Out and About

I feel like I need to write this like a meeting agenda! So here goes:

Item 1

Christmas Holidays

We have booked our flight to Malaysia. We expected it to be a lot cheaper than it actually ended up being. I think it was around AU$1250 return for both of us in the end just from China to Malaysia. We are then paying an extra AU$500 to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu on the Borneo island of Malaysia and then to fly to Penang island which is way up near the Thailand border on the Malaysian Peninsula. We are going to try and book all our accommodation through online agencies such as Agoda and Wotif, to try and get some cheaper deals at nicer places. In Kota Kinabalu you can go to Turtle Island which is a National Park that you stay over night at and watch the turtles come up and lay eggs, watch them hatch and see what the Malaysian people are doing to try and encourage more turtles to survive. Then we might try to climb to the top of Mt Kinabalu, the highest mountain in Malaysia. There is also an Orangutan Sanctuary and Rain forest walks, hot springs and canopy walks. So it will be a very busy and fun 3 days. After that we will go to Penang. We might stay one night there and have a look around, but a few people from school haven't said many good things about it. We are really only going there as it was the closest we could get to Langkawi from Kota Kinabalu (I love saying that name). We will catch a water ferry I think. I've been told it takes about 1.5 hours. Then at the end of our journey, we will catch the train back to Kuala Lumpur.

So next job... book the Phillipines Holiday. It is only 2 weeks after we get back from Malaysia.

Item 2

New Find in Suzhou

We have found a funky new street here in Suzhou. It is called Ping Jiang Lu. It has been done up with cool little coffee shops and tea shops as well as a bookshop called the Bookworm. It is housed in a 700 year old builing on a bridge. Here we are having drinks with Ron and Erin the other night.

Item 3

Currency Conversions

OMG! Have you seen how much the US/AU dollar is at the moment. Like $3000 difference to the pay check each month, yeah baby! :) Which brings us to our next issue. Do we stay an extra year to clear our mortgage debt? It's a gamble, because it may go up again and then we are stuck here. We have got a verbal agreement from our Head to have 10 days off for our wedding, so that may not be an issue. We'd have from the 5th of December off to the 20th with leave without pay plus a few weekend days and then it just joins into the Christmas break. The problem will be being able to get time off from my school in Wodonga and being away from everyone even longer. Kane said the other day, he almost wishes the dollar would go back up so it wasn't even an option to stay. I will keep you posted. I miss my job back home, I miss my house, I miss my garden, I miss my cat (I love you Leo), I miss my family, I miss my friends, I miss netball (It's like I don't even have to think about exercise - I just do it), I miss my car, I miss shopping, I miss the clean air, I miss heaps of stuff. But having a mortgage paid off and being able to save all that extra money or only have one of us working when we have kids or bring able to buy another house is so tempting. It'd only be another 22 months, but like $160,000 tax free if the dollars stays under 70 cents. What would you do?

Item 4

Baby Showers

Do we have these back home? They are big here. We had one on Sunday last. Our friend Felicity (Aussie from Benella/Myrtleford) is due in 2 weeks. So we had her baby shower at the Shereton in SND. It is quite a quite expensive brunch. We all get her gifts and she came home with so much stuff. Poor dear though, she is still working. Here you only get 3 months off. This starts from the delivery of the baby. So you have to work right up to the week before delivery and have to come back so soon afterwards. Only one month is paid leave. I refuse to do that to my body. I want to be able to take 6 weeks off beforehand and enjoy every minute (If I can) of it with family and friends. I think it is so barbaric in this day and age. Even the Chinese staff get 6 months paid leave!

Item 5

New Love

I have fallen in love with creamy soda. Yum, it's an AW brand from the states. I go to Casa Zoe just to get a drink of it now. At 16RMB, its the same price as a beer.

Item 6

The F1 Grandprix

We are going to the F1 Grandprix on Sunday. I have never been to a big car or bike race before, So it'll be interesting I think. I will definitely need some ear plugs. We are in the grass section, sitting near the big hairpin bend, on the left of the course. I will post picture and share more after the event.

I think that's about it for me.

Bye everyone,

Kelly