Six weeks Down Under- from Melbourne to Cairns

Things I loved about Australia:

Friendliest and most open people in the world -Amazing scenery –  Ease of getting about -Clean and convenient ( never had to wait for a bathroom!)- the noise the traffic lights make (kind of like the spaceship doors on Star Trek) Cosmopolitan – you can get lots of different kinds of food like Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese and Indian in the cities – Everything is safe- trails are clearly labelled, information is freely available, nothing is mysterious or confusing

Things I liked less:

Prices- Everything is ridiculously expensive :The package tourist trips are ridiculously priced.  ( unlike Mexico for example)  Transportation is also not cheap  You can’t eat out cheaply like in Asia    Local  is not so healthy (everything seemed to be fried/ hamburgers – we missed a good Israeli salad and fresh fruits)  There are Chinese EVERYWHERE (more than we saw in China?)    I couldn’t get Uber to work (ok,not Oz’ fault)

We have just returned from what had seemed to be the “dream trip” for many people, and in many ways it was miraculous, and marvelous. and was certainly different from many other trips we have done. For a start it took us to the furthest eastern and southern point on the globe we have ever been, and was the longest flight we have done. It took over 24 hours, with one flight from Tel Aviv to Hong Kong and the second from Hong Kong to Melbourne (with a return from Cairns through the amazing Cathay Pacific).

Having said that, I was not expecting Australia to be “exotic” or “alien” in the same way that our Asian trips have been. The culture in Australia is so familiar, that for the first few days in Melbourne it felt like England- the sky and fields of Victoria looked like England, the houses in the city looked English and the roads and signage were the same. There were pubs called “Sherlock Holmes” and “The Charles Dickens” and of course many of the citizens are of British or Irish descent. WE could read everything written and understand everything said to us. So coming to Australia was physically but not culturally far.

I will divide the blog into sections, because of course a trip of 6 weeks is going to make for a very long blog post. So first, to Melbourne.

Part One Melbourne  and Sydney ( and a bit further north!)

WE spent 6 days in Melbourne. The first day we arrived at night and the next day we spent having brunch with family, and that was really great. They gave us a few pointers about what to see around town. So we began by walking along the Southbank (a bit like the London South Bank) cultural area and this was indeed the part of Melbourne we enjoyed the most. It has a lovely walk along the river, with cafes and restaurants, and some cool statues. I didn’t think much of Federation Square, which was not as lively as I was expecting. Neither did I find the alleyways with the graffiti in Hosier Lane that impressive- the ones in Mexico were far more colourful and artistic. We did enjoy the colonial architecture of the buildings, the Victorian shopping arcades,  the fascinating Immigration Museum and thoroughly enjoyed the Old Melbourne Gaol House  experience, during which you go  through what a prisoner in Victorian times would have felt on being admitted to the Jail – it was fantastic, and the lady sergeant who “processed” us was deliciously scary.

Southbank sculpture

Back from Asia-Where is home?

The title of this entry was going to be “Why Hong Kong is Overrated” but circumstances have dictated a change in emphasis.. Bear with me.

After a few days in Chiang Rai,North Thailand,three amazing weeks in Laos,land of mystery,and quiet relaxation,and four days in cosmopolitan,pulsing Hong Kong here we are.back in Jerusalem. Laos has had its own blog pages,even though I could write on and on about it and post myriad pictures, I will restrain myself.

Our street in Jerusalem- I did miss the blue sky

 

