Pete & Noel

Top 10 Interesting Chinese Foods

2009-03-29T20:42:00.004+08:00

So you probably know that I don't eat pork, beef or other mammal meat which spares me from the more exotic foods available in China. However, I have had the privilege of tasting many otherwise strange and very foreign foods. Without hesitation, I give you my top 10 list of interesting Chinese foods consumed in the last 6 months:

1) Shark Fin Soup - yes, I know this has horrible environmental consequences, but I was given it as part of a special dinner. Tastes a bit like rich soup with jellyfish (see #3).
2) Abalone - a strange bottom dwelling crustacean served in soup and many other ways...chewy
3) Jellyfish - not really that foreign, but as a staple food it's served in just about every quality seafood restaurant here. Doesn't really have a taste, more just a 'hard jello' like filler.
4) Sea Cumber - I suppose it's similar to Abalone - I've only ever had it in soup. When it was served, all the locals went for this like it was going out of style.

Duck is very popular in Beijing, so something has to happen with the left over bits. those that I've tried are as follows:
5) Duck Tongue - looks bad - doesn't taste much better...also is boney.
6) Duck Heart - gamy and more like a dark meat.
7) Duck Webb - yes, this is that webbing between the feet - it's served without the bones and accompanied with peanut or wasabi sauce. Webb doesn't have any taste, hence the sauce.
8) Duck Intestine - strangely not that odd at our restaurant given that others were eating pig brain.
9) Preserved Duck Egg - tastes like duck egg with a hint of jello.

(if you think the above is strange, just think how others think of goose liver pate)

10) Chicken Head - it was Christmas eve and people wanted to take us out for a nice lunch - Chicken head was on my dish so I though why not.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

2009-03-26T09:43:00.003+08:00

If there is one spot backpackers, mainland Chinese and other travelers seeking nature head to, it’s definitely Tiger Leaping Gore (TLG). Situated on the other side of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain some 3 hours from Lijiang it’s a vast gorge carved between two towering mountain ranges. People come here because of the clear(er) air, beautiful sights, challenging hikes and relaxing atmosphere.

A friend of ours in Beijing used to work for an Australian travel company and said we must come to TLG. She recommended a local guide to take us through the gorge, above the gorge and just about everywhere else to see. Sean, who talked with quite a bit, was the first tour operator in the area, taking foreigners through the gorge since 1983.

Our first day we arrived in Middle Tiger Leaping Gorge, settled in, then did a 3 hour hike down the gorge floor and back. The sights along the way were amazing, rice and wheat terraces along the hill, with rising mountains in the backdrop made for some awe inspiring scenery. The river itself was a beautiful turquoise and very fast moving. Sean told us that not too long along a guy from the States fell into the river and smashed himself up pretty well along the boulders. None of that for us of course – we were fine.

Now is a good time to mention that on our second day of the trip I got an eye infection that was threatening the remainder of our trip. Noel was ready to book a flight back to Beijing and on to Oz just so that I could be fixed. I said no way, it would heal itself in a week and on with it. The morning of first day to the gorge, we met a guy in our group of 6 who happened to be an ophthalmologist based in Seattle and who also had a week’s supply of medicine to treat it. Totally by chance but the timing could not be better.

Our second day in the gorge was a 22Km hike from Walnut Grove to Qitao. The hike was mostly along small rock and dirt trails high above the gorge road. Sights along the way were absolutely beautiful. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Yunnan, China - Lijiang & ShuHe

2009-03-22T17:40:00.008+08:00

Wow time flies. It’s been 6 months since we arrived in China and it is now time to return to Australia. But before we do, there’s some traveling to do. For two and half weeks we will be travelling southern China in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces.

With suggestions from work friends, friends of friends and lonely planet, we’ve decided to see Lijiang, SuHe, Tiger Leaping Gorge and Shangri-la in Yunnan province.

Our first few days in Lijiiang and SuHe have been very relaxing and just what we expected. Arriving by air, we took out first for a smaller village called SuHe, that for some reason has escaped most English tour book. It might be that hardly anyone speaks English, or that most think Lijiang is the main attraction.

Regardless, I’m very happy that we decided to stay in SuHe. The village is small, surrounded by mountains and has all these canals and waterways running through the town. Everyone is super friendly and you can tell not many westerns go here. The morning I’m wrote this blog, we must have had 5 or 6 mainland tourists take our picture.

Our hotel, actually just a small guest house (田园牧歌 – no English name), has better service and attention to customers that any 5 star hotel I’ve been. Need to book a car, it’s done and at half the price listed in guides, want dinner or lunch – they’ll cook it (for USD$3 per person), need tea – without asking they make a pot and bring it to you. Rooms here were only $24 per night. We meet some very nice Chinese tourists who were patient enough to listen to our beginner Chinese and who also showed us a bit around town. The only down side is you need to know a bit of Chinese and the rooms are small, but it’s the best deal ever.

Our first day was spent looking around town, group dinner at the guesthouse and at night we joined a town dancing event where some 100+ people danced around a small fire to traditional Yunnan music (think Chinese line dancing). Later we went out with our new found friends for inexpensive beer and popular Chinese games like ‘007 and a dice game. We struggled some with the language but I think the message and friendliness definitely got across. That first day, we only saw 1 or 2 other westerns.

Our second day we hired a car ($15 for 5 hours) and hiked up in Jade Dragon Snow Mountain – Yak Meadow. At 12,500’ even light hiking was a bit of effort so it wasn’t a surprise to see oxygen tanks being sold at the travel store. The scenery was absolutely beautiful. Later we took out for a touristy sight called blue moon valley where Noel rode a Yak!

After hiking, we went to the Lijiang old town and strolled through the laneways, canals and shops. The area was a bit packed with Chinese tour groups, kitschy stalls and overpriced food. Still, a very unique place to visit and one I would recommend.

Our third day we hired bikes and set out for Bai Sha a town not far from Lijiang and SuHe. Much smaller than either, it was a typical small village with a very ‘local’ feeling. A good lunch, some light sightseeing and we headed back.

By our fourth day, it was time to head out of town for some back to nature fun. For that, look for our next post.

Saugatuck visited by ChinaDaily

2009-02-10T23:24:00.003+08:00

For all those family members in Michigan, we spotted an interesting article in China Daily...apparently Saugatuck Michigan is the place to visit.

