Now you can purchase Cheryl's Art on Redbubble

It is going to take a bit of time to get all the artwork up and on the site as it needs a lot of editing and some of the work will be digitised with vector technology.

However! I have made a start. You can find me on "Redbubble" at 

http://cherylmalloy.redbubble.com/

Please visit and let me know what you think of my art. If you want to order you can!

The Nanjing Cableway

Just this weekend we decided to take a trip up Purple Mountain. The best way to do that was to hop a cable car.
Purple Mountain is the lungs of Nanjing. It is a huge Park that also has a few other attractions we will visit over time - Dr Sun Yatsen's Mausoleum and Museum, an Aquarium, Botanical gardens and lakes, The Nanjing City Wall and the Xuanwu Lake. It is quite heavily vegetated and I was hoping it was effectively sucking up most of the carbon Monoxide from the pollution in Nanjing. This proved to be a forlorn hope! When you look at the pictures you will see just how polluted it is here. These pics were taken in the autumn, so it was not yet cold enough for heating fires. They were taken mid morning so probably not a lot of cooking fires. And they were taken at the end of a holiday period of one week - so you would think the pollution would have been down a bit with some industries maybe taking some time off!

However this is where we live now and it doesn't effect me anywhere near as much as the desert did. I have done a collage of pics. The pollution is clear in the top photos - you could barely see Nanjing which is only a few kilometres away.

Visiting the parks is a very popular outing and there were literally thousands of people on the mountain. Generally people live in either very small (by our standards) housing or multiple family units. Young people spend a lot of time just hanging about using their mobile phones. 

Suzhou, City of Canals

We have just returned from a delightful weekend (well, 2 half days and a night) in the city of Suzhou. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzhou, http://www.suzhou.gov.cn/English/index.shtml)

Suzhou is about an hour’s train ride from Shanghai. Saturday morning, bright and early we met our travelling companions, Sue, John and Tina at Nanjing railway station and board our train. Cheryl and I are travelling light with just a backpack between us. The trains in China that we have experienced so far have been excellent. Yes, we travel first class because it’s cheap and we can book seats – but from what we see through the windows, there’s not a lot of difference with other fare classes. The train is fast, comfortable, and above all clean and well serviced.

Flashing through the countryside at speeds of up to 200kph, we arrive in Suzhou about 11:30. Thanks to our lovely Tina, who is Chinese, and takes on the role of translator and trouble shooter for the weekend, we skip the long taxi cues and soon have a minivan take us to our lodgings, the Pingjiang Lodge. (http://www.the-silk-road.com/hotel/pingjianghotel/index.html) This is a hutong, a culture hotel. It was once a small village like complex with multiple rooms in a warren of hallways and connecting courtyards. Parts are some 450 years old and the hotel claims to have items dating back to the Ming Dynasty times. It is totally charming. And even better, it is right in the middle of a local tourist area leading directly to some of the picturesque and historical sites in Suzhou.

After a delicious lunch and a bottle or two of Tzingtau in the hotel restaurant, we spend the afternoon wandering along the local streets alongside one of Suzhou’s many canals, gazing into corridors and shops that are little different from times of centuries past. Along the way, two players are presenting an opera on the footpath cross the canal. A simple backdrop and a tape player is all the support they need for this open air theatre. There is a tourist site – the Humble Administrator’s Garden nearby and undaunted by the crowds, we venture inside. It’s not huge (about 4 Hectares), but quite beautiful. A mini botanical gardens, with pergolas, hills, lakes and grottos scattered throughout. We think it’s lovely. Unfortunately, about ten thousand other visitors also choose to spend the afternoon here with us – which makes for quite a crush of people in parts. But then this is China.

Wandering back to the hotel, we take a small catnap and then it’s time for a light dinner. Back up the same street where in the afternoon we spotted a local dumpling restaurant. Again the food is yummy, and this time, cheap as well! Wandering on after dinner we stumble on an English Pub. Well of course this is a compulsory stop, where we watch a little footy, down a lager or two (and some chardy) before getting almost lost and taking a very long way home.

