• Mark E
  • Janine Westlund
  • Mark E
  • Janine Westlund

Fall 2025 : China

Pengembaraan 22hari oleh Mark E & Janine Baca lagi
  • Macau

    19 Oktober 2025, Macau ⋅ ☀️ 86 °F

    Day Trip to another Special Administrative Region of China; another 'one country, two systems' arrangement. It's known for its status as the world’s largest gambling center.
    (Gambling is illegal on mainland China.)Baca lagi

  • City of Stark Contrasts

    20 Oktober 2025, Hong Kong ⋅ ☁️ 82 °F

    We weren't sure what to expect when we signed up for this tour. It was called 'Dark Side of Hong Kong - the Caged Homes of Kowloon'. What an eye-opener: we were exposed to the conditions that underpin Hong Kong's housing crisis. They're called 'caged homes' b/c people sleep in & store their limited personal items in a cage surrounding the bed. (Oftentimes the people in a room are not all of the same family.) This is the life for thousands of Hongkongers.
    It's staggering how many people live in these conditions and how very difficult it is to rise above them.
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  • China: Interesting educational tidbits

    21 Oktober 2025, Hong Kong ⋅ 🌬 72 °F

    Just some tidbits captured during our travels that didn't fit in with the pictures:
    -- The Chinese Flag: 1 large star surrounded by 4 smaller stars on a red background >> the smaller stars represent merchants, farmers, students & intellectuals all united to support the Communist Party (large star). The red background represents the communist revolution & the blood of the revolutionary martyrs.
    ~70% of China's population live in public housing.
    -- Shanghai has a 3-ring road system. Only ~12% of the population can afford to live in the inner road.
    -- The Chinese face-changing dance: the changing is an ancient skill and apparently a state secret passed down through families.
    -- Education: school starts at 7a w/ 10 min breaks & 30-40 min for lunch. Concludes at 6:30p. Children head home, have dinner, then do homework (oftentimes until late: ~11p). Education is very competitive in China, & the (2-day) SAT is most important: highest possible result is 750. A test <700 places you in lesser universities.
    -- English is required in schools since 1990. (Before that, Russian was the required language.) However, although required it's not rigorously adhered which explains why so many don't speak EN well.
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    Tamat perjalanan
    21 Oktober 2025