Oct 30, 2011

Almost like flying through Bamboo...

We both got sick this past week... I blame some long work days and cold weather that moved into Yongchuan.... we are trying to get better in time for our marathon in Hangzhou next weekend... I think we will... with rest, yoga, tea, and good food we will be ready to hit the pavement hard and run our little hearts out!

Friday night we both felt a little achy, I felt a little fidgety, so we decided to do an evening ride up Tea Mountain to get some fresh air and a change of scenery... Andrew took some nice pics of the sunset and tea bushes!


Saturday we had to work.... luckily, it was a gorgeous day and it was our outdoor sports event day so we got to run around and take in the sun.

Today we finally got to sleep in, which we did quite well! after a loungy morning we got on our bikes and rode up the dirt road along this ridge that eventually leads to the Bamboo Park. Last weekend we found a bunch of Bamboo just below the top and thought it would be cool to set up a slackline in the bamboo forest. So today we came back on our bikes and did just that... It was about a 45 minute ride to the spot... we were out on the line playing for about 45 minutes and then it was a fun downhill ride all the way home..









live, love, laugh,..DREAM!
lina

Oct 23, 2011

A wet weekend in Yongchuan


We were both feeling tired from the hectic weekdays of teaching and everything that goes along with it! This week was my birthday, we got to judge a singing contest, teach yoga, play ping pong, learn Chinese, run, go to the gym to do weights, spin and yoga lessons AND teach over 70 kids and get them ready for ‘real’ life which will appear before them sooner rather than later…














This weekend proved to be a misty one in Yongchuan. We had a well deserved sleep in on Saturday, and did some things around the house. I also finally got around to fixing up my itune songs and ipod touch playlists. We were going to head out on a bike ride but the weather was unmotivating so we decided instead we would hit up the gym with weights and a spin class. I managed to do a yoga class at home with my online yoga program which was grand! In the evening, Andrew and I headed out to the gym to buff ourselves up and spin our brains out with flashing lights, really loud pop music and a very entertaining instructor and about 20 other Chinese people. I was thoroughly impressed with the lady in the back corner, she was wearing a fancy dress, with leg tights and nice shoes… We finished off our evening by watching House of Flying Daggers, a movie that was shot on Tea Mountain in the Bamboo Forest not too far from where we live. I have to say I am proud of the bamboo scene... Proud of little Yongchuan and its now famous park!




Sunday we enjoyed another sleep in, made a great breakfast of eggs, potatoes, and veggies along with a banana/date yogurt/black sesame smoothie and coffee. We then headed out towards Tea Mountain, the secret way up along dirt roads, farms, and forests. The fog was thick which gave the run a little bit of a surreal horror movie feel to it. We found some trails through bamboo forests and decided to play in there for awhile… The run was about 3hours with some playing around in the bamboo… Our first and last long run before the Hangzhou marathon coming up Nov 6th.


live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Oct 20, 2011

Catch Up Time

Biking and Hiking on Tea Mountain (about a month ago)

We biked to Tea Mountain/Bamboo Sea weekend of Andrew's birthday . It is on a ridge not far from our house... It is about an hour ride to the gate and then about 10km along a windy road until you get to the place they filmed a movie called "House of Flying Dagger". There they have paths through a bamboo forest. it is very pretty as you get to walk along a rolling ridge top and explore temples, and other buildings.

Here are some of our favorite pictures:
PICTURES

I think we will run up a secret way towards the ridge for our long run this weekend... I am stoked...We are entered into the Hangzhou International Marathon in two weeks time... so it is time for some last minute brushing up on our running. It is taking place around a famous Lake in China called West lake (but apparently they name many lakes West Lake in China...so it is the one in Hangzhou City. ) This marathon is going to be interesting as we just decided this week that we are going to race and have not prepared whatsoever for it... I'm pumped.. My last marathon was the Vancouver Marathon in 2006.. I have done many ultras and trail runs since then but on the road it is just different... There is prize money though... so I banking on luck to do well and win back my money I will have spent on flights etc.

Chongqing City
We went to Chongqing for the weekend last weekend. We thought it would be fun to explore the BIG city for a whole weekend. We have been there for a couple of hours before for visa stuff and school related things but never got to really enjoy what the city has to offer.
We explored an old town of Ciqikou....We managed to take the subway and city bus there (yay for being like a local in China). In the process we had to buy a new camera as Andrew's managed to die that morning. Ciqikou is a cool place but it is full of Chinese tourists. We had fun checking out the Temple, enjoying coffee on the patio while everyone took pictures of us like we were part of the attraction of Ciqikou!
 We met a friend from school who lives in CHongqing for Indian in Jiang Bei District... It was nice to have something different! yay Naan bread! We then managed to catch a night cruise on the Yangtze and Jianlin rivers. It is a 1.5hour cruise with a whole load of Chinese tourists. There are plenty of lights, beer, and good times in general.
We also got to do a little shopping (I like the hole in the wall little shops... found a fun sweatshirt). We finished our time by heading to another temple hidden amongst the modern buildings of Downtown Chongqing.

