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Nathan LaurieNathan Laurie
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  • Our OE
    1
    Jour 30–32

    Zunyi

    1 mai, Chine ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    With China's national public holiday upon us, we decided to escape Chongqing - which is a hot spot for Chinese tourists. We jumped in a car with Maggie and Hom (Maggie is one of Vela's friends from middle & high school, and Hom is her husband).

    We battled the traffic and headed into the mountains of Guizhou province, bound for Zunyi. Along the way we stopped at Moutai, a town made famous for producing Baijiu (Chinese rice liquor), in particular the Moutai brand which is the most famous (and loved) Baijiu in China, but there are over 3300 distilleries here. Definitely not to Nathan's taste, but it was still interesting to have a look around the town and a small museum which showcased the history and process of making Baijiu.

    We finally made it to Zunyi, which is a small city by Chinese standards, after about 6 hours driving (normally would only take 4 hours). We went straight to a restaurant for dinner. On the menu was charcoal roasted chicken with a range of dipping sauces and spicy powders which were delicious. It was great to pick up some bones and get stuck in!

    The following day we headed to Yunmentun (a nature reserve area) and took a ferry down the river through a massive archway. It would have been nice to be able to spend more time in the arch area, but the ferry was on a tight schedule and we were hurried back on board. We then had a short hike through the park along the river, seeing some waterfalls and walking through a "Difeng" (literally translates to ground crack). At the end of the hike there was the head of a dragon carved into the cliff face, with the rest of the cliffs curling away into the distance making up its body and tail.

    Nathan unfortunately got a little unwell during this time, but with lots of travel coming up the timing was probably the best we could hope for. So the following day was overall pretty relaxing. Flame grilled noodles for breakfast, called "over the bridge" noodles, because you take the noodles out of the big bowl into a little bowl (with some sauce and flavouring), creating a little bridge. And then a visit to a local market street which was absolutely packed. But the sounds, colours and smells were pretty amazing to take in. We had the worst hotpot we've ever had for lunch, with lots of the meats being fake pressed meat, the sauce had no flavour, and even the quail eggs were fake. Most of the food was left behind... We might be a little snobby when it comes to hotpot...

    And finally in the afternoon we spent a couple of hours playing Majiang. Nathan once again proved he can mix it with the locals, with the below photo of the Hu (hand) being particularly good, netting him about $30NZD.    En savoir plus

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  • Our OE
    3
    Jour 28–29

    Luzhou

    29 avril, Chine ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Every time we're in China it's important we also head over to Luzhou to see Vela's Dad and his side of the family. Vela's step mum drove us the 2 hours from Chongqing to Luzhou. It was great to meet up with them and we were shown his new apartment which is still having the interior fitout completed. Very cool to see the differences between NZ and China. There were a couple of items that might not pass a health and safety inspection in NZ (safety sandals and lack of fall protection in the stairwells being the main ones).

    We were then taken to a construction site that his company is the main contractor for; a 5-storey hotel with attached commercial wholesale market totalling about 40,000m2. Just in the early stages of the process with civil works being done for the foundations, and holes being drilled for the piles (up to 2.2m in diameter). The site was impressive and very clean and tidy which was not what we expected. Vela had a quick look over the blueprints for the job (looked to be about 500 pages worth).

    Afterwards we had a family dinner before playing a bit of Majiang. They play a slightly different version of Majiang in Luzhou, with some complexities which we felt made the game a bit more luck based than Chongqing style. The base was still similar, with making sets of matching tiles and then arguing over whose is best, and who pays money to who (see tutorial video). Vela managed to learn quickly and came away with a net positive of 80rmb - about $20.    En savoir plus

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  • Our OE
    Jour 23–27

    Hanging out in Chongqing

    24 avril, Chine ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    After a busy few days and nights in Beijing and Xiamen, it was nice to get back to Chongqing where we could rest up a little. There was still a lot of catching up with friends, but also some more relaxing activities including; walking to find coffee in the mornings, badminton, lunch/dinner with friends, enjoying the warm settled weather, and family time.

    Nathan was introduced to some foreigners living in Chongqing (some of them up to 12 years) and it was interesting to get their perspective on life in China. They also took him out to a decent bar to sample a couple of hazys. Hazy #2 was the better drop.    En savoir plus

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  • Our OE
    Jour 21–23

    Xiamen

    22 avril, Chine ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    After finishing up in Beijing, we jumped on another plane and headed to Xiamen. We spent a couple of nights here and Vela had a big reunion with her University sailing team. This meant a couple of late nights out, starting with dinner and finishing with karaoke.

    We also went for a walk around the Xiamen University. The campus is very famous in China, rated the most beautiful campus, with many tourists trying to visit. However they have gates and only students, staff, and alumni are actually allowed on campus, so a bit of a special treat for us.

    Thoroughly worn out from all the socialising, we're headed back to Chongqing for a few quieter "recovery" days with family and friends before heading off into the wilderness on a hike.    En savoir plus

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  • Our OE
    Jour 20

    Universal Beijing

    21 avril, Chine ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Yes we've only just visited Universal Studios in Osaka. No we aren't theme park junkies. But that being said it was a spectacular day with great weather and better company.

    It was interesting comparing the two theme parks, and some of the differences between Chinese & Japanese culture was apparent. The Japanese park and staff definitely leaned more into the acting and role playing compared to the Chinese establishment, however the Beijing park was definitely less crowded which meant we got to ride the transformers themed "Decepticoaster" many times with minimal wait.

