Last night I finally figured out how to use “du” the Chinese version of google maps to figure out bus transfers. I need the visual map to find my locations. Then it gives me alternatives of bus vs bus and subway to reach my destination based on where I am. There is a different bus app, but it doesn’t show any maps, you can only pull up the bus#/bus stops in chinese. So not very helpful for me. If only I would’ve figured it out 2 hours sooner! My plan was to go to bed early.
I was up at 7:20 and while I was showering my father-in-law takes Ethan out to get breakfast. We waited till they got back and by then time everyone ate then got through the single bathroom it was 10 A.M.! I grabbed us drinks to go with the packed snacks before we headed out the door. We were finally ridding a different bus. We(I) used to ride this bus all the time going into town. I have taken the bus this same route, so once I had a visual it seemed familiar. We got off at a certain stop, walked back to the perpendicular street and had the option of riding 2 different busses to the stop we were looking for, at the back of The Forbidden City and the front of Jingshan.
These 2 busses were both available from stops with the same name but located 100 meters apart. My thinking is they have too many busses for one stop so they basically split the stop in two. Course both busses we were looking for, were at the different locations of the same name. We missed the first bus we were looking for, we went to the wrong bus stop of the same name.
The Forbidden City is packed, as is this area, so much traffic on the road and streets right here. A mishmash of busses, taxis stopping in the middle of the road to pick up a fare, cars pulling U-turns or 3 point turns right in the middle of the packed 4 lane wide road, besides people darting across and the bikers thinking it’s safer than their people clogged bike lane.
Once we enter Jingshan it’s all blocked out and peacefully quiet. Jingshan is known for their peony gardens and the 5 temples along a small ridge, the middle one being the highest. We got more drinks, it’s already too hot. When we reach the top that has the best view of The Forbidden City and city skyline its 101 degrees out! This is the only part of Jingshan that is every packed with people. Everyone wanting to take their picture in front of The Forbidden City. So we follow suit. The rest of the small mountain is covered with little walkways and seating pavilions.
Coming down the other side of the mountain and out of Jingshan we cross the street and walk 3-4 minutes down a road that houses a few Hutong and people trying to get you into their rickshaws. No thank you, this is one of the scams in the city. Outside the east gate I buy cheap water from someone selling it out of their packs and stand behind the person already getting tickets. She leaves and someone just walks up and cuts in front of me. It’s a short line, just me standing there. Hello! After she gets her tickets another lady tries to do the same thing and cut me. Still only me in line. I swipe my hand down to stop her as I hear the ticket takers at the door behind me laugh. She was like huh?
Once inside we were met with a beautiful scene, the walk onto the island and up to Baihai’s white dome as well as the moat filled with pink waterlillies and old fashioned single long oar/rutter boats. The kids have been wanting to get out on the water, so we check it out. 40 yuan for half hour or 60 yuan for a full hour. I figure we’ll be too hot for an hour. So we take the half your, are joined by two other ladies and off we go. So nice and leisurely, especially when someone else is rowing. They had already closed by the time we got back, due to a storm coming. We got on the last boat of the day!
We climbed up the billy goat paths to the center of the island and the white monument at the top, where you must buy another ticket. The boys said don’t bother someone asked if you can get inside it and the ticket seller said no. If it was not worth it for the Chinese to visit, not worth it for us either. Getting down took a lot longer. We wanted to walk down a different path, that resulted in lots of dead ends and paths stopped for construction. The souvenirs being sold here weren’t as nice as at the Summer Palace.
More drink and icecream stops as we walked to the North side of the park. We could see the storm coming and the rain falling in the distance. We decided to leave forgetting about the 9 dragon screen wall! But we made it to the subway just as the rain drops started to fall. Instead of taking the subway all the way home and ending up having to walk 2 very long blocks in the rain, we switched to the bus and took the same bus home. The rain felt great on our hot red faces from temperatures getting up to 103 today. The rain shortly dropped it to 87. Once it stopped raining it dried quickly and was back up 93.
Friday, June 29, 2018
Thursday, June 28, 2018
Silk Street Market
After getting all our FaceTime in to loved ones back home it was too late to head out to a park today. The boys told me they wanted to go shopping! It was more about staying out of the sun. We would start at Silk Street Market at Yongali subway station(and that’s as far as we got!). We took the subway there and I was expecting the same awe inspiring site the vendors pouring out of the Market down the halls into the entryway of the subway.
Gone, no more are you colorfully treated with shopping treasurers before you reach the market. Instead you see a revolving door as an entrance to an empty hallway where they stuck a massage chair and fresh squeeze orange juice machine. Up the empty stairs where I had last bought DVDs and CDs.
Through the door into the Silk Market, the first floor filled with their bread and butter my most hated floor, silks and scarves and purses. “Hey Lady”, come look.....All trying to get your attention. I see a few scarves I would love to buy, but I hope I will find elsewhere or at least figure out a good price before I try to haggle with them. We quickly walk around this floor so the boys can hear this experience of being called to their wares.
Then head upstairs, the stairs inside the Silk Street Market are filled with vendors and I quickly see a vendor I can’t wait to buy from. Someone who paints inside of glass beads and glass bottles. I buy some beads not as cheap as what I got last time but I got him down cheaper than when I saw them at the Forbidden City this time. So I was happy. The boys each got one and he painted their Chinese name inside of the bead while we waited. They choose a panda bead, dragon bead and Great Wall bead. The guy had not seen Aidan’s “dan” spelling before, so he looked it up thinking these foreigners are wrong. He was surprised, saying the first time he had used it.
The next floor the boys read “toys” on the sign and were extremely excited. They thought it was so cool, but really it wasn’t a whole floor dedicated to toys like I’ve seen at other places. It was only 6 or 7 stores in part of an aisle. However we spent a lot of time in that part of the store. There were no repeat stores selling the same items here to try and get the better price. It all came down to good old fashioned haggling.
