Summer 2011, Xi'An, Friends, Hong Kong's Best!!

Xi'An's Terra Cotta Army, Xi'An Shaanxi Province, China

June marked the end of the school year, departure of our much loved neighbor Colleen and her family, the end of soccer and baseball seasons and beginning of summer!

To celebrate a successful academic year, we went for a long weekend to Xi'An, first capital of the Chinese Empire and home of the Terra Cotta Warriors Army. It was a great weekend to learn much about the history of China and get a little more immersed in the traditions and life of the locals. We rented an appartment from a Chinese family and spent the weekend in a local community, visited the Cave Dwellers and Peasant Farmers. Who knew that 30 million Chinese people - in the Shaanxi province alone! - have been and still live in caves... Generations of families live in these naturally air conditioned dwellings since centuries. It was fascinating. We also travelled a day a few hours away from the tourist center of Xi'An to beautiful countryside of agriculture and small villages to visit a peasant painter: Li Fenglan whose art survived the Cultural Revolution and whose enthusiasm and joy of life was infectuous. She loved seeing the children: typically only adult groups venture this far into the countryside. So she whipped up a painting for them of two chicks and lychees.. Her husband was adamant it would be worth millions (of Yuans) after her death!... Resulting in a small donation on our part of course. But what fun that was in any case.

The rest of the summer went by in a flash with Lara Zaller from Atlanta's AIS, and her family spending a weekend with us, Natalie Caron, my Montreal college rommate visiting for a couple of days and Marie-Claude, my Ministry of Tourism co-worker and long time friend spending 10 days with us. Thanks to them, we re-visited most of Hong Kong's great sites and re-discovered how much this place has to offer. It was exhausting and fun.










Hong Kong at night during the Symphony of Lights - from Avenue of the Stars!

The kids have kept busy with Surf Camp, Adventure Camp and Baseball Camps. We are still planning a visit to Ocean Park and maybe HK Disneyland which we have not visited yet, before school starts September 2nd. Also trying to find a local cruise of the HK outlying islands for a couple days in August.

It is life as usual at the Huyghes, looking forward to September and a short biking trip to Guilin/Yongshuan on the River Li.

Thinking of all, keep in touch!

Save The Japanese Children victim of the Tsunami fundraiser, Easter in Yunnan hiking, May in Mongolia discovering!

Black Dragon Pool at Snow Dragon Mountains, Lijiang, China

The adventures continue. After looking so much forward to our Japan trip for Audrey's 12th birthday, the unfortunate events of early March caused us to reconsider and adjust our vacation plans. Japan will be for next year, hopefully. The kids were so touched by the plight of the Japanese people, they organized a huge neighborhood collection of toys, books and cakes/cookies and set up shop two consecutive Sundays on the residence playground. Their efforts resulted in raising over HK$8000 (over $1000USD!!!) which we donated to Save The Children - Japan Tsunami Relief. We are so proud of them, their empathy and industriousness. This was a huge undertaking, collecting items for weeks and then dedicating two full weekends to sorting, fixing, tagging, and selling. They are great!

We spent Easter Holidays in Yunnan Province, Southwest of Hong Kong. Yunnan, which means Clouds of the South, is bordering Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar as well as Tibet to the northwest. It has the most concentration of ethnic groups in China with Han, Yi, Naxi and Tibetan among those we met. We flew to Lijiang - the capital of the Naxi Kingdom where women are the man of the house while the men are responsible only for intellectual endeavours (imagine that) - a beautiful town set in a valley with huge snow capped mountains as a backdrop, and Unesco World Heritage site. Lijiang's Old Town where we stayed is a labyrinth of cobbled alleys lined with wooden houses, cafes, shops and art galeries of traditional craftsmen. Irrigation channels line every street with little wood or stone bridges everywhere adding to the charm of the town.

After a wonderful few days in Lijiang, we took off for a 2 day hike in Tiger Leaping Gorge. The trek goes through one of China's deepest gorges, supposedly named after a tiger escaped hunters by leaping at its narrowest point . With peaks on either side reaching an average of 13,000ft (4000m) the gorge is very impressive and the 26km trek very exciting. We stayed the night in a mountain lodge called Old TeaHorse Guesthouse and continued on the next day toward Zhongdian, also known as "Shangri-La". This town, located at about 10,000ft in altitude is as close as you are going to get to Tibet, while not actually crossing the border. It was immortalized in James Hilton's novel "Lost Horizon". It has the largest Tibetan Monastery in the SouthWest: Ganden Sumtseling Gompa which is home to over 600 monks. It was built 400 years ago by the 5th Dalai Lama. The scenery was breathtaking and the cold temperatures (2C in the morning) awesome. The food was excellent and our hotel was absolutely beautiful. The kids had a blast just running around the grounds.

