just another day in paradise...

In case you haven't heard, we've been having a bit of a smog issue here in Shanghai. In fact, it's been a record-breaking week!

As of Friday, we were off the pollution measuring scale. As a frame of reference, typically, most US cities are in the 10-20 range on the PM2.5 scale. see below "Beyond index" Great!

*super smart ad placecment. air filters on your air quality app.

To bring it a little closer to home. Here's our view, pre-smog.

Here's our smoggy view

I wasn't exactly going to comment on the smog, but then the China news channel released a report outlining the "5 Surprising Benefits of Smog." The Shanghaiist & TeaLeafNation have translated it to English and provided their own commentary for your reading pleasure. Below:

1. It unifies Chinese people. Complaining about smog has brought Chinese citizens together. The haze “is everywhere,” the article continues, from “every big city” to “small cities, towns, and villages.”
2. It makes China more equal. Never mind that wealth inequality remains deep and pervasive in China; everyone has to breathe the same filthy air, right? “Of course,” the article admits, the rich can retreat to their luxury cars or use other means to avoid the worst pollution. “But that is after all a minority,” and even they “have a hard time” avoiding the smog completely.
3. It raises citizen awareness. Here it gets a bit earnest. The article insists that “with the whole world playing up the Chinese miracle,” the pollution “reminds us that China’s status as ‘the world’s factory’ is not without a price.”
4. Chinese people are funnier when they are contending with deadly smog. The article lists a number of popular smog-related wisecracks. The best example from a meager crop: “We’re never farther away than when we hold hands on the street — and I can’t see you.”
5. The haze makes Chinese people more knowledgeable. The article concludes that “through the arguments and the jokes” surrounding China’s pollution, “our knowledge of meteorology, geography, physics, chemistry, and history has progressed.” Also, students of English have added terms like “haze” and “smog” to their lexicon. [...]

 Even with all these benefits. We're keeping our masks on!

Don't worry, yesterday we were already back down to only a hazardous 351...

Travels: Relaxing in Hoi An, Vietnam

Back on track with long overdue vacation posts...

After eating our way through Ho Chi Minh City, we popped over to a sleepy little beach town on the east coast of Vietnam, called Hoi An. (not to be confused with Hanoi...)

Hoi An was named a World Heritage UNESCO site due to its preservation as an example of a South-East Asian trading port. You can still see the mingling of Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese architecture in the alleyways or homes, pagodas and temples. Supposedly, it’s through Hoi An that Christianity entered Vietnam in the 1600s.

I'd like to split up the town into 3 areas: the little harbor and surrounding shops & restaurants, the inner fields where the locals and farmers live & work, plus the beachfront, where we stayed.

Here, we took some time to relax on the beach and by the pool, enjoy a couple bike rides through the fields and explore the little town center. 

loving our pool & beach-side locale

this is what happens where there are hats to play with but your hubby is working...

 Fishing boats on the beach (you may have noticed this shot also on banglesandcuffs.com :P )

Hard at work

Hoi An harbor at night

eatin' noodles and sellin' wishes

Hoi An Harbor

the prep before they set out

i love a good bike against a wall pic

this little store was great. it's a fair trade shop selling handicrafts made by disabled  employees. we also got to go back and meet the people who made our purchases. :)

biking through the fields & town

Found the perfect wine bar to cap off the town!

Black Friday Business Launch!

I don't want you all thinking I've been a total slacker with no blog posts for over a month. We've been busy traveling, PLUS, I've been starting up a new business with my friend Nick! 

Check us out!
www.banglesandcuffs.com

Don't think this is my new full time career, but it's been a great adventure/experiment in starting an idea from scratch. 

As we just launched, we are open to feedback!!! Let us know what you like / don't like / wish you saw / etc. We're planning on donating proceeds back to the local communities, but turns out there was a little snafu with our charity of choice. More to come there.

Absolutely NO PRESSURE to buy a thing, but if you're interested, we're kicking off with a Black Friday sale!

Promo Code: Launch2013
Free Shipping on Orders over $100: freeshipping100

Looking forward to hearing with you think!
XOXO
Jacqueline & Nick

China: in 10 minutes

We're back! At least on the blog. I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post, but I've been working on creating some great content. :)

There's so much to catch everyone up on, so the next couple weeks might be a little scattered as I pull together all the pieces. I still need to finish up our adventures in Vietnam, my trip home to the US and our current Ladies Adventures trip out to Western China.

