January/February

This blog is proving to be a difficult thing to remember to update, however, I realize that it will be something I appreciate in the long run.  Christmas was spent in beautiful Thailand on Patong Beach on the island of Phuket.  It was an incredible experience. I love the Thai people, the culture, the beach and warm weather.  Christmas was very different this year with a swim in the ocean, great time with some friends and a cultural production in the evening complete with acrobatics, elephants and dancing.
It was hard to return to work after such a great holiday but having only 4 weeks of work until the next one made it quite doable.
So.....January was a great month, however cold, with lots of adventures.  Soon after returning a few teachers and I planned a day trip to Nanshan ski resort. Nanshan ski hill is one of the most popular ski hills in Beijing.  Only 1 hour away, it is a man-made resort but the skiing was awesome! It was nice to be out on the slopes again.  It was really neat to see from a distance this white ski hill amongst the brown rolling hills on either side.
Around this time was when I decided to book my flights for Chinese New Year which was only a few weeks away.  We decided to go to Vietnam and Cambodia!  These are two countries I had never dreamed of visiting but it looked like it was shaping up to be a great time.  The week before we were set to leave our school had its 5th year anniversary.  Complete with a meal, prizes, entertainment and lots of laughs, we celebrated in style and had a fantastic time.
The day finally came for us to leave for Vietnam and Cambodia.  Because I booked through aeroplan points we had a 24 hour layover in Hong Kong.  This was a lot of fun and was a great way to get a taste of the busy city of Hong Kong.  We spent the night at a dirty hostel downtown Hong Kong and the next day we took the tram up to The Peak, which is the highest point in the city and gave us breathtaking views of the harbor and buildings.  That evening we boarded a plan, first class, headed for Ho Chi Minh city, vietnam.  The trip was amazing.  We spent 1 day on the Mekong Delta on a cruise, then headed for Siem Reap, Cambodia to see the Angkor Wat temples.  After staying here for 3 nights we took a bus down to Phnom Penh to visit the awful killing fields and S-21 prison used during the genocide under Pol Pot during the 1970's.  This was a sad day.  Afterwards we took another bus down to Sihanoukville, a beach town, and spent 2 nights there and then 4 nights on a remote island called Koh Ta Kiev.  There was nothing to do except lie in hammocks, swim, read and relax on a beautiful beach with 30 degree heat.  Life couldn't get much better!
After the long trek back to Beijing we arrived on Saturday Feb. 12th back in our humble abodes with 2 days to get rested up and ready to get back to work.  Now begins the long haul until my return to Canadian soil in June.