As some of you may know, we visited a beautiful forest park, Zhangjiajie, last weekend. It was an awesome place. We are just sorting out the photos but I have a few ready now. There were many signs posted along the trails, and most of them had a funny English translation. Here are the gems…
Our silly girls at the park entrance:

At the start of the trail, “Welcome to the Golden Whip Brook Fit Tourism Line. Breathing the oxygen purifies the lung. Rubbing feet makes you fit. The bridge offers greatest delight. Walking on the stone stakes improves health. Deep valley provides peculiarities.

The Chinese signs often remind us to mind our manners:

A basic fire warning:

Not really too sure of the message of this one:

Watch for lightning!

On a small beach of the stream grow densely precious phoebes. Walking in the woods makes the tourists drunk with coolness and fragrance.

We soon learned what this meant…

Again, a bit of an unknown to me:

Ooooh, shaky rocks!

As we climbed a little higher, we found this sign that reads, “Friend, this is a natural oxygen bar with a rich content of negative ions”

We took an elevator, yes, an elevator, through and up the mountain side, these were the instructions posted at the door while we were waiting, I particularly enjoy the last rule:

And finally, just some basic mis-translation, I think they meant exit tunnel, but instead, instilled a feeling of something sinister lurking?

This past weekend was the annual ‘girlie hike’, that I am usually a participant in. It all started 7 summers ago, just before I got married; when several of my closest friends decided to publicly humiliate me in a National Park (otherwise known as a stagette) and venture up to a remote cabin for some good food, good wine and good times! (it’s too bad I don’t have a photo with me of the bowling ball on a chain that I had to drag up the mountain attached to my leg!!)


This event was so popular that we all decided to continue to do this each August or September, sometimes with an unlucky bride-to-be, and sometimes without; but always sans men and children. We are not man and children haters, it is just nice to have a weekend with so much girlie energy! Every year has been an amazing time for all and it is a much-anticipated event. Here are a few highlights from past years.
Balu Pass, Glacier National Park:

Glacier Crest Trail, Glacier National Park:

Hiking into Elizabeth Parker Hut:

Lake Oesa, Yoho National Park:

Another bride to be, dressed up for hiking (also a ball and chain and fashion victim):

Amiskwi Lodge:

This past weekend, the gang went up to Kokanee Glacier cabin and had a really great time. I was thinking of them and it was really touching to see that they were thinking of me as well:

I am truly blessed to have such great friends, the ones pictured here and all the others. I salute you all!
I look forward to many more girlie hikes in the future!!

In Canada, most of you would consider Simon to be somewhat small in stature (but not in fabulousness!). In China, Simon has been pleased to find out that he is of average to above-average height. The same goes for clothes, where he might buy a size small in Canada, a medium or large would do here.
So, it was Valentines Day a while back here in China. I happened to be ‘at the mall’ that day, so I spotted some cool looking underwear that would make a good gift for him. I looked around at the display and only found sizes from Large to XX-Large. There were no smalls and no mediums, at all; in any style or colour.

Do Chinese men feel a little ‘inadequate’ about their underwear size so that the industry has completely changed the sizing so that the average man will feel good about buying himself a pair of XXL undies? Another one of the mysteries of China…

So my big day of fame in rural China has come and gone. My speech went well, I was surprised at the big round of applause after I began the speech with “Zun Jing de Lai Bin Men, Nin Men Hao”. This means Welcome, Honoured Guests. I decided to scrap the joke about the moth, it didn’t seem quite right.

For those of you who are interested, a transcript of my speech is posted here: http://www.tcmtreatment.com/images/diseases/Pauline-Speech.htm
Before and after the ceremony a humongous amount of fireworks were let off. The sound was deafening and it formed it’s own smoke cloud. Good thing the ambulance was neaby in case anyone had some bronchial problems! Hopefully they are offering a deal on tinnitus treatments this week!

The debris; note all the red in the background, both left and far right; that is literally THOUSANDS of the small red loud ones:

Afterwards the patients of the hosptial and the visiting dignitaries were invited to a fancy lunch at a nearby banquet hall. They pulled out all the stops, the meal included turtle soup, spicy toads, pig’s stomach with garlic scapes, black-skinned chicken and other assorted dishes. This is just the beginning of the serving, there were MANY more dishes.

I made the mistake of asking the translators if that was a type of mushroom in with the garlic scapes, they burst into fits of laughter so I knew I would probably not like the answer. It was, indeed, the pig stomach. I finished my bowl, it wasn’t actually that bad (It’s in the foreground of the photo).
Simon was first to try the toad. I liked it, and had a few pieces, it was cooked in a very spicy fashion.