In May, I joined 15 other ladies and traveled to Mongolia for a week. I had always wanted to see but wasn't sure it would be an appropriate family vacation spot. Actually, Mongolia would be great with kids, but only if you flew from one place to the other, the distance and the scope of everything is so vast.

Why Mongolia? The very name conjures up visions of nomads, camels, horses, and of course the most famous Mongolian of all: Genghis Khan (or Chinggis Khaan as his name is transcribed in Mongolia).

First stop was Ulan Batar, the capital city of Mongolia. With a population of just over one million it is the largest city in the country. We boarded a comfortable bus for a 2-hour drive outside the city to our first Ger Camp experience in a national park. Gers are the Mongolian equivalent of the American Indian teepee—a portable tent that can be put together (and taken down) between thirty and sixty minutes. After checking in, we were treated to a small version of the Mongolian Naadam Festival, which is a huge national sporting and cultural festival held in July every year. The main activities of the festival are archery, horseback riding, and Mongolian wrestling (the style is similar to Japanese Sumo, though the participants are of normal size). After the festival we took part in a special Mongolian meal called “Khorkhog” which is meat (usually mutton) cooked in hot stones and served with potatoes and other vegetables.

The following day we toured the Ulan Batar area which included the famous 28-meter monument of Chinggiss Khaan made of stainless steel, a history museum, and the winter palace of the last Mongolian King.

From Day 4 through Day 7, we traveled west and south in Toyota Land Cruisers, first traveling to Karakorum the ancient capital of the Mongol empire where Chinggiss Khaan launched his cavalry that eventually conquered half of the European world. We then continued on through the Gobi Desert. Our “highways” were dirt tracks where we viewed some of the most unique terrain in the world with very few sightings of any other human beings. The landscape included scrub, sand dunes, and red cliffs. We passed flocks of sheep, herds of goats and camels, and an occasional sighting of a lone horseman keeping a watchful eye on his livestock. We stopped to visit a local nomadic family and learned more about this particularly harsh way of life. Many of us were surprised to learn that this nomadic way of life, despite urbanization, lives on in Mongolia.

On our visit to a “camel camp” where we rode camels through the desert, we happened on a live birth of a baby camel! What an incredible experience. It was like an episode of “Animal Planet.”

We ended our trip with a wonderful, though bitterly cold, trek in a mountain canyon to view a glacier, followed by a local flight back to Ulan Batar in the afternoon from Dalanzadgad. (Our pilot, we found out, was from Connecticut!) That evening we were treated to a lively Mongolian folk show and a farewell dinner of the real “Mongolian BBQ” to complete our whirlwind week. We all felt as if we had traveled back in time to a much simpler, though rugged, way of life. I have renewed respect for hot showers and flushing toilets!



Gibbons, Tigers and Elephants!

Patara's Elephant Owner for a Day, Chiang Mai, Thailand

March is a great month in Hong Kong: the weather is warming up, humidity is low. Flowers are blooming, birds are nesting, it is really very beautiful, spring is in the air. My favorite season and a great time for hiking, something we all try to do as much as possible here.

This month we went on a few hikes with neighbors Colleen and mom Jamie who introduced us to GeoCaching, just a very fun way to involve the kids and get them excited to walk (www.geocaching.com), and a fantastic opportunity to discover some new places in HK. The Dragon's Back hike took us all the way to Shek O for lunch at a great Thai restaurant, while the Violet Hill hike took us right behind our building in the mountains overlooking Repulse Bay. I continue to hike with both my french group and english group, we went on several hikes in the New Territories on the MacLehose Trail and another on Lamma Island to Mount Stemhouse where the descent was so steep, I lost 3 toe nails! Not so great for summer pedicures but lots of fun nevertheless!

