Welcome Home Wrigley!

When one door closes, another door opens.

Just over a week ago, Mark and I closed the door on an epic Moscow -> Beijing adventure. We had the best time, traveled well together, experienced 3 "new to both of us" countries and took 5000+ photos to document our journey.

At the end of that 4.5 weeks we were both ready to go home though. We love our life in Colorado, missed our friends and colleagues and clients and couldn't wait to see our dog again.

And there was one more thing...

In April this year we lost our beloved Smokey Joe to cancer. He left a quietness in the house and a hole my heart that would be hard to fill ever again. Smokey Joe was 13.  I adopted him in 2005 from the Boulder Humane Society.

Obviously I was going to need another cat at some point. After all, talking to a cat is weird for some people, but talking to thyself is something more people find weird. 

We decided that it wouldnt be right to adopt before a long trip, but after, well that was certainly on the cards. And all the way home, I clung to the thought of getting a kitten!

It wasn't but 5 days after arriving home that I began the hunt for our next furry child. It didn't matter color or sex... All that mattered was personality and age. We wanted a youngster and I needed a conversationalist/purr monster.

Friday October 26th:  I found kittens had been added to the Boulder Human Society website. Mark was still at work, but with his blessing I took Donnie and skedaddled right down there to check out the goods.

Of the 3 kittens that were added that day, 2 were on hold already!!!  But guess what?  No. 3 was completely adorable, totally interactive, purred at the slightest touch and fitted in the cat carrier that I had stashed in the car!  

I love this picture of Donnie and Wrigley!!!

Meet Squeakums. Soon to be renamed Wrigley - partly because Squeakums didn't seem to fit that well and partly because Wrigley was wriggly! This guy at 2 months old and <2lb, is a blur most of the time. 

He has the attention span of a gnat and thrives on motion. Wrigley "hunts" everything! But when steam runs out, the first place he turns to, is my lap. What a snuggly kitty he is.

Mark, Wrigley and I spent most of the weekend getting to know each other. Wrigley has more than enough "crazy" built in to keep us laughing for a lifetime. He already (mostly) comes when called and sleeps each night on the bed with us. He is attentive and adorable.

Welcome home, Wrigley! 

We love you to bits!

October 18th : Last Day of Vacation!

Hey everyone,
So this is it. Our 30th full day of travel. Our last full day, if you don't count tomorrows long haul home - I'm on the fence about whether it counts too.

 Anyway, we woke bright and early, to the amazing view of the river and the sound of birds. We had a late check out and breakfast at the hotel. This hotel wins "best shower", "most comfortable bed" and "greatest view" FYI. I took another shower before we left and washed my hair, TWICE! Hahaha.

Today's plan: A cooking class in Yangshuo at a local restaurant called Cloud 9. Our chef/teacher was Jenny. The class contained a family of 4 from somewhere (we never figured out their accent) and two British couples and Mark and I. Our first stop was the fresh food market.

Amazing selection of vegetables and fruit (dried and fresh), noodles, herbs and spices and tofu products.And fish. Don't ask me why fish and seafood is kept with fruit and vegetables and not in the live meat market next door.

The live meat market; A place where one might expect to find animals that are commonly eaten. The Chinese seem to prefer to buy it live and then kill/prepare it at home. I think it's a cost thing, but could be wrong. In any case, I didn't go in. Those Swiss guys had mentioned that a visit to the live meat market would result in me seeing cats and dogs in cages like all the other meat. Not my thing. I had no intention of seeing something I knew I'd want to unsee almost immediately.

In class we started out making dumplings, then while the they were steaming, moved on to the other dishes. I went vegetarian today, Mark remained omnivorous.

Mark became teachers pet, although sometimes with her accent, it was hard to tell if she was saying "teacher's pet" or "teacher's pest". LOL
We giggled our way through dumpling assembly and for once Mark's handiwork was not better than mine. YES! The teacher even pulled one out of the steamer and "helped" it look better. Hahaha

The class had a great time and when all was said and done, we had plenty of food for lunch and it was actually good.

