It’s Never Good Bye

Since Hong Kong is considered international travel leaving Beijing means leaving Ivy. Tonight, to celebrate a fabulous trip we had a farewell dinner with our Tour Manager, Ivy or her Chinese name, Sha Sha. What a special person she is, and what a special tour has been. Russell and I have always talked about coming…

We had a beautiful blue sky day in Beijing on our first day! It is likely we benefited from the recent Communist Party meeting that was held here this week, which only happens every five years. Today are cute guide, Ivy told us about the AIPAC Conference Beijing hosted a few years ago and Beijing’s…

A Tale of Two Chinas

We are only a week into our magnificent trip to China, but we have already seen several things about the Chinese we love. The people are very friendly and very social. There have been several studies lately linking loneliness and premature death. The Chinese seem to have conquered this issue. You don’t see a lot…

Pros and Cons of Group Travel

Yesterday we travelled with our tour group to Suzhou, a city outside Shanghai. With traffic, of which there is a lot, it took about 2 hours via our bus to get there and a little longer to get home. I thought recounting this experience would be a good way to share the pros and cons…

Shanghai Street Food Tour 

Last night Russell and our friends and travel companions, Stephanie and Bruce (pictured above) had dinner with a group of expats – teachers for the English speaking International School in Shanghai. This fun group of 6 included a couple from Ireland, two single women one from from Great Britain and one from Ireland and a…