves in a part of China that I have always wanted to see but until now, hadn’t: Sichuan province.

Sichuan is in red. I’ve also labeled the cities where I’ve lived for reference.

Sichuan has always appealed to both Dave and I. The food. The scenery. The pandas. There’s so much to see and do here! 6 days won’t come close to being enough, but it’s a start!

Pandas are the city mascot. You see them everywhere!

We arrived in Chengdu, Sichuan’s capital city, in early afternoon. We didn’t have a full day but we had some time and wanted to make the most of it. First stop, of course, was food!

Twice cooked pork: one of my favourite Chinese dishes!!!

After a delicious (and cheap) lunch, we hit up one of the most commonly visited tourist attractions in Chengdu: Kuanzhai Alley.

This little area is full of shops, Cafe’s, entertainment and, of course, every kitsch thing a tourist could want to do.

There was plenty to see down in Kuanzhai Alley. Food, of course, was the main attraction, with plenty of smoked meats and spicy treats to go around!

This made me feel like I was back in Guiyang!

Street food in Chengdu is significantly better than in Suzhou!

A giant pot of chili soup! Hot pot is a ‘must try” for Chinese cuisine, and Sichuan hot pot is among the most famous. It’ll set your mouth on fire, and cure you of any illness you might be fighting!

Of course, there were some weird things to see as well (I mean… We are still in China!!).

Rabbit head…. These were everywhere. In China, pretty much every part of the animal is eaten. It makes for some interesting displays!

In addition to food offerings, we saw some beautiful architecture as well. Between the streets themselves and the shops along them… There is plenty to appreciate!

And of course, China never fails to impress me with its beautiful carvings!!

We did a bit of exploring around our hotel as well. As you walk down any given street in Chengdu, you’ll get whiffs of Sichuan pepper corn and you’ll see locals cleaning and stemming the chilis they’ll be using for that night’s dinner. I love that there are benches every where you can stop and rest. Chengdu is quite old, and you can see a lot of tradition here. It feels “warmer” than Suzhou in a lot of ways.

So far, our stay in Chengdu has been great! Can’t wait to see what else we find in this gorgeous part of China! Check back soon!!

The Quarantined Canuck

We’ve been back in China for over a week now, and although our quarantine is now technically over, we are still spending most of our time at home. Most things are still closed, so we haven’t had much choice. I thought you may all be wondering what it’s like back in Suzhou at the moment, so a quick update is in order.

Just finished my 3rd novel since we got back. Nothing like a little perspective to remind me that this whole “virus thing” really isn’t that bad….

The Trip Back to China

Our flight back to China was fairly uneventful. We put on our masks, and tried to get a bit of sleep. We landed at around 9:30 at Pudong airport, and that’s when we started seeing the differences in this country we’ve made our home…

Pudong was remarkably empty. Even at 9:30, it’s usually a very busy place. We made it through customs quickly and got our luggage in record time. The emptiness wasn’t the strangest thing though… The hazmat suits are what unnerved me.

Nothing like getting off a plane and being greeted by people in space suits

All over the airport, there were people taking temperatures, wearing heavy-duty masks and full on plastic suits ranging from ‘that kinda looks like a trash bag’ to ‘whoa, that guy’s wearing a hazmat suit’. It felt like a scene from the movies. Still, we moved through without issue.

My temperature was probably taken about 10 times throughout that Malaysia to China travel experience

Suzhou has a population of about 8 million people, but no airport, so our journey wasn’t over once we cleared customs. At the moment there are 3 options to get back to Suzhou from Pudong Airport….(I’ve been told now that there are more options, but these are the ones I knew about at time of writing)

Option 1: Take the long distance bus from Pudong airport to central SIP. This option always leaves me extremely car sick, and it takes hours to get back home. It’s cheap, but time consuming. I hate this option the most.

