Day 3 - Beijing Zoo and Summer Palace

More photos can be found at our photosite: http://jkirley.photosite.com/China2006Trip/
In the morning, we headed to the Beijing Zoo to the see the Giant Pandas and other animals. We could have spent all day at the zoo but we were only there for about 2 1/2 hrs. The zoo was definitely not like a US zoo. It was a nice zoo and you get up close and personal with the large animals. Maria actually got to pet a Zebra.
We hit the Summer Palace in the afternoon. Very Nice.

Beijing Day 2 - Afternoon

Day 2 we had lunch a wonderful chinese food in fantastic park - Park of the Northern Sea just outside of the North end of the Forbidden City.

After Lunch we proceeded to the Temple of Heaven. A good portion of the Temple of Heaven was closed for renovation as was the Summer Palace. Beijing is working hard to make sure all of their major historical monument look great for the Olympics in 2008.

Beijing - Day 2 (Morning)

At the end of Day One our tour guide mentioned a cold front was going to be passing through. That night I went out and tried to purchase some sweat shirts for Amy and the girls. I was not successful mainly because I was too cheap to pay US prices in China - it just does not seem right. As I walked back to our hotel I actually saw a few snow flurries. Yes - it was that cold. It got down to 35 degrees F that night. Needless to say, Wednesday when we hit Tian 'anmen square it was very cold. With the wild chill, it was below 30 degrees. We were lucky enough to find a lady selling knit caps and gloves in the square. We paid more than we should have but negotiating the best deal was not the most important thing at that moment.

Monument of the People's Hero - also location of the Tian'anmen square student protest in 1989.


Photo outside of the Forbidden City. As you can we are not in the tropics anymore.


Photo inside the Forbidden City

China Adventures - Beijing

Day Five - the Great Wall: My travel goals are complete I have made it to the Great Wall. It was truly an amazing site. We entered the Great Wall at Badaling - the most visited site because of its easy access from Beijing.

China Adventure 2006 - Shanghai

Since ~85% of the Filipino population is Catholic, the time around Good Friday and Easter is often taken as vacation. Most of the folks take the entire week off. It is just like Thankgiving in the US - as it relates to taking time off of work.

So the Kirley family headed to China. I was in China for the first time back in January on a business trip and wanted to take the family back. In addition, my main travel goal during my expat assignment was to walk on the Great Wall. If I did nothing else, I must go see the Great Wall. I accomplished my goal but not until Day Five.

Day One - We flew non-stop from Manila to Shanghai on Friday. Most of Friday was spent traveling but we were able to get to the Bund. The Bund is the historic section of Shanghai along the Huangpu River. It consists of old European style buildings and to overlooks the PuDong section of Shanghai - with the Pearl of the Orient TV Tower. Just about any shot of Shanghai you see will feature a shot of this TV Tower. We stayed at the PuDong Shangri-la which is on the opposite side of the Bund, but the 'people-mover' tunnel was within walking distance from our hotel.

Day Two - Shopping. We headed to Xiangyang Market. At Xiangyang market, you can pick up just about any type of knock-off clothing, watches, etc. But first - It is truly a small world. Just as we walked into the front of the market we heard someone call out - Amy! Amy!. It was one of Amy's friends - Kim Dallas from her Arizona Moms club. Kim's husband also works for Intel in Chengdu (western China). Kim and her friends came to Shanghai for a girls weekend. It is truly amazing we ran into her. It is hard to find your friends inside the market at a pre-arranged time - let alone a chance meeting. We met up with Kim and her other friends for dinner the following night.

This time I purchased 3 Tommy Bahama shirts for $8.90 each vs. $95 USD in the store. Amy picked up some clothes and a number of small purses.

General Observations about China - First off Maria and Catalina were treated like Rock Stars. Everywhere we went someone wanted to take their picture or touch them.
Parks - One of the things we miss about the US is going to the park. They have parks in the Philippines but they are not so clean. The parks in Shanghai and Beijing were very nice and clean.
People - the people were nice but did not appear to be "happy" unlike in the Philippines where just about everyone is smiling and singing.

Day Three - Shanghai Aguarium - Sunday was somewhat of a lazy day. It rained most of the day. We spent the mid-morning at the aquarium. It was time well spent. It was one of the best aquarium we have ever been too - very nice.

Learning to Scuba Dive

A couple of weeks ago (Mar 31 - Apr 2) one of my coworkers organized a SCUBA diving trip for a number of the new expats. Philippines is known around the world as having some of the best scuba diving spots. I have always wanted to try scuba diving and since we are so close I could not pass up the opportunity. Our journey took us to Puerto Gallera. Puerto Gallera is located on the island of Mindoro which is directly south of Luzon. It is about a 2 1/2 drive south to Batangas at which point you then take a boat for about 45 mins.

Below is a shot of Sabang Beach (Puerto Gallera). The diving is great, but the beach is nothing compared to Boracay.

It was a family affair. Several Intel families joined in the fun. Of course, the Kirley family. Keogh's with their two kids, Graff's with their two kids, Beuerle's with their two kids, and Tompkin's - no kids. And, of course, all of us brought along our helpers. The Kirley's, Graff's and Ilaria Keogh had never went scuba diving before so we all took the three day crash course. We started Friday morning and did not finish until Sunday evening around 5:30 pm. We were busy each day. Amy joined our group on the discovery dive. She was not sure if wanted to do the full course. Halfway through the first day we finally got put on the wetsuit and get in the pool for our first confined water dive.

Below is a photo of Amy and I before our first confined water dive. The worst thing about a wetsuit is that it does not hind anything, i.e I need to lose some of my gut.

Halfway through the confined water dive. Amy did not feel comfortable with the underwater breathing and decided to call it day. She decided to pamper herself for the rest of the weekend.

All of us successfully passed the course. It was much more intense then I thought it would be. I had the most difficult time clearing my mask of water - while I was under water. The best part of the training is you do each task over and over. I am now completely comfortable clearing my mask under water. I plan to do more diving while Amy and the kids and back in the US in June and July.

Maria's Field Trip to the Farm

Maria and her classmates went on their first field trip to an Organic farm south of town. Amy joined her for the day as a parent assistant.

March Madness

First - Let me say - I am very behind on my blog updates. I will be posting a number of updates shortly.

No photos - just a verbal update. Remember - what happens in Vegas - stays in Vegas. Most of you know I am a college basketball junkie. And when you combine by two favorite passions - watching college basketball and betting on sports - it is pure heaven. Myself and several co-workers have made the trek to Vegas for the first weekend of March Madness for the last six or seven years. Yes - this year I flew halfway around the world to go to Vegas. I left the Philippines Wednesday morning; Arrived in Vegas Wednesday afternoon; And left LA on Saturday at Midnight to return to the Philippine. A very quick trip, but well worth.

I am also a massive college bball data geek. Last year my "system" was incredible, but not sustainable. last year my hit rate was 78%. If I really thought I could hit 78% every year, I would quit Intel and be a professional sports gambler. 78% is only obtainable for a select few - which I am not. I hit 58% this yr - enough to break-even. I have to bet at $11 on every game so the % same I should come out close to 50% - good enough when add the entertainment value.

Of course, I did not come back empty handed. Amy had quite a shopping list for me at Target. And I brought back 2 dozen Tamales, Twinkies and some ho-hos.