This month was also Spring Break at school so in true Huyghe fashion, we decided to go to Thailand for a week. The kids and I first left on Saturday while Steve went on a 5 hour hike/run(!) around Tai Tam Country Park. The kids and I stayed for 4 days in Phuket at Mom's Tri Boathouse on Kata Beach. A great place to relax, right on the beach with a very nice pool, great food, beautiful surroundings. We went on a island hopping tour of Bamboo Island, Phi Phi islands, Koh Yao and Coral islands and saw the most gorgeous beaches and most incredible marine life ever. The water was so clear and warm, snorkeling was a real treat.

On Wednesday we flew to Chiang Mai in the north to be met by Steve for the rest of the week/weekend. There we went on a "Flight of the Gibbons" adventure of 20km of zip lines and apseiling through the jungle! It was followed by a nice traditional lunch with local music. A great adrenaline packed day. Steve joined us that night under monsoon rains.. Thankfully those stopped after a couple of days.

The next day, as it was raining, we organized a local tour: Hilltribe villages, including the Long Neck People were very interesting. We stopped at Tiger Kingdom to play with baby tigers and pet bigger ones..Big controversy there: are the tigers drugged you think? We think not. But that is us. Maybe people feel they are.

Later in the day we visited some temples: Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, built in 1383 on the top of Doi Suthep mountain was our favorite. We rode around in stinky Tuk-Tuks, which Grant thought was the greatest thing and visited the famous Chiang Mai night market; not a kids favorite at my house, so a really quick visit!

As the sun came back, we went
Thursday for a 50km bike ride in the south of Chiang Mai's countryside. Very interesting, great food and fun markets discovery with our guide Sun of Chiang Mai Cycling. A fantastic day. Not sure there are many better ways to see an area than on bikes; we try to always take a ride on our trips. But this was really a nice one.

Last day was Elephant trainer for a day at Patara . I think this one will be etched into the kids and my memory forever. From checking poop to climbing on top of the elephants, the day was filled bathing and playing with them, feeding them and walking them through the jungle. We were each assigned our "own" elephant for the day and had to take care of them from morning to late afternoon. Grant's elephant Colassu was especially endearing, very mischievious and Audrey's Lucky was a nice gentle one.

Very nice beginning of the year, we regretfully had to cancel a much anticipated trip to Japan for Easter as we still don't know what is going on there with radiation. So we re-directed towards China's Yunnan province: Lijiang, Tiger Leaping Gorge and Shangri-La for a few days. This is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in the world on the Tibetan Plateau. A hike through Tiger Leaping Gorge should be the highlight with an overnight stay in a mountain refuge. Very much looking forward to that!

The children are much involved in Charitable endeavors at the moment, running a sale of books, gently used toys and cakes, cookies and other treats, to donate the proceeds to "Save the Children of Japan". Everything has given way to the preparations of this weekend's sale: school work, music instruments practice, etc. But what a great idea and initiative. Very proud of them.

All in all, life goes on here in Hong Kong, I am excited that my family is planning to come visit in the fall and early next year and am already planning for their visit. Otherwise, school is in its last semester, the kids had great results in the past term and so we are confident now this will be a tremendous experience for them that will have a lasting impact on their life. We are very lucky.

Steve's work is doing well, he is happy with the results almost 1 year into it and has exceeded expectations of all at FTI. He is running up and down the local trails and enjoying The Club's facilities, I think mostly the hot tub and steam room! All these hills and steps are giving him a whole different workout, and I think he likes the challenge. Running on the streets of Atlanta will definitely be pretty boring when we get back. He is interested in the majorly difficult training for the Hong Kong famous 100km MacleHose Trail run. This is ran non stop, even overnight, I think the winners come in at around 16 hours. Not sure he will actually do the race, but the training itself should be pretty intense. So a good goal.

I will start to work with the American Women Organization - in fact an organization of english speaking women from 33 countries - which organizes activities for its members but also raises a considerable amount of money for local HK Charities, especially those benefiting women and children. I will join them as the new chairperson of the Charitable Donations Committee and member of the Board. My role will be to ensure the funds are distributed to worthy charities through a vetting process and then utilized as described. It will give me an opportunity to get to know a completely different side of HK, outside of the expat circles and life. I very much look forward to it. I continue to train with my crazy Swedish trainer who now has decided to try to kill me on top of a mountain - so there are no witnesses I guess! - with an outdoor "X Training" session every Monday mornings with mountain hiking, TRX, P90X, kick boxing, running and whatever else he can devise to make it as "interesting" as possible.

So I challenge you, my Atlanta gym buddies and other friends, to come to HK and join me for a session! Any Monday will do, just let me know!

