29 April 2008

New Friends and Old Rockers












Again the time here in China seems to be flitting by very quickly indeed, and I find myself playing catch up. Things seem to have settled down for the moment but there is lots of stuff coming up that requires planning and co-ordination. For now I can advise that I am well, over a bout of cold and flu and got my head above water in terms of sorting out a new passport and visa. I lost my wallet around the same time as I was renewing my passport and visa, which added to my stress levels. I can happily report though that I was able to replace most of the contents apart from some cash and personal papers. But on to more pleasant news, as you can see from the photos I have been out and about of late. I visited Macau, Hong Kong and Guangzhou all in the space of a week! No photos of Macau here, as it was a rainy day and I have posted some pics in an earlier post. The Guangzhou trip was to meet up with an American family who have adopted one of the kids from Boa'an orphanage here in Shenzhen. The group I am standing with is of the orphanage volunteers who met the family, as we visted Dr Sun Yat Sen's Memorial Hall. There is also a pic of the family with their new addition, after only a few days they seemed to have bonded and were very much enamored with one another! My last trip to HK was extended due to changes to visa processing laws with the lead up to the Olympics. The photo of the buddha was taken in Stanley, Hong Kong, which I visited with my new friend Danny (there's another pic of him here in his baseball cap). We met at the hostel I stay in when in HK and became fast friends, after discovering we were both Aussies with time on our hands! We spent Sunday traipsing around Stanley market and had a lovely time. On the Saturday night I had gone to see Duran Duran at Pop TV Arena, an outdoor venue in Kowloon. I wish I could share some pics with you but stupidly I didn't take my camera, not realising it would be easy to snap some shots, or that I would be standing about seven people back from the stage! It was a wonderful stroll down memory lane, the boys are still in fine form and played lots of their hits, encoring with one of my faves, Rio! It did rain a little but that just added to the fun!! The photo you can see of me at night was taken in Lan Kwai Fong in Central HK. I met up with a friend of a friend for dinner and it was fab! The bridge photo is of the Shenzhen Bay bridge that I travel across to get to Hong Kong by bus. It's a new bridge and was unveiled around the same time as the 10 year anniversary of the Hong Kong hand back to China last year. That brings me up to date for the minute, as I said lots of stuff coming up and will be kept busy for the next couple of months. Ciao until next we meet! x