The last time we took the bus, I had a full on breakdown at the bus terminal because someone had smeared poo all over the walls in the women’s bathroom. It’s not the most welcoming way to return to the country…I sat there and cried until the bus came (needed to pee…got very little sleep on the plane….so much poo……)

Option 2: Take a high speed train to Suzhou. This option SEEMS simple, but in reality, it can end up being more expensive than option #3, which I’ll get to in a minute. First, you need to go from Pudong airport, to the train station. There’s no direct way to do this without taking a very overpriced taxi (200rmb, just to get to the station…and that’s if you don’ t get ripped off). Then, you have to deal with the train station, which is smelly, smokey, crowded and dirty.

This is the “nice” railway station in Shanghai. The one we take has half as many seats, twice as many people and smells like la tiao (spicy tofu) It’s basically the worst smell in the world. Just a bad as poo…)

Option 3: Hire a driver. This option has been our go-to for the last 3 years now, and we won’t be switching back any time soon. It costs about 350rmb (about $70 Canadian), but is highly convenient, fast and actually often ends up being cheaper than Option #2 in the end. During this coronavirus period, there was no question…we hired the car.

They show up with your name on a paper. Dave’s Wechat name is “D’Rhymes”….

At this point, we usually walk past 100 illegal taxi drivers all trying to take us for a ride (literally and figuratively), and track down our guy… This year was easier though, because the illegal drivers were nowhere in sight! Still, I was nervous about the drive back to beautiful Suzhou…

Shanghai to Suzhou

Now, usually, getting back into Suzhou is simple. You stop at a few toll booths, but that’s it. Of course, this isn’t a typical year…

We’ve been following the news closely and I’ve been getting updates from various sources, including my school and friends who had already returned to Suzhou. It seemed like everyone gave us a different set of things we would need on that trip back, but we had no idea which ones were important and which ones weren’t. Here’s a list of some of the things we were told we would need:

Our rental contract & residency permits
An arrival form with the licence plate of the car we would be taking into the city (this was suppose to be done before we got back to China but our driver wouldn’t give us his licence plate number, making it impossible)
A health code (which we couldn’t get because the only two options you could choose were “I’ve been in Suzhou for two weeks” or “I’ve been in a different Chinese city for 2 weeks”… Neither of which were true..
A different code that we couldn’t get because we don’t have Chinese IDs cards
A signature or the presence of our landlord to get back into our compound.

Here’s a list of what we actually needed:

A bit of bare skin so that they could take our temperatures.

Whoever makes these little temperature guns is making a killing at the moment. I’ve had at least 2 of these things pointed at my head every day since we returned

Our First Week Back

We were thrilled to see our cats, and they were thrilled to see us. It was nice sleeping in our own bed once more. We were gone for 37 days total, and in a lot of ways, we were happy our travels were over.

My sweet Ollie is still stuck to me like glue

Life’s been a bit strange in Suzhou. We were technically supposed to be under quarantine for a week upon our return, but we were allowed to go out and get groceries or to pick up food, as long as we wore masks.

One of the entrances to our compound has been boarded up so that everyone goes through 1 gate.

Most restaurants are still closed for dining, and are only doing take out. The few restaurants that ARE open for dining still have to close by 7pm, and being the late eaters that we are, we’ve ended up missing our window a couple of times now.

We have had to resort to fast food more than once. Even there though, you can’t dine in. In fact, you can’t even walk in… They take your order at the door and you take it home to eat.

Cooking at home is just not really something we’ve done much in China, simply because the groceries we want are hard to find and really overpriced, so for the past 6 years, we’ve go out for lunch and dinner pretty much every day. Of course, the virus has changed all that, and our fridge is now actually stocked with more than just coffee creamer and a few bottles of hot sauce.

We were annoyed when we had to pay the equivalent of $15 Canadian for a 1 liter of cream… Dairy is expensive in this country!

Online purchases are making their way to us now, slowly but surely. Delivery drivers can’t actually drive into our compound though, so we need to walk out to the front to get anything that’s brought in (including jugs of water for our water dispenser).

