3 gorges dam

We went to see the 3 gorges Dam project.

It was hot and there is quite a bit of moisture in the air (see photo)

The Dam is quite amazing and it was interesting readin through the book describing the project. There were many references to cultural sites that will now be under tonnes of water. I think the quote went like this. This historical site will now be only visited by the ghosts and will have water running across its streets.

There is in fact a town that has been completely deserted that will soon be under water.

The photo is of a very small section of the Dam.

At 3 gorges Dam

And Some music to go along with the Science and Art.

Here are all the kids joining in singing something that I can't quite remember. "Donut nobis parchem" I think. Latin?

Sheridan is Hamming it up in the front row and Delenn is hiding in the middle somewhere. I think I can see just a little of her below the left edge of the music stand on the right.

Art and Science Fair

Delenn proudly showing off her art work at the end of school Art and Science Fair.
We had a great day out in the sun on the banks of the Yangtze river at the Holiday Inn.

It is strange that I was actually staying in the Holiday inn last year on the day the end of year art and science fair. Now this year living in Wuhan I can appreciate the other side of things. Rather than living from a suitcase I can enjoy the time with my kids and new friends.

The school year has been good for both Sheridan and Delenn. They have both enjoyed their time in class and with friends after school.

Delenn taking a break

 

Tong She Hot Springs - May Day Week Day 4

2.5 hours out of Wuhan is Tong She Hot springs. We went there with some new friends (Kirsten and Gary and family) and had a blast. There are tea baths, a wave pool, water slides, Fish baths (some special turkish fish eat the dirt off your skin. Good for heath), and many hot baths for different healthy living and good luck. The photo is of the third floor where you need to change into these robes and relax while you can have a foot massage. Very relaxing day and lots of fun.
Kids loved it.

Chinese Princess

At the top of the mountain at the East Lake scenic spot the girls had an opportunity to get dressed up and they never miss an opportunity..

East Lake - May Day Week Day 3

We took a group of Americans and Canadians to East Lake Scenic Spot. East Lake is the largest body of water inside city limits in China. Lots to do there. Tobbogan ride, Getting dressed up and taking photos, some old architecture, some cultural music and many other things. It was very busy as most of the locals have the week off and like to get out while the weather is still mild (not too hot).

We played some Frisbee, footy and tried to play some cricket. A good day and lots of fun.

Wedding 3

Tommy's Father carried the Bride to the Groom's Party. Not sure about this tradition but it was fun.

Wedding 2

When we travelled to pick up the bride the Groom (Tommy in the foreground) had to pay the family money to take her away and this is when the Bride says good bye to her family. The Brides mother packed her suitcase for her (pictured) and made sure there was some money in there for her future life. After the Bride got dressed in her wedding dress we drove back to Wuhan where she changed into some more comfortable clothes.

So this is another common tradition. After the groom arrives at the Brides house the bride changes to Wedding dress to travel to grooms party. When arriving at Grooms party she changes into another outfit. Often after the party the Bride will change again to leave.

We are enjoying getting Cultured.

Wedding 1 - May Day Week Day 2

A picture of the kids when we were out in the coutryside picking up the Bride to take to the Grooms party back in Wuhan. The Kids were a real hit and draw crowds where-ever they go. They are very patient (most of the time) and enjoy the attention and understand that this is sometimes the first time many of these kids (and some of the Adults) first time to see a Lao Wei (foreigner).

It also helps that our kids are cute and I am not biased.

Mulan Mountain - May Day Week Day 1

We took a day trip to Mulan Moutain. About 2 hrs out of Wuhan.

The mountain has something to do witht he legend of Mulan (as depicted a little less than accurately on the Disney movie of the same name).

We did a lot of walking and had a great cultural experience up on the mountain. This is a really religious place where many people travel to burn incense and pray to their God. I think it is more buddist but I am no expert on the asian religions.

It was a great time and the kids had a lot of fun. I think they enjoyed the drive on the windy road up the side of the mountain more than anything else.

The photo was close to the top of the mountain where there was a small circular doorway to a small garden.

May Day Week

Fiona, Delenn and Sheidan getting some mahjong lessons from Driver Li.