See: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2009-02/10/content_7461062.htm.

Winter in Beijing

2009-01-25T10:14:00.004+08:00

Winter is here - it's cold outside but Chinese traditions are oh so warm. There's no better way to spend a cold winter Sunday than by taking part in chair skating...yes, chair skating. We heard about this uniquely Beijing winter event from a few friends who visited years earlier. The basic idea is simple - get a chair, bolt some rails to it, place on ice and go!

People wanting to take the sport a step further decided to re-jig a bike for ice biking. While we didn't try that one - it did look rather fun.

The most festive part of the year is almost here - Chinese New Year (CNY). Already we can hear people lighting fireworks all around our building. 6am, 11pm - time of day doesn't matter - all times are fare game when it comes to fireworks. Even though it's very urban, Beijing allows fireworks during the during the Spring Festival (15 days after CNY). Mind you, these aren't those fountains and sparklers you might find back home - some of the fireworks we see on the street are full on professional. It's a it crazy, but people will light 2" morter shells on the side of street. CNY and Spring Festival is looking to be a bit crazy.

Holidays in Beijing

2009-01-19T21:48:00.011+08:00

Christmas in Beijing is quite unlike Christmas anywhere else. Granted, Christmas trees and lights decorate most buildings (a surprise to us) and Santa also make passes through the shopping malls. But that's about where the traditional similarities end. On Christmas eve, many people in the city head out to one of the hundreds of lavish dinner parties hosted by hotels, halls and fine restaurants. It's not cheap. We dined at a lower cost event at a cost of about $100USD/head. In a city where average take home is not much more than a few hundred/month - it's a lot to spend on one dinner. One of the premier events charged over $550/head just for dinner. Even considering the relative cost, it was a great dinner and a great way to celebrate in Beijing.

We were fortunate to have Christmas day off. In line with most western companies, Christmas day was designated a holiday. We met up with an American friend for a German brunch complete with pretzels and beer.
Later that night we meet up with our Hong Kong friends for a old Beijing Hot Pot dinner.

Then there was New Years. Not quite sure what to expect, we headed for the one place with lot's of expats and plenty of inexpensive celebratory beverages. To end the year, we had an exquisite french inspired, Beijing style, roast duck. This must have been our 5th or 6th duck since arrival and I'll tell you - each is better than the last.

We ended the year a bit cold yet totally inspired by all we had seen and all the places we visited. The best part of New Year in China is that we get two. Look for more details some time after January 26 - the mark of lunar New Year. We'll be escaping the Beijing cold in Hong Kong.

Xi'an - China's Legacy

2008-12-23T22:29:00.005+08:00

Since arriving in China, we've seen more than a movie or two that featured Xi'an as the backdrop. Even Hollywood movies like Mummy3 and "The Myth" feature the area's popular tourist pull - the Terracotta warriors. We wanted to hear what all the fuss was about and so headed to this inland and historical city.

We first explored the city center which featured a Chinese staple - a Bell and Drum tower. The Drum tower had the added bonus of actually allowing you (for a fee) to beat the drum as hard as possible which I was more than delighted to do.

Within the city center, we also noticed a few oddities:
1) Xi'an was the self-described Christmas capital of China. Not sure why, but I'll admit that nearly every store had either a Christmas tree or at least a picture of Santa on the door.

2) colored cabbage - yes, the city was completely decorated in the stuff pictured side.

3) Muslim district - while most of the Muslims long left the city - think cultural revolution - the people left a lasting impression with Chinese style Mosques (pictured left), ultra tasty peanut and walnut cookies and other traditional foods.

4) Lack of foreigners - actually, this is not that special, but I did notice almost a complete lack of laowai with exception of a Cuban event at our hotel that featured 4 imported Cuban musicians.

We had a very traditional Xi'an dinner featuring local dumplings, Chicken and one of the most curious looking deserts ever. I'm not sure what they're called in English, but these tasty treats pictured on left were made with black bean (sweet)and included a handle for portability

However, our real reason for visiting was to see the much older history. One that dates back 5000BC, but possibly much older. We first visited the Shaanxi History Museum that has to be one of the best Chinese Museums. Not only did it have a cross section dating back to every dynasty, a dozen Terracotta Warriors, and artifacts dating to the bronze age, the entire Museum was...Free. It might have been free due to the off season or the fact that the overwhelming scent of drying paint gave us a contact buzz. Anyhow, one of the features of the Museum was a collection of pottery that included ancient Chinese characters. The real amazing part is that we could actually pick out and see the linkage between the characters we're studying and those on the pottery which are estimated between 5000-7000 years old.

We then took an hour drive to the site of one of the most important discoveries in China. Turns out that the discovery of the Terracotta Warriors was totally by accident. Two farmers in 1974 were drilling a new well when up came a bunch of pieces of pottery. Had they drilled a few feet away, the discovery might never have been made. Years later once the site was partially excavated, they discovered that thousands of clay warriors were standing guard to protect the first emperor of China. The majority of the warriors are still buried since authorities are concerned about decay - many of the warriors once uncovered were brightly colored. In all, it was an amazing sight that I won't soon forget.

Cooking, Climbing & Celebrating!

2008-12-08T22:09:00.008+08:00

So Pete's informed me that he refuses to do another update until I catch-up on all the entries I've agreed to ... not that I don't want to, we're just very busy!

To go in chronological order, I'll start with the cooking class we took. Hutong Cuisine is a cooking class led by a local (well now she's local, she's originally from Canton in the south of China). She teaches in the courtyard of the Hutong where she lives. Hutongs are the traditional housing in Beijing. They consist of a series of 1 or 2 level brick homes with courtyards, all in rows running north and south, east and west. A wall runs outside the entire area. Once inside the hutong (which refers not just to a single home, but also to all the homes inside the walls), it's incredibly quiet and peaceful - even though a few blocks away are the crazy Beijing streets! Which explains why this cat was so comfy sleeping in the sun on the eaves of the courtyard.

This is us in action with our cleaver knives. These work great, and are surprisingly versatile. Purchased one of our own that weekend!

We learned recipes using the steaming technique. Which is a healthy way to cook. We made steamed fish w/ ginger, chicken with mushrooms and mapo dofu - which is not steamed, but is a common sichuan dish here and is delicious.

