Tianaman Square and The Great Wall

So Mel from New Zealand and Carley from Washington D.C. (La Nae's little sister) and Rhett and I went all together from Tian Jin to Beijing and then up to the great wall. The Cheungs put us up on Saturday night in Tian Jin... it was so nice! (Thanks guys!) We had a blast at the wall!


Yeah, we took a zip line off the great wall of China!

It was fun.. (Incase you couldnt tell)

They hooked two of us together to go faster... This is Mel and Carley

Great Wall

Rhett




Court Yard of the Ancient City

Sweet Picture.. Thats Rhett

Tianaman Square

Heaveny Gate of Peace... Or something.. Entrance to the Ancient City

Rhett Carley Mel Austin

China...

More China... While we were there we met Vivian, definatley my most favorite Chinese person that I met. She was soo funny. She spoke perfect English and was a Chinese Native, so she would translate for us to all the vendors and random Chinese we saw...

This girl just liked Rhett and wanted his picutre

Vivian on the Left Translating for Me

Shang Hai Skate Park... Biggest skate park in the world and its free and EMPTY!

Vivian taught me how to ask a girl if she had a boyfriend in Chinese... So I would do it just to amuse her... I never really knew what they responded, but it was all just for fun anyway...

"The Bund" - Downtown Shanghai

Pearl Shopping

This Lady Made your Peals! (well put them on the bands...)

I had a crown cheering for me... Asian investors checking out the area come in groups to see the skate park. They have never seen skating before and didnt realize I was far from great... Hence the applause after my run..

So here's a funny story: This girl we met in McDonalds. We had just got off the train from Shanghai to Bejing and went into McDonalds for breakfast. We were planning to met our friends from New Zealand at the airport in like 5 hours. We werent sure we'd be able to stay with them because of room in their house but thought we should at least go and met them at the airport. Well, I noticed this Chinese girl "Jing Jing" looking over at us... So since I didnt know where the heck we were on the map I decided to go ask her if she knew where we were. Well, one thing led to another and she turned out to be very very helpful. haha. She ended up taking us all around Beijing for the day. She bought us drinks and taxi fare and a game of minature golf, and even our bus ride up to the airport! haha. When we got to the airport and met up with our friends we found out they didnt have room for us. So.... we called Jing Jing. Sure enough she had us sleep at her and her brothers house! haha. She bought us dinner, and paid for some of our taxi and even bought our train ticket the next day down to our frineds in Tin Jian! Haha.. we have no idea why she was so good to us... and no matter how hard we tried to turn down her hospitality it wouldnt due. She just payed and payed and payed! haha. Who would have thought we'd get all of that from a random girl we met in McDonalds the same day!

This is us eating dinner with her brother and friends. It was really good...

We hitched in the back of a moving van...

Zhouzhuang

So Wayne and Sherry decided to show Dirk a good time while in China since he has yet to really enjoy himself. So they took us to this little water city outside of Shanghai. It was pretty cool. It looked like I would imagine Venice, only dirty stinky and full of asians...but...it was still way fun!






This guy would hunt fish with those birds! He had like 4 out in the water and would smack the water and the fish would dive in and come up with fish in their beaks... it was sweet...



After the Trip we all got foot massages

Pearl Necklaces??

Hey everybody. Well, we're trying to make a few extra bucks to get us through Europe, and are looking for some feedback from whoever looks at this. We are wondering how happenen pearls are these days... There are a few pearl shops here in Shanghai that our friends here know about that sell pearls for pretty cheap. We're wondering if we send home some necklaces or bracelets with Dirk, if anybody would be interested in buying them? They have all sorts of shapes and colors, and we'd probably sell them for around $30-40US back at our house in Huntington. Our friends have lived here for 12 years and are certain that the pearls from their contact here are real... they've had them appraised back home. I donno, just curious if anybody would be interested... You can let us know by posting a comment on this blog... Just click where it says "comments" it might have a number infront of it depending on how many comments have already been left... Ok, thanks!

P.S. You have by Tuesday to let us know, cause thats when Dirk comes back... Love you guys

Shanghai

Haha! Dad is sound asleep! We are staying in probably the nicest hotel that we have ever been in our whole lives! It sure is good to be with ole Dirk. Who would have thought we'd ever be hanging out in China together! Still no mustache but his hair is sweet. He was rockin the wave right before bed... We enjoyed all we can eat buffet tonight and stuffed ourselves. (its not that often we get all we can eat!) He has to go to the factory tomorrow morning so we are going to go explore and see what we can find!

