Fancy Dress, Wigs, Kilts and Hats...Oh My!!

Dressing up is fun and we have been doing it surprisingly often this past month.

Embassy House's 10th Anniversary Gala

Golden Week in Yangshuo, China

There are two "Golden Weeks" in the mainland of the People's Republic of China.  They are national holidays where ALL of China has those days off.

In 2010 we stayed in Beijing and enjoyed the lovely weather and were tourists in our new city.  In 2011 we went to Halong Bay in Vietnam and Angkor Wat in Cambodia.  This year we were even MORE adventurous.  We decided to travel IN China with a hundred million plus Chinese!   This had the potential to go very wrong....

We had two hours of sitting in HORRIBLE traffic one night but that was the only blemish on a wonderful week.  It could have been like this...

or this....

but thankfully it was like this....

Summer in the USA

It had been almost a year since we had been in the US so imagine our thrill to be going back for 7 whole weeks.  The only possible downer was all my friends and sisters were in Houston while we were going to the sleepy town of Beaufort, South Carolina. 

Patrick and I purchased this little house on 2 acres of deep water in 2006 but had never lived in the home or spent any longer than a week there.  This was going to be a HUGE test on whether we could see ourselves living in South Carolina during Patrick's retirement years.  Since my parents moved into our house earlier this year, it is now our home base in the US.

Highlights from April, May & June

April 2012

• Easter Day Bike Ride to the Lama Temple

Spring Break in Hong Kong - April 2012

Since Patrick and Fiona went to Hong Kong last year for Fiona's broken arm surgery, they've been raving about how beautiful it was and how they wanted to go back to explore.  We booked our trip for the first week of April.

As a side note ... as you may know, China is polluted....very polluted so we tend to 'escape' China during holidays to get some fresh air.  We assumed Hong Kong would be "blue sky" beautiful like it was last year.  Not the case...at all...

This was NOT our best holiday.  We picked the wrong hotel (it was nice but not in the area we should have been).  But the main thing for me was it was 'hazy' every day.  Was it 'hazy' or 'polluted'?  I asked a local and he said it was pollution from Mainland China.  Since I am now a pollution connoisseur, I can say that HK pollution does not have the same Beijing flavor and smell. (That's a good thing.)

So much for New Year's Resolutions....

What a sucky blogger I am!  Don't even try to argue with me...I know it's true but in my defense, I sat down in May to write and my VPN wouldn't let me upload pictures.  And then I went away for 7 weeks and now I am playing catch-up.  Bear with me as I cram in 9 months of blogs into a few hours.

February 2012

•  Fiona and Patrick went to her 2nd Father/Daughter Dance with the Girl Scouts.

Escaping China To Be Sick in Thailand

Chinese New Year began on January 23, 2012.  It is the Year of the Dragon.  The Year of the Dragon is one of the most revered years of the Chinese New Year calendar, and those born under the sign are regarded as innovative, passionate people who are colorful, confident and fearless.  No plans for any McVeigh babies so moving on....

Like October Holiday, Chinese New Year is a national holiday where everyone gets the week off.  That means E.V.E.R.Y.O.N.E....as in 1.3 billion Chinese who absolutely adore fireworks (they invented them, ya know?)  It is very common for foreigners to leave China to escape these holidays.  In October, you could stick around (we did in 2010) because the weather is usually nice but no one has ever said that about January in Beijing.  Add non-stop fireworks/firecrackers on top of the massively cold weather, dash a bit of pollution on a few of those days, take out your helpful ayi and your driver (they have the week off) and you have a recipe for a trip....how about a trip to Northern Thailand?

Christmas on a Boat

We departed Beijing on December 15th on a direct flight to Sydney.  We arrived on the 16th very tired but ready to see New Zealand.  Here is the boat we will spend the next 13 days living on....

The Dorky Charlie Angel's Pose is Patrick's Idea....

Departure Party on the Top Deck was lovely as we cruised through Sydney Harbor.

Opera House in the distance

Farewell Sydney....for now....

Merry Christmas from the McVeighs

This will be the first year in a very long time where I am not sending out a Christmas card.  I looked into having them printed and spending $1-$1.49 each to have them addressed and mailed but in the end, I ran out of time.  You can not expect me to update this blog (months behind schedule) AND organize Christmas card deliveries from China!  I imagine all of you understand and it's not like you don't know what we have been up to in 2011... thanks to this blog.

But for the sake of my guilty conscience...please imagine this is a postcard, addressed by Shutterfly and mailed on time to arrive in your mailbox before Christmas.

Merry Christmas from the McVeigh Family

We are off on another adventure tomorrow.  We leave for Sydney where we will catch the Sea Princess to New Zealand.  After spending 13 days on board seeing Bay of Islands, Auckland, Tauranga, Napier, Wellington, Akaroa, Dunedin and Fiordland Nat'l Park, we will return to Sydney in time for New Year's Eve overlooking the Sydney Opera House.  Very excited but I've got to start packing!!