The next weekend (or there abouts) we adventured out of the city to the Great Wall. We started at the Jinshanling section and ended at Simitai. It was a good 10km hike, sometimes more of a climb. We were very lucky and had beautiful weather that day, we could see quite far!

We also managed to check out the Olympic venues on a weekend. We started with the Bird's Nest. It's impressive in person!

Once we got inside, we took a seat in the stands (because everyone else was). We thought maybe there was something on that day. Alas, no, everyone was just there hanging out and eating snacks, enjoying their new stadium :)

After we had our fill of staring at the field, we headed towards the Water Cube (just next door). However, due to the crowds we decided we would skip going inside.

Between all of this and Thanksgiving we visited the states. It was great to see everyone!

So, as Pete mentioned on Thanksgiving night we had KFC out of desperation to get something that resembled western-style poultry. Unfortunately, that night they were out of Original Recipe, so we were stuck with New Orleans Hot Wings - which were more like spicy Asian (tasted of soy). Not that I mind that normally, buy if I'm chowing down on KFC it better at least be Original Recipe ... I'm just saying ;)

To make up for this little mis-adventure, we went to a US diner on Friday and had a turkey dinner (similar to the kind you get in grade school cafeteria, but not bad). In our third attempt to celebrate Thanksgiving, and my birthday dinner, we went to the best Peking Duck restaurant in the world (as far as I'm concerned), Da Dong, with some friends. Cherry and Chris are from Hong Kong, so they refer to themselves as Honky. They've been in Beijing for about a year now, and Cherry works with us at KPMG. They're good people, fun and super helpful (we never would have gotten bank accounts w/o Cherry's help). We had a good time - and we were stuffed Thanksgiving-style after this feast!

We had pretty clear weather when we got back, we could see all the way to the mountains. By the way, those are the mountains that the Great Wall runs along the top of. On clear days we say we're having a "mountain day".

On the not-so-clear days one of us will declare: "No mountains today!". We snapped this over the weekend - definitely no mountains. Today there were even less buildings, we could not see past the blue-roofed building.

This is not fog, it's smog. Luckily, it doesn't really smell, you can sometimes feel the residue on your skin if you're outside for very long, but for quick trips in and out it's surprisingly bearable.

I suppose that puts us up to date :) This weekend we're off to Xi'an (pronounced she-ann) to see the Terracotta Warriors!!

Thanksgiving in China (take 2)

2008-11-28T21:10:00.003+08:00

Ok, so just as we were feeling bad for foregoing the Turkey and Pumpkin Pie, we decided to try a small Canadian establishment near home. It was Turkey day all over, but this time, the real deal. I'm not going to lie and say it was anything near as good as home (thanks Ralph) but for being in China, Steak and Eggs cooked a decent Turkey and mighty tasty Pumpkin Pie. They even had the Cranberry sides!

We noticed even more Christmas decorations going up today. The mall closest to us set up a massive tree and lights were hung from every tree (and lamppost). Beijing is starting to feel a bit more friendly and certainly more festive.

Thanksgiving in China

2008-11-27T22:15:00.002+08:00

Yes, it's Thanksgiving in China. The Christmas lights are going up and the mall decorations are underway for a festive shopping seasons. Mind you, most people don't really know what Christmas is all about. Tonight Noel and I enjoyed the closest thing we could find to an American Turkey for the holiday. Unfortunately, our KFC meal was less than satisfying.

For us it was just another day at work, but it's hard to forget a holiday that you've celebrated for so many years. I have a feeling that Christmas and New Years Eve will be different this year.

People

2008-10-17T22:14:00.006+08:00

Here is an interesting thought; there is something very reassuring to knowing that whenever and wherever you go there are people - lots of people - working, playing, eating, cooking, buying, selling and doing everything else making us an active part of society. Beijing, unlike any other place I have been, is the definition of hyper-active. Last Saturday, after dinner around 11pm, there was an armada of people constructing a new skyscraper. Tonight, at 10pm on Friday, there is a crew of about 100 strong refurbishing the building across the street. You can see the welding almost anytime at night...sparks of a city on the move ;-)

CCTV building under construction - not far from our home

Forbidden city

2008-10-12T18:28:00.014+08:00

The forbidden city, once restricted to Chinese royalty and dignitaries, this huge city within a city was absolutely beautiful in autumn. Noel and I explored the main buildings and sights for nearly 3 hours, but only saw about 50% of the entire complex.

The buildings are amazing. It was said that over 1 million people built the city from 1406 to 1420 using only simple tools. Still difficult to see how something so complex could be done back in those days.

Detail on the buildings is second to none. Even inside posts where only a select few could see, were decked out in intricate patterns. We were very fortunate that on the day of our visit, few people and, even better, less pollution was noticeable.

Though difficult to describe, you could really get a sense that this is one of those world cultural heritage sites. Something big and important, a long time ago, was at this massive palace and even now, you still get a feeling of imperial royalty.

Stinky Tofu and $0.40 Beer

2008-10-09T20:58:00.003+08:00

So Noel has been very anxious to try some healthy Chinese food (it's more difficult to find that you think). We came across this 'healthy' Taiwanese restaurant called Alexander Creek Park not far from our place.

The restaurant is particularly known for it's stinky tofu (臭豆腐). Now, we knew it would smell, but let me tell you - it smelled not dissimilar to rotting garbage or cow shit. Still, we thought that like strong cheese, maybe it has a unique flavor. Unique it was, Noel couldn't finish one piece and a few hours later, I'm still tasting it.

Even after this adventure, the other dishes were absolutely delicious! If you ever come across it, please do try some spicy lotus root.

Oh, and this is an interesting find. Across from our place is a Russian shop that sells amongst other things lot's of cheap vodka and beer. Thought I found the jackpot when I spotted 3RMB (~$0.40USD) 600ML TsingTao beers. The first two were fine and the last two were flat. I noticed that the bottle tops had minor chips which might have let the combination escape. The following day I saw a ton of crates with empty TsingTao beer bottles next to the store. Recycled or re-bottled? I don't know but all I can tell you that I'm only going to buy bottles with the foil wraps from now on...besides, they're only an extra $0.30.

Qingdao - Tsingtao Beer Festival

2008-10-06T21:29:00.006+08:00

Ni hao! I don't know why Pete didn't mention our little expedition over the Golden Week, but if you've been looking at our slide show you may be asking the following questions:

Why is there a beach in Beijing?

