Rotary (US Part VII)

As mentioned earlier, the reason for our coming to Georgia is that Anne Sofie spend a year in college there some 6-7 years ago. We wanted to go (back) there to visit with her host families as well as with the Rotary clubs that sponsored her scholarship through the Georgia Rotary Student Program. The program is unique to Georgian Rotary clubs and was founded shortly after World War II. Back then the program had only a few students, but since then it has grown to include around 90 students from all over the world each year.

We got an opportunity to attend the weekly meeting of the Bartow County Rotary Club that sponsored Anne Sofie's stay together with the Calhoun Rotary Club. The club asked Anne Sofie to say a few words during the meeting (picture). Many of the members she had been in contact with during her stay were there, and they were all surprised, but happy to see her again. Apparently, students don't often return to visit after they have finished the programme.

The meeting also included 30 seconds of fame for Carsten... One guy noticed him smiling at Anne Sofie and loudly stated that he looked like a guy who just won the Georgia lottery...

The host families (US Part VI)

When Anne Sofie went to college in 1999-2000 she had two host families. Raymond and Shelby (picture 1) with whom we are staying during this trip, and Andrea and Jack (picture 2). We went to see Andrea and Jack last Sunday and spent a pleasant evening at their house. The third picture shows Raymond and Shelby, their daughter Laura as well as her son Chad and daugther Brenna.

Savannah (US Part V)

Savannah at the Atlantic coast is the oldest town in Georgia. Established in 1733 it soon became an important centre for cotton export to Europe. Today Savannah houses the nation's most valuable living collection of 18th and 19th century architecture. Savannah was well planned by its founders and consists of a series of nice central squares and with beautiful old buldings and cobble stone roads (picture 1 and 3).

We spend 2 nice days in Savannah just strolling around the squares and looking at the old buildings. We also went to the nearby Tybee Island with its majestic lighthouse and nice beach...

UT vs. Kentucky (US Part IV)

What is the one thing you have to do when you go to the US? Watch an American football game of course!! So before we arrived in Georgia we asked Raymond and Shelby to look for tickets for a profesisonal game or a college game. As it turned out, Laura, their daughter who works at the University of Tennessee, found two tickets for the college game between University of Tennessee (UT) and University of Kentucky. It's a classic rivalry between two neighbouring states and with the stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, holding 106.000 spectators we were in for a real American experience!! College football is a huge sport in the US even though it is not professional.

On gameday, Laura equipped us with orange UT sweat shirts and brought us to the stadium. Outside, a huge number of fans were 'tailgating' which basically translates into making a barbecue in the trunk of your car. So whole families sit down before and after the game and have a great time in the back of their car... (picture 3). Inside the stadium, we seated ourselves with binoculars, coke and hot dogs ready to watch the show. And a show it was with entertainment before and after the game as well as during halftime - including a huge band making all kinds of formations on the field (picture 2)

Alltogether, we had an excellent day in the most beautiful sunshine and 25 degrees celcius - and Carsten got to see his American football game as promised!

Great Smoky Mountains (US Part III)

The day after Thanksgiving we borrowed Raymond and Shelby's car and drove up to the Great Smoky Mountains on the border between Tennessee and North Carolina (picture 4). The Smokies are in fact the southern part of the Appalachian Mountains, the tallest mountain range on the east coast. From Clingmans Dome, which is the highest point in the Smokies (2024m), you can see seven different states on clear days (Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama). We had a beatiful day in the national park and went to see a waterfall as well...

Thanksgiving (US Part II)

Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November in the US and has traditionally been a way of giving thanks to God for the things one has at the close of the harvest season. Today, Thanksgiving is the biggest holiday of the year and is the main get-together for most American families. So on 23 November we went up to Kentucky to celebrate Thanksgiving with Raymond's family in Raymond's childhood home (see picture 3).

On the way to Kentucky we stopped over in Tennessee to stay at Shelby's childhood home (picture 1 shows the barn). The drive through Tennessee and Kentucky was very beautiful especially when we crossed the Clinch mountain ridge (picture 2).

When we arrived in Kentucky the table was already set for a traditional Thanksgiving feast: lots of different kinds of food (picture 5), desserts and drinks. And of course football on the tv for the boys. Nice!! Additionally the weather was very nice so we all had a good day with the family.