My new year's resolution is to be better at keeping this blog up-to-date.  Let's see how long it takes me to post pics from Down Under.

Merry Christmas to all of you...I wish we would be seeing you this Christmas.
xoxo

October Holiday to Vietnam & Cambodia

I am the McVeigh Family's travel agent (non-paying gig but I get to tag along to some amazing places).  Some thought I was crazy to book Halong Bay AND Angkor Wat in ONE week!  They said it couldn't be done...'way too much to see in such a short time.'  Well...'they' were wrong.  It can be done but it was not terribly relaxing, oftentimes stressful and there was NO kids club.  So we needed a vacation from our vacation but it was AMAZING!

We flew into Hanoi, Vietnam on October 1st.  We were booked on a 3 day/2 night Junk Boat cruise.  Why is it called a junk boat?  It took this blog for me to google that little question.  Here's the scoop.

The type of Chinese sailing boat called a 'junk' derives its name from the Portugese 'junco' which came from the Malay 'jong', which is thought to come from the Javanese 'djong'.  The word 'junk' in this sense has been used in English since at least the fourteenth century and probably earlier.

Now that I have educated myself and you...let's get to some pictures.

Summer 2011 - Trip to Texas & Durango

(This post was written on September 19, 2011 - I saved it and three months later, am finally sending it.)

Let's start from the beginning.  As in the ignorant bliss I was experiencing while packing and then boarding the plane. I assumed the plane from Beijing to Chicago would have TV/movie screens on the back of each head rest.  The plane had it in December from Beijing to Newark so why would it be different this time?  I didn't bring any electronic entertainment device (except my Iphone) and only a few activity books.  I was counting on those little screens to kill time until the girls fell asleep.

So imagine me standing in the aisle of a humongous United plane, with a hundred people in front and a hundred people behind me, and the realization that there were NO little screens to save me from my bored children.  I seriously had a little panic attack and wanted to run away...but there was nowhere to run...I was trapped!  And then I see we have the seats that don't recline...you know the ones...backing up to the toilets.  Oh, goody....this is really going to suck!!

It did suck but not as much as I imagined.  A very nice lady named Gigi sat next to Fiona while I sat next to Isla.  She was very helpful during dinner and spent time playing games with Fiona.  One of Fiona's Girl Scout friends shared her Ipad for about an hour which was a lifesaver.  Fiona fell asleep across Isla's and her seat while Isla fell asleep on me.  Yep!  Isla slept on top of me for S.E.V.E.N. hours.  I would occasionally have to shift different parts of my body to keep the blood flowing.  Thankfully the movies playing on the aisle screen were new to me so time went by less slowly than otherwise.  I think I finally was dozing off when they turned the lights on to feed us 'breakfast'.  20 minutes of sleep...and no feeling in my bottom or my right side.  Wonderful!!

The layover in Chicago was fine and the Continental flight to Houston was uneventful (because they had the little screens!)  Continental rocks and United can kiss my...seriously numb bottom.

Reunited with Mimi and Pops

Fiona's Arm Breaking Adventure

So I am catching up on my blog posts.  Most of you already know all this but I am doing this for my eventual Blog Book so you can choose to ignore the 'old' news.

Fiona broke her arm on June 17, 2011 by falling off the slide in our playground.  I rushed her to the ER where they quickly informed me it was a bad break so they recommended she be flown to Hong Kong for the surgery.  It took a while to understand why we couldn't just have it done in Beijing but after talking to several Chinese and Western doctors, it was explained.  It probably would be fine in mainland China but if something were to go wrong under general anesthesia, they did not feel confident in the emergency response.  With doctors not speaking the same language and add a patient and parents who don't speak the local language, things could go wrong.

ANZA Great Wall Dinner 2011

ANZA (Australia/New Zealand Association) of Beijing organizes a charity dinner each year ON the Great Wall.  Patrick and I went with friends this past Saturday night.  It was such a fun night.  I had to make myself stop talking and look around to take it ALL in.  Before going, we said it was a 'once in a lifetime thing to do'... now I'm thinking it'll be an 'annual thing to do.'    ;-)

Horseback Riding to the Great Wall

In the aforementioned book we found a trout farm where you can hire horses to take you to the Great Wall at Mutianyu.  The girls absolutely loved riding the horses and I love the fact I found a new way to take visitors to the Great Wall (assuming any of you actually come to visit!! (hint, hint))  We also stumbled on an AbFab Thai restaurant...who'd a thunk it?

Hiking Around Beijng

We have a out-of-print photocopied book called "Hiking Around Beijing" which we started using this month.  On May 2nd, we did our first hike from Long Quan Yu to Xi Shui Yu.  It was an amazing hike through a valley with the Great Wall all around us.  The four of us were absolutely shattered at the end of it but pleased we spent a day with such beauty, 'fresh' air and exercise.