Why does it look like Oktoberfest?

Why do Pete and Noel have a giant beer tent full of Chinese friends?

Well the answers are as follows:

It's not Beijing, it's Qingdao (home of Tsingtao Chinese beer).

It's the Qingdao beer fest!

Everyone is very friendly in China, especially at beer festivals!!

Qingdao was about an hour's flight from Beijing. We were expecting a seaside city, perhaps the size of Ft. Lauderdale ... instead it turns out to be a 'small' city of 4 million! Also, since it was the holiday week, there had to be at least 6 million there. The buildings in this picture are not the main business district either - that was about twice the size of this area.

Since Qingdao is on the coast, they have a lot of seafood. We ordered up a selection, and got these guys. If anyone has ever seen prawns like this please let us know the proper way to peel them. We did manage to find a way to eat them (after photographing them thoroughly first) - they were delicious.

Oh, and another Qingdao specialty ... beer in bags (we guessed it was about 1.5 lt's worth for about $1).

The festival was HUGE! With many exotic beers from around the world, such as Pabst Blue Ribbon. Of course there was Tsingtao - as well as a good selection of German brands. We ended up in the Hoffbrau House (HB) tent, where we made many new friends!

Our place and Russia

2008-10-05T18:27:00.017+08:00

So first things first, we have a place in Beijing - a serviced apartment near the 2nd ring road. For those unfamiliar, Beijing is laid out in concentric roads around the forbidden city. There are a total of 7 and the smaller the number, the close to the forbidden city.

Our place is small but still has a bedroom, a living room and a kitchen. The building caters to expats and locals alike which is a bit reassuring as our Mandarin skills are virtually non-existent.

We've very fortunate in that daily maid service is included with our place. Aside from washing some dishes, everything else is taken care of by our team of not one, but three Ayis. On the dishes part, we must have the smallest dishwasher in the world (yes, one bowl takes up 1/4 of the machine).

From Beijing

The service is wonderful but I'm afraid that we'll get too used to this type of service.

For unknown reasons, we've been put up in the Russian district of Beijing. Nearly every nearby building has Russian lettering and most of our neighbors are Russian. It's quite funny as outside our building, people are more likely to speak to us in Russian rather than English or Mandarin. A block or two away houses what must be the biggest fur coat mall in the world - definitely targeted to Russians. The bottom level of our building even houses a Russian bar, sure to serve up lots of Vodka.

Oh, and every night we get a call asking "you want message?" If I answer, a girl asks, and if Noel answers, a guy asks...there is always a slight delay for them to figure out who should talk. They promise to be very cheap, but I don't think we'll ever take up the offer.

China

2008-10-05T01:19:00.004+08:00

So, if you're visiting this blog, you'll notice that we really slacked off the last few months in Australia. Work, fun and the ease of facebook.com got to us.

No more...because we're in Beijing China!

Again we visited the question, "why?" The simple answer is, China is next big thing and before it completely changes, we want to know it as a growing, changing nation. Our time here is limited - the commitment is only six months - but we hope in that time, we'll learn something about the way PRC works and plays. We picked Beijing because it's managed to retain much of the Chinese tradition, while also providing us enough work opportunity to make ourselves useful.

We arrived on September 24 and began work the following day. The first few days were full-on with establishing our residence and obtaining forwarded luggage. Fortunately, (and quite unexpectedly) we arrived just before the big national holiday and what's known as 'Golden Week'. Basically, we worked the weekend and got an entire week off in return. National day and Golden Week is akin to the US 4th of July and people from all the remote provinces make there way to the capital city, Beijing. To put things into perspective, some 380,000 foreigners came to Beijing to see the Olympics in August. During national week, an estimated 7 million came to Beijing.

Our first thoughts is that this place is huge and busy. Beijing is home to an estimated 20 million people (officially only 15 million reside) and it's by far the largest city I have ever lived in. People are out all day and night, traffic never really stops and most businesses are open late (10pm or midnight) while some never close. English is much more prevalent than I expected but that may be a result of the recent Olympics.

Check back soon for more updates.

2008-01-09T17:34:00.000+08:00

Backlog catch-up #2 - April 2007 (Easter) - Tasmania - by Pete

Tassie Baby!

As a farewell to fall and warm weather, we recently visited the island state of Tasmania. Many people told us Tasmania was an odd yet enchanting place to visit; we certainly weren’t disappointed.

Tasmania is just south of Victoria, about an hour by plane or eight by boat. I’m not one for choppy water so we choose the flight on Qantas. We arrived in the second largest Tasie city of Launceston; yes it’s that crazy city that first bred seahorses in captivity (seriously). Aside from Cataract Gorge, we didn’t find much to see or do in Launceston.

That night we drove out to Cradle Valley, our home for the next four days. The drive itself was a little never racking as we encountered numerous Wombats and Wallabies along the road. Apparently, these critters are most active right at dusk. What was a 90-mile drive took almost 4 hours. A big thing in Australia is to check the pouch of marsupials if hit on the road.

The drive was well worth it. Cradle Valley and Cradle Mountain are absolutely beautiful and are not unlike the Sierras in northern California or the Rockies. Cradle Mountain marks the beginning of the Overland Track, a semi famous 80K bush walk. Pictured in the background is Cradle Mountain, standing tall at 5,069 feet. We were extremely fortunate in that all four days were perfect – no strong wind, no rain and no fog which are typical of the region.

We set out on our first full day hike around Dove lake, pictured in the foreground. Unbeknownst to us, our camera battery was nearly dead and the charger was left at home. Don’t mind if we borrow a few pictures from the Internet (all very accurate representations of what we saw though, as the weather was lovely). All of the tracks were well defined yet several somewhat steep for casual day walkers. The views were well worth our effort.

That night we set out on a wildlife outing. It’s amazing to see all the marsupials set out around dusk. Not far from our Hotel, we found literally hundreds of Wombats and Wallabies. We also made a stop by Devils@cradle www.devilsatcradle.com for an after dark feeding of Tasmanian Devils. I always wondered why they were called devils, but after hearing their screeches and howling, it became apparent those little buggers are viscous. Even so, we got to pet a two year old devil that was brought up in captivity. More and more devils are being brought up in captivity as a deadly facial tumour disease threatens to kill-off the species.

