Lights, Camera, Pandas!

So, the other day I got news that a panda lantern display had come from Chengdu to Wuhan for all the month of April. I was invited to go with a big ol' group of Chinese friends and American friends. It was amazing, at night of course. In the daylight, it wasn't much. But hey, that's lights.We ate on the "fairgrounds" (it basically was a Chinese state fair, there was even a small roller coaster) of the display which was set in Wuhan's beautiful East Lake Park. I enjoyed some things cooked on a stick and a little bit of the flavor of Sichuan.


 I even managed to get a picture with the coolest guys on the scene. The Muslim chuar grillers. These bad boys were making the big bucks by upping their sales with hip and loud techno beats and a strobe light. It worked, there were crowds gathered and my Tookish side won over and I boldly danced at his side doing a strange arms-out-head-bobbing middle eastern dance.

Blossoms

So recently I saw spring. The trees blossomed with the changes in temperature and on two occasion I spent the day taking them in and capturing photos. It was really good even though the second occasion was marked with rainfall throughout. It was better though because it looked eerie and artistic which being a photography amateur, I'll take it from whatever dishes it out, weather included.

I also felt it. I just can't describe what this winter was like for me looking back. It was kind of like clothing yourself every day knowing that the whole day will be spent outside, even though you'll mostly be indoors. I guess I never really appreciated central heating while I endured "hard" winters in America. But it was really just sprinting to the next heated box, whether it was my dorm room, school building, cafeteria, or car. That's why I could be one of those crazy high schoolers who went around in winter without a jacket. Because I honestly didn't need one. I wasn't outside long enough to feel any considerable amount of cold.
Also I never appreciated that fact that we believe in heating. It just so happened that I was teaching a unit on health. The students would constantly suggest not using heat because it will make you sick. Something to do with temperature change. The only time heat can be used is to heat up water all year round. Is is freezing out??Hot water. OK. Is is hotter than blazes? Hot water. What?!?
Yeah so, multiple times I encountered instances of a perfectly good heater remaining in the corner turned off. Or even more hilarious was when the heater was on but the windows and door were open creating a sizable draft.

But all that's over now and I can barely remember the days of constantly cold hands, and heating up little water sacks and throwing them into my bed a half hour before bedtime. It's all good here and I've got the pictures to prove it.

Vietnam

I realize that this spring festival tell-all has dragged on for far too long. It's actually spring now. So you know its getting old. So I will try to accomplish what I have to say about Vietnam in one swift stroke. 

Getting to Vietnam like the rest of our travels during break was wrought with uncertainty and a severe lack of planning. But it was alright we were going to make it. Somehow. It happened to turn out that somehow meant 4 million dong. Yeah, for a variety of factors, the biggest one being Tet, which is basically the Chinese New Year with a Vietnamese take, we came into Vietnam at one of the worst possible times. The borders were closed which sacked our bis ride plan, and our e-mail visa thing wasn't happening because the approaching holiday and so the workers "couldn't be bothered". So we ended up having to pay more than we wanted to in order to get in. And that's how I became briefly a millionaire. Four million dong for three on-arrival visas. 

Well, airport heinousness behind, we found our place in Ho Chi Minh. We saw a lot of Vietnam-America remnants including the tunnels and a museum. We got suckered into a Mekong delta tour rip-off. And we saw some amazing flower displays for Tet. I must say that for whatever reason, from the time we landed in Vietnam we didn't exactly feel welcome. Our passports were thrown back at us, and the travel agent from which we bought a tour told us all the things we wanted to see in town were closed (They weren't). But I probably over thought it and soon enough we found Ho Chi Minh delightful. But we barely scratched the surface of the historical jewel before we had to continue to Ha Noi.

Hanoi was great. The city was visually historical and a feast for my camera. We navigated through congested french streets all decked out in Vietnam flags and way too many electrical cables. We took in what we could before our two day Ha Long Bay cruise. Ha Long bay was so cool I can't describe it. Although most hoped for good weather, I found the fogginess to only add to the mysterious and mythical feel. When we returned to Ha Noi we dined on Vietnamese cuisine and saw a water puppet show. I would have to say it was interesting and hilarious at the same time. On the one hand it is extremely traditional and has been going on for many years. But on the other hand, you almost wish they would update it a little bit. There was one point in the show where one of the horse puppets, which are little more than wooden puppets with a control stick under the water, broke off and had to be dragged back behind the curtain. But it was very cool to transported back to a mode of entertainment that didn't have to involve electricity. But by far the best part of our trip to Ha Noi was our host. She is a teacher in Ha Noi but and american. She gave us not only the best of Ha Noi but shared with us her life in Indonesia and her new life in Ha Noi and fed us with American food. It was an excellent end to an awesome vacation. 

I say this was the end even though there was till Hong Kong, but the Hong Kong retreat, it is fair to say, was its own beast, which I cannot tell well through this medium. Ask me about it some time. And of course, there are pictures.