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Well you would never guess it. Its raining again. According to my friends here it is highly unusual to have rain at this time of year particularly when it is very heavy.

This week end has been quite good despite the rain, and catching a cold. So where did I go I here you ask. A good Question.

On Saturday I was picked up by a car, Della and Helen Z to go to the Hometown of Deng Xiaoping. It was approximately a two hour drive and we went through some not very well ventilated tunnels. Smog in a bottle.

His hometown is a city called Guang’an and his actual home and village that he live in for his first 16 years has been made into a memorial for him. Deng Xiaoping is touted as being the main architect in creating China’s place in the world economy. He was a very interesting man who had a vision that was not a replica of Mao’s and also had a hard life because of this. a brief history of him can be found at Wikipedia. His museum is very interesting and until his death there was not a statue of him anywhere in China unlike other Chinese leaders. It is also interesting to hear the memories of my friends who were quite young during the Cultural Revolution and grew up with Mr Deng being the powerhouse in China’s politics.

His family home has been kept as it was before the revolution and Feng Shui has played a part in how the house is situated to the lake and the mountains beyond. You can see a high mountain peak from Mr Deng’s home and it is said in china that “if you can see a mountain peak from your home you will have a great soldier/leader in your family”. I don’t know how true that is but it is the case with Mr Deng.

Sunday I rested so I could get over the cold I had caught. Miracle drugs work well…

On Monday I went to Dazu to see the stone carvings at Baoding. Tony Wen traveled with me this time as well as a daughter of one of the teachers from the college named Michelle. This trip also took approximately two hours and we had to leave he expressway to get to the caves. These were very interesting and basically it is a Buddist temple grounds built around these carvings. Even though they are several centuries old their colour is still eye catching. It does not take long to look around when you do not have a tour guide and when we left for lunch many tour groups were coming through.

Pictures of these trips are going up on Flickr so watch out for them.

’til next time.

HB

Well it only seems like yesterday that I was in Singapore writing about my stop over and now it is week 2 in ChongQing and I haven’t even put fingers to keyboard but off line I have done pen to paper.

It has been a very interesting week and a half. The students were a very happy to see me. Alex wanted to go out for a “Steak” dinner with me and some other Students. That happened last Saturday. I forgot about the addiction to spicy black pepper sauce that the restrauant drench the steak in. Oh well I just scraped it off to the side.

It started off being hot and muggy and then the rain came tumbling down. Boy oh Boy did it rain, and rain and rain. Everything from a light drizzle to a full on downpour. It dried up a bit today but this evening it has rained again. Just try and get you washing dry without an electric dryer. The Chinese haven’t caught on to that labour saving device yet.

In this District Jiangbei of the municipality of ChongQing there is a Wal-Mart and it is the closest thing there is to a western shopping centre like we are use to. It was quite warm in there as I had a look around with Della and Tony. I bought some Oreos and Swiss Miss Chocolate mix as well as milk. There is nothing quite like a good cold glass of pasturised milk. Even if it is UHT.

I am also getting use to the environment here. You either use the stairs or walk up very step hills. So guess what I do. Not to mention I am again 7 floors up plus the classroom is 4 floors. This place will get you fit in no time.

I haven’t taken many pictures yet as the weather has been lousy. never fear though I shall be taken lots this weekend. It is a long weekend for the 10th anniversary of the Central Government Directly controlling the Municipality of ChongQing. This site http://www.chongqing.org/ has an overview of the city and its surroundings etc plus some links to other sites about Chongqing. Be warned though they are all in chinese…..

Well enough of an update… I have long days teaching and it sometimes seems more work than at home…

HlnBee

Well, another 6 hour stop over on my way to teach in Chongqing. It is a sultry 32 degrees C here and not long after I landed the rain came tumbling down.

I have discovered the Plaza Premium Lounge which is like the special lounges for those in business class but I can pay for a 5 hour stay, and any extra services. I booked in for a massage as my back is not so good after the 5 hour trip from Perth.

Will add more when I get to Chongqing tomorrow. I hope to be a bit more diligent about the blog this time and posting pictures to flickr. I hope to have a flickr extension added to this site so they can be seen from here.

On the shopping side I have bought my face care for another 6 months along with a CD to learn the Chinese language. I did not pack my books to learn so I hope this will help me. (Yet something else to talk about here.)

I am looking at what I can put on the site about myself and what my itnerests are.

’til next time

 hlnbee