The next day we embarked on an eight-hour hike that included a scramble to the summit of Cradle Mountain. Noel got a little scared of the height and stayed back part way up.

After a few days of hiking and climbing, we headed out of Cradle Valley to Hobart on the south side of Tasmania. Along the way, we made several stops for local Raspberries, scones and Cheese…mumm tasty.

In Hobart, we did a mad dash to all the famous sights – Cadburry, Cascade Brewery, MontAlto winery, Larke Distillery, Fish and Chips and Mt. Wellington.

Starting early, we visited the gigantic Cadburry factory where their dairy milk chocolates are made. After that, we headed over to Montalto winery where equally fine wine is produced. A short dash to Lark distillery, the only whisky distillery in Australia, and we were on to lunch. Perhaps the best fish and chips, bar none, can be found at Fish Frenzy in Hobart. I’ve never tasted such good fish - it was as if the fish was just pulled from the sea.

Cascade beer is one of the best in Australia. So it was no surprise that Pete was excited to see the production facilities.

Uluru

2008-01-07T19:33:00.000+08:00

Hello Friends & Family! So sorry it's been awhile. We're going to try to catch-up the blog and then keep up with it from now on. Unfortunately, the blog enforces integrity and I can't back-date it, so we'll just pop the month and year at the top ... it may go a bit out of order as well, but we'll get up to date!

June 2007 - Uluru (Ayers Rock)

Our first night in the middle of the country we went on a camel-ride to sunset. Upon arriving at the camel centre we read up on the history of camels in Australia. They arrived in numbers for the building of the railroads. Once complete, their handlers were ordered to destroy them, but they couldn't bring themselves to - so, they were released into the wild. Today Australia has the largest population of wild camels of anywhere in the world. In fact, exporting tamed camels is quite big business! Of course, there had to be a first camel, and we've posted the story below:
If the resolution of that isn't clear, I'll sum it up. The lone camel accompanied an exploratory mission. Unfortunately, the camel was put down due to his 'alleged' involvement in the death of the leader.

We thought perhaps this was a misprint, so we asked our tour leader who explained that, in fact, the camel was blamed for the gun going off and the dying man's last words were "the camel did it" ... or something like that.

Anyway, on to the ride!

That night we went to a 'bbq it yourself' place:

The next morning, we got up REALLY early to see the sunrise over Uluru. It was chilly as well, around 3C.

When the sun came up it was worth it.

From there, we went to the Aboriginal cultural centre where we met with our guide, Elsie, and our translator, James. We leaned about life in the bush and spiritual teachings.

After our lessons, we took off on our own to walk around the base of the rock. It's a long 9km around, but there are so many interesting bits to see, and it looks really different up close. This 1/2 'tunnel' is in the base of the rock - and it's HUGE!

Later that night we had what would be one of our most memorable dinners in Australia. It was called the sounds of silence dinner and as you can tell, it was outdoors under the stars. The food was great, the temp a bit cold but the dining room made up for that. The dinner was capped with an astronomy lesson featuring the southern sky. Using a giant spotlight, we were able to identify that elusive southern cross.

The next day we headed out to the Olgas - another rock formation some 70k away. After our short car ride, we made for a day long hike within the Olgas. While the nights were cold, the days were anything but. By early afternoon, we were quite exhausted.

Some friends told us not to miss another feature in the middle of nowhere. We headed our car into the outback brush and after a three hour drive through absolutely nothing, we arrived in Kings Canyon. The canyon, unlike Uluru, is made of sandstone. Over many thousands of years, the sands shifted, settled and created these huge rock formations. Water eroded some of those formations leaving behind deep canyons. We did a day hike over and through the canyons on the lookout for roos and other local wildlife.
I never would have expected the middle of the outback - the middle of nothing - to be so interesting, so beautiful and so memorable.

Summer and Fall

2007-06-16T20:18:00.000+08:00

G'Day!

Wow, since I've last written we've been so busy - so, here we go ...

First up, our culinary adventures continued with another birthday gift of Noel's (the gifts that kept on giving) - a chocolate making course!!

We both helped out in the demo sessions

Then we really got into it - yum!

Yep - we got to take all of those home, but times 2 (since we were both students) ... we shared a few 'chocs' with our friends. It was super fun, educational and TASTY!

Next up - Pete swam, biked and ran a triathlon!
Go Pete!!
and, just in case you were concerned that people wouldn't know who the sponsor was when viewing him from behind (note the corporate logos on all sides)...
Here's our group's team - overall there were about 30 KPMG participants, and over 5000 racers total!

Here's the KPMG tent, where Noel spent her time, eating barbecue and enjoying some 'cold ones' ;)

Grand Prix - fast cars and ... not much else actually ...

This was a bit unnerving...

Oh, yeah, this guy - who proves that F1 is NOT that far off from NASCAR

(by the way - 'piss' means alcohol)

After the race there was a concert by Evermore (NZ band w/ one or two big hits - they were pretty good). It was a great end of summer afternoon!

Then, we threw a Cuban Party!
Mostly because you can't really get Cuban food here and also because Summer was ending.

Hola amigos!

Whilst some chowed-down, the muchacos took to the balcony for some cigars.

Hola Kristy - we miss you - hope all is well in London!!

Pedro says buenos noches.

Shortly after that we attended a Greek cooking class - very interesting! We learned how to make hummos, taziki, dolomades, pita, musaka, etc

Isn't it odd how much these 2 look alike!

I made dolomades!

After that - our biggest adventure so far this year - going to Tassie (but Pete's writing that one up).

Also, in between all of these 'photo worthy' events we've been busy exploring. We recently discovered the amazing botanical gardens right here in the city of Melbourne. Also, earlier today, we took the train out to the Dandenong ranges, a National Park, where we had lunch in a little mountain town (at 'Noel's Cafe' no less!) and hiked through the forest. So, we're having fun, and keeping busy :)

Until next time - we miss you all a WHOLE LOT!! I also really hope someone will come visit us - this is such an amazing place, and we really want to share that with our friends and family ... plus, we miss you!!

Much love,
Noel

Valentine's (cheesy) weekend

2007-02-17T15:19:00.000+08:00

10th of Feb 2007:

First thing in the morning, we headed off for the town of Red Hill on the Mornington Pennisula. It was about a 90 min drive, we rented a Prius to test a hybrid - it passed with flying colours:

We arrived at Red Hill Cheese Farm for our goat cheese making class (a birthday present for Noel, booked back in November). It was very interesting, and fun ... we also got to wear really daggy (uncool) hairnets.