At the start of the hike

 

Summer Palace

On April 3rd we went for the first time to the Summer Palace.  It is a real shame it took us almost a year to visit.  I've already been back once and plan to make it a regular stop.

The Summer Palace is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (60 meters high) and the Kunming Lake. It covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometers, three quarters of which is water. The central Kunming Lake covering 2.2 square kilometers was entirely man made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.

It served as a summer resort for Empress Dowager Cixi, who diverted 30 million taels of silver, said to be originally designated for the Chinese navy, into the reconstruction and enlargement of the Summer Palace. A bit cheeky, wouldn't you say?

We entered into the East Entrance and walked along the Long Corridor.  It is a covered walkway built in 1750.  It is famous for its length (728 m) in conjunction with its rich painted decoration (more than 14,000 paintings).  The corridor was constructed so that the emperor's mother could enjoy a walk through the gardens protected from the elements.

One Year of Signs

We have now been here one year and have seen our share of bad translations.  Here's a few of our favorites.

This Roller Coast is NOT suitable for psychopaths!  Good to know!

Sign on our way up in a gondola

How do you actually unrecycle?

So we can't do ANYTHING fun?

Danger!  Deep Water?  Where?!?

I can understand the relics but the railings???

This is due to most of the Chinese squatting over holes ... not used to sitting on toilets.

At bottom - "No tips, no sexy"

Where the Hell is Matt?

On February 20th, Fiona, Isla & I went to see Matt Harding, the infamous dancer from the fabulous Youtube video in Beijing.  If you've never seen his video, click to know why I would bundle the girls to go out in the cold on a Saturday to dance with him.

Here's a video montage on Youtube where if you look in the beginning, you'll see me with the 2 girls walking (both in pink down coats, I'm in beige) and at the end, you'll see Isla on the left side in purple NOT dancing!  She is the only kid not dancing and she kept running over to me.  Fiona refused to participate and I couldn't dance b/c I had to film the video (ya know I never miss a chance to dance and/or make a fool of myself in public).

Isla in Purple on the Left

It was a lot of fun and I can always say Isla wrecked Matt's Beijing video by NOT dancing!

Was it Worth it? Not sure but it was a fun night!

(Wrote this over a month ago but forgot to click send.)

So I have been lapse in many of my duties over the last 2 months...not writing on this blog, check...not skyping my friends & family, check...not completely focused on all that Beijing has to offer, double check.  The reason for this can all be traced back to November 10th when I went to a meeting called the BSB Ball Planning Meeting.  Oh, if I had only been sick or if I'd liked my fellow Parent Association cohorts just a little less ...

There is a suburb of Beijing called Shunyi.  And in Shunyi is the other campus of the British School of Beijing.  I'm on the downtown PA Board and we were planning a Charity Ball with the PA of Shunyi.  I'd like to think we all said 'yes' b/c the pressure was there to say something and we didn't know any better to run screaming in the other direction.

I begrudgingly signed up to be on the Entertainment Committee and the Silent Auction committee.  I am not going to bore you with all the things that went wrong along the way but it was mainly a frustrating experience dealing with the 'other' group of ladies.  Lots of headaches, hair pulling, massive email debates and terrible leadership.

But there is a happy ending.  The Ball was a lot of fun and the other guests didn't seem to notice the things that didn't go quite as planned.  And the plus to all the complaining and moaning and venting is my 3 fellow downtown organizers and I bonded against the Shunyi organizers and are as thick as thieves.  And looking fantabulous, I might add.  ;-)

Oh and we also raised 110,000RMB ($17,000) for our charity of choice...ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital.  I should have probably have mentioned that before the 'fantabulous' part....

Are the Evil Spirits Gone Yet? Nope...10 more days....

Fireworks were invented in ancient China in the 12th century to scare away evil spirits.  Such important events and festivities as Chinese New Year.... were and still are times when fireworks are guaranteed sights.  China is the largest manufacturer and exporter of fireworks in the world. - Quoted from Wikipedia

Fireworks ARE guaranteed sights at the moment...and sounds....and smells....and sleepless night....and amazing moments....

You just have to see it to believe it (like many things in China).

Both of these videos were taken from our bedroom windows on the 3rd floor of a high-rise in downtown Beijing.  Please remember this is one corner of a city 10 times the size of Houston with 22 million Chinese people currently trying to ward off those aforementioned evil spirits....i.e. small piece of the big picture.

What I love about the video above is how I started to the right and just kept moving along as more people lit their fuses....I especially loved the fireworks over the major intersection.  I wonder what that bus driver was thinking?

So I leave you with the noise echoing in your ears...please think of us when you go to sleep tonight....in peace....we have 10 more days of this....

p.s.  The craziness is a bit fun...just wish there was an on/off switch.