Anne Sofie was happy to meet Raymond's family again since she had also gone to the Thanksgiving dinner in 1999. And I continued my practice of the various American accents now including Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky. One thing I have learned, which holds true for all three accents, is that y'all (you all) can in fact be a way of greeting a single person - as when people ask me "how are y'all doing"...

By the way, those folks up in Kentucky don't seem to be too proud of their road signs - if you enlarge picture 4 you can try to count the bullet holes in the Kentucky sign...

Cartersville, Georgia (US Part I)

After 31 hours, including delays and a missed flight, we finally arrived in Atlanta, Georgia. The aim of this part of the trip is to visit Raymond and Shelby with whom Anne Sofie stayed while she attended college in the US 1999-2000 (see picture). Raymond and Shelby live in Cartersville 45 min. north of Atlanta and we have stayed at their house for the last couple of days trying to rid ourselves of the jetlag. On Monday we went up to Reinhardt College where Anne Sofie spend a year of studies. On Wednesday we are leaving for Kentucky where the family is celebrating Thanksgiving. That will definitely be an interesting experience...

A runner's diary

I don't know if any of you have ever brought your running shoes on a vacation. If not this is an encouragement to do so next time you go.

At first it might sound a bit self-torturing to bring running shoes on a vacation. It might be, but my experience is that it also allows you to get a different impression of the places you visit. It offers some unique experiences which you would not get had it not been for the running shoes.

Here are some snap shots of what I have experienced by running during our trip - often in the early morning:

1. I went running with Morten, the Danish guy whith whom we stayed in Beijing. We ran in a nearby park and had a good talk about living in Beijing. Furthermore, I got to experience the air in Beijing on my own body... (Actually I think I was more healthy before we went running than afterwards due to the pollution levels in Beijing!)

2. The ancient town of Dali has a city wall surrounding the entire city. Running on the wall one early morning, I had a fantastic view of the city, the nearby lake, the mountains and the sunrise. I also happened to interrupt a group of old Chinese people doing tai-chi on the city wall. It was a tough run, however, but I ended up blaming it on the elevation of the city of Dali: 2000 m - rather than on bad shape.

3. The Dragon Pool Park in Lijiang is an excellent place to run. I went in bright sunshine one morning and besides from the view of the snow mountain I saw how the old men of the Naxi tripe gather in the park - each with a falcon on their right arm. I guess the falcons were once used as hunters by the locals. The park turned out to be a popular place for the locals to work out as well. Imagine a 80 year old man doing leg bends at 7 a.m. - that's inspiring for us young folks...

4. Ahh Yangshuo. Running around among the otherwordly topography of Yangshuo. Do I have to say more?? By the way I don't think the locals outside Yangshuo see that many white guys running around in shorts in the early morning. They were staring and a guy on a motorbike even offered me a ride - I declined since that kind of undermines the idea of running ;-)

5. Victoria Park in Hong Kong is very popular with locals in the morning. As in the rest of China it is popular to do tai-chi outside before going to work. In Victoria park I saw a lot of tai-chi but also groups of people doing some kind of exercise, maybe tai-chi, with a sword or a fan in hand. Pretty nice entertainment when you are running on your own!

6. And how does a white guy know that he is in Asia? Well, try running into a street sign in Taipei... Those Asian fellows are not that tall are they?? (I actually got a scar as you can probably see from the picture).

Good food and friendly people (Taiwan Part II)

When we studied in London, JingBin used to tell us about how friendly people are in Taiwan and how good the food is. We challenged him and promised to come to Taiwan to see for ourselves.

At our first night in Taiwan, we were invited out for dinner by JingBin's parents (picture 2). We went to one of the best restaurants in the capital Taipei and had an otherworldly gastronomical experience. Numerous exotic dishes were served, and combined with the friendliness of our hosts we had a wonderful experience. Try baked papaya with mixed seafood (picture 1). Or how about a coconut filled with tender chicken in coconut sauce. Or deepfried fresh fish. Or white carrot cake..etc. As if that was not enough JingBin's parents invited us home for a fruit dessert the following night (picture 3). And it was, of course, excellent!