Shenzhen to Shanghai

Holy Hell! So we are cheap...okay we admit that. Here is an example of just how cheap... So we we caught the subway from Hong Kong, to the China border.. 5 bucks each. We walk into China and go to buy our 30 dollar tickets on the "Hard Seats" on the 18 hour train up to Shanghai to meet Dirk. Well... while in line, we were told that the seats for 30 dollars were sold out, but we could either go the next day (wouldnt work, cause we had arrangments for that day) or we could pay 20 bucks more each for better seats that weren't sold out. So we were bummed.. and kept asking for the 30 dollar seats... Finally, two tickets popped up on the screen that said 30 dollar! So we were stoked... but the guy started laughing...then the lady behind him in the booth started laughing. Then the people in line next to us started laughing. We asked what was so funny and they said that they would sell it to us, but we wouldnt have a seat...we would have to STAND the whole trip! Haha... So we figured.. might as well... ! Little did we know it would freakin suck! But really, it was awesome. We got to stand for like 3 hours, until I was so sick of standing I just sat on the floor in the middle of the isle and made everybody walk over me. Its not like everybody just sits quietly.. people are constantly up and about walking around. And there are tons of other people too standing the whole way. So the train is packed. And we are the only white people. Not in the whole car, but on the whole train! Seriously. So after a few mintues of me in everybodys way, the train lady brought out buckets for Rhett and me to sit on. This brought a loud uproar of laughter from all the Chinamen who we had yet to even see crack a smile! haha... After my butt fell asleep from sitting on that stupid bucket I just said forget it... and layed in the side of the isle on the floor! We hardly got any sleep at all and were probably the most uncomfortable and cranky we'd been the whole trip! Wayne Shmerler (sorry wayne, dont know how to spell that one) picked us up from the train and he and his wife Sherry treates us like Kings with our own beds and Pancakes and eggs! We crashed for 9 hours all day at his house! Lets just say on the train to Beijing we definately are either buying seats earlier.. OR, we are kicking some asian out of his seat!







When I moved to the floor the lady behind me stole my bucket


These kids were so cute. Rhett was showing them footage of us surfing Fiji on our Camera and they were freaking out...it was so funny. Like 5 Chinese guys were up and looking at it...


This is Wayne and Sherrys place... Nice. The trees you see are the border of the Shanghai Zoo. They used to be able to hear the lions and tigers roar at night!

Hong Kong

Every night at 8 they have a light show off the buildings in the harbour...pretty cool




I just sat here for 3 hours with the Ipod looking at this view... I couldnt get enough


This is a view from Victoria Peak... Way up on a Mountain overlooking Hong Kong... Probably one of the best views the whole trip...

Hong Kong

Well, first off, let me just say that we had a blast in Thailand! The Judds are amazing and we had so much fun! It definately would not have been the same with out them and our hard core gaming and tennis matches! Thanks David and Iris! We found some tennis courts here in China, David, and I'll be practicing to make sure I secure another victory!! haha... Well, the flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong on Srilankian Airlines was pretty good. We arrived in Hong Kong and went straight to our hostel... A room with 12 other people...not a pleasant experience coming from the luxory we had in Thailand and New Zealand! It was alirght none the less... we had a good view perfect for waterballoonage... So it just so happened that the Perrys, (the family that was all too good to us up in Chang Mai Thailand), were in Hong Kong the same days we were! So we teamed up on Friday and adventured through Hong Kong. We must have walked further that day than we have in a long time as we roamed the city, seeing the sites! Saturday we went to the temple and did a session. We helped the youth with baptisms for the dead right before the session and got to do some chinese names! That was pretty sweet trying to pronounce those names! Then Sunday, Mothers Day, we went to Church and got hooked up with two outstanding meals from the amazing ward members there. Came home and secured some connections in Mainland China...


Us with David and Princess Pinky


The same plus Iris


Hong Kong Temple

With the Perrys

McDonals, we found the Elders and brought them along

This was the tram ride up the "Big Buddah"... the coolest views through the Hong Kong Mountains. Spectacular!

I wonder what they're advertizing