    Overall it was a fun day out and we got another dose of adrenaline before a few weeks of exploration and sight seeing around China.    En savoir plus

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  • Our OE
    3
    Jour 19

    Beijing Summer Palace

    20 avril, Chine ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    After our brief stop in Chongqing for Vela to get her UK and EU visa applications submitted, we flew up to Beijing. Our flight was delayed so we didn't get to our hotel until about 2.30am.

    After a small sleep in, we reunited with Vela's friends, Luffy and Fish. Luffy lives in Beijing and we camped on the Great Wall together 8 years ago. He is a bit of a history aficionado, so we were very lucky to have our own personal tour guide! Because we have already been to the Forbidden City (and we are returning to visit with Nathan's parents in a few weeks), Luffy took us to see the two Summer Palace's which were used previously by Chinese Emperors.

    The first one palace (old palace) we visited was very heavily inspired by Greek and Roman architecture, with lots of stonework, fountains, and ponds. The Chinese flavour shone through in the carvings and with other details including the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac. It was once the largest garden in the world, and even in its current state was beautiful to walk around and experience. This palace was ransacked in the 1860s when China was invaded by several western countries - and it remains a great tragedy for the Chinese to this day.

    The second summer palace had more traditional Chinese architecture. The palace roof and many of the details are painted yellow, which was the colour that signified the Imperial Family. On the ends of the roof corners there are small figurines carved, the more of these carved on a building the highest that buildings importance, the Emperors dwelling would have ten! There was an interesting Buddhist temple at the top of the hill, with thousands of Buddha's carved into the walls (and also inside but we weren't allowed in to see it).

    Afterwards we walked (ran) down the hill to the lakeside where we experienced a little bit of the wooden walkway, which was adorned with many detailed paintings of landscapes. We were a little short on time and this area was very crowded so we didn't get to spend as much time as we would have liked to really explore this area.

    Luffy, Fish and Vela then dropped Nathan off in a coffee shop while they enjoyed the concert of a very famous (legendary) Chinese singer - Jacky Cheung. They were very lucky to get tickets as they sold out in seconds.

    Afterwards, to cheer Nathan up, we visited a craft beer shop for a couple of local drops. The beers definitely looked pretty, but most tasted like lemonades. Of particular interest was the one on the very left which was a green tea flavour, and tested very much like green tea, more so than the Japanese one we tried previously.    En savoir plus

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  • Our OE
    Jour 17

    Coming Home to Chongqing

    18 avril, Chine ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Travel day today!

    This morning we left our hotel headed for Osaka airport. Luckily Vela double checked our flights before we got on the train, as there are two international airports in Osaka and we were originally headed for the wrong one!

    Crisis averted, we safely boarded our plane and with no issues (other than a kooky stranger in the third plane seat) we arrived safely in Chongqing!

    Standard homecoming ritual meant 30 minutes later we were at a hotpot restaurant with Vela's family. Yum!    En savoir plus

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  • Our OE
    Jour 16

    Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan

    17 avril, Japon ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    This might be one of the hardest posts we've made so far. After visiting Kaoyukan we had so many photos to sort through, and a limit of 10 photos for today was difficult to stick to. Hopefully our photos and video have done this amazing place justice!

    Nathan in particular was captivated by the aquatic life, threatening to bring a mattress next time and stay the night. We were treated to fish from all over, including some weird and whacky South American river fish, the alien-like sunfish (cool little throwback to our sailing trip) as well as the incredibly impressive whale sharks. The main tank was completely packed with fish life, with several shark species including hammerheads, and a couple of absolutely massive sting rays.

    Definitely worth having a look if you're ever in Osaka.    En savoir plus

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  • Our OE
    Jour 14–15

    Universal Studios Japan

    15 avril, Japon ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    We spent the day at the amazing world that is Universal Studios Japan. The theme park was pretty incredible, featuring areas from Jurassic Park, Amity Beach, Harry Potter, Super Nintendo and more!

    We paid a bit extra to get an express pass, which was well worth the extra money and saved us hours of waiting in line for rides (some rides had wait times of nearly 3 hours). The theming of the different areas, in particular Harry Potter and Super Nintendo, was amazing, but it did feel like some extra rides would have made the experience even better. However we particularly enjoyed the Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, and Jaws rides.

    We also happened to bump into Vela's workmate, Josh and his partner Shelby, who had taken an impromptu holiday to Japan. We got led a little bit astray during dinner when there was a bottomless tap of lemon sour plumbed right into our table... Which led to some late night antics and karaoke.

    Quiet day after all that, in particular for Nathan to nurse his sore head. Vela also managed to get her final bit of retail therapy done for Japan - happy girl! We met up a second time with Josh and Shelby, but everyone was a bit more well behaved this time, and some very civilized games of pool and darts were had, with only a couple of beverages being consumed.    En savoir plus

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  • Our OE
    4
    Jour 13

    Oh Deer

    14 avril, Japon ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    We went on a day trip from Osaka to Nara to visit the deer park. The park is famous for its many deer, who have around under the trees waiting for tourists to buy cookies to feed them with. The deer will bow their heads to you to let you know they want a cookie, and you're expected to bow back to them.

    Nathan found out the hard way that they get a little demanding when it comes to these cookies, getting a little love bite from a particular deer that thought it wasn't getting its fair share of cookies. We think they had a little bit of a "gang mentality" going, so we moved off to a quieter area to feed some other deer.

    Also around the complex, Nathan found a koi pond with some absolute dinosaur fish in it, and one last Sakura tree blossoming.

    After we were finished at the deer Park, we had the local lunch dish, rice served in a piping hot metal bowl which browned the edges of the rice. We wandered the streets a little bit before we caught the train back to Osaka for a restful afternoon.

    Dinner we had another Japanese BBQ, enjoying some Wagyu beef this time.    En savoir plus

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