After two days in Taipei, we took a bus to the second largest city Kaohsiung, where JiaLing lives. Here we got to meet JiaLing's family as well and were invited out for dinner. And again, it was delicious.

Upon leaving Taiwan, our conclusion was that JingBin was absolutely telling the thruth back in London last year; the people of Taiwan is very friendly and the food is excellent!!

Tallest building and biggest ice cream (Taiwan Part I)

Visiting the small island of Taiwan just off the coast of China is not the most obvious stop, when travelling around the world in a limited amount of time. Our reason for doing so was to visit our friends JingBin, JiaLing and WeiChing with whom we studied in London. Since WeiChing was working during our stay, JingBin and JiaLing (picture 1, JingBin right) kindly showed us around Taiwan during our 5 day stay.

Taiwan is de facto an independent state. However, China does not recognize its independence but sees Taiwan as part of China. As a result, Taiwan is not recognized by most countries in the world as an independent state. Nor is it a member of the UN or other international organisations. The reason is that at the end of the Chinese civil war in the late 1940's the nationalist Chinese general Chiang Kai-Shek fled to the then Chinese island Taiwan conceding defeat to the communists under Mao. Mao wanted to take Taiwan as well but risked a clash with the US, which was supporting the Nationalists and Chiang in the civil war. Thus, Chiang was able to stay in Taiwan and during the past 50 years Taiwan has developed into a modern westernized society pretty much like Hong Kong. However, China has continued to claim that Taiwan is part of China and thus should not be recognized as an independent country.

A clear sign of the prosperity of Taiwan today is that the tallest building in the world is located in the capital, Taipei. At 508 meters the Taipei 101 (101 floors) is the landmark of the capital. We went to see the building one evening and had a great view of the capital from the top (brought there by the fastest elevator in the world - of course...). Furthermore, Taiwan has the 16th largest economy in the world!!

Of course we all know that prosperity is not reflected in the trivial question of who has the tallest building. A much more important question is - who has the tallest ice cream!!! On that account, this street stall in Taipei is a good bet - at least Anne Sofie seems to think so ;-)

Pictures for Hong Kong Part II

The first picture shows Carsten and Emma chosing dishes from the trolley. Underneath is the famous Star Ferry crossing Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. Finally a picture of HK at night.

Hong Kong II

The original plan was to spend one and a half day in Hong Kong before leaving for Taiwan. Instead, we ended up spending four days in Hong Kong since we got a bit tired of mainland China in the end. As it turned out, we did not regret that choice!!

Hong Kong is quite a pleasant city to visit. The combination of Eastern food and traditions, raging capitalism and British colonial history makes Hong Kong a unique place to visit in Asia. The tram on Hong Kong Island - which will also take you to the picturesque Victoria Peak - and the famous Star Ferry, which will take you across the harbour, remind one of 18th century Britain. The magnificent skyline and the pulse of Central district underline the importance of business and money in the identity of the city. On the other hand, when you leave the beaten track and walk around the back alleys of Hong Kong you see how traditional Chinese life is also flourishing in Hong Kong: street restaurants, markets, tempels and tai-chi in the parks in the morning. It is all there in the cultural melting pot that is Hong Kong today. And we like it!!

Our main reason for coming to Hong Kong was to visit our friend Emma with whom Anne Sofie studied in London. Emma is from Hong Kong and works there as well. So we hooked up with Emma and her boyfriend Sheng and had a couple of very good days in Hong Kong with them. We visited an island outside the city center and also went to the town where Emma lives - again a bit outside the city center. The most memorable experience was the Sunday morning dim sum we had with Emma on our last day in Hong Kong. Dim sum is the cantonese version of a western brunch. Usually the entire family will go to a restaurant and order a huge number of small dishes and then while away a couple of hours eating, talking, and reading newspapers. We went to a local restaurant close to Emma's home and had a good time ordering different dishes, eating, and just watching the locals. The most distinct feature of the dim sum experience is that waiters are pushing trolleys around the restaurant, while announcing the dishes they have on their specific trolley. If you like it you simply go up to the trolley and ask for it. It is a good way of trying new dishes but as you can imagine, when the popular dishes are on the trolleys the restaurant tends to turn in to a crowd of people rushing around and 'fighting' for the good dishes...

Hong Kong...