Pictures of our time are below:
PICTURES

live, love, laugh,..DREAM!
lina

Oct 11, 2011

Hainan Island, China


Hainan Island 2011 from Andrew Dye on Vimeo.


October Holiday is a popular family holiday in China. Kids don't have school and seems like the Chinese flee to the tourist attractions of China. 

I had found out about Hainan Island before we even set foot into China. I was searching the country for areas to Stand Up Paddleboard. My obsession with SUP has significantly increased throughout the last two years. I spent this past summer racing, planning and paddling the Yukon river Expedition, teaching at Deep Cove and running a SUPFit class as well. I was a little bummed when I found out we were heading to inland China where the ocean is far and most bodies of water are man made and kind of yucky… So, heading out to the ocean for the holidays seemed like a logical choice. My weakness in SUP right now is the surfing part, and if I want to play with the pros then I need to learn to catch waves like the pros. I decided that this year would be a good time to head to some beaches where I could hone my surfing skills and come back to Canada even stronger in the SUP world. So, I searched out and found Surfing Hainan. A very small surfing business in Sanya on Hainan Island, China. I emailed with them a  couple of times and found out they even had SUPs around. The surfing culture and scene has not hit the Chinese just yet. According to many Chinese people, it is foreign and dangerous and gives you dark skin, all of which hinders the ability to make surfing cool among this culture.
Andrew and I were Surfing Hainan’s most avid and experienced SUP visitors thus far. The island is known as the Hawaii of China, hot temperatures, tropical rainforests, waves, fruit, sand beaches, etc. I planned the trip to be half surfing and half bike touring. I love bike touring with a destination goal. So assuming we were heading to a tropical paradise, I pictured surfing and laying on the beach for three days in Sanya followed by riding through the mountains and small villages across the island for another three days finishing in Haikou and flying out of Haikou! Well, we did it all except laying on the beach getting tans… the weather just did not cooperate with us. We managed to arrive at the tail end of Typhoon 1, surf through tropical storm 1 and bike through Tropical storm 2.
We arrived into Sanya, set up our bikes in the airport (Andrew had a nice little audience to show case his bike maintenance skills for) and then biked from the airport to the Raintree Hostel in downtown Sanya. The ride was pleasant as we biked along Sanya Bay to get across town. It was getting dark and we made some wrong turns but managed to beat the rain and the dark to the hostel. After settling in we met the owner:Justin, and he told us about a nice Chinese restaurant not too far along the way. We made our way to Dongbei Ren, and enjoyed some more classier Chinese food. We walked back to the hostel had some beers and then made our way to Dadonghai beach where we walked along the beach and enjoyed some of the more touristy beachside entertainements such as Chinese cover bands, patio restaurants, sandy beaches, tourist shops etc.
The following three days we rented SUPs from Surfing Hainan, and paddled out of the bay in both directions, surfed beach breaks, got told to head back closer to shore by water police and lifeguards, found the fish market, street food, dark beers, and there was a whole lot of walking in the rain!
Wednesday we took off on our bikes. We were headed down the middle road from Sanya to Haikou: 300km, 3 days, and 2 big mountain passes.  Our first night after our first big mountain pass we made it to the mountain town of Wuzhishan. Here, we enjoyed playing pool with the local university students, walking the streets of town, learning how to order bubble tea, eating local street foods, and enjoying the mountain air and views.
The next day was our longest day in distance, time and the most rain. We stopped for lunch in Qiongzhong County where we had to quickly escape the downpour that seemed to follow us all morning. We managed to find a little whole in the wall restaurant that served us fried noodles and garlic fried cabbage. We sat there for awhile trying to wait out the rain until we realized we still had at least 4 hours of riding left and it was 230pm. We put on our goretex jackets for the first time and buckled down and peddled out into the rain again.  We rode all the way to Tunchang County, where we unknowingly bargained down the hotel price by almost 50%, walked around town in the rain, enjoyed ordering more street fried rice, and bubbletea.
The rain kept coming through the next day but we had moments where I thought I was starting to get dry but the rain would time itself pretty perfectly to ensure I didn’t quite dry out completely before soaking me all over again. This was a tough day, the third day in the saddle, the legs were getting tired, the butt was becoming tender and the roads were flatter and straighter. We did bike past many many cows, we saw tons of chickens, geese, ducks, and my favorite pigs roaming the streets and crossing the highway at the leisure. We did get some exciting moments as we neared Hailou, the rain started coming down quite heavily and we managed to follow some scooters through a major traffic jam due to the road being washed away, they were blarring their music, wearing their ghost type rain panchos and managed to squirrel our way around trucks, buses, cars, fast moving water, washed away roads around to the other side. We were grateful for their presence. We ended up riding into town on the opposite side to where we wished to be and had an amusing ride through town through calf deep water along all roads, crazy scooter drivers even in the rain, in a complete down pour. We finally reached the Banana Youth Hostel, enjoyed some fine itlaian pizza from a real Italian chef from italy, beers, ping pong and some beers with some nice Americans that we met. The next day we slept in, enjoyed a late brunch, and a walk around old town Haikou before we had to pack up and fly back to Chongqing. 


Live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina