china – Page 10 – Travel and Living in China…

Dinner party

DINNER PARTY

Tonight, I invited my new friends to a nice dinner in Kunming. Several of them speak very good English and they are all very interesting people. They are all very nice people who have welcomed me as their new “American friend” . I hosted this dinner of about 20 courses including wine and “Chinese water” which is a 50% rice alcohol drink, not tasting anything like sake. The food is amazing!
All these people are “very high” in the Kunming community. They include a dentist, doctor, scientist, chief narcotics customs officer, travel agent, government officer, nurse and university professor. We had a great time in our private party room, and I am learning quite a lot about the Chinese culture. I find the people very warm and open. They all are happy to “look after me” and help me to adjust to living here in China. The pic is one of many “Gambei’s” (toasts). I was required to toast each one individually as well as all together. Of course they in turn must each toast me. I might add that a Gambei is not accepted if you do not drink the entire glass at each toast! I must turn my glass upside down each time to be sure nothing drips from the glass. If it does, I must do the toast again!
After several hours of dinner, I settled the bill ($58.75) and slowly found my way back to my apartment. My policeman friend assured me that he would “cover me” if I was stopped on the way home. Actually I decided to stop for some coffee at the City Garden Cafe next door before driving anywhere.

Got my license!

GOT MY LICENSE!

Yesterday morning it was off to the Chinese drivers license office for my test. They handed me a 100 question test in English for God’s sake! Of course I only had a Chinese book to study, but what the hell. Anyway, I take this test with questions like…”When traveling in a primary car on a road unmarked by signs, you can….A. raise your speed to fit the road. B. lower your speed and watch for cows……..C. remain seated and alert. Hmmmm. what the hell do they want here?????? Let’s not forget showing a picture of a Chinese sign and I have 3 choices to know what it says!!! Somehow I managed to get an 83 on the test. I was feeling quite proud of myself until they informed me that I failed! I need a 90 or better to pass. I took the test again, and got a 95! Go figure. So now I am the proud owner of a Chinese drivers license. COOL!!!!
So I drove around a little, dodging horse carts, bicycles, people, dogs, motorcycles, cars, small animals and cows… all normal in the downtown section. You can imagine what happens outside of downtown! There are things being pulled, pushed, dragged and generally just lying around all over the place! Makes driving here a real eye opener! Pictures to follow later! Thats it for now………………..

Christmas in Sanya

XMAS IN SANYA

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Merry Christmas everyone! I enjoyed my holiday in the South China sea island of Hainan. This town is called Sanya and is considered the Hawaii of the far east. The weather here is in the 70’s and sunny. I did have a few days of cloudy skies, but it is still warm. The sea is cool but you can swim. Beautiful beaches and good food abounds.
I stayed at two different resorts. The Catus Resort and the Sanya Shanhaitian Hotel are 5 start resorts. There is a lot to see around the island, although I opted for a relaxed venue and enjoyed going to the beach and eating. I guess things are expensive for Chinese standards, but still reasonable considering. They just had the Miss World competition here on Dec 10th. All in all I think the Hawaii refrence is over rated, but still this is a very nice place to visit. Many things come form this island. They grow coffee, pepper (table), cocoa, coconuts, rubber seem to be the main exports from here.
Walking down the beach, I was confronted by a Chinese military dude with a big dog. He seemed nervous and excited as he told me to turn around and go back. Apparently this part of the beach was “military” and I was not welcome there. I later found out this was where the US fighter plane was damaged and forced to land last year by the mid air collision with a Chinese fighter plane.
You can see some of my pictures from here to get an idea of Sanya. THe Chinese love their fireworks and I was surprised to be able to buy 8″ shells to launch form the beach! They cost about $4.50 each. I just watched as a barrage of these shells were launched all night Christmas eve. I can’t believe you can play with this stuff.
The Chinese go on the beach wearing suits and ties. SOme actually wear bathing suits and swim, but most try to stay out of the sun and just walk around. It is funny to see them in suits and barefoot walking around.