Beach Getaway in China:
Recently, we spent a long weekend in Weizhou an island in the south of China off the coast of Beihai. Originally, we were thinking of heading to Sanya, another island located in the south known for great resorts and nice beaches – only problem – it’s usually crowded during long weekends making leaving the hotel seem like drudgery rather than exciting. Sometimes we like those type of lounging vacations but this time we wanted a bit of an adventure so my travel agent (Jake), found just the place. Weizhou is a super small, relatively unknown island. There are only a handful of hotels and from what we could tell only two English speaking people – Mario and Meow – who own the hostel and run its bar and grill aptly named Mario’s.
We rented a scooter and easily rode from beach to beach sampling locally cooked seafood and when we were tired, a seat at Mario’s bar was always waiting with cold beers. While some of the beaches attracted tourists due to the outdoor grills, there were many secluded beaches where we didn’t see a sole beyond the occasional farmer or fisherman. Dinner consisted of fresh caught clam with herbs…..delicious. At night the local bars came to life with Havana Bar being one of our favorites, owned by a Chinese Rasta couple. As you can see in the pictures above, Jake helped paint their new sign.
Beautiful, relaxing and unpretentious…..we have found our new China getaway a two-hour flight from Shanghai.
During a recent trip my flight was changed to another airline - in desperation, I try to figure it out by responding to this message in English…..didn’t go so well!
Hosting 8 of Jake’s colleagues for dinner tonight. Making a smash recipe that mom has been testing at home - muddled mint and sugar, 1/2 squeezed orange and lemon with 2 hots of Grand Marnier - yummy!
What a busy May!!
May has been the busiest month since arriving in Shanghai! We have been hosting parties and visitors all month, which we’re always very excited to do. We’ve also done our share of traveling – we visited Weizou, an island off the coast of China, as well as Xi’An to see the terracotta-warriors. I also took two business trips – one to Beijing and one to Guangzhou – both in the same week!
Above are a few pics with more on the trips to follow!
1. My friend from NYC, Vicky, came to visit and during her stay we had a “red solo cup” going away party for our friends Caitlin and Ryan. In Shanghai expats are always coming and going. It’s very common for people to ask us the length of our stay – I guess they want to find out if we are worth being friends with!
2. My friend and old work colleague, Marissa, was in town due to her husband’s work schedule in China. They were also traveling with another couple. Here we are on our rooftop after grilling.
3. Jake’s mom came to Shanghai for 10 days. We were very excited to have her especially since we have been telling her about Shanghai for so long. Jake’s cousin Joe also happened to be in China for work and he stopped by Shanghai on his way back home.
4. A picture from our Xi’An trip.
Night out in Shanghai! First up, dinner at El Willy’s new Bund location……lobster paella here we come!
Adorable fresh brewed teas at one of my favorite tea shops - Cha Mi - on Fumin Lu. Did you know making tea with cold brewed water verses hot does not release the caffeine? Perfect for me as I’m prone to headaches with too much caffeine. The sales people explained the various tea types and said that the glass bottles are a must - I quite agree. Not only are they cute, but reusable. I bought two!
Landed in Xi’An - home to the famous Terracotta Warriors. The view from our plane reminded me of flying over my hometown of Indianapolis - so similar yet on opposite sides of the world.
New organic grocer moving in down the street - very excited for its arrival as I’m now ordering much of my produce online. Slated to open this summer!
Brainstorm food in the Beijing office - gummy burgers and fries!