That evening, we visited a couple of wineries. Noel sampled, since Pete was driving.

We also checked out Chapman's Point, which overlooks Port Philip Bay:

That night we had a really romantic dinner at Red Hill Estate - sorry, no pictures :)

The next morning we went to a Strawberry farm for u-pick. We had a delicious breakfast of scones, cream, and strawberry jam - mmmm...

The strawberries were so pretty!

Then we checked out a micro-brew:

They grow their own organic hops onsite - these are hops:

They brew about 2,000 liters each week!

We even met the "brew-dog":

We visited a couple of more wineries, and Noel tried driving the Prius - her first time driving on the left!

Then, we drove down to Sorrento (at the tip of the peninsula). We stopped in at a local bakery to try their "famous" vanilla slice, which is an Aussie desert that consists of vanilla custard b/w two sheets of pastry - yum!

All in all, it was a great weekend! Very romantic, and a bit cheesy!!

Happy New Year

2007-02-04T14:39:00.000+08:00

Happy New Year!

We're discovering that summer (Dec - Feb) is one big party after another. We've been so busy that we've been very remiss in updating our blog - sorry!! So, I've taken a moment to step out of the action and record it all before I forget. Also, there's been some sort of software update to the blog that makes adding the pictures easier, but the formatting harder - so, I did my best lining up the text and pictures, sorry it's not too fancy :)

First off, just to catch everyone up: we went home for Christmas. It was a whirlwind tour from Miami, to Tampa, to Michigan, to Chicago.

We spent Christmas at Noel's family's house in Tampa:

Pete and his sister-in-law, Annie

Annie and Mark (brother)

Noel's parents

We spent our anniversary and New Year's in Chicago:

mmm Chicago pizza...

We went to the Shed aquarium, with Pete's parents

and went to a New Year's party where the boys did the cooking!

Back in Oz (Australia)...

2007 started with some great sports events. First off was the National Championship Game - Go Gators!!

We took the afternoon off work to watch the game direct from the US:

Noel was beside herself with joy!!! Go Gators!

The next weekend we went to the Australian Open.

We managed to get great court-side seats.

The action was up close ... Pete took the pictures...

Shortly after that, was the Big Day Out music festival. We saw the Killers, Eskimo Joe, Jet, Lupe Fiasco, Tool, and many other awesome bands!!

This weekend we went on a fabulous party cruise organised by our friend from work :)

The DJ was great,

so were the views of the city!

Cheers to you Captain Tim - great party!

Blue Mountains

2007-01-11T17:49:00.000+08:00

Noel and I finally had a day off in Australia! For our first day of vacation in Australia, we decided to visit the Blue Mountains in New South Wales. The Blue Mountains are about two hours west of Sydney by Train and are home to one of the most dramatic landscapes in Australia.

Before heading to the Blue Mountains, Noel and I met up in Sydney for a night in the big city. Noel had been working in Sydney that week which made travel just a bit easier.

To make things interesting, we decided to stay in one of the oldest hotels in the Rocks district – the Lord Nelson Hotel AND Brewery! Yes, not only was this a hotel centrally located, it had the added benefit of being a brewery – a tasty one at that.

After some fine micro brews and a good night’s sleep we headed out for a side trip to Watsons Bay. Out day tripper tickets included all day transport, including the two hour ride to the Blue Mountains for just $15.00. Cheap but nice rides all around.

Watsons Bay backs up to the entrance of Sydney Harbour. Even though the weather was dreary, The cliffs and Ocean were still quite stunning.

Overlooking Watsons Bay and in the distance Sydney CBD.

We arrived in the Blue Mountains, unfortunately, the weather was no better than Sydney – wet and grey. The hotel was fantastic. It was built in the 1880’s as a Mountain resort.

The next morning we took a 3K hike to the three sisters range (pictured below). Since the weather was cold we decided to explore the valley floor .5K below.

The only way down was a massive set of stairs that hugged the cliffs. Though most of the route had handrails - some did not. It's times like this you realise the difference between Australia and the states - think legal action.

We reached the bottom and decided to take a long valley hike. Noel though it might be more fun doing cart wheels the way down. After hiking some 1 ½ hours we came across this sign, apparently designed to “prevent foreign tourists from getting lost”

A little bit on we came across this area called Laura Forest which felt kind of strange. Apparently the place used to be a picnic spot. Huge rock formations and large clearings made it look a little mystical.

After a few hours of hiking we made our way back up the Mountain. By this time our legs were really feeling it.

Some 1000 steps later we made it back. Our 16-18K hike felt good but really tiring…the views and the experience well worth the effort.

On Sunday we headed back for the cliff walk trail. The skies cleared (somewhat) for our final day in the Mountains.

Our First Party

2006-11-01T18:12:00.000+08:00

Happy Halloween - welcome to the Ho-Down!

Hey y'all! After discovering that Halloween is not celebrated much here, we decided to have a Halloween party. We combined it with classic southern-style bbq. Everyone was a really good sport, and we had some great costumes!

Howdy!

Noel's favorite costume - a genuine Florida Gator! (go Gators!)

We all took turns carving a jack-o-lantern (another novelty here)

This is G.I. John

Kristy "give me a P" Moore (cheerleader)

Pete "call me Hank" Williams

Super Girl

Mark ... I'm an American?

Our bbq feast!

After dinner, Martijn (a Dutch Vampire) made traditional poffertjes

Group picture!

Happy Halloween y'all!

Great Ocean Road trip

2006-10-02T19:38:00.000+08:00

Hey all!

Noel and I had a great time the second weekend of September when we attempted two great feats: driving on the left, then using our new driving skills, navigating one of the curviest and most beautiful drives in the world. The great ocean road is a two lane road from Torquay, a famous surfing town, and Warrnambool in Victoria.

Torquay was a short 2 hour drive from downtown Melbourne. Noel and I stopped for lunch and visited the headquarters of surfing company Ripcurl. Torquay is a really small but beautiful surfing village. The entire town revolves around surfing and was featured in the move point break. After a quick bite to eat and a t-shirt or two, we moved on to the start of the great ocean road.

