We’ve taken a few trips to Hong Kong but our last trip turned bad when one of our team members was stopped by customs agents on the way back into China and was held for questioning.  Most of us were already outside and we were trying to figure out what he was being held for.  Robert had come along to buy some Parmesan but only later realized that it was prohibited to bring cheese into China.  Could they really have cared so much about a few ounces of cheese?

Hong Kong is owned and controlled by China but it is practically a different country with its own currency and a less strict visa policy than mainland China.  It turns out that Robert had already used up the two entries on his two entry visa and China wouldn’t let him back into the country.  We had taken the last ferry back so the customs agents drove Robert back to the Hong Kong/ Kowloon border in a taxi where they dropped him off.  He’d have to get a new visa before they allowed him to re-enter.

After a long couple of nights and an expensive expedited visa, Robert finally made it back to us.  And for the Parmesan, Robert had slipped it to our office translator before anyone spotted it.  He’s a great cook and he made us a delicious Italian meal a few days later.  We savored every ounce of Parmesan, worth its weight in gold.

I want to try and start adding a photo a day, even if its just a small something.  It might be difficult with the schedule but I’ll try.  Thanks for the great feedback everyone.

This the team at ANTS animations Studio.

 

 

I haven’t gotten those t-shirt pics yet but hopefully I will soon.  Here are some things I’ve seen around town.

Happy Halloween! I know its a bit late but this is Halloween in front of a theme park in downtown Shenzhen.

I walked into this huge mall and there was an ice skating rink on the lower floor, with an ice dancer skating around.  Pretty cool.

We wandered through this neighborhood while trying to find the mall.  The inner city is pretty intense.

Hong village is approximately 600 years old and has been preserved as a world heritage site.  At the center of the town is a man made water reserve to hold water for washing, cleaning and for good Feng shui.

There is also a man made lake to the south of town.

A river runs across the edge of town.  This side is technically the “new side” and is more modern.

The town is mostly based on tourism now but its still beautiful to walk down its many narrow streets and alleys.

A lot of people in town make various hot sauces.  Yes, they are very spicy, you can hardly walk by without getting a nose full.

 

The process of making a local crepe like flat-bread.

It rained for the last two days we were there.  The village was built for water though.  Streams run alongside the buildings rain or shine and you can always hear the rain falling into the courtyards while you relax or sleep.

There are lots of gardens and farms on the edge of the village.

A beautiful misty morning on our way out of town.

Between traveling to small towns we had a half day layover in Shanghai.  We took full advantage by taking a taxi downtown and spending a few hours at the Bund, the neighborhood on the Huangpu river that separates the old district and the new high tech strip.

The side of the river we were on has the older European banks and trade buildings.

We traveled to a beautiful old market district not far from the river.  This street shopping area has probably been rebuilt many times but it was beautiful nonetheless.

There is a famous tea house in the center that you walk a small bridge to get to.

 

Some lunch options.  Bird on a stick.

We settled on this cafeteria style food court.  Food is cheap here for the most part.  A bottle of tea or soda is around 50 cents.  An ice cream cone is less than a dollar.  Most lunches are only 4 or 5 dollars unless you start getting fancy stuff and even then it’s never much more than 10 even with a drink.

Shanghai is also home to The Great Wall of Chocolate!

Shots from a few temples in Central China.

 

We started our trip from Shenzhen International Airport which is an extremely massive airport that is more or less one giant room shaped like an space aged airplane.  It’s close to a mile long, all indoors, all one room.

We flew to a small airport in central China where we took a bus into the heart of China.  We arrived late at night at Wudang village, an extremely mountainous part of China that has several temples and shrines built over 600 years ago for the emperor so that he could relax in the very center of China.  This mountain region is the home to the Taoists and Tai Chi.

On the left is the hotel where we stayed two nights.  We hiked out from here.

The first morning we started out on our hike to the top of the mountain.  Here are some of the temples we saw on the way that were built into the rocks.  We got to hike around and into this one on the second day.  We were told that the hike was pretty tough and that there were a lot of ups and downs but none of us were quite ready for the 7500 stairs.

stairs and stairs and stairs

and more stairs.

and

and stairs… until you need to take a break after every few steps to let your muscles stop screaming at you.

Luckily we had a bit of help.  It turns out that our boss had hired these guys to follow us up just in case, so we all took a ride just for the fun of it.  I felt pretty bad having these guys haul me up this set of steps.  It was also extremely scary, they’re shuffling up, one step at a time and the guy in front is hitting his heal on my foot rest.  I kept thinking he was going to trip even though I’m sure he’s done this a thousand times.  I couldn’t help imagining bouncing down the hill in this thing though.

There were many beautiful little bridges, houses, temples and food shops (eggs and veggies and snickers) on the way.

Getting closer to the top.

Finally at the top, there was a gorgeous temple and many shrines.

I get lots of kids wanting their photo with me.  Here I am at the topmost shrine.

And it was here that I left a symbol of my love.

A keyless lock with the initials SL+SMG