It was then time for a stroll through town before Jason took us to the airport and we had to say goodbye.

Look what I found: Another wishing tree!

We flew back to Beijing that evening and with the kindness of strangers, made it to our airport hotel later that night. October 19th was the day we left China, crossed 11 time zones and made it safely back to the USA.

Fancy new airplane has tinted windows rather than shades. 

Seriously tired as we dragged our suitcases through the neighborhood at 1:30 am, happy to be home, to look up through clear skies and see stars looking back. Huh... haven't seen a sky like that since we were in Mongolia!

Mark's last comment as we neared home?  "Now we can plan our next trip."

October 17th : River Li to Yangshuo

The day dawned bright. Almost blue sky… Definitely not raining and quite sunny at times! For the people of Guilin, this is better than normal. They are quite used to overcast and Chinese in general prefer cloudy to bright sunny days with clear blue skies. You’ve seen it; they use umbrellas to protect from the sun just as much as from the rain.

I digress. Today we started out early. Literally so we didn’t “miss the boat”. Our 4 star tourist cruiser held up to 80 people, served a buffet lunch and had a big open top deck for viewing and photography. Very important as that is exactly what we were there for.

Our journey started in Guilin and went downstream on the flowing Li River to Yangshuo. The first 2 thirds of the cruise could be considered spectacular the last third merely great.

The Karst mountains rise tall and steep in lumps all around this area. They are dotted with tiny villages along the river and rice fields as well as other agriculture on the slopes. Large groups of light brown ducks are seen in and around the river, cows, water buffaloes and other birds can be seen and heard too.

As many of you know, I’m not much of a water person. The temperature is not ideal for me but beyond that, I get seasick ridiculously easily too. This river was less of the white water style and more of the meandering and gently flowing. Four hours was not too much to ask my stomach to cooperate with and I enjoyed the first 2.5 hours topside - camera in hand.

Fun fact: The 20 Yuen bank note has a picture of the Karst mountains on it. And our delightful Jason had us perfectly timed and positioned for pictures just as the boat turned the corner and looking back upstream, that same view could be captured.

Our vessel was pretty nice.
The lunch buffet was located in our classy sitting area and there was always a chance to mix and mingle with other tourists from all over the globe. We sat with 2 young Swiss guys... And of course an interesting conversation followed for sure. Let's just say that as soon as they felt comfortable that we were not Trump supporters, they let loose. OMG. So long story short, the general impression in their part of the world, their generation, is that he is not a decent human or a smart one. But perhaps more importantly, they know he was elected and they have also lost some respect for the rest of us too. Oh and one more thing that stood out; An American education is considered a bit of a joke now too. For example: "Ooh, that's bad... but not as bad as an American education." Why? Because it has turned out a President with a Twitter fetish and no self awareness and again, he was elected by the country.

And I had tried so hard to avoid politics, news, social media while traveling. :-(

On the bright side, while mixing and mingling with other tourists, one can gather some important info about places to go and things to see, as well as some "steer clear from here" advice. I had heard enough about the live meat markets after my chat with them, that I knew they wouldn't be my thing either.

It was a day to enjoy nature. After the boat ride, Jason hired us bikes and took us on a bike ride through the Yangshuo countryside. That's right! We pedaled through the crazy traffic in town and out toward flowing tributaries and along alleys and country lanes. Followed the bricked path through gardens, watched bamboo rafts with tourists aboard meander downstream and generally had a really nice time.

Tonight was another cultural show. This time the show was set in the river and on the riverbanks. The director was a world reknown guy with ties to the Olympics Opening Ceremony and much more. The cast... all 600 of them... were dressed in lights and if they weren't on floating stages, were in little boats.

I had no idea what was really going on and it didn't matter in the slightest. Thoroughly enjoyable!
 
Oh yeah and this is the view from our amazing room overlooking the river, tonight: