Hi Friends and Family
As the title suggests, I arrived safely in Malawi this afternoon after a long series of flights (total time in transit, approximately 36 hours). All in all the trip went smoothly, although I narrowly avoided having to pay 325 pounds ($650) at Heathrow to check my second carry-on bag (they only let you carry on one, and were going to charge me 27.50 per kilo). Fortunately, they decided at the last minute to allow me to pay the fine I would've incurred in Boston had I checked it there (only $100). Next time, I'm not going to try and carry four laptops onto the plane I guess.
Touched down in Nairobi this morning at around 6am local time. It was just starting to get light and my first glimpses of Africa came as we started to descend through the sparse cloud cover around the airport. Had some excellent views though on the flight to Lusaka, including a breathtaking look at Mount Kilamanjaro and and equally spectacular volcanic crater lake thingy just past it.
Zambia passed by in a rush, and I didn't get too many looks at Malawi until we were on the ground. A former PIHer was kind enough to pick me up at the airport, and drove me the half hour to the place I'm staying, which is just around the corner from the headquarters of the Clinton Foundation.
Two things about the drive stuck out: one, we were driving down the left side of the road, something I realize I never really did when I was in Ireland and is a little freaky, and two, there were lots and lots and lots of young kids selling mice on a stick perched right on the edge of the road. Apparently the tail is really good, but I'm not sure I'm going to be going for that just yet.
I'm going to try and set up a blog this week and will post some pictures to it once I do.
Thanks for all the help you guys have given me, and talk soon.Best,Evan
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Asia Adventures Continue
Just thought we would send along a brief e-mail update on our most recent Asian adventure.
We are in currently in China and have had a great visit so far. We spent four days in Beijing-- saw the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace and much more. Sean and the kids spent a day visiting with a local Chinese family and touring the local community. We then flew to Xian, the historic Capital of China. We went to a fabulous. Chinese Cultural dinner and performance completet with a dumpling banquet. More dumpling than you could imagine and certainly more than we could eat. There must have been ten courses of dumplings-- there were beef dumplings, eel dumplings, chicken dumplings, squid dumplings, pork dumplings, veggie dumplings, pumpkin dumplings and more. To be honest by the end of the meal we were just plain dumplinged out!!
The next day, we toured the old town of Xian saw the beell tower, a drum concert in the drum tower and strolled through the Muslim shopping street. Later, we went to see the Terra Cotta Warriors Site and Museum. These are thousands of life size Warriors, horse and chariots that were buried near the tomb of Emperor QinShihuang the First Emperor in Chinese History. It was only recently discovered in 1974 when a group of local Chinese farmers were digging wells in search of water. It is an absolutely amazing site. They call it the eighth wonder of the world and we clearly feel it deserves a place in a wonder of the world list-- right there with the Great Wall!! For those who can, you may want to look it up on the internet-- I am sure there is a website for it so you can see a bit of what we saw. It was another unbelievable Asian experience!!
We are now in Guangzhou. Shannon and Connor have been trying out their Mandarin while they are in China. There is no substitute for being thrown into a foreign speaking country to force language skills not to mention humbling one a bit on their personal skill level!!
Connor is like a rock star here with all the teenage girls. No matter where we go with him there are girls pointing at him, wanting their picture taken with him. Now, we know he is good looking (though we admit to being a bit biased!), but we are still not sure what the deal is-- is that he is so tall, has "blondish hair (by Asian standards that is!) or that he is a westerner-- what ever the reason, he certainly gains lots of attention!!
We leave tomorrow morning for two days in Korea and then five days in Japan. Our move to Singapore continues to provide us with wonderful opportunities to see the world. We are so thankful for the wonderful family adventures the move has provided. Hope all is well with you all. We will write again from Korea. Love to all.
We are in currently in China and have had a great visit so far. We spent four days in Beijing-- saw the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace and much more. Sean and the kids spent a day visiting with a local Chinese family and touring the local community. We then flew to Xian, the historic Capital of China. We went to a fabulous. Chinese Cultural dinner and performance completet with a dumpling banquet. More dumpling than you could imagine and certainly more than we could eat. There must have been ten courses of dumplings-- there were beef dumplings, eel dumplings, chicken dumplings, squid dumplings, pork dumplings, veggie dumplings, pumpkin dumplings and more. To be honest by the end of the meal we were just plain dumplinged out!!
The next day, we toured the old town of Xian saw the beell tower, a drum concert in the drum tower and strolled through the Muslim shopping street. Later, we went to see the Terra Cotta Warriors Site and Museum. These are thousands of life size Warriors, horse and chariots that were buried near the tomb of Emperor QinShihuang the First Emperor in Chinese History. It was only recently discovered in 1974 when a group of local Chinese farmers were digging wells in search of water. It is an absolutely amazing site. They call it the eighth wonder of the world and we clearly feel it deserves a place in a wonder of the world list-- right there with the Great Wall!! For those who can, you may want to look it up on the internet-- I am sure there is a website for it so you can see a bit of what we saw. It was another unbelievable Asian experience!!
We are now in Guangzhou. Shannon and Connor have been trying out their Mandarin while they are in China. There is no substitute for being thrown into a foreign speaking country to force language skills not to mention humbling one a bit on their personal skill level!!
Connor is like a rock star here with all the teenage girls. No matter where we go with him there are girls pointing at him, wanting their picture taken with him. Now, we know he is good looking (though we admit to being a bit biased!), but we are still not sure what the deal is-- is that he is so tall, has "blondish hair (by Asian standards that is!) or that he is a westerner-- what ever the reason, he certainly gains lots of attention!!
We leave tomorrow morning for two days in Korea and then five days in Japan. Our move to Singapore continues to provide us with wonderful opportunities to see the world. We are so thankful for the wonderful family adventures the move has provided. Hope all is well with you all. We will write again from Korea. Love to all.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)