restaurant culture is vibrant and exotic anywhere you go, marketing strategies are endless fun
Places of worship are full of young people
Chinese parks and gardens are very pretty
The lion or the dog?
Getting your nails done after the hot pot experience, feeling great after eating, watching the noodle dance and Chinese opera ‘mask man’ perform.
tea after the whole prelude done for us, first tea ceremony that satisfied my curiosity about the real traditional performance preceding the tea drinking
breakfast at the fast food chain, spicy egg soup and gyoza dumplings
sichuan cuisine with my students after karaoke
Guardians at the museum
dragon on the roof fiercely looking forward
farewell concert on the last day
seafood restaurant I still have to try because they promise sour kraut as a bonus
lotus plant, symbol of spiritual enlightenment, beauty and prosperity.
First time we traveled to Mexico flying straight to Cozumel, being told that Quintana Roo is officially the most beautiful province in the country. Not an exaggeration at all, we found ourselves in paradise with hot and humid weather and absolutely the nicest people you can find in this part of the world, I mean the Americas. The contrast between the poorest and the richest areas is startling and even then the locals are cordial and welcoming. We stayed in a guest house with this lovely lady owner of the property, it was lovely because she has all kind of options from a room to a condo in a “gated” community. I call it gated since there is a lock on the gate that you open with a key only. The yard is nice and cozy with blooming plants and lots of seating. She also has a friendly black almost poodle of some sort that is just the sweetest dog I met in a while. Booking his name is.
You walk around the downtown and the touts are everywhere trying to sell you anything and everything, so funny that we are like thanks, we are good, and they yell back in perfect English: Give me a chance to rip you off! And another guy told us you guys have to drop by to check out all the junk I have for you 🙂 You learn the language on the fly and get sunburned so quick. It’s amazing how easy it is to communicate there, locals love tourists and warn you times and again to be aware of scams here and there. I just loved it, they care about their reputation so much. The police cars are patrolling the downtown Cozumel day and night. They make sanitizing hands and taking temperature their new norm.
If you make it to Cozumel, be sure to rent a car and see the rest of the island, we were blown away honestly. My husband and I are kind of spoiled having visited Egypt, Turkey, and Tunisia in the past, I would say Mexico is still the best, by far the most beautiful, affordable and fun. On a Sunday night we found ourselves at a symphonic orchestra concert in town, the music was so touching, it made me cry. We ate in all kind of nice as well as sketchy places, none of them was bad. The prices are average but you can always find a cheaper option if you look. On our last day we discovered Mercado, the central outdoor market, it had live music, fish, veggies, and fruits. So crazy lucky! We grabbed lunch there and headed to the airport to catch our flight back to Denver.
Wildlife is out of control there and you should go snorkeling if you get a chance, it’s really unforgettable experience, hands down. The people you meet there are from all over the world, Europe, the US, Asia, you name it. Having cash is a good idea, most places will take dollars and sometimes rate jumps a bit higher than you expect. But you can always haggle hoping for a deal.
city life
The airport was cool and the staff were efficient, we got to the waiting lounge and witnessed a family drama there, that just about made our day. The family was definitely multi-racial and they were super loud and attention-seeking. One of the sons ostensibly lost his ticket and made such a big scene because of it to finally find it at his sister’s lap, the dad theatrically bought a ton of duty-free liquor to consume it on the way back home. The daughter playfully put her feet on the seat next to her stretching her neck line seductively which was already showing too much. She was a good-looking silicon doll of sorts. And this is when the mom arrived, her voice was so deep it reminded my my grandfather’s and her looks of my grandmother’s. She looked worried and concerned her family couldn’t put their crap together. Poor mom tried to be the only voice of reason with not much success. There was another character, seemingly the son-in-law, protecting his “doll” from all these dangerous people around. We sat there speaking Russian hoping that they weren’t going to Denver with us. Well, they took off to LA eventually and we suddenly realized that they were probably rehearsing for the reality show or something along those lines.
That was entertaining and kind of off-putting at the same time. But all in all, made our trip even more memorable. Leaving Mexico we wished we could come back one day. Possibly in February or March when the weather is not that hot. If the borders stay open and tourism is still alive you might be lucky to do all this and some. This experience will make you wanna stay or leave because it’s kind of too much but it’s fun to do no matter what, visit Mexico!
Why I quit my job 