the driver, the OP, and the ayi

We are very lucky and now that a we have been living in Shanghai for a year, we are now very spoiled! We have had the help of three people, who have made our stay in Shanghai very enjoyable.

 The driver, being an expat in Shanghai we have had the luxury of having a full time driver, Mr. Wang. Almost all expats and many of the Chinese have drivers too. I think with the prices of cars, (very expenses) the cost of getting a license plate for the car (now over $20,000) and the affordability of people, it almost makes more sense to lease a car with a driver. Plus once you see how people drive in China it makes even more sense. 

Dow like most international companies, hires a driver for each expat employee/ family living in Shanghai. His primary responsibility is to drive ME to work and back. When he is not driving ME around we can also use him to take us around Shanghai. In the evenings and on the weekends he is also available to take us to the many restaurants and night spots in the city. It makes going out at night very easy.

The OP or office professional, Lucia, is a Dow employee, who speaks very good English. She is assigned to ME as her secretary and to help family members while living in Shanghai navigate our stay when interacting with the Chinese.  For example she would help us with purchasing phones or topping them up when we run out of money or when we have issues with our apartment we would ask her to help translate with the apartment engineer or the maintenance people or help with misc travel arrangements etc. It gives you the satisfaction that if you get stuck anywhere help is only a phone call away.

The Ayi or "auntie" in Chinese (pronounced ī  ē) is a maid that many expats and Chinese have. Some are full time, especially families of young moms with kids, and some are part time, who do just about everything from minding the babies and young kids, to doing the cleaning, ironing, cooking, grocery shopping, to running errands. Most apartments have a very little room off the kitchen where a live-in ayi would stay. We hired a part time ayi, Jean, to clean, iron, and do some washing, she comes two days a week for four hours each day. We pay her 120RMB for the four hours ($19.50 or $4.90 an hour). She is a very nice lady who is always on time and does a wonderful job. Below are some pictures of the folks who have made are stay in Shanghai so enjoyable. 

our Buick 7 passenger van

Mr Wang with ME and Meredith

Elaine and ME, one of her OP's

ME, Mr Wang, Lucia the new OP, Elaine the old OP, and Margot

Jean our ayi 

one of my views while being driven around Shanghai

Guilin part 4 Yangshuo

After visiting the market in Xingping we drove further down the Li river to the town of Yangshuo. It is a very scenic small town, very popular with backpackers and tourist. The area around Yangshuo is renowned throughout China for its karst landscape. There are hundreds upon hundreds of limestone hills dotting the countryside. Many people go either cycling or on a river cruise on the Yulong River or a combination of both to check out the scenery. Our guide arranged for us to rent bikes from our hotel where we took a ride out of town along the river. We then took a leisurely bamboo raft ride (on real bamboo raft) for the next 2 hours including going over 5 little water falls along way. Upon going over the first waterfall photographers on floating docks  were waiting to capture your experience/expression. The man steering our raft stopped at the floating  dock, where we got out and reviewed pictures on a flat screen monitor. We picked 2 pictures and within minutes we had a 6x8 plastic coated picture.  Farther down the river there were more floating docks serving grilled fish and beer. People would stop and get off the raft for lunch or a afternoon drink.

Our bikes were shuttled down to the exit point of the rafting trip and from there we cycled 20 minutes to Noon Hill another of these must see places. It is billed as a unique formation where you climb up 700 steps to a lookout point with a big hole in the hill. At the trail head we meet two ladies carrying small coolers, selling cold water and soft drinks. The path was wet and in some parts slippery because of the earlier rain storm. I am not sure why, but the two ladies walked up the hill with us. One walked with ME and the other walked with me. We said several times that it was not necessary but they insisted. Both spoke some English enough to have a basic conversation. At the top we took pictures and hung out for about 20 minutes, then started our walk down. The one women literary helped ME all the way down, in some of the more slippery sections holding her hand. Once at the bottom ME made me buy a water from each one even though I was already carrying two water bottles.