Please keep in touch! All the best for a wonderful and beautiful spring!

Kung Hei Fat Choi! Happy New Year!

Halong Bay, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Vietnam

We welcome 2011 in China with the Chinese New Year. This is a BIG deal here and a 15 days (!?!) celebration culminating in the Lanterns Festival on the 15th day. There are lights, lanterns and decorations everywhere. Peach blossom trees are in the lobbies of every building and at our residence, with Lay See - the little red envelops with small change inside hanging from the limbs. There are kumquats plants full of a mandarin orange looking small fruit that is apparently edible, every where, in every home. It is very festive. This Saturday, we are going to a New Year Carnival with traditional lion dances, Kung Fu, Fan dances and arts and crafts. It is definitely a HUGE event. So Happy Year of the Rabbit to all, health and prosperity and may you live a 100 years! (Sounds great in Mandarin..)

It is life as usual in the Huyghes' home in HK as it would be anywhere else. Not enough going on to justify a blog that is anything but regular, everyday - not to say mundane - stuff. Except for the trips we are taking which are the definite perk of living here. One hour flight, and you are in another world. So I realize it sounds like we are traveling a lot, but this WAS the goal when we decided to go on this adventure. So we are taking every opportunity!

As a result, this year we celebrated the traditional Christmas Holiday in Malaysia. We traveled via Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi, a small island north of Penang, close to the Thailand border. There we spent a week at Bon Ton Resort, a unique resort where the owners have a passion for finding, moving and restoring authentic traditional Malay homes. Bon Ton is also a rescue center for cats - the island must have millions of them on the streets - and so it was truly paradise for the kids who loved the cats coming in the house and playing with them.

We had lots of fun in Langkawi going Canopy Trekking, Kayaking in the mangroves and island hopping. It was a nice beach vacation. We then flew to Kota Kinabalu in Borneo for a river safari on the Kinabatangan River. This was a very fun part of our vacation, searching for orang outans proboscis monkeys and hornbills.. We visited the bird's nest soup cave, went jungle trekking and saw Pigmy Elephant tracks - no elephants though! - the
Borneo nature is beautiful and unspoiled. It was great and we saw no leeches! Everyone was eager to point out we would probably be bled to death, but no, actually only 1 tiny little leach. So take it from me, no worries, you are perfectly safe from leeches in Borneo!

Back home in Hong Kong to fantastic weather, great hiking season. So we are spending our weekends up and down mountain trails, in between soccer and baseball. The kids have had much better success in school this second trimester with results that would be very respectable for natives and lifers of the French system, so doubly impressive for these non-native foreigners. Audrey still struggles a little with the French, 6th grade level has moved beyond the basics of the language to now explore literature and the mechanics of composition and redaction. So very difficult transition for her and some catching up to do with language basics. Otherwise, on the school front, sports and music, all is well under the tropics!


We decided to spend Chinese New Year school Holiday in Vietnam, where the celebrations are similar but called the TET celebrations. We traveled to Hanoi and then Halong Bay which were cold but fantastic, followed by an interesting - first and last for Steve - overnight train ride to Hue, the ancient Imperial Capital of Vietnam. A couple of days in Hue, then Hoi An: possibly the best place we have been in Asia on vacation. Great old town untouched by any bombings of any wars, great beach, amazing food and restaurants, super shopping and just gorgeous scenery and historical/UNESCO World Heritage sites. I am not much of a shopper, Steve might disagree!, but if I were, Hoi An would be dangerous with the numerous tailors and silk and other fabric shops that can whip up any outfit, from a magazine photo or otherwise, in less than 24 hours, alterations and fittings included, all at incredibly cheap prices! I'll bet anything Ralph Lauren goes there.. I did see some place where they will stitch any logo you want on the clothes..

This trip was also very enlightening as we had the luck of the draw to be accompanied by a Vietnam War veteran who served in the South Vietnamese Air Force, trained by US forces. It was very interesting to hear all his bits and pieces about the war, what lead to it and how it unfolded. Especially for Steve whose many friends where right there then. We got a great book on Mr. Chuong's recommendation about the history of Vietnam to gain a much better understanding of the history of the times, the politics involved and the overall tragedy - we concluded - of this conflict. In any case, it was a great trip, our favorite place in Asia so far. If you want to go to Vietnam, now is the time: there are hundreds of new hotel/resorts and the like, planned all along the eastern shore..

Talk soon!