The next morning we begin rather casually and decide to take on Tiger Hill - Suzhou’s major tourist attraction. Our intrepid Tina is told that a number 2 bus will take us all the way. You Beauty! Off we go t the main street nearby. It’s Sunday morning, the streets are crowded (as they are every day), and Number 2 bus takes ages to arrive. When it does, it is very - - -very full. But, when in China …..

And so we are on - and in very close contact with a number of the locals! The streets are as crowded as the bus – and progress is painfully slow, despite the driver’s liberal use of his horn. At one point, so many people get on the bus that he can’t shut the doors. The driver stops the bus. A crowd crams into the back door. Driver shouts something and after a few murmurs and shouts to and fro, several people begin collecting bus fares from those that came into the back door. They jump out the back door, run to the front, pay the driver, and run back to the back door before he shuts it and we are off again.

By now we’re wondering if we’ll ever arrive. “It looked much closer on the map” But eventually we do. Begging for a coffee, we search high and low – plenty of bridal shops - where is Starbucks when you need them! By this time we’re a little concerned that traipsing into the Gardens of Tiger Hill, with the other 25,ooo people may not be a wise choice if we also want to catch our train at 4:15. So instead we catch a canal boat back town.

What a delightful journey. Photos don’t do it justice. We wander through a series of canals between centuries old houses and other dwellings past ramshackle extensions over the water and little stone patios almost falling into it. There are windows open everywhere allowing us a voyeurs view into the everyday existence of these canal dwellers. This place is just gorgeous. And remarkably clean. The sky is blue. There seems to be little air pollution and so the buildings and streets aren’t continually grimy, as in Nanjing. Everything appears clean, tidy and generally cared for.

Another local lunch (costing the amazing amount of about AUD$12 for the 5 of us and we travel by bone-jarring tuktuk back to the hotel. The advantage of the tuktuk is that they aren’t held up by the traffic, squeezing between busses and cars where a taxi can’t. A quick cuppa, and another tuktuk and we’re back on the train headed home.

Suzhou, we’ll be back. The Venice of the East is a delightful place – and well worth a longer visit. And yet again, we have the beginnings of another firm friendship.

Holed up with a very sore foot.

Yes well that says it all really! I have a very nasty and painful right foot which does not seem to be getting any better despite advice from doctors, friends, relatives and my Mum! So I am trying to rest it as much as possible - everyone said to do that!

This means I have a lot of time on my backside in a chair so I have started writing for the internet - have a look at my articles and photographs at http://www.triond.com/users/Cheryl+Malloy

I'd love it if you left comments on the articles and while you were there click through to a few of the ads on the page if they interest you.........that way I get paid for my work!

New post on my art page

Please visit www.cherylmalloy.blogspot.com and have a look at the blog I have started for my art. I love to receive comments so if you can master leaving one (I know it may not be easy for some) then please leave a comment about the pieces or some guidance for me to improve.

"How expat are you really"???

Today I went walking with a lovely group of (mostly) women in Nanjing. We wandered the streets close to the city and discovered lots of really authentic Chinese communities where people have obviously been living for many years. There was a fabulous market in a back street where there were absolutely mounds of wonderful fresh produce and also some live animals (including snakes) for purchase, presumably for consumption. We also visited a Buddhist temple which had an 'antiques market'. The woman who led the walk was patient with the slower people and we really just ambled along mingling and talking and generally enjoying ourselves with our cameras at the ready. How lovely!

During the walk I was talking to one lady from Europe and I would like to recount our conversation because it has made me think about the question in the topic - "how expat are you really?" The conversation went something like this:
1. Hi, are you new here in Nanjing?
2. Yes I am. I have only been here for a few weeks
1. Welcome, I am sure you will love it it is an interesting place.
2. Thank you. I am already enjoying it and starting to find my way around.
1. Which compound do you live in?
2. I live at Muxuyuan - it is a bit out of town on the eastern side of the wall
1. So who else lives in your compound?
2. I don't know any of the people yet, except our immediate neighbours. It is hard when we don't speak Chinese yet.
1. Oh but who are the other expats living there?
2. None. I haven't seen any other western people in our compound or in our community. It's nice really - I feel like a bit of a novelty, though I could sometimes do without the attention!
1. Yes but you do have a driver that can take you around
2. No I don't have a driver
1. Oh then you use the cabs
2. No it is a bit expensive when you live out of the main city. So I take the bus
1. OMG - that is so unusual. You are so brave! I have been here for 3 years and I have never taken the bus.