The hospital got all gussied up for the occasion:

The dragons guarding the entrance:

The flowers were beautiful:

So were the girls, and this is their friend, Nura, from Libya:

Some of the staff got dressed up as well:

The staff were all in good spirits:

The girls gathered up some of the flowers after it was all over:


And the next day, the flowers were carted away:

For those of you who have not heard, Simon has finished the first of his films documenting our Chinese exploits. Make sure you plug in your headphones or TURN UP the speakers, because it’s rockin!!!
Click here to watch it!

Things around the new hospital are shaping up quickly. The staff have been working almost non-stop in readying the building and grounds for the grand opening ceremony on Thursday. Sod has been laid, flowers and trees planted, great amounts of dirt moved around; and today decorative red banners have been hung on the entire front of the building from the roof to the ground.
I have been asked to be the honorary spokesperson for the patients. Ok, I’m the only one who’s first language is English, so that’s why they picked me. I have prepared a speech for the visiting dignitaries and whomever else will be attending. I am not nervous about this speech since I figure only about 5% of the people will understand me fully and maybe only another 2% will have a general idea of what I’m saying. Everyone else will have no idea what I say so I can totally screw up! Ha! A translator will speak along with me for the remaining 93% of the people. I am trying to add a bit of humour, but this is a very difficult thing to do cross-culturally. Another patient, who was a media attaché for the US-Kuwait embassy for years gave me a suggestion. He heard a popular song here titled, “I love you as the moth loves the rice”, so I am going to work that into my speech. It will be a regular laugh riot. Hopefully the guests will know the song and not think I’m some weirdo talking about loving moths. Stay tuned for photos and an update of the event in a few days…

Now that we’ve been here in China, we are not so much gawking at everything in amazement or incredulousness (is this a word??), but we are relaxed with the daily routines and occurences of a Chinese city. We are beginning to see and understand some of the nuances of life here. Women carry umbrellas wherever they go. You can buy quite fancy ones, with beautiful beads and organza and lace on them. Obviously not suited to a monsoon-like downpour. The reason they carry them is that they use them for the sun. Ok, I thought, that’s good, a little personal shade, after all, it is over 35 degrees most days. However the REAL reason is that Chinese women do not like to get a suntan. It is considered unfashionable since the labourers, farmers and ‘peasants’ that work in the fields all day are deeply tanned. Chinese women spend a fortune on ‘whitening creams’, probably as effective as those that promise to erase wrinkles. The funny thing is that, in our culture, it is the opposite. A tan is a sign of opulence, for those who spend their days in leisure; golfing, playing tennis or other outdoor pursuits, instead of in an office cubicle. I am speaking about urban North Americans in particular, and making broad generalizations, of course.
So what to do if a genteel Chinese lady has left her umbrella at home, and is suddenly inundated by the bright sun? She has to find something to cover with, and quickly. How one forgets their umbrella at home but manages to remember to bring a plastic washbowl is beyond me…

Another thing that I have noticed is that Chinese men have long nails. Not the labourers who are building this hospital, but the doctors do. I have not had a chance to inspect too many men’s nails, but the hair salon was an obvious spot to see men’s nails up close. Mostly it is the index and the pinky fingers.

I am thinking this is partly fashion and perhaps a little bit of a class difference as well. I am not sure, but it is a custom that I do not find particularly attractive. Maybe that’s because I’m a short-ish length nail person myself, but Simon does not have to worry about requests for longer nails!

With temperatures in the upper thirties and high humidity every day, it is tough to stay cool. We, thankfully, have an air conditoned room, but it’s nice to get outside as well. Here’s our new solution…

For a brief hour just as the sun sets, the temperature drops to a mere 30-32 degrees, finally cool enough to venture out for some exploration. Simon actually goes out on his own in the afternoon sometimes, but it’s way too hot for me or the girls, so we stick around closer to home.
At the end of our long driveway is a main road or highway. It is under major construction so the traffic is only going about 40km/h. If we cross the highway we are instantly in rural China.

There are so many differences here. On one side of our building are some new townhouses being built, in exactly the same design as we might see in suburban Canada. On the other side of us, is completely traditional, rural landscape. Even within this small village, there are many old wooden dwellings and right beside them are large new houses made of brick and shiny tiles.


New or old, they are both drying their chili peppers out in the sun, and probably produce most of the food they eat.