They’ve put plastic wrap over all the buttons in the elevators. I have no idea what that is supposed to do because people have to touch it anyway. I’ve taken to hitting the button for our floor with my elbow to avoid it

You have to wear a mask if you go outside, which makes sense to me. I know they don’t really help prevent you from getting sick…but they DO help prevent people from spreading their germs in the first place. The way I see it: if I have to wear a mask, that means the sick people need to as well. It makes me feel safer.

We’re being very diligent about washing our hands, washing our phones, washing down tables we sit at, and just basically not touching anything. I walk around with both hands in my pockets and I don’t take off my gloves unless I need to.

We’re starting to see more people out and about now but everything is still closing down early. This was the shopping mall near our apartment earlier this week. It’s usually full of people.

As of this week, a few restaurants have opened back up for dine-in, but with strange restrictions like ‘there must be 1.5 meters between each customer’ and ‘only 1 person can sit at each table’. Dave and I went out for dumplings for lunch yesterday and were suppose to sit at two separate tables. Of course, foreigners can kinda get away with ignoring some of the rules, so we sat down at a double table and sat beside each other instead of across from each other, and nobody said anything.

Tables only have 1 chair at them in any restaurant that is open. In order to have more people than that at a table, restaurants need to be given special permission from the government. To get that permission, they need to follow a whole lot of rules, like properly cleaning things, and wearing gloves if you’re handling food… Basically, they just need to have proper standards of cleanliness

I’ve been smelling actual cleaners being used since we returned! It took me a second to realize why our apartment building smelled different the other day… Then I realized: they’re using more than just water to clean the floors!! Hallelujah!!!

Getting into a Routine

For now, we’re continuing to try and stay in a routine. I teach online Monday-Friday, and that keeps me busy. We’ve been cooking most of our meals at home (which has been really nice!), and doing a lot of reading in my free time. I’ve finished 3 novels now in the past 8 days, and I’ve been slowly working my way through our photos so that I can finish up my last few blog posts. Life has been slower, calmer and more relaxed, which honestly has been a really good thing.

Hugo likes to curl up on me while I read

Teachers across China are still waiting for schools to re-open. It seems ridiculous now that my boss thought we’d be back in classes by February 17th, when in reality, we’ll be happy to be back before the end of March. For my own students, online learning has been okay. SIPFLS has done a good job of keeping students accountable and giving us tools we can work with. I have friends who are working with awful systems and whose students aren’t doing any of the work, making teaching an even more difficult task.

I teach lessons using a program called Zoom. I can upload files for them to see, share my screen and we use video and audio for class discussions. Not quite the same as a conventional classroom, but not too bad either!

I have a few posts left for Langkawi, including one about the island’s wildlife, and also one for the eco-tourism offered on the island. Malaysia has become a very high contender for the next country where we will live. Our experiences there were great, and I can’t help but wish I were back there right now…

We haven’t seen blue skies since we got back. I miss Malaysia so much!!!

Waiting Out Coronovirus

At this point, I’m no longer on holiday. We’re still in Langkawi and I’m still not physically teaching classes, but I’m still back at work in a sense. The wonders of the internet have allowed me to teach remotely.

My poor students have had to put up with my awkward video lessons

This Strange Holiday

We were originally supposed to be back at work as of Feb 10th, but that was extended to Feb 17th in an effort to keep the virus from spreading further. The government also requested that people avoid flying into China unnecessarily, so we changed our flights to February 15. It wasn’t an issue. Most flight companies are kindly offering refunds on flights to China throughout the virus.

Many airlines have cancelled all flights to and from China until March at this point

Just last week though, the government decided that February 17th was still too early to reopen schools and has now declared that schools should not open before the end of February. This time, they didn’t give us an estimated return date.

We knew we wouldn’t be back in February. That’s all we knew

Shortly after the announcement was made, our February 15th flights were cancelled by Air Asia, and the company announced that they were suspending all flights back to China until March.