How to describe reverse culture shock? Better writers than me in other blogs have done this,but I feel obliged to give it a shot.Here goes…Where is my wonderful Chinese life? Where are all my diverse friends from all over the globe- Philippines,Taiwan,Canada,Australia? I left them all behind to return to my family. In China our life seemed to be a constant whirl of the new and exciting.We had  a great time in class with the students,and we had many friends outside the classroom all clamouring to be our friends. Whenever we stepped outside our apartment in the city of Xiamen,there was always something new to explore. Every street corner held a surprise,every face turned curiously to stare at the “laowei” (foreigners)  walking past. Of course family is very important. We miss them when we are away. We were thrilled to see our kids and our siblings and my dad. But when we are with them things can be difficult.We fall back into patterns and rituals that are long ingrained in our behaviour,and that we don’t always enjoy.I am sure many people can relate to this. Reverse culture shock means that what should have been alien and hard to deal with became the norm,and our old familiar life suddenly became strange to us. We peered at the deserted streets and became amazed that we could understand every conversation overheard on the bus and in the supermarket.  The confusion and reverse culture shock we are now going through is compounded by the fact that the Hamas decided to resume shelling the day before our return,and in fact as we were passing through passport control at Ben Gurion airport the officer at the booth told us that sirens had just sounded a few minutes earlier in the centre of the country.Needless to say this was pretty disconcerting ,and we started feeling like turning around and heading straight back to the plane!

So to get back briefly to the last weeks of our trip. We returned to Chiang Mai on our way back to Hong Kong for the return flight home. On our first visit to Chiang Mai the curfew had still been in place because of the military coup there.Restaurants had closed at 6pm and the streets had been deserted. I had considered avoiding Chiang Mai but fellow bloggers assured me it was safe to go there. And on the whole I am glad we did,as the crossing over from CM to Laos was a blast in itself. However when we returned 3 weeks later the tourists had started coming back to Chiang Mai.It was still not  as crowded as on our first trip to Thailand,but it felt a bit more lively and fun.We wandered through the streets of the Old City,saw the Night Market (no big deal after the one in Luang Prabang) and I did something a little unusual- I took a Thai Cooking class! This for me was the highlight of our return to Thailand,especially the Drunken Noodles which burst into flame when we added the Palm Sugar.

Drunken Noodles

My Massalman Curry

The cooking school was called “Siam Rice” and I was presented with a certificate and a book of recipes at the end. It was well worth the money and very enjoyable. There are lots of different cooking schools to choose from but I think they are much the same, both in price and what they offer. In any case,this is a fun thing to do, and you have something to take home with you to remind you of your visit.

On arrival in Hong Kong,where we picked up our huge suitcases at the wonderful Butterfly on Hollywood Hotel,we were again upgraded to a larger room,this time with a view! Hong Kong was almost unbearably hot and stifling,but we managed to have a pretty good time,walking around the Soho neighbourhood,and making a brief trip to Lantau Island where after an awesome ride on the 360 degrees Ngong cable car we saw the huge Giant Buddha. This was the part where I was going to lay out my theory that HK is overrated as a tourist destination,but I think I will leave that for another post,as I have been rattling on long enough and with the sirens going off here every few minutes I am really not in the mood..

My friend asked me where this blog is going now that we are not travelling.I said I have no idea.So let’s just wait and see,shall we?

Big Buddha Lantau

A week left and counting..

We came back home to Jerusalem for a month over the semester break and it has been rather weird. Firstly of course it was great to see all our friends and family again,to eat our faviourite Israeli foods that are not available in China, and to sleep in our own (extremely soft) bed. It was great to go to Pilates classes again and tell people we are just here for a break and are living in China.But it was also odd that we very quickly found ourselves missing China, Xiamen and our life there. I miss the students, I miss getting up every day in Xiamen and not knowing who we are going to meet or what is going to happen.I miss the challenge of trying to make myself understood in Chinese.And I miss the surprises every time we order in a restaurant and have no clue what is going to appear on the table.

It was great to be met at the airport by our younger son,to hear what he has been up to,and to spend time with my Dad,and my brothers and see all the family together for my brother’s birthday.But now we feel that we are in the way.The boys have their own lives to lead,and really don’t need us around.My dad is doing fine and is okay with us going back.

Today is Chinese New Year, and although we planned not to be there during that festival I am a little disappointed now I see it all on the TV that we will be missing the festivities.So maybe we will stay put next year and see them for ourselves,wherever we are.

