Vietnam

Girls carrying a younger brother in a hill tribe near Sa Pa in the mountains of Vietnam. On the last morning of our biking trip, we went off roading and visited a Thai village. We were invited into a house which was so similar to the huts in Ecuador it convinced me of the theory that the tribes migrated from China and Mongolia. The funny part was the main living area included a wood burning fire with a cooking pot, a loom and a television playing "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" in Vietnamese.

View from a scenic spot in Ha Long Bay which we fondly knicknamed "how long" bay. We joined a package trip from hanoi which started with a 3 hour bus ride in a tiny van crammed with 12 people and lots of luggage. Our bus made a rather long stop at a tourist trap of a shop which was stopping point for all the Ha long Bay tours. Unfortunately, we got there early and our van was trapped for much longer than expected. We also waited quite a while for our boat and then the next boat. We ended up reaching the hotel 4 hours late but then got in trouble for being 5 minutes late for dinner. Even with all of the waiting, the scenery was beautiful!

Carla and Marcus in a cyclo touring Hanoi on our second day. We rode the cyclos past pagodas, the main lake and jumped out at the Ho Chi Min's museum.

Paul and me on the second boat in Ha Long Bay. The boat was tiny but the views from the top deck were spectacular. The tiny huts behind us were built on the water. The villages were spread out throughout the bay.

On the first day of our bike trip, we stopped at a local school to drop off stationary, pencils and markers. Our presence completely interrupted all classes and the kids ran around us saying "hi" and using other English phrases that they must be learning in school. The teachers invited us inside for tea, and then we took a photo outside with the whole school.

Wedding in Spain

In early August, I flew to Spain and met up with Paul to go to the wedding of another teacher that works at the Chinese International school. Patrick works at CIS and he is from New Haven, Connecticut. His wife, Nuria, is from Spain. The wedding took place in a small town just north of Barcelona where Nuria's family lives. The town is right on the water and was built up into the mountains.

The wedding took place in a Catholic church in down by the ocean. Most of the ceremony was in spanish, so Patrick had to be nudged whenever it was his turn to speak. Luckily he didn't have to say much more that si.

World Cup in Italy

Ave and I traveled back from Cinque Terra to Pisa on Sunday in order to catch an early morning flight back to the US. We also arrived just in time to watch the last World Cup game from a bridge in Pisa. Ave had picked out her favorite pizza restaurant to eat in for dinner and then left plenty of time for us to find a bar to watch the game. However, the whole town was shut down because of the game, so we ended up getting kebabs, gelato and beer. Then we watched the game on a big screen put up in the middle of the street.

Neither of us thought that Italy was going to win. The honking and celebrating lasted all night. We ended up leaving Pisa at 7am the next morning not having seen the leaning tower or having had any pizza.

Cinque Terra

Over the summer, I met up with Avelyn in Italy just as she finished her May mester classes. I flew into Venice and traveled back with her group to Florence where I stayed with her host family. While Avelyn was in classes, I wandered the streets and drank countless numbers of cappachinos. Hong Kong is definitely lacking good coffee!

After exams, Avelyn and I headed to Cinque Terra for a weekend of hiking. We made it through all the trails that link the five villages the first night, and due to complications with the train, we spent the rest of the weekend suntanning on the beach, shopping and eating great seafood. (photos above)

Dragon Boating Races

The practices and races take place at Stanley which is on the southern side of the island. Teams are legally only allowed to practice 10 times before the race but the professional teams are known to buy their own boats to get around this rule. Our team was a mixed male/female team. We were called the Sundowners and are in the orang tops on the left. The boats around the edges are tied closely together and form a perfect horseshoe around the racing area. Everyone not racing hangs out on the boat watching, eating, drinking and dancing to the blaring music.
This was the end of the second race of the day for our team. All the boats paddle out turn towards the beach and wait for the gun before racing back in to the beach.

This is a photo of the whole team. I am in the front and I work with Belinda (on my left) and Carla (3rd from the left in the front row).

Long Delay!

Due to my own stupidity when packing this summer, I have not been able to load pictures on to my computer and add to the blog until now. I hope you enjoy the short blurbs and the pictures.