Schools React

This is where things have gotten a bit ugly for a lot of the teachers in China. Many foreigners have decided to move home due to the virus, breaking contracts and leaving their schools and students in the lurch. On the other hand, I’ve heard of many schools demanding that their employees come into the school to do “paperwork” until the schools reopen

I couldn’t find an appropriate meme, so I made one…

In some cases, schools have tried deducting wages or flat out telling their staff that they aren’t getting paid for February. Now, this might make sense if teachers aren’t doing online classes or producing online material for their students, but some schools have gone so far as to demand these materials but to also claim they won’t be paying their staff.

Once more…I put Pic Collage to good use…

Our Situation

I’ve been very lucky. My school administration has asked me to work during this shut down period but they’re making sure to track our work to guarantee that we will be paid for it. I think this is the best way to go about all this (for middle School and high school anyway) because at the end of the day, students still need to pass their final tests to get into good highschool’s and universities, and honestly… As crazy as all this has been… Life can’t just stop.

Of course, life isn’t normal either. We are safer in Malaysia for the time being so this is where we’re staying. Suzhou has over 80 cases now, but the virus does seem to be slowing down. Every day we check the news to see what the new numbers of sick, dead and recovered patients.

We’re happy to be seeing much lower numbers these days. We live in SIP. It’s finally starting to disappear.

Dave and I have been incredibly fortunate in many ways. We’re in a safe and beautiful country (Malaysia) where money goes a long way and the internet is good. I work for a good school that is treating us well. We also have a cat sitter who is visiting our pets every day and an apartment complex that allows her to go in and out. We’ve been on the lucky side of things in a lot of different ways.

The world’s greatest cat sitter right here! This is how she dresses up daily to come visit our kitties

Facing Challenges

Still, it’s been hard. The most difficult part for me has been to remain positive for the sake of others. A lot of people are really scared. A lot of our friends are back in China, and some of them are immunocompromised, and less likely to survive should they catch coronavirus. We have friends from Wuhan, whose family members are sick, and who can’t go home. We have friends whose parents are doctors, working around the clock and putting themselves at risk. A lot of medical personal have caught the virus and have died from it. Scarier yet, a doctor passed away last week from sheer exhaustion. He was only 28, and he died of heart failure after working hour after hour, day after day, trying to save lives.

Doctors from all over China are being sent to Hubei province to help with the outbreak. Many of them have gotten sick and even died

I am a community leader in the suzhou expat circles, managing multiple Wechat groups, with up to 500 people in each. These forums are invaluable resources for people living in China, and they’re how we stay in touch with other Canadians, teachers and how we get advice on everything from where to eat to how to renew your passport if it expires while you’re abroad.

I run several communities regarding animal rescue, which has really been a big job through all of this. There have been so many rumours spread about the virus… Some people claim the virus was bio warfare. Others claim that it was a leaked virus from a lab. The one that has been personally quite difficult for me has been the idea that pets can transmit the disease and get their owners sick.

As if we didn’t have enough to worry about already…

The day that rumour began, pets all over China were killed. Their terrified and misinformed owners threw them off balconies and poisoned them. One woman came down with coronavirus and while she was in the hospital, someone broke into her home and killed her cat out of fear. People began to fear that their pets would be killed in all of this. To make matters worse, British tabloids tried saying that the government was telling people that if they didn’t kill their pets, the government would. It was all nonsense… But just because something isn’t true doesn’t mean it won’t be shared and that it won’t spread like wildfire.

You wouldn’t believe the amount of misinformation I’ve seen…

Life Back in China

People out west don’t seem to really know what’s all going on. They imagine people dying in the streets and a callous government who doesn’t care if its citizens die. None of it really captures life in China at the moment.

This is Wuhan right now. These streets are usually full. China is never this quiet…

In reality, people are going stir crazy in their apartments, quarantined for safety measures. It’s difficult to get supplies at the moment because delivery companies are shut down. Finding masks and hand sanitizer has been difficult. Items like pet food and food with long shelf life is harder to find. People fill shopping carts with cheap ramen and canned goods ‘just in case’. There is limited fresh food and it runs out daily.