First up, a China recap. This video was given to us by a guide on one of our most recent trips and I thought it was hilarious. A perfectly succinct, stereotypical yet fairly accurate portrayal of China.

Hope you enjoy!

Video: China in 10 minutes

Travels: Eating our way through Vietnam

We've been in Vietnam over a week and the #1 thing I've learned so far, aside from the fact that the people are incredibly kind and entrepreneurial ;) and that every street has an unexpected charm, but the FOOD is DELICIOUS!!!

First stop on our journey was to Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon. And as soon as we hopped off the plane, the eating adventures began: (Luckily, Julia provided us with a list of some of the best spots!)

"Food Tour" Stop 1: Vietnamese BBQ @ 3T

giddy school kid...

"Food Tour" Stop 2: Beef Pho @ Pho Hoa

Super tasty Pho aka. Beef Noodle Soup. Better than any I've had before. Perfectly brothy, a bit tangy and bit spicy but a whole lot of comforting.

Also, apparently you're not supposed to throw in the herbs whole, but rather tear off the leaves... we gave people a couple good chuckles as we tried to gnaw our way through.

"Food Tour" Stop 3: Nha Hang Ngon. Food here was delicious, but the other amazing part was that we were hosted by our amazing waiter named "Phuc Yu" I kid you not... But he was lovely!

 

Our first, of soon to be many, Banh Xeo: "Vietnamese Pancake" (kinda like a crepe filled with noodles, lettuce, shrimp, pork, deliciousness)

How do you eat this? Just tear off a little with your fingers? Wrong!

Cut it up, place on rice paper & lettuce. Then roll up into... well, rolls. :)

Looks like this (pic from another Banh Xeo experience)

"Che" a conspicuous looking dessert. Described as like a pudding...

we ordered the "back bean" version that the waiter recommended which that surprised us both with it's tastiness! similar the flavors of mango sticky rice... sorta...

Food/Drink "Tour" Stop 4: Catina Cafe

I love a good balcony cafe

especially with tasty drinks!

Oh, plus we did some touristy stuff in Ho Chi Minh City. 

Ho Chi Minh City (previously known as Saigon) is the largest city in Vietnam. It didn't feel like way while we were there as it's pretty spread out and the tourist areas are centrally located so for our purposes it was incredibly walkable. Saigon was the capital of Southern Vietnam and was a capitalist / anti-communist state prior to the Vietnam War. However, based upon the propaganda & stories that the government shares, you would never know it. After the war, Saigon was renamed to Ho Chi Minh City after Ho Chi Minh, communist leader, Prime Minister & President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Here's just a couple snapshots from Ho Chi Minh City:

We felt right at home with all the motorbikes.

but everyone wears their helmets here! it's amazing! safety first. :)

Ho Chi Minh City Hall

Vietnamese version of Dongtai Lu

ball marker anyone?

"Notre Dame Cathedral"

noted as a special spot for music videos and wedding shoots... so i obviously took quite a few pics here.

impossible to get a good selfie without a reverse photo bomb

"War Remnants Museum" presents a strongly pro-Communist, anti-American portrayal of the Vietnam War. I don't want to post too many pics because it was incredibly disturbing with graphic images of the generational effects of Agent Orange, the torture of "innocent" Vietnamese, and the overall devastation that the US Army caused through Vietnam. Interesting, but obviously one-sided.

Ho Chi Minh City Museum. Not a great museum, but again, a great place for wedding photos! There must've been at least half a dozen couples with their photographers here.

The creepy "Jade Emperor Pagoda" claimed to be one of Saigon's "finest" pagodas. I personally found it to be a little creepy.

see what I mean...

We also headed out to the "Binh Tay" market, which if I had read my Lonely Planet guide book more closely, I would've learned this was a wholesale market. While nothing we wanted to purchase, it was wild! Luckily, we got stuck here during  a downpour so we had plenty of time to ignore.

This is the start of the flip flop / sandal aisle. Yes a whole aisle dedicated to flip flops / sandals.

this is the hair accessories aisle. we didn't see many other tourists in this market... :)

a drive-by of Saigon Streets. I love the skinny homes in every color of the rainbow.

Colorful Saigon at night

we also appreciated the men hard at work...

Left: just a little ruler measuring ; Right: i think you missed a spot

but the real treat is the electrical work throughout the city... 

what? this can't possibly be effective... having a cluster of power lines wrapped around a pole with each line hanging over the street directly into each apartment.