We had another 1-1/2 hour bike ride to back to the hotel. Instead of using the main road back our guide took us along some back country roads and walkways. This was probably one of the most interesting and scenic parts of the day. We got a chance to see rural China and enjoy the incredible countryside. Below are pictures of the days experiences. 

starting point for the bamboo raft ride

going over water fall, with floating photo docks in background

taking pictures 

monitor, printers and plastic sealer on floating dock

one of the pictures we bought,
we were told to lift up our shoes when going over the waterfalls so they would not get wet

river view

a shower along the way

floating dock restaurants ahead 

returning the rafts to the starting point

Moon Hill

view from Moon Hill

helping ME over a slippery patch

our new friends

our guide, biking on the back roads

rice paddy 

typical 3 wheel truck with exposed tractor motor

our hotel in Yangshuo

Guilin part 3 Xingping market day

The next morning we went to the Xingping market. Any day of the month that ends with a 3, 6, or 9 is a market day in Xingping. It is a very active market and the town becomes very busy in the mornings, folks from many of the smaller neighboring villages come in by boat, bus, or trucks to buy and sell their products or produce.  There are also many services offered at the market. Below are some pictures of old town Xingping and the market.

on the ferry going to the morning market with the locals

men on the ferry

docks at Xingping village

women carrying goods to sell at the market

entering old town

street in old town

ME look to dogs for sale at the market

chickens for sale

an isle of chickens 

man using hand scale to weigh produce

the women in pink practices Traditional Chinese Medicine,
the folks are gathered around  going through a treatment, many have needles somewhere on there bodies

cupping a 3000 year old practice 

acupuncture on the knees of this lady

men selling herbal medicine, all plant based
used for over 5000 years, is the bases to Traditional Chinese Medicine 

a row of barbers in the market giving haircuts 

men selling tobacco, from leaves to ground up ready to use 

men eating hot pot, a very popular meal in China

men sitting around having soup also very popular

Guilin part 2 Fishing village

In the afternoon we took another rafting trip farther down the river to visit Fishing village, (that is the name of the village). There history goes back 500 years and most of the homes architectural style still represents that of northern Guangxi Province during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. They have horse head walls,(walls built above the roof line to prevent the spread of fire from one home to the next) flying eaves and windows with carved patterns. They are also very proud of the fact that Bill Clinton and family visited the village back in 1998. The village has now become a tourist destination, and the locals have commercialized his visit. There are several big posters at the entrance of the village detailing the visit with pictures of Bill Clinton and a Chinese official. Then there is the home of a man where Bill Clinton visited and went to the roof for a view of the village and the unique roof-lines. He now charges tourist 1RMB ($.16) to do the same thing and take pictures. His neighbor two doors down does the same thing different angle. Each have several pictures taken with Bill Clinton on display in their homes. 

The other famous thing the villagers are known for is there use of cormorants to catch fish. This practice goes back over a 1000 years were the fisherman train the cormorants to catch small fish. They tie a noose around the birds long neck to prevent it from swallowing its catch. When the cormorants catch a fish the fisherman brings the bird back to the boat and has the bird spit it out.

That evening we went out on the river again to look at a demonstration. There was one fisherman and 8 birds. Once on the river he chased the birds off the raft and immediately they started diving under the water and soon enough were catching small fish. He pulled them in, had them spit out the fish in a bucket and back into the water they went to catch more fish. After about 15 minutes he took off the noose and the birds went into a feed frenzy. Once he turned the boat motor on the birds stopped and returned to the boat for the ride back. It was amazing how well trained the birds were. 

entering Fishing Village

lower left, Bill Clinton and Chinese official 

horse head walls

unique design along the ridge of the roof

click on to enlarge

picture of the Clinton's visit

more horse head roofs

view of village

selling souvenirs outside of home with carved wood doors

large plumes of bamboo along the shore line

bamboo plumes, click on to enlarge

cormorants ready to go fishing

several in the water

diving under the water

spitting out the fish