In Suzhou it’s been better, but most grocery stores have empty produce shelves by the end of the day.

Most public venues are still shut down and many restaurants are doing take away orders only. Some restaurants have a strict 3 person limit at each table, in an attempt to reduce crowds from forming. Malls, vets and grocery stores all have reduced hours and many apartment complexes even have curfews. In other cities, people are only allowed leaving their apartments once every few days, so really, Suzhou doesn’t even have it that bad.

People are having their temperature scanned before they can get into their own appartment complexes

Teachers and students are both struggling with online classes in a country with very closed off internet access. Students still have exams to pass but are mentally checked out, which I completely understand. No one is sure when schools will reopen in Jiangsu province, where we live. Shanghai has announced that schools will be online only through March, but each province is coming up with their own rules.

It turns out teaching in your pajamas isn’t all fun and games… Especially when you’re dealing with the great firewall of China…

Wuhan and is still overwhelmed with the sick, and short on supplies and medical workers. People are still dying every day, but the number of new deaths is starting to go down, which is a good sign. The number of recovered patients is also on the rise. Soon, we hope the latter will be the bigger number in our daily updates.

Even with 2 new hospitals being built in under 2 weeks and several public buildings being turned into care centers, it’s simply not enough… People are still left untreated in Wuhan.

We’re set to go home on February 24th. I miss my cats so much, and Poe has been quite sick, with an interestinal infection, so I’ve been extra worried about her. I also miss my friends and the comfort of my own bed. I miss normalcy.

Change is in the Air

I think things are going to change in China, after all this calms down. Ideally, wet markets will become a lot more strictly run to avoid outbreaks like this from beginning in the future. I hope that the government will start taking measures to teach the general population about unsanitary practices like spitting, and force companies to put soap in all bathrooms. I also think the Chinese people trust their government a little less after all this.

Wet markets are a bad idea all around. Having love animals, uncooked (and often unrefrigerated) meat lying around alongside produce… It’s a recipe for disaster

I’m not sure if anything will change, but I know that this whole experience has changed me. Being in Langkawi had reminded me how much I miss being around nature and how much I miss having work/life balance. In China, all we really do is work, but here, we spend our free time animal watching, cruising around on our motorbike or even just swimming in our guesthouse pool. I don’t think I’d ever have time for any of that working in a country with such an intense work culture.

Being surrounded by so much green has really made me miss having nature to enjoy

Coronavirus has forced me to slow down and it’s been a good change. I’m not sure what’s in store for us in the coming few years but I can say with certainty that although life in China has been amazing… This chapter in our life is coming to an end. Before long, we’ll be onto a new adventure. We aren’t sure what that will involve yet, but I’m sure it will be grand.

There is so much more of the world to see! We really do live on a beautiful planet!

So there you have it. This is our life at the moment. Hopefully we’ll be back home on the 24th, to cuddle up with our kitties and get back into our routines.

We’re pretty sure at this point that Hugo prefers the cat sitter.

I still have a few posts left to write about Langkawi! They’ll be up soon!

Sneak peak: one of my posts will be all about wildlife!

CNY 2020 – Day 19 – Langkawi Cultural Craft Complex

I love fair trade. I love supporting artisans and artists. This kind of stuff was really big in Indonesia and it turns out there’s quite a bit of it on Langkawi too.

I got myself a new shaker egg to use at the next Sundaze gig

My wonderful husband knows that I love these things, so when he read that Langkawi has a Culture Craft Complex, he made sure to take me there. It’s a pretty cool place!

There are all sorts of artisans featured here

The complex has everything. Wood carving, pottery, glass blowing, textiles, clothing, jewelry… You name it, they make it!

I was particularly impressed by their paintings. We saw some of the artists working on them while we were there. Such colorful and vibrant artistic style!

There is also an educational aspect to the complex. There are several displays set up that teach you about Malaysia’s art and culture. Some displays focus on wedding attire across the various cultures found in Malaysia, and others focused on the history of Aboriginal art.

