Dubai- Day 2

We spent most of our second day in Dubai on the search for a bathing suit.  You would think that an ocean side city would be loaded with bathing suit shops but I had a really hard time!  I'm fussy I guess.  Seriously, all I want is the skirt part!  That's it!  Nothing fancy!  Could.  Not.  Find. One!  

This is in The Mall of the Emirates

                   

                                                                  

 The famed Ski Hill in the middle of the desert!

 "Can we go play in the snow?"

After The Mall of the Emirates we continued our bathing suit search at The Dubai Mall.  Now, anyone who knows me knows that I have a bit of a 'Reese's tooth' so when we came upon the Hershey store we couldn't help buying a few 'souvenirs.'  This is just one corner of the store!

These are butterflies made from feathers hanging from the ceiling

 

After a 'fun-filled' day at the malls we had a splash in the pool and when K got back from his meetings we headed out to find some dinner and watch The Dubai Fountain.  It was pretty spectacular!  We had dinner at a pizza place and sat outside watching the show.

The Burj Khalifa at night.  The Dubai Fountain is at the foot of it and it makes an amazing show! 

 

Dubai- Day 1

The international head office for the company my husband K works for is located in Dubai.  Two weeks ago we found out that K was required to attend meetings and that we were invited to tag along!  Hurray!  A vacation! 

We arrived Sunday just after midnight(our flight was delayed five hours in Kunming, China) so yesterday was the first full day that we had here.  We checked out the Dubai Mall, had a swim in the pool and dipped our toes in the Persian Gulf. 

The Burj Khalifa towering above everything else.  We will get closer, I promise! ;)

Doesn't every mall have an aquarium?

Timmy's has made it big!  Apparently there are 33 locations in Dubai...I haven't seen a single open one yet but when I do I'm getting an apple fritter!

The view from the hotel's roof top pool

Picking the prettiest shells!

Sunset

 Me and the Burj Al Arab

 

Seriously the best part of this day was the ocean.  It smelled delicious and it felt divine!

Quote of the Day

"Look at you guys! You're 7 and 4 years old and you live in China! And you're going to Dubai in a few days. Do you know where I was when I was 7 years old? Playing in a mud puddle at 202 Birch Street!"

My husband K trying to explain how lucky our kids are...they thought he was being funny...

Goodies from India!

My husband K employs personnel  from all over the world to work on the project here in China.  One such guy is from India and was kind enough to pick up some spices for me before making his trip over to China. 

Clockwise from the top is whole Cumin, whole green Cardamom pods and finally Garam Masala!  Even the kids(who don't like curry) were exclaiming about how good everything smelled!  All of this cost about $5.00 USD.  Who wants curry for dinner?  I do!  I do!

You have to admit...

 Smog makes for some pretty spectacular sunsets ;)

 

How do you feel about...

 Scorpions?

Would you eat them on a stick?(or in a box with a fox? *giggle*)  Just one of the many things you can eat on a stick in China!  In the words of Carl Pilkington of 'An Idiot Abroad'...

"Where do you draw the line between food and insect?"  Well, I don't think there is a line here to be honest!

Golden Dragon Great Wall

It's Saturday today and for the first time in our marriage, my husband K is working a Monday to Friday job(he has always worked shift work) so that means that Saturday is family adventure day!  Today we headed 45 minutes out of Chengdu to Luodai.  There is an ancient town there which, like most 'Ancient Towns' around here, is nothing but a tourist trap selling the usual stuff.  So we did a quick walk through before heading for the real adventure- The Golden Dragon Great Wall!  It's not THE Great Wall but a worthy knockoff I thought!

The scenery was beautiful- hills, lush greenery, flowers and sunshine!  Some of my favorite things!  It was a great leg workout, let me tell ya!  Lots of stairs to hoof it up but we all made it in one piece with a few stops along the way to have snacks and water.

One of the hills of stairs we had to climb.  This was the steepest set and though you can't really tell from the picture, it was nearly vertical. 

 

You can see the wall stretching across and up through the trees

The top of the wall had a shrine with many different statues.  I'm never sure whether pictures are allowed inside the shrine so I just don't take any.  Sorry!  There was an amazing Thousand Hand Buddha inside that was carved entirely from wood.  It was beautiful.

 

After hiking to the end we turned around and came back down to give the other side of our legs a workout ;)  I'm pretty sure that most of the people we passed were talking about how lazy we were going in the easy direction while they were huffing and puffing and puking on the stairs on the way up!  Ha Ha!  Fooled them!

Get Growing!

In all the years that I have kept a garden in Canada, never have I been able to say that I had things growing in April!  Well, China is different!  It's warmer!  That certainly helps.  The rooftop garden is quickly becoming my little patch of heaven in this concrete jungle.  Of course I can't grow near as much in the small space but I have a sneaking suspicion that I can possibly grow all year round!  Imagine that?!

On the Left:  zucchini, beans, gai lan, carrots, bok choy, watermelon
On the Right:  nasturtium, pumpkin, onions, ginger, lettuce

The flower bed

 

Zucchini seedling

Bok choy...or so I think anyway.  It's hard to get a straight answer on vegetables here.  You ask, "what is this vegetable?"  and they answer, "it is the green vegetable."  Sigh.

Strawberries from seed!  I'm pretty excited to see them up!  We'll see how they do as the season wears on!

 

What are you planning on growing in your garden this year?  Happy Growing!

 

Easter in China

We celebrated Easter yesterday with a little Easter egg hunt up on the rooftop garden.  It was a little smaller scale than we were used to seeing as our garden is about 100 square meters and our yard back home is 20 acres ;) but the kids had fun nonetheless and as long as they are having fun it doesn't really matter!

Finding Easter chocolate in China proved to be a bit of a challenge but I did find some chocolate eggs at IKEA and then a neighbor who had just returned from the U.S. gave me part of the stash she had brought back with her.  To be honest, I'm glad that it wasn't as readily available because we(meaning me) could all do with a little less sweets!

Happy Easter!  However you choose to celebrate it!

Taking 'er easy

We've been laying pretty low this week.  My husband K came down with an awful bout of food poisoning on Tuesday night and is still recovering.  I haven't slept well all week for worrying about him so I'm hoping that this weekend we can all take it a bit easy and get rested up for hopefully some new adventures next week!

Happy Easter to you all!

Hugs,
Maya

Pandas!!

The next three days in China are the 'Qing Ming Festival' which is the 'Tomb Sweeping Festival' and because it falls during the week everyone is working or going to school this weekend in lieu.  So this was the perfect opportunity to go to the 'Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding' while most people were at work!

We got there at 9:00am because we had heard the best time to see the Pandas is when they are being fed.  By 11:00 they are all snoring and not all that exciting so we were up bright and early and out the door by 8:00.

Seriously, Pandas are the most adorable things you've ever seen!  Sleeping, gnawing on bamboo, playing...whatever they are A-dorable!

They call these guys Red Pandas but they are actually related to Raccoons(I have a soft spot in my heart for Raccoons so these guys are pretty awesome too)

 No tourist destination is complete without a Koi pond.  The kids were attempting to pet them.

So...who wants to come visit us in China, hmmmmmmm...?