We pressed on from Torquay for another 2 hours to the city of Apollo Bay. The road hugs tightly to the coast almost the entire drive to Apollo Bay. Views of the Southern Ocean were absolutely spectacular.

We arrived in Apollo Bay to find our hotel. It was a little cabin up on the hill side. While small, the atmosphere was very welcoming and the morning sunrise was second to none!

We continued our trip down the great ocean road to the twelve apostles. The twelve apostles are a series of six rock formations. The remaining six have fallen over time, but those that remain were quite a sight.

We made it!

Cheers and see you next time!

Pete & Noel

Work Life Balance

2006-08-22T18:45:00.000+08:00

Hello! It's been awhile, but we're still here ...

This time we decided to post some pictures of us and our co-workers, the office is very social, and we arrived just in time for the social event of the KPMG year - but more on that later ...

First, as promised, is Noel's favorite piece of public art, Cow Up a Tree!

This giant cow is just outside our front door, as the centerpiece of the Harbour Esplanade waterfront :)

Also, we've been enjoying the sunnier weather - last weekend we went to Daleysford, a small wine and spa town about 1 hour outside of the city. This picture is at the top of the lookout tower in the botanical garden. It was a good day trip, and nice to get out of the city.

Also occupying our weekends is Pete's new hobby of beer making. We'll be having the first batch at his birthday party ... We'll let you know how it turns out ...

Oh yeah - we saw this in the liquor store, and figured you wouldn't see this in the US ;)

Okay, on to the main topic ... Work Life, well actually just the fun parts:

A few colleagues were in from Sydney, so there was a dinner organised. We went to Chinese Supper Inn, and no this isn't just a bad picture - the place is totally dodgy! Melbournians love their flash restaurants, but they insist the best food is at the dodgy restaurants ... the jury is still out on the food here (I think they went a bit heavy on the MSG), but it was heaps of fun!

After dinner we headed over to a typical night club, which means down an alley, around the corner, and past the dumpster. This place is Croft Institute, it's a medical laboratory theme and they brew their own vodka ... interesting place:

Lucky for us, the highlight of the KPMG social calendar is the ball, which is held at the end of July. We are very glad we made it here in time for this event. It was over-the-top to say the least. The theme was Masquerade, and everyone had to come w/ a mask!

This is a picture taken by the photographers of the room set-up, there were over 1500 in attendance:

Before dinner there were live performances, starting with the stilt walkers to Phantom of the Opera music:
Next were the trapeeze artists:

... and then ... well, we're not sure what to call these performers ... but they definitely got the crowd cheering ...

Here we are in our super special ball masks:

This is Roopa and Martijn. Martijn is on Secondment from Amsterdam.

Me and Roopa

Me, Jacinta, and Amanda

Okay, last of the girlie pictures

At the End-Of-Financial-Year Dinner (unfortunately we forgot our camera for that one), Pete challenged Roopa to a "Dance-Off" ... don't ask, it started w/ some friendly teasing, some South Park references ... and turned into something I dreaded having to witness at the Ball ... however, I think they actually combined their individual powers of dance into quite a cute performance ... see for yourself

A great time was had by all! Pete says "see ya next time!"

p.s. We miss everyone terribly!! The homesickness has begun setting in, not so much for places, but for our friends and family - we are thinking of all of you every day, and hope everyone can come and visit!!

Love & miss,

Noel and Pete

2006-07-17T18:53:00.000+08:00

Finally - proof that we're actually in Australia
... and not just hiding out in South Beach :)

Koala!!
These first pictures are by far the highlight of our time here so far. We visited an animal sanctuary, about an hour outside the city. This koala was raised there, and is used to being handled. He climbed on the keeper as she was walking by, so she brought him over for us to pet.

Noel and koala:

Pete and koala:

Us and koala:

He was actually very soft, and smelled a bit like eucalyptus.

Footy!
(Australian Rules Football)

Our apartment is adjacent to the Telstra Dome, one of the 2 major footy stadiums in the city - they love sports here. AFL is played throughout the country, but mostly in Melbourne. There are 12 teams in the city alone, one for each suburb. At the recommendation of a co-worker, we attended the St. Kilda Saints vs. Collingwood Magpies game. The crowd was very spirited, and we learned a lot about the game from their colourful commentary ;)

We decided that we liked the Saints so much, that Pete got the official scarf (or maybe it was just b/c it was very chilly). They won by a landslide. Unfortunately, our allegiance is somewhat fickle; we went to another footy match this past Friday and barracked (we would say "rooted" - but that has a very dirty connotation in Australia) for the Melbourne Demons, they were also victorious and we'd like to think we're good luck!

Pete - the Saints fan:

The view from our seats. Those are the goal posts, and different amounts of points are awarded depending on which set of posts the ball is kicked through.

Fans leaving the game, also, the view from our balcony :)

Art
The Melbournians love art, modern art mostly. There are more public displays of art here than I've seen anywhere else. Actually, as they would say ... "the most public art in the southern hemisphere!"

This past weekend was a modern design celebration week, which included a "ready-made" show on Sunday. We went to see the cool stuff from young designers, hoping to pick up some funky stuff to decorate with ... Unfortunately, they are serious designers, and a bit pricey - but it was fun nonetheless. Here's a picture Pete took of me shopping for elephant outlines printed on various pieces of fabric. If the surrounding looks a bit dodgy, that's b/c the exhibition was held in the car park (parking garage) ... strange, but it worked:

And for the finale ... Pete's favourite public display of art thus far - performance art nonetheless ... the one and only:

Sonic Manipulator!!

Yeah - Pete loves this guy. He's dressed in a "space suit" and "raps" about the "martians that are coming to drink all our beer". He appears on weekends, on busy street corners. He has an album, which can be purchased through his website - you can google it yourself, if you're really that interested ;) Melbourne, while a large city for Australia - isn't that big. You see the same street performers every weekend, sometimes they move around, but there are only 6 or 7 ... so, this guy stands out!

That's all for now, the next blog will feature some of the "small, but noticeable" differences b/w here and the US ... it's the little things that count ... Also ... more photos of public art, including "Cow Up a Tree", Noel's local favourite!

Our Place

2006-07-09T17:22:00.000+08:00

Hi! We've finally managed to sit still for a couple of hours :) So, here are some pictures of what we've been up to so far...