We did have some fun here.We went to see a couple of movies and we are gong to a concert this week. But we kept checking the prices in the restaurants and shops and comparing to Chinese prices. We spent some time with friends of ours from Xiamen who came to visit, Steve and Viny, who are of the Bahai faith and came to Israel to go on a pilgimage to their temple in Haifa. We showed them around Jerusalem a bit,went with them to Yad Vashem,to Ein Karem,Abu Gosh and the Tayelet to see the views of the Old City.

We also had a coffee with Aliza and Shimon who will be joining us at XMUT next semester.So that was fun too.So roll on next Monday when we get on the plane and go back to Xiamen via Hong Kong,Macau and Shenzhen.

Steve and Viny visit Abu Gosh

Where is Home?

So here we are back in Israel on a flying visit. We arrived January 22nd after a horrid flight, despite being well fed by Swissair, we had a 7 hour layover in Zurich where they wanted a ridiculous sum of money for Internet use (we didn’t use) and a ridiculous sum of money to buy a sandwich or coffee which we did even though we weren’t hungry. Also you pay them in Euro and they give you useless change in Swiss Francs. So we arrived back in Israel at 3.30am to be greeted by our lovely son who came to pick us up.So now we are here back in Jerusalem until February 9th,enough time to sort out various bureaucratic things and see a bit of friends and family,and we discover two weird things. One, most people are not REALLY interested in what we are doing, except perhaps for perfunctory questions about whether all Chinese look the same, and whether or not they eat dogs. Secondly,we are missing our home in Lin’an ,the campus , the students and of course the FOOD.So we are checking in on our friends there on Facebook and so on, and it all seems very far away. When we were in China we thought that 2.5 weeks here in Israel would not be enough to do stuff. But now we are here, we are happy that we will be going back soon. Apart from various material comforts (easy internet access,soft bed, central heating) our life in Lin’an is more varied, interesting and stimulating.And here we are BORED.So that’s it for today’s entry.We had a great weekend with family and such. Next weekend we have a barmitzva to go to and the following weekend we will be back in Shanghai-YAY!

Jerusalem-the touristy view

long time no blog

Well I just got here by chance today since I had to log in to comment on somebody else’s blog (the very wonderful Jinji on wheels) Dream with eyes Open and I noticed that I have not written for an age.

I don’t know if that is because my life is so full or just out of laziness. (I fear the latter) .Have lapsed into a kind of limbo which is called “Waiting for early retirement”. Since D has finally got the official okay to quit his job on January 2011 it means we are more or less crossing off the days towards that marker. Then what? Well the plan is he will prepare our sojourn in China, and our move from this crappy city.All of this dependent on a number of things.Actually we have pretty much decided on Kunming for a number of reasons. Also I am pretty sure that the job offers from Kunming Nationalities University and the other Yunnan University will stand for next summer. There is also the Tourism College but I have been advised against that. I have been combing gokunming.com and Raoul’s Saloon for useful information and I am happy with our decision. I am sure that a uni job is what we want because a. I am not really into little kids and b. I am  not prepared to work more than about 16 hours a week, as we want to travel around and relax, and not work.

I have also contacted some lovely people who are already living in KM and it seems to be THE place for us.

Anyway whatever happens happens,right?

Potential clouds on this horizon: Dad’s health ,and we are of course a bit worried about that aspect of our plan

The kids: don’t think we have much to worry about there- I actually think they will be better off without us sitting on their heads.But time will tell I suppose….

The Cheesecake Festival

Had a nice Shavuot- went to dinner at our Rehovot relatives. Fantastic food and really nice atmosphere.We also had friends over for dinner at the weekend.We made too much food but that was ok, now we have a full fridge for the rest of the week.
Last night we went to see “Before the devil knows you’re dead”.Not a particularly pleasant movie, but definitely well-produced and acted. More food for thought than I originally thought, and Philip Seymour Hoffman was outstanding as the evil brother.
Found some great videos on Eflclassroom.2.0 and so I will put a few on here now and again.