May Holiday

Second honeymoon to celebrate four wonderful months of marriage!

May Holiday = 3 nights on a train, 1 in a tent, 1 in a hostel, lots and lots of people, one of the two holidays when the Chinese have a work break besides New Years. The long weekend when everyone returns home or goes traveling. A time we will never travel again because it is absolutely insane, but we can really say that we have broadened our “Chinese experience” as we engulfed ourselves in the culture riding packed overnight trains, squeezing through crowds and feeling very Asian by taking pictures of everything.

Shanghai: “Whore of the Orient, Paris of the East; city of quick riches, the domain of adventures.” Thank goodness for the subway which allowed us to find our way around to see the old European style building strip (Bund) along the river, the Shanghai Museum, and Old town. After seeing all the famous sites our most memorable and enjoyable experience was wondering in amazement through the outdoor commoners market away from all the tourists. Being hosted by our local dear family friend Apex for some local cuisine was also a treat (somewhat a treat if your into that kind of stuff says Mike).

Shanghai Old Town

Marydale Farms international tour!

The Bund in Shanghai.

The hard sleeper on the overnight train, when in doubt
always go with the sign that says soft sleeper!

Dinner with Apex Kong!

This is a diaper in China! Yes, the whole street!

Yellow Mountain: Hands down one of the most beautiful places in the world! Absolutely spectacular and breathtaking. Okay, breathtaking might also be attributed to hiking about 27 kilometers up and down steep trails (when we say steep we are not kidding, there were only a few places that were without stairs). After getting a few hours sleep in our little tent at the top of the mountain we enjoyed the sunrise and a day of hiking. The harder the trail, the fewer the number of tourists.

The mist before the rain on the Yellow Mountain.

A worker takes cucumbers to the top of the mountain, they will make multiple trips like this everyday, strait up then back down, then up again.

The sunrise at the Dawn Pavilion! 5:24 AM (Mike even got up for it)

Legend has it that if you leave a lock here your love will last forever!

This is where we stayed, the trash pile cost us a few extra dollars so we could be next to it and even a few more dollars to have our tent literally 2 inches away from all the other tents.

Tamara overlooks the Grand Canyon of the Yellow Mountain.

Don't Look down, or underneath the trail.

Really don't look down this time! How did they build that trail!

Hang Zhou: So far the most romantic place in China. It is clearly evident when West Lake has been the inspiration for decades to poets and artists. Biking around the lake dodging tourists was very entertaining but mostly we just loved how beautifully serene it was. Luckily we were able to find a nice cheep hostel room. One of the fun things about traveling China is all the interesting foreigners you meet. Everyone has a story. Our hostel room was shared by a Russian girl, Columbian girl, and two Chinese men (one of whom snored very loudly).


Hang Zhou, China, West Lake with some Chinese Pirates.

Very Romantic.

Long Day

Bumble bee at work.

Mini Bike, she is ready for the Tour!

Not ready for the Tour.

A beautiful Japanese Maple.

Joining in the Chinese Glamor shots!

We are pretty proud of ourselves that we survived traveling through China by ourselves not being able to speak the language. If we can do it anyone can do it! Now we are prepared to take you around China!

This is a video of some Senior Citizen Techno Line Dancing!