This conversation has really left me wondering about the experience of being an expat. We have chosen not to live in expat compounds in any of our overseas experiences and we have always chosen to live as close a life as possible to our neighbours. I know we are earning more than many Chinese so we will not be expereince life as the Chinese do - that would be too hard for us.

A fit of the giggles

I am spending a lot of time catching busses in Nanjing. People here are just not that used to seeing expats outside the city walls – well it seems that way to me. Each time I get on the bus – and even just waiting for the bus – I often wonder if half my breakfast is still on my face or if I perhaps have horns growing out my head! I truly am the object of a lot of staring and more than a little giggling. This attention is quite blatant and I am getting used to it and just taking it in my stride.

Today I got on the bus and sitting directly across from me was an older couple with what appeared to be their grandson sitting on their knee. They were obviously doting grandparents and he was the apple of their eye. However they did not have the view of him that I had. He was about 3-4 years old and sitting directly facing me. Where the fly in his pants was there was no zipper and so he was just sitting with his tiny penis peeking out of the hole. As we went along he was giving it quite a lot of attention and I just couldn’t help but giggle! Grandma and Grandpa had no idea – and I doubt it would have mattered to them anyway – but it really had me almost in a state – a fit of the giggles and no-one there to share my giggles with! Even the people sitting next to me remained totally composed and seemingly oblivious. I could barely contain myself and on exit from the bus just burst out laughing. It was one of those rare moments of absolute joy!

On our way to China

Our arrival in China has been a long awaited and anticipated event! We left the UAE on the 3^rd July and it is now almost the 3^rd of September. So the move has taken the better part of 2 months and they have been very interesting months.

 

Leaving the UAE we headed from Abu Dhabi to London. We had never been to England before and so we were really looking forward to this very first experience of Pommyland! Heathrow airport was one of the most frustrating parts of the journey. We couldn’t believe that an airport that can move a major number of aircraft safely and efficiently could get people movement (immigration, customs etc) so wrong. We stood in line for over an hour (perhaps nearly 2 hours) just to get through immigration. The system for doing this was ad hoc and disorganised and unnecessarily long.  However once through the procedures it’s a quick train trip to Central London and to our hotel in Paddington.

 

During our London stay we managed to fit in a number of the major attractions and also managed a trip to Coventry for the Godiva Festival. I think Ron was looking forward to naked ladies with long hair riding horses in the main street – it would have been very disappointing for him as the only Lady Godiva we came across was a woman of our own vintage dressed in a long white period costume ‘frock’ and wearing a wig! She did not have her horse with her at the time and remained fully garbed for Ron to have his photo taken with her! However it was a brilliant day and the sun shone (30+C) and we even managed to get a bit sunburned! I hear this is basically unheard of in England! The day in Coventry also included a music festival and a carnival as well as a lovely trip through the English countryside by train. We noticed the canals along the way and thought that one day we might return and explore England via the canals.

 

London was abuzz with tourists and it was the weekend of the Gay Pride celebrations. We did the red bus tours and also walked for mile upon mile to see the Tower Bridge, Tower of London, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament. We walked a lot in Kensington Gardens as it was so close to where we were staying. We saw “Wicked” at one of the theatres in the West End, “Peter Pan” in a special tent style theatre in Kensington Gardens and did a jazz show at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club in Soho. I am not sure we could have fitted too much more into our 6 days. I think I would like to live in London for a while, or at least in England, and explore more of what there is to see, particularly to visit Scotland, Ireland and Wales as well.

 

Back to Abu Dhabi for a quick flight change and on to Brisbane. In Brisbane we caught up with family and really just relaxed and recovered from jet lag. The trip took close to 36 hours all in all and was only saved by being able to upgrade to business in the first leg. We will never look at flying in the same light again – wherever we go now it will be business class – it is just so much better and generally worth the cost to upgrade (if and when we can afford it!). After catching up with Helen and John, Garth, Mum, Gary and Fran, Di and Stan in Brisbane we fly down to Sydney. On the Central Coast we stayed with Deb and George and Terry and Brian and had a fabulous weekend away in Orange doing some wine tasting and merrymaking! It was lovely to catch up with all our friends and share some very precious time with them. One really funny highlight was Ron and Murray dressed as Emiratis taking a day trip around the Central Coast in Murray’s little yellow sports car. It was a hoot! We caught up with all Sydney people, both family and friends and then shot off to Melbourne to see Nerissa.

