GZ Expat, Part II

Photos of the past week...

In addition to finding out things about our house we didn't want to hear...and spending copious amounts of money on things I never thought I would...we made the road trip to central Oregon to pick up my beloved Cougar and take a couple road trips around the area to reacquaint ourselves with the beauty that is Oregon...

First up was Crater Lake...a place I hadn't been to in possibly 15 years.  While the photos you see are  beautiful, like the Grand Canyon, the size of it just doesn't get the justice deserved through photographs.  You have to see it to believe it.  We spent a few hours walking back and forth near the lodge, watching the color of the water change and clouds flew overhead.  Afterward, we headed back out, stopping at various lookouts along the way and even getting in a snowball fight (in July!).

On our way back to the Willamette Valley, we stopped at the big obsidian flow in Newberry Crater, which is the largest volcano in Oregon (no, not Mt. Hood or Mt. Mazama).  Again, photos can show the rocks and the flow, but to understand the size of the flow, you have to see it and scale it.  After walking a good 15 minutes up the side and around the top, I realized that we had barely scratched the surface of this massive pile of lava.

If you ever visit Oregon, a trip to the central region and the beauty of the high desert is a must.  Having just moved from GZ...the clean air and silence of the evenings is something to treasure.  In fact, expat son did nothing but look out the window of the car and say, 'look, trees!  REAL trees!' 

Additionally, there are some photos from our last Asian holiday in Japan...baseball, Disneyland and shopping in Harajuku.

Week One...

Thus far, its been interesting being back.  Our house was finally vacated the day after we arrived and we were able to go in and see how its doing.  There is much cleaning to be done...but the disappointing part of it all was the state in which the appliances were left.  The dishwasher unworkable...the range door glass broken...the 4 yr old microwave oven stained yellow inside with grease.  sigh. 

So, what initially was hoping to be a somewhat smooth move in, had turned into a shopping adventure this week for appliances.  And, for anyone that has shopped for this sort of stuff before, you can go super cheap and have stuff that doesn't perform as you wish...or you can go super expensive and have stuff that will last a lifetime.  Our challenge is to go somewhere in between.  With a tai-tai that loves to cook...its only fair to kit out her 'office' with the latest and greatest in equipment...while also trying to maintain some sort of sanity in budget.  For instance...a stove-top range varies in price from $699 to $5500.  Pulling a budget number out of my butt, I told her $1500...well, its looking like it might be slightly over that, given what we have seen.  Man...I wish our tenants would gave taken care of our stuff.

Yesterday, though, was the big day for the kid...13 yrs old.  He had become a 'teenager'...oh dear.  We spent the day doing some of the things he wanted to do.  Firstly, shopping for one last gift for him...then having lunch at Burger King (something he has wanted for a long time as we didn't have them in China).  We then headed to our house and put our butts into our swimming pool...for the first time.  Expat son, having swam in many pools while on holiday in Asia, got his shorts on, walked to the edge and jumped in for a cannonball...only to come up SCREAMING.  Errr...the water is a little colder here.  Topping off the day with a massive birthday meal at Jake's.

Today is our first 'do nothing' day since arriving...we're going to sort of take it easy.  Tai-tai needs to do some shopping and we'll catch up on laundry and just take it easy today, I think.  Hopefully, this is what 'getting settled' is about.

Up early. I can never sleep properly on travel days. I had a very restful night and then when I awoke, that was it...time to get up.

It's on to packing and getting set to go 'home'. We've got a long travel day ahead of us. While the flight from Tokyo is only 9 hours, its the getting to the hotel 3 hrs ahead that is a pain in the butt. Especially since Narita Airport is about 1.5hrs from the city...makes for a long travel day.

Yesterday was spent at the ballpark. We watched a high scoring Giants team outlast the Swallows 14-8. A 2:00pm start on a Monday afternoon and the 'big egg' was packed for the game. I still say it today...if you EVER go to Japan, you have to see a baseball game. It is a great experience.

That's it...time to get packing and go find some breakfast (best deal for breakfast here is Denny's!).

The Last Night In Hong Kong

Just uploaded my photos to my laptop and found that I got some great shots of the sunset in Hong Kong out the window of the hotel.

 

Going to miss this great city.  Good night, moon.

Waiting for the flight to Tokyo. Car ride from GZ to HK was amazingly smooth and simple. Should have done that years and years ago.

Goodbye Guangzhou

This is it...got up this morning to check my emails for one last time.  Headed off to the office to clean up the remaining files on my laptop, gather all the hardware together and turn it into the IT guys.  Then, I slide out the sim cards in my phones and hand them over too...officially disconnected.  

In another couple hours we'll hop in a car and drive off to Hong Kong, the first leg of our journey home.  A quick over-nighter there and then an early flight tomorrow morning for Tokyo where we will have our last Asia holiday.  A little Disneyland action...and little baseball action...and some great food for three days.  Then, its back on a plane and off to Portland. 

Many of my friends here ask...'will you come back?'  At this time, neither the Tai Tai nor I could really see ourselves coming back to Guangzhou.  We've done our time here...X5.  No one ever expected us to be here in GZ for over 2 or 3 years...and its been 11 total.  While the city has given us so much...it has also taken too and its sort of time to leave behind all of this and start over.

Ah hell, you never know...in a couple years, I could be banging on my boss' door begging to go back to Asia...and frankly, I could see it happening.  But, Guangzhou?  Probably not.  I want something different, if I ever do come back.

In the meantime, we have been arranging for work to be done on our house in Oregon, things are coming together quite well...and then we just await for it to all be completed and then get our storage delivery in place...after that the shipment arrives.  And then, we can sit back and say, its good to be home.

Good Bye Old Friend

Good Bye Old Friend

Last Paddy Stop

Last Paddy Stop

No dancing on lift

No dancing on lift

Dr. Strangelove = Awesome

Dr. Strangelove = Awesome