This week in China is Labour Day Holiday Week. Many people get married and there are many traditions to go along with it. We were invited to a few weddings but were only able to get to one of them. We decided to take in the whole experience so got up early to go and pick up the Bride. Between getting the car decorated and going to pick up the bride we managed to get a few games of mahjong in. Delenn won the game.

We had a great day and learnt a lot about the many traditions of Chinese weddings.

More pics to come.

yuyuan again

This is a cool little tea house in the middle of Yu Gardens Shanghai. Great place to walk around right in downtown Shanghai.

groover

Sheridan iPodding away.

She has the moves and I know they didn't come from me.

Egypt

I know this seems out of palce a little but Delenn took a quick visit to Egypt while in Shanghai. She was studying Egypt and wanted to take something back to the class.

YuYuan Garden

My dreams came true at YuYuan Gardens.
Coffee fix for a few hours.

There are Starbucks everywhere in Shanghai much to my delight and I think I had three a day just to get my fix in before going back to Wuhan which is starbucks free (for the moment).

Shanghai

Nice sunny day on the Bund in Shanghai.

Golf buddies

I tried for many years to get Fiona out onto the golf course to no avail. Recently however for the first time she has the Golfing bug.

Fi has found some friends to go to the range with during the week and in fact tried her hand at a round of nine last week. I did not witness the event but heard that she had a good time but played terribly. Now she even sounds like a golfer.

This is a photo of Fi showing off her new clubs.

A lot has been happening in our lives lately. Trying to get the kids enrolled in school has been fun. We decided on a school only to find out the waiting list had doubled in size from when we went to visit the school. So we are now having to apply to two different schools. Both very good. Concordia and Shanghai Community International School.

We went to Shang hai recently to do the school tour and had a great time. We got the kids some ipods to help with the air travel we keep subjecting them to and I bought myself a PSP (for watching movies and playing games). I had an Xbox in the US and was having computer game withdrawal. I am trying to talk Delenn into asking for a PS3 for her birthday. Not sure if she sees the light yet though. (Don't tell Fi.)

I have a few more pics from our shanghai trip that I will post. Bye for now. The Wuhan Whincop's

Vacation in Thailand

In Hindsight this is quite interesting but worth a retell through the blog.

When we were travelling to thailand we had to fly through GuangZhou and had a 2pm flight from Wuhan to catch an 8pm flight in GuangZhou to Bangkok. We thought that the 4 hours we would be in GuangZhou would be enough. However when we checked in at Wuhan we found our flight was delayed. We waited and waited and there was no update on the screens. Many trips to the customer service desk and many phone calls to my translator who was in-turn talking to the travel organizer at work. After the time the flight was due to leave we checked with
the service counter and there was no one who spoke english (more than "Delayed. No time").

We worked out we had to leave by 5pm to make our connection. At 4pm we finally found out our original flight was cancelled although the board never did say that (the flight # just disappeared off the board). When they cancelled the flight we were standing at the counter and luckily the girl there asked us to follow her. We ended up at check in again and got our flight changed to one
leaving at 530pm. This gave us 1 hour in GuangZhou to get our connection, and we had to pick up our bags and check them in again.

Well we made it by about 5minutes to check in. They were just about to pack up. We then had to put our bags in at another spot because the bag conveyor was stopped. We had to clear customs and there was an hour wait so we went up to the front of the line and begged to be next. The official told us to go to the back but there was a foreigner in the front of the line who let us in.

We made our flight and had a great time.

On the way home after checking in in GuangZhou I must have dropped my passport. I only walked ten paces then realized and went back to the check in counter where the girl said
she had four passports but now I only had three. Oh no. I went to the police and they said the train is the only way to get home, I could not get on a plane. So after talking to everyone in China Southern where I checked in ( I swear it was on her counter ) we decided to try and talk
our way through and act like the foreigners.

While waiting in line a guy tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to follow him. He took me half way across the airport to another guy how had my passport. Maybe it fell onto the bag conveyor or something. Anyway I had never felt so relieved and vowed to keep the Aus Embassy number with me and keep copies of my passport in my wallet at all times. Lesson learned. If there is one thing I am greatful for it is the sense of Honesty in China.

