Spring Festival: From North to South, and Somewhere Inbetween, Pt 1

Hello dear friends and family! Sorry, once again, for the long break between posts. This last month I have traveled from way up north in China to the most southern point of Asia and to many places in between. Here's a "brief" ("brief" because it's actually quite long, and it really only is the highlights......)summary of the past month of travels:

Harbin, China: Jess and I traveled to the northeast of China. Harbin is famous for its snow and ice festival. It was really beautiful but freezing cold! I think the high was -19*C the whole time we were there. The only time I could feel my toes was inside the heated hostel which had heated floors, and for about the first 10 seconds outside.  We were there for 3 nights. We flew there and then took a train back. The train was about 28 hours long and we had hard seats the whole way. So there was lots of people, lots of noise, and not much room.  We survived and can now proudly tell people we rode a train for 28 hours with hard seats.

It was so beautiful. We were so excited to run around and look at all the different ice sculpture/buildings. We even forgot about how cold it was....for the first hour anyways.

When laziness and snowshoeing meet.

Absolutely beautiful.

Angry Birds maze

3-story high beer anyone?

St. Sophia Church

Wuhan: Had a couple days back in Wuhan before the next venture. I attended a going away dinner for the New Zealand teacher at our school and had one more Women's Study with Kelsey. We studied a song about b@ptism and we had the honor of Washing two of our friends, Laetitia and Eliza. My good friend Bella, came also and got to attend a study for the first time. She has come to chrch before but never a Study like this. She also has been reading the Book on her own and asking me questions about it. Last week she told me wants to be Washed this semester! Praise Him for His goodness!!
On Friday the 19th, my friend Kelsey and I headed to Hong Kong. We took a fast train, spent the night at a friend of Kelsey's and then left early the next morning for the Philippines.

Philippines: We spent 6 nights on the island of Boracay, famous for the White Beach. We stayed in a cute little cottage hostel. No hot water and we had to flush the toilet with a bucket of water, but the workers were really nice and helpful and we met a lot of fun people staying there.

The commons area.

We alternated our days between beach and adventures. Our adventures included Ariel's Point where we could go cliff jumping from heights of 5, 8, or 15 meters. We could also swim, snorkel, and kayak, and we had unlimited food and drink. I am proud to say that I did indeed jump from the 15 m. I jumped twice from the 5, worked up the nerve to do the 8, felt good after that one, then went up to the 15, looked straight ahead into the open water and walked the short distance to the end of the platform and just kinda walked off. It hurt like none other on the bottom of my feet, but was quite exhilarating.

We also took a 6 hour boat tour which included snorkeling, exploring a small island with a couple coves, and a lunch buffet. We ate lunch at a table with 4 girls, one from Canada, one from Italy, one from Japan, one from China, and then a guy from England, who no lie, looks like Dennis Quaid. We met up with all of them later for dinner.

We also went zip lining, watched the sunset every night, sat on the beach listening to live music, and found a nice club for some good dancing. And ate a LOT of delicious foods.

Adobo with kesong puti: grilled chicken and pork in balsamic vinegar

milk fish bengus: homemade Filipino specialty fish. one of the guests at the hostel made this and let me try.

Pancit bihon: noodle dish with veggies, chicken, and shrimp

chicken Kiev and mixed veggies

After Boracay was Angeles for a volcano trek. Kelsey and I met up with Sarah and Nathan Koerber.  We had to meet at 4 am, took an hour van ride and a two hour, ridiculously dusty and bumpy 4x4 ride to the base of the volcano, then it was a two hour hike to the crater. It was really beautiful. Fact: Mt Pinatubo erupted in 1993 and has been collecting rain water since then.
That was the highlight of that city. Not much else to do in Angeles or the surrounding cities unless you're into strip clubs.....

Our jeep for the trip. I kinda wish we had an open-air jeep, but it was a pretty dusty ride, so I guess it was good it was enclosed.

Local children living in the area. They literally have nothing. It was sad to see.

What you do when you want to avoid the strip club crowd....

Singapore: Kelsey and I split ways after the Philippines. She went to Thailand to meet up with others and I went to Singapore to meet up with Jess and Stephanie. Had 4 nights there I believe. Went to a beach one day, and a museum and oceanarium that was featuring pirates of the east. My goal in Singapore was to see a pirate, and since I probably wasn't going to see a real one, this was the next best thing :)
We also went on a night safari where we saw a bunch of different wild animals. We also saw a fire dancing routine where the guys also "breathed" fire. I have a video, I'll show you sometime....

Our beds in the hostel. Better termed as a cubby.

Muslim temple

We couldn't go in with shorts and tank tops so they gave us these.

For you Jo Jo!!!

Merlion: the mascot of Singapore

Singapore was expensive, but so many good things! Pirates, Cool Ranch Doritos, Peanut Butter Crunch!!

Alright....that's enough for part 1. It's late, I'm tired, and pictures take too long to upload. Stay tuned for part 2! I'll tell you more about my friend Bella, and spending Chinese New Year with a Chinese family.


Until next time.....HIS will be done!