Amoy Wanderings

My last post was about a trip we took to a ghost mall in hopes of finding urban decay and wound up finding a partially operational mall. And though we didn't find the urban decay that others had posted about online, it still was an interesting place to explore. This post is about a trip we took in hopes of finding an interesting place and wound up finding urban decay. This last weekend, Sandy and I celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary by spending the weekend in Guangzhou, just for some time away to enjoy being together. On Saturday, we decided to explore a little and went to an art factory called Redtory that TripAdvisor had listed as an interesting place to visit. Had I read the reviews a little more closely, we wouldn't have gone because some of the reviews discussed how the shops were mostly closed down in October of 2019. (This actually brings up an interesting issue many travel sites are having: with the pandemic greatly limiting travel over the past few years, most cu...

A few weeks ago, someone told me that the largest abandoned mall in the world was located in Dongguan, Guangdong, about a 2 hour drive from us. Well, that really interested me because I am familiar with two abandoned malls in Xiamen, and they were very interesting to explore -- and honestly a little creepy. It is no wonder they are referred to as ghost malls. That is not to say there are no businesses in them, but the majority of storefronts are empty, and those that are in use look more like squatters moved in -- stores you would encounter out on the street with little glitz or glamour -- definitely no mall appeal.  So, I did some research on the mall and found out where it was, saw a few photos, and read some description about it, but most of the info was from 2013 to 2019, nothing recent. Wikipedia has a bit of information as well, but all quite dated. Some of the basic stats are that the mall covers  9,600,000 sq ft with enough space for 2,350 stores.  But ...

So, our second school year at BASIS International School, Park Lane Harbour is wrapping up. Sandy and Emily are finishing up their college classes, with Sandy completing her BA and Emily her AA both in intercultural studies. We are all looking forward to summer vacation, though mine won't begin until June 30.  The long and wild ride which began in 2020 seems to be coming to and end, and it has been very heartening to hear how life is beginning to return to normal in the US and around the world. In China, though, prevention measures for COVID are still ever present. With the zero tolerance policy that China has implemented, BASIS Park Lane Harbour (being a boarding school) faced several challenges this winter and spring when new cases broke out in the nearby city of Shenzhen. Just prior to Chinese New Year vacation, we ran 15 days of school straight because students couldn't return home without undergoing schoolwide testing. Then after the holiday, more cases broke out, so, the ...

The last few months, I have been relatively silent for many reasons, not the least of which is all the changes in our lives which seem very insignificant when compared with the issues many of you have been facing in the States. The COVID crisis seems largely to have passed, which is what benefits the political situation here, although there are significant monitoring policies still in place. In our previous city, Xiamen, students have been allowed to return to their universities for the new school year, but they have been locked on campus and must apply for permission to leave campus. Over the most recent break (which should have been at least a week long) the students merely given a long weekend vacation which was designed to prevent them from returning home and bringing the virus back with them. In our current situation, we are merely facing occasional mask requirements and a few health code checks, though that may also be because we are living in a much more rural setting. As to...

After three years in Xiamen (Amoy), we are moving on to another school and another city, BASIS International School in Huizhou, China. So, I thought I would close our chapter in Xiamen with a collection of some of my favorite photos of Xiamen. It has been a very memorable time and we are sad to leave, but we are very excited for what awaits us. I am dedicating this video to my classmate and lifelong friend, Kyle Liedtke, who passed away this year. All the music in the video comes from his album Longing. Though the video is a little long (about 26 minutes) I hope it is worth the length. And please feel free to leave a comment and to follow my blog. For the full size video, go to Remembering Xiamen

One goal Sandy and I have had is to get our Chinese driver's licenses. Now, there is little desire on my part to drive (much less own) a car here in China, though Sandy is somewhat interested in it. However, our main focus is to get our motorcycle endorsement so that we can drive motorcycles here (something we have really wanted to do). So, we figured that this was a great challenge to take on while life has slowed down because of the virus. We looked into the process -- well, actually we had friends who looked into it for us -- and figured out that it was a fairly straightforward process: have our passports and Oregon driver's licenses officially translated, go to the motor vehicle office to fill out an application, pay a few fees, and then take a knowledge-based test. Since I have my motorcycle in Oregon, that will be the end of it for me, but Sandy may face some type of driving test -- we'll tackle that problem after we finish this initial process. So, last week we set o...

For the past month, I have remained silent for a couple of reasons. For one, there really has been little change to our situation, so there has been little to report. The other reason is that from all I could gather, the rest of the world is now experiencing various forms of quarantine and lock down, so that most of you have had your lives upended and need to focus on what you are experiencing. But after receiving some questions from friends, I thought I should give you a basic update. First off, we are doing very well, staying healthy physically, mentally, and spiritually. Yes, we are mainly in a self-imposed lock down, meaning we mainly stay at home, but we do get out almost every day and meet with friends a few times a week. Our compound has been opened back up (mainly); we are free to come and go, and Sandy even had a guest over the other day. We have also been meeting with a group of friends at the beach (which is a 15-minute drive from our house) on Sunday morning for ...