There’s also a “stingless bee farm” at the craft complex, and soap is made from the wax of these bees.

They offer glass blowing demonstrations at the craft complex too, but we happened to visit on the one day of the week they didn’t have a show.

They also have some displays showing how sugar cane juice was processed back in the day

You could easily spend hours at the craft complex, if you have some free time and a husband who doesn’t mind being dragged around to look at scarf after scarf.

The woodwork was what impressed Dave the most

We made it through in about an hour, but I think 30 minutes more would have been nice. The complex is free by the way, you only pay for what you buy… And with so many beautiful choices, you’re bound to leave with something!

They do a really good job with their displays too!

CNY 2020 – Day 18 – Langkawi’s Food Scene

One of the reasons we’ve enjoyed our stay in Langkawi so much has been because of its food scene. We’ve had very few disappointing meals. Whether you’re looking for something local or foreign, there are an endless number of restaurants to choose from.

Local Food

Malaysian food is flavourful, colourful and diverse. Roti Canai is like a sort of Indian pancake that can be served with chocolate, fruit or curry sauce (kind of like an Asian Crepe). Nasi Lemak, Malaysia’s national dish, is made of rice soaked in coconut milk, served with dried fish, peanuts and chili sauce. Satay is a kind of bbq served with a peanut sauce. These are all traditional foods you can find in Malaysia, and they are all delicious.

Roti Canai. Soooo good! The ones with banana are my favorite

Nasi Goreng Pattaya is another delicious way rice is served in Malaysia. They wrap your fried rice in a thin egg omelette and then add sweet chili sauce

Nasi Goreng with chicken. Fried chicken is also a staple on the island. I’ve probably eaten a bit too much of this over the last few weeks

Mostly we’ve been going to small, family run places, but there are some chains too. The House of Lamb is run by local Muslim Malays and specializes in BBQ lamb and chicken skewers. They have a couple of locations on the island. We’re definitely going to be going back!

Lamb chops, lamb skewers, chicken skewers, Lamb Shank, corn, salad, potatoes and rice. A perfect combo for two!

Asian Food

There are plenty of other Asian restaurants on the island, although we haven’t actually visited many of them because most Asian food is available in Suzhou. Chinese restaurants are probably the most common Asian restaurant in Langkawi, which makes sense given that in a normal year, there are tons of Chinese tourists visiting during Spring Festival. Of course, this year has been different.

There are plenty of Indian, Korean, Thai and Japanese restaurants on the island too, so there definitely isn’t a lack of choice!!

Western Food

If Malaysian food is too spicy for you, or if you’re looking for something familiar, there are a few good Western options on Lankawi island as well. There are at least 2 restaurants serving crepes and both are run by French expats. There’s plenty of Italian food on the island as well, and you can even find several Mexican restaurants in Langkawi!

The Crepes at “My French Factory” are sublime!

If you’re in the mood for something out of the way and a bit more upscale, Mangoes is also a great option! It’s run by an Australian lady and you can get a great burger or even roasts and Chicken Cordon Bleu there! Good, homemade style Western food!

I had the chicken cordon blue. The lighting wasn’t great, but the ambience in the restaurant was so nice. We had a view of the ocean and because we were off the main strip, it was nice and quiet.

Middle Eastern Food

So far, my favourite meals on the island have been at middle Eastern restaurants. Most of the ones we’ve seen have offered a mixture of middle Eastern dishes and my favorite restaurant has been Hadramawt.

Their lamb mendy and falafels are some of the best I’ve ever had. This restaurant is so good, in fact, that we’ve been there twice in 10 days.

Lamb Mendy is slowcooked in a way that makes the meat more tender than I really thought possible

There are other restaurants as well that serve very tasty middle Eastern food. The Syrian restaurant we tried on one of our first nights here had some great combo plates.

An assortment of all my favourite middle Eastern appies! Yasmin restaurant was a delight.

We’ve still got some time left on this beautiful little island. We’re looking forward to all the other restaurants we’ll try!