 

And then on to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia for a few days. We stayed at the Sunway Lagoon Pyramid Hotel (how many words does there have to be in a hotel name!) Anyway it was just like being in the Middle East again – lots of women in black robes – it was quite strange really! I think the hotel must be very popular with Emiratis and Saudis – they were everywhere! I was the only white woman swimming at the pool – all the other women were sitting around in their abayas and shaylas and watching their children and husbands swimming. There were some Japanese and Korean tourists who were in stark contrast with their skimpy clothing and swim suits!

 

Unfortunately I was robbed in the shopping centre and it left a really nasty taste for Malaysia. Apparently there are gangs that work the shopping centres regularly – so the Police told me. Malaysia is a beautiful place to visit and a lovely culture but watch your purse! We rode elephants, visited temples and watched a fabulous cultural show. However I am not keen on KL and if visiting Malaysia again I think I will head out to the coast and a more relaxing beach style holiday.

 

And now we are in China! So look out for the next few posts where we will introduce you to Nanjing.

We will soon leave the UAE

It is with mixed feelings that I write this post to let you know that we will soon be leaving the UAE. This blog has really slowed down lately and I guess that is a reflection of the fact that we are probably doing nothing new here. In fact life has settled a little to a fairly mundane pace and one that is becoming routine. There is nothing wrong with that! It is nice not to have to face exciting new challenges on a daily basis and also not to be continuously in a place where you are discovering new things - just a nice laid back bit of complacence has it's role to play in keeping us all sane!

Al Ain has been very good to us and for us. I had started, at an earlier stage, to do some reflections on the UAE and had intended to do some more. I am going to endeavour to get it all down today. These are 'Cheryl's Reflections' - Ron will have his own, and they will be different because we have expereinced this place quite differently at times.

How do you start to reflect on 2 years of life? Perhaps the way to go is to start with any regrets! If I get that out of the way first I can end on a positive note as is my custom. So I ask myself the question - 'What has been the downside of living in Al Ain?' and I have a few things to say about that!

• I have missed my family and my friends back in Australia more than they will ever know. They anchor me. They are strength to me to be able to do this expatriate life. I look forward to their emails and SMS messages. I love SKYPE! I think sometimes they have forgotten me but inevitably the ones that matter most pop up from time to time with a short message or a call, a note on Facebook, a card for a birthday, a chat in a chatroom. It can be lonely living overseas when the people who are dear to you are thousands of miles away.
• I have really missed our children (both mine and Ron's) and I think that has been more about not being there for them watching their lives each day and being integrated into their important events. It is a high price to pay and one that saddens us from time to time.
• I am not there for my Mum who is getting older and this pulls on my heartstrings at times. I am blessed that she is well and that she supports me in what I am doing here. My sister has been wonderful with keeping in touch and providing news and family links that have been really important.
• I really wish it didn't take so long to meet people here. Everyone is here for a purpose and they are getting on with it and so their lives are very bound up in their work. This makes it difficult to interact with people. In the last 3 months I have met some wonderful people I would love to have known better but it is now too late to develop those friendships as geographically it becomes impossible to get to know them better! I will be even more determined in Nanjing to ensure I am meeting people frequently. You meet the most interesting people working as expats - they have a similar approach in a sense and an adventurous spirit so we seem to 'click' with many that we meet.
• I regret that I didn't get to know as many 'local' people as I would have liked to. My experience is that Emirati culture, generally speaking, is closed and exclusive. It is so different to what I am used to with divisions between the genders and formalities and customs that are so contrary to my way of life. I tried but found it very difficult to become close to any Emirati, male or female. There are a few notable exceptions to this and they were people I worked with who treated me with respect and friendship at work and I reciprocated as best I could. I was invited to events and into homes and was treated magnificently as a guest. The one true exception at a personal level was my friend Ameera Al Khabi with whom I felt like just one of the girls. I deeply Appreciate Ameera's generosity and friendship. This is one of the downsides of being an expat - you never really quite fit into the local scene, always a visitor. Your difference is a barrier. And the truth is I was not comfortable trying to be like the local people. Their religion, culture, customs and traditions are special and belong to them and they do not rest comfortably with me. This has been a learning for me as an expat - I can only be what I am and I need to be who I am. As an expat I will always be an observer as I just don't have the history and experience of the locals. However this will never stop me from trying to integrate as much as possible.
• And perhaps the last regret is that we do have to move on and that means leaving some good friends behind. Moraig and Brian, Lizzie and Mark and many others. Some from Ron's work, some from mine.....the list goes on. It is hard to say goodbye because the reality is that where we are going is so very far away that the chances of getting together again are quite limited. However, as with friends left in Australia, we will stay in touch and catch up when we can. The world is a small place now due to the internet and fast convenient travel.

