Zhaoqing Trip

Hello everyone! 

It's been awhile since my last update. Since the last post, Ryan and I traveled on a weekend trip to China with his motor engineering team and I also found out I receive my physiotherapy license here in Hong Kong! The license has been a long process of paperwork, letters, emails and trips to their office but we finally have a wonderful result. I have started the job search now and am waiting to hear back from some clinics. I am excited to get back to work but nervous for what working in a foreign country will bring. I know overall it will be a great learning experience that I will cherish forever! 

Now back to our weekend getaway. A couple Fridays ago I traveled up to Houjie, the city where Ryan lives and works during the week. We spent the night Friday hanging with some of Ryan's co-workers that were visiting from Milwaukee. Then early Saturday morning we met his motor engineering team, along with some of their spouses and children, and headed out on a bus to Zhaoqing. We spent the weekend visiting several parks and temples, hiking up hills and seeing some of the most gorgeous scenery I have seen since we have moved to Asia. Overall it was a great weekend for Ryan's group to bond as a team and for Ryan and I to see another part of Asia. 

The entire group 

Zhaoqing is the home of Pabst Blue Ribbon production for China so it was awesome to see PBR logos everywhere...almost felt like we were back in Milwaukee! 

Group photo day 2 

Gorgeous scenery

Waterfall hike

A walk through the mountains to end our weekend

Malaysia Trip

Hello Everyone!

It's been awhile since I've posted anything on here. Ryan and I traveled to Penang, Malaysia last week to spend some time over the Labor Day holiday with a few of his friends/co-workers. We were fortunate enough to have local hosts (2 of Ryan's co-workers are from the area) to take us around and show us everything.

When I asked Ryan and other people who had visited the area what there was to do, everyone said, "Eat," and that is exactly what we did. I wish I would have kept a food journal of the names of everything we ate because we tried so many different things. We tried almost everything there was to try in the time we were there! We ate everything from fried noodles at a road side stand to a full seafood dinner on the river.

Indian breakfast

Spread of Thai food for lunch

Hawker zone full of food stands

Seafood dinner

In between all of our meals we checked out some of the tourist spots in the area. Here is a traveler's tip Ryan has taught me: whenever you don't know what to do for a day or afternoon in an area you're visiting, look up the city on tripadvisor.com and go through the top attractions for the area. I realize this isn't ground breaking news, but it has been how we have planned all of our vacations since we have been here and it is a great help. I also check it out before I book any hotels.

Street art..with a local joining in 

Indian temple

Village on the sea

Tropical Spice Garden

Quick stop at a local beach

Ryan holding a group of giant millipedes

Top of Penang Hill

Indian temple at the top of Penang Hill

Kek Lo Si Temple

Statue of Kuan Yin, Goddess of Mercy

Finding anchors at St. Anne's Church 

Angry, wild monkeys

Jungle trekking 

We had a great time experiencing the local life in Penang and are very thankful for our wonderful hosts! While we were away, Ahri had a great time at a new kennel. They sent us daily photos to let us know she was doing fine. Here are some of my favorites:

And on the day we went to pick her up, we discovered Ahri can swim! They have a few swimming pools at the kennel and the second we opened up the gate to the pool Ahri sprinted towards it and dove right in. Here is a video of one of the later swims as she was too fast to capture the first time.

I am off to China now to meet up with Ryan for a weekend retreat with his work team. I will update you all on our adventures!