So our trip consisted of a lot of good times and a few headaches but everything worked out.

banking

The recent stock Market downturn in China reminded me of the Bureaucracy I ran into when I needed to get some cash transferred to China to purchase some plane tickets.

1. Firstly I couldn't use my credit Card at the Travel Agent so I had to try and get the cash for 4 tickets for a trip to Australia. Not a small sum.
2. I talked to the finance department at work and they thought I could go to the bank and get some money wired across.
3. They suggested that I open a bank account and have the money transferred.
4. While all this took some time I needed the cash to ensure the tickets were not lost. So we went to the bank with the intention of getting it all complete quickly.
5. This did not eventuate.
6. The first try at the bank the computers were down so they could not help me.
7. We went away after waiting for a while then came back later that day.
8. I then opened my account and proceeded to ask about a money transfer.
9. Then it got interesting.
10. To get money wired into my account it would take 7 business days.
11. I asked what could happen if I wrote a check and deposited it into the account. Because it is from a foreign bank it would take a minimum of 4weeks to clear the funds.
12. Well both of these time frames were not right so what to do.
13. In the end after talking to the bank in the US we used both our ATM cards every day and withdrew the maximum amount of money.
    
14. After 5 days we accumulated enough funds.

I am now the proud owner of a bank account with the equivalent of 1 US dollar in it and not much use for anything else.

A couple of pics of our Resort. When we were sick of the pool we could walk past those umbrella's in the distance and there was the beach. It was so nice to be near a beach after living in the middle of the US and then in the middle of China. The weather was awesome (30C every day) and the hospitality was great.
In the foreground is Fiona part way through "Mao's Last Dancer". Pretty good read from what she tells me.
The girls had a great time and enjoyed lazing in the pool. Well there really wasn't that much else to do.
Delenn made friends every day she was there and schemed to meet up with them the next day or after lunch and had a wonderful time.
Sheridan just enjoyed the quiet and being left alone. And the space. No crowds. 

We finally organized ourselves enough to have a vacation just for our family.

Thailand. Beach, Sun, Pools and Eating.

The children loved the pool at the hotel in Bangkok that we stayed at on the way to our final destination. The Bar was just too much for them to resist.

We eventually made our way to Cha-am which is about 200km West of Bankok (Around the coast). 

WWGSK Happy New Year 新年好

Photo taken at the annual company Chinese New Year Dinner. This is pretty much like Christmas Dinners for US and Aus.

Lots of drunking and lots of fun. There were performances from each department and although we could only catch about 1% of what was said we could enjoy the night.

Sheridan came by herself as her sister was staying at a friends house. She enjoyed being the center of the attention and found some of the performers to take photos with.

The food was pretty good and there was a lot. The variety was amazing but alas there was no turtle.

I couldn't bring myself to try the stinky tofu (since the last time I got sick after trying it), or the coagulated pigs blood soup.
The trout was good though as were the greens. There was chicken gristle deep fried, some tripe, ox tongue, lotus root, beef something and some sweets. 

Sheridan is a favourite of the ladies at the plant. She is sitting with Ms Chen the Admin Manager.

This is the Admin and HR Department. Who have just recently been awarded a prize for best run HR department out or 128 companies reviewed. This is a governement award so they can be proud of the acheivement. 

This is the controller from the plant all dressed up to do a performance but sheridan couldn't resist the opportunity to have a pose. 

flying

Came across this rather safe playground equipment in QLD Austrlia while visiting The Walkers (Daniel's Sister and her Family).
Basically you get on and pedal really fast and pick up speed faster and faster. It is designed on an angle so that there is a real acceleration as you travel downhill. I had a go and it goes pretty fast. I think I was pulling 3g's. Or was that becasue there was pressure in my head that was causing a growing feeling of nausea.
Great fun to be had by all.

I almost forgot to note that on the round about thing closest is Tom (helmet was becasue he was riding a bike not because of the inherit hazard of riding a fast moving playground equipment) and Delenn (furthest). In the corner is Ian.