And now that the regrets are out of the way I will focus on what has been good about being in the UAE and in Al Ain.

• What a marvelous adventure we have had! For me it is firstly about the people and we have had some of the best people come into our lives since we started on this gig. There are now 80 entries on this blog since we arrived in the UAE and most of them mention our relationships with people and the wonderful times we have had with them.
• The places we have visited from here have been - Turkey, Oman, the Musandam, Egypt, Morocco, Spain, Portugal, South Africa, Italy, Thailand. We have visited all the Emirates - Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah and Um Al Quwain. We have stayed in very flashy five star hotels and travelled thousands of kilometres in planes, buses, trains and cars!
• Al Ain has been a haven away from the faster paced life in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and yet we have been just a short distance from these two exciting and interesting cities.
• We have experienced living and working side by side with people from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Palestine, Syria, America, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the Phillipines, Sri Lanka, Morocco, Libya, Ireland, England, Wales ... and so many more I can't think of them all. The UAE is a truly multicultural, though intensely culturally and economically stratified, country.
• The call to prayer sounds 5 times a day and it is so routine for us now we don't even notice it anymore. We see muslims going to their prayers at the mosque or just pulling over on the side of the road to pray in the sand and the sun.
• We see the traditions associated with costume and events and we now understand them and can appreciate them for what they are and what they mean to those that practice them.
• We are convinced the worst drivers in the world are here in the UAE. Large 4x4s travelling at nearly (and sometimes more than) 200klm/hr on the highways are a terrifying reality here. So we are glad to have survived it and we now look forward to what we are told are even worse (but in a different way) drivers in China!
• And we have survived living in the desert.
• Some of the different things here to home - the shamals, the sand, the wind; the heat (hottest was nearly 60 degrees), the lack of rain and subsequent dryness that burns you; the date palms, camels and goats; the bedouin and farmers; the magnificent dunes, forts and palaces; the opulent Emirati housing; the labour camps; the oases and the falaj systems; women in Burquah, abbayas and shaylas, and men in khandoora, ghutra and egal;... and so much more.
• We have felt 'at home' here for 2 years. We have not seen any violence or heard about much at all. We have felt safe and secure in our home, on the streets and in the community.

We have loved Al Ain and will speak very positively of the time we spent here.

Soon we are off to China via London and a few weeks in Aus. Life is good, exciting and another challenge is looming on the horizon. Let me at it! I can't wait!

Our lovely little girl in Vanuatu

I have just realised that I didn't put anything up on the blog about my trip to Vanuatu recently. One of the main reasons for going was to catch up with Neneth and Morsen and meet my little piccinni blong Vanuatu - Kiosha Sandy. 

She was just six months when I was there and cute as a button. She looks just like her Dad. I met her real grandma, Ruth, (of whom I am very jealous) and her great aunt (Miriam) and other family members. I am known as her "Granma blo Aussie" - Grandma from Australia! Here is a pic of her and her Mum, Neneth. Unfortunatley Morsen was out of the country when I got there so I missed him but have caught up on Skype and email.

In this pic Kiosha was having her first taste of a strawberry milkshake and she loved it!