These are impressions from Hong Kong where we met with YungFan, our friend from LSE, and her boy friend, Sheng. We enjoyed a couple of days in the city of tall buildings - and dim sum! Since we are currently in Taiwan, doing our best to make the most of our short stay here, we will have to return later with more information on HK - and of course on Taiwan as well...

Offending Mao? Apparantly so...

Has anybody heard about the infamous Chinese internet firewall?? Firms like Google have had to accept that the Chinese government limits access to a number of web sites which are critical towards the Chinese government.

When we first arrived in Beijing, we were able to access the jj.explorer blog without any trouble. But since we published the first reports from China on the blog, we have not been able to access the blog. We have been able to upload pictures and text but not see the results ourselves. On Monday we arrived in Macao, a former Portuguese colony, which is now part of China as a special administrative area - just like Hong Kong, where we are now. In both places we are now perfectly able to access the blog. So apparantly we have written something which has been deemed too critical by the Chinese authorities!! And apparantly the ugly hand of the Chinese government cannot limit free speach in the former colonies of Macau and Hong Kong!!

Interesting - don't you think?

By the way, Macau was not very interesting. It is like a mini Las Vegas with a lot of casinos. We did get a nice day on a beach though - all by ourselves...

Pictures for Yangshuo part II

So we managed to get the pictures for Yangshuo Part II uploaded. Sorry for the first being on the side...

Picture problem

Hello.

As you can see there are no pictures from Yangshou at the moment. We are working on the problem - but we can promise that they are very good!!

Boat trip (Yangshuo Part III)

On Saturday, we hired a local guide to take us down the Li River to a small village. We had a small boat for ourselves and could relax on the front deck enjoying the, once again, beautiful wheather. Passing by the fantastic topographical scenery of Yangshuo, local fishermen on bamboo rafts, water buffalos relaxing in the river and locals doing their laundry on the shores, we, once again, had a fantastic day...

On two weels in the rice fields (Yangshuo Part II)

Going on a bycicle trip in the fields surrounding Yangshuo was one of our priorities when we arrived and something we had been recommended from different sides. Thus, when a nice Chinese woman called Wendy approached us during our late lunch on the day of our arrival we promptly agreed to having her as our guide.

As it turned out we had a great day in beautiful sunshine and 25-30 degrees C. Wendy knew a lot of shortcuts and small roads leading us through rice fields, orange gardens, beautiful mountains, across rivers and not least into her home in a small village outside Yangshuo. The province is very fertile and farmers are able to grow bananas, oranges, pomelos, peanuts, sugar canes etc. By cycling around in the fields we got a great impression of how people live outside towns and larger cities. It is lovely and romantic but also very very inefficient if you ask a Westerner. No machines are used except an occasional tractor and a simple machine that seperates the rice from the straws. That's it!!

Another great aspect of the trip was that Wendy, who had taught herself to speak English so that she could earn enough money to send her kids to university, was ready to answer all our questions about China. It was striking how many times she would refer to the way things got better after 1980 - i.e. when Deng Xiaoping took over from Mao. Farmers were able to grow other crops than rice, they now own their own houses, and are able to make a profit by working hard. She even told us how her grand mother had died during the famine following Mao's crazy "Great Leap Forward' in 1959. However, to underline the ambiguity of China today, Wendy still had a big Mao portrait in her living room...as they say in China: Mao was 70 % right and 30 % wrong. To us it seems to be the other way around!! (se picture of Wendy, her mother-in-law and her son).

Yangshuo (Part I)

Ahh Yangshuo! Located in what must be one of the most special topographic areas in the world, Yangshuo is a small town perfect for relaxing after travelling for 5 weeks. This part of the Guangxi province in Southern China is world famous for its small dotty mountain ranges with each mountain (or hill) taking a unique shape. In fact the city of Guilin 65 km north of Yangshuo is one of the most famous tourist spots in China. However, smaller Yangshuo is much more cosy and the mountains are more plentiful and more beautiful here compared to Guilin. Thus, we chose to go directly to Yangshuo, which we did not regret!!

We have been in Yangshuo for 4 days. To spoil ourselves we took a room with a balcony and a view (120 yuan pr. night= 90 DKK). As the view from our balcony suggests we did not regret this choice either... (first picture).