First - here is all of our luggage, this was on the day we arrived, in our temporary hotel:

It was 9 bags in all! We were really excited to get into our apartment, and we decided to move everything over on a Thursday night ... it ended up being a bit of a pain, which is evedent on my face ;)

But, once we were in - we were very happy to finally start getting settled!

This is our living room, viewed from the entrace hall:

This is the opposite view, looking toward the kitchen:

This is the view at night. The picture is a bit blurry, but it's the city-scape.

We like our apartment - it's 2 bedrooms, with a decent balcony and a great view of the Telstra Dome and city.

These are some strange, native, flowers I picked up ... they're furry!

More pictures to come later, including some of us and a koala!!

G'Day Australia

2006-07-02T21:22:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone!! First I’d like to apologize for taking so long to touch base – the last 3 weeks have been hectic, and we’ve finally had a weekend where we could catch our breath a bit. We’ve managed to have a lot of fun amongst the moving, working and furnishing our apartment.

After arriving on a Monday, we began work on Tuesday. Coincidentally, that day was the annual strategy meeting for the coming year. It was a good introduction to some of the differences b/w here and our US practice – mainly this office is much larger (1500 total – with 100+ in our group), and that everyone always wears a suit. It was surreal to march across the street from the office with 1500 people all in dark suits, long lines of us going up the escalators and filing into the ballroom… Anyway, maybe it seemed weirder b/c of our jet-lag…

I think I’ve just adjusted to the time change this week, I still wake up in the middle of the night sometimes. The first 2 weeks were the worst, we couldn’t stay awake past 7pm and we’d wake up at 4am. This wasn’t helped by all the world-cup watching Socceroos fans who would celebrate through the streets of Melbourne after a victory (b/c of the time difference the world-cup games are shown here b/w 1 and 4 am).

We’ve moved in to our apartment, it’s close to the city and there are at least 20 restaurants w/in walking distance. Our building is also adjacent to the Telstra Dome, where they play Aussie Rules Football. We haven’t been to a game yet, but plan to go soon. We currently are w/out furniture – so, we’ve been camping out on the floor (we ordered furniture today - yay).

The social scene here is great, which is good since we didn’t know anyone. Last Friday was the end-of-financial-year dinner for our group at work. They rented out a restaurant and had a sit-down meal. There were also “awards” given for goofy things people had done throughout the year. Afterwards we went to a club. The nightclubs here are strange – the good ones don’t advertise and hide themselves in alley-ways. The place was fun – standard club: dj, bar, giant red velvet sculpture in the middle of the dance floor :)

Last weekend a couple of “the girls” from the office took us along on a trip to Healsville Animal Sanctuary (about an hour outside the city). It was really great to get up close to all the strange critters that live here – we also had the highlight of our trip so far … we got to pet a koala!

Coming up in August is the KPMG Ball, which is apparently a really huge event w/ live entertainment. I have to get a formal dress for it :) Some of the girls in the office have offered to help me shop :) :) Speaking of …

The shopping here is really great, but unfortunately everything is 20 – 30% more than at home. I’ll definitely be visiting the states with an empty suitcase to fill. Also, there is almost no on-line shopping, not IKEA, not Target, no clothes! The one thing I can order-up though is groceries, which is pretty neat – and once we get our fridge we’ll try it out.

So, everything is going well here - we like it a lot, unfortunately it's a bit far from friends and family. We'll definitely be thinking of everyone this Tuesday the 4th (which is not a holiday here). I'd like everyone to have a hot dog and light a sparkler for me! Love and miss - Noel

Hello Australia!

2006-07-02T19:58:00.000+08:00

Wow, the first three weeks have gone by fast. Tomorrow marks our 21^st day in Australia and it feels like we just arrived.

Our last few days in Florida went by in a flash. Without some last minute help from the Svercek’s I doubt we would have completed out packing. Still, Noel and I made it to Melbourne safely with our 226 Kgs (that’s 500lbs) of luggage. The airport crew at Fort Lauderdale International went beyond their line of duty to get our bags successfully checked through for what would be a two airline, double stopover, 21 hour international journey. In total, we had 13 bags including an oversized kiteboard carrier. When we arrived, the driver KPMG hired looked as if we were out of mind. A second van was required to fit our luggage.

KPMG put us into a serviced apartment for the first two weeks. That gave us enough time to look around the city and find a spot to call home. The temporary apartment was small but centrally located. It was a short, two block, walk to work. The location was key since induction training was scheduled the day after we arrived.

The first four days of work were short and filled with training. We were also introduced to the 105 people within our group. By contrast, our Florida team is less than 40. Everyone was extremely friendly and outgoing. People offered to take us out to lunch and dinner nearly every day. What’s more, several offered to take us shopping, lend us furniture, appliances, and even their car. We spent that first weekend with our new colleagues shopping, dining, and learning the city. We soon realized that our work/life experience would be quite different from that of the states.

A relocation agent was assigned to assist in an apartment search. Since we decided to go without a car in Australia, we limited ourselves to locations with walking distance to public transportation. Fortunately, the Melbourne train and tram system is the best in the southern hemisphere – according to the locals. Melbourne is densely populated with some 3.5 million residents living within 15 kilometers. We opted for a brand new apartment in an area called the Docklands. The area was recently developed from a shipping port and is within walking distance to the central business district.

Secondment

2006-05-26T22:38:00.000+08:00

The decision to take an international rotation, or as they say in OZ, "secondment", was not an easy one. Noel and I both love our family, our friends, our jobs, and yes, even South Florida. The realization that we’ll be 9,689 miles away from what we know and love is concerning. Still, we recognize that life is short and an opportunity such as this doesn’t come along too often.

We’ve talked with many people who have done similar things and their conscious was unanimous; living abroad was one of the most memorable and rewarding experience for themselves and their family.

We’re fortunate to work for an organization that is actively supporting a secondment for both Noel and myself. Our professional responsibilities will remain largely the same, but at the same time we expect some significant differences in the Australian approach to work and life. We believe there has never been, nor there be, a better time to take this opportunity - both from a professional and personal perspective. We’re not seeking a better life in Australia; we're seeking an experience that we can learn and grow from.

A big thank you is due to everyone who has supported our move: the Svercek Family, the Williams Family, our friends, KPMG management, and many others.

We encourage you to check back here in a few weeks for our first OZ update. Till then,

Cheers!

Noel and Pete Williams