I need to stick to my guns better so I get the better price, but I did really well. My boys would easily have caved in overpaying. Online it says to start bargaining under half the price they tell you. No way too much money, they jack the prices up here way more than you’d find elsewhere. Indifference helps when you really don’t care if you have the thing or not, you stick to your guns because you really don’t want it and you do the walk away and be called back dance. They say you aren’t serious, they can’t do it for that price, a little more, we are talking don’t walk away, I want to sell to you. Fine they will sell to you at your price, they look mad. The greatest actors ever. Just smile and don’t take it personally. If they really don’t want to do business with you they will turn around and talk to someone else.
One store had Chinese legos with titles called Space Wars(Star Wars), Fast(Speed), My World(Mine Craft). I did get a big Tiantan(Temple of Heaven) lego set for the boys. Before Tao left he looked it up and I knew the price I could get online so I did stick to my guns and not get it for more. I also found a few more vendors of glass bottles with painted scenes in them but no beads. Original price 800 yuan. I choose two. If my memory recalls correctly I got my one last time for 120 yuan. So I bargained for 2 for 230 yuan! The boys were impressed.
Sometimes you just have to know what you’d be able to buy it for at home and get it less than that. The deals aren’t as good anymore as they once were. You just need to know where to look, and that takes a lot of effort of window shopping!
Gone, no more are you colorfully treated with shopping treasurers before you reach the market. Instead you see a revolving door as an entrance to an empty hallway where they stuck a massage chair and fresh squeeze orange juice machine. Up the empty stairs where I had last bought DVDs and CDs.
Through the door into the Silk Market, the first floor filled with their bread and butter my most hated floor, silks and scarves and purses. “Hey Lady”, come look.....All trying to get your attention. I see a few scarves I would love to buy, but I hope I will find elsewhere or at least figure out a good price before I try to haggle with them. We quickly walk around this floor so the boys can hear this experience of being called to their wares.
Then head upstairs, the stairs inside the Silk Street Market are filled with vendors and I quickly see a vendor I can’t wait to buy from. Someone who paints inside of glass beads and glass bottles. I buy some beads not as cheap as what I got last time but I got him down cheaper than when I saw them at the Forbidden City this time. So I was happy. The boys each got one and he painted their Chinese name inside of the bead while we waited. They choose a panda bead, dragon bead and Great Wall bead. The guy had not seen Aidan’s “dan” spelling before, so he looked it up thinking these foreigners are wrong. He was surprised, saying the first time he had used it.
The next floor the boys read “toys” on the sign and were extremely excited. They thought it was so cool, but really it wasn’t a whole floor dedicated to toys like I’ve seen at other places. It was only 6 or 7 stores in part of an aisle. However we spent a lot of time in that part of the store. There were no repeat stores selling the same items here to try and get the better price. It all came down to good old fashioned haggling.
I need to stick to my guns better so I get the better price, but I did really well. My boys would easily have caved in overpaying. Online it says to start bargaining under half the price they tell you. No way too much money, they jack the prices up here way more than you’d find elsewhere. Indifference helps when you really don’t care if you have the thing or not, you stick to your guns because you really don’t want it and you do the walk away and be called back dance. They say you aren’t serious, they can’t do it for that price, a little more, we are talking don’t walk away, I want to sell to you. Fine they will sell to you at your price, they look mad. The greatest actors ever. Just smile and don’t take it personally. If they really don’t want to do business with you they will turn around and talk to someone else.
One store had Chinese legos with titles called Space Wars(Star Wars), Fast(Speed), My World(Mine Craft). I did get a big Tiantan(Temple of Heaven) lego set for the boys. Before Tao left he looked it up and I knew the price I could get online so I did stick to my guns and not get it for more. I also found a few more vendors of glass bottles with painted scenes in them but no beads. Original price 800 yuan. I choose two. If my memory recalls correctly I got my one last time for 120 yuan. So I bargained for 2 for 230 yuan! The boys were impressed.
Sometimes you just have to know what you’d be able to buy it for at home and get it less than that. The deals aren’t as good anymore as they once were. You just need to know where to look, and that takes a lot of effort of window shopping!
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Shanghai Disneyland
I’ve been to Tokyo Disneyland, Florida Disney and now Shanghai Disneyland! We didn’t tell the kids until we left for Shanghai. We took DiDi to get there, got in line where they have posted all over you must get your tickets through their app. So Tao gets the tickets through the app we get in line. No these won’t work the kids are over the height limit of 1.4 meters, they need adult tickets. Everywhere the “kid” size restriction is 1.1- 1.3 or 1.4. Well all my kids are over this height, so they are not considered kids, but require the adult ticket at any attraction or restaurant.
It was another hot day, we brought umbrellas as it was forecasted to rain. Several had 2-3 hour wait times, so we bypassed those. We went to the Stitch Encounter. We fondly recalled the 4-D experience in Florida and how one was a bit too young and had to leave midway. Well when we got in line they tried to stop us saying it will be in Chinese. Duh. It was not the experience we were expecting that is for sure. Nothing 4-D or 3-D about it in fact. There was a host and then the screen would talk to people as the host went to them with a microphone. That was it. Sorely disappointing. But we got out of the heat.
Saw a penny press machine with a Star Wars penny in the mad rush of going into the next attraction; Buzz Lightyear Blaster. This was the same as we expected and enjoyable. But by the time we exited I forgot about the penny press. The whole Star Wars area was closed, the boys super bummed.
Lots of waiting in line and not doing a whole lot. We didn’t see the parade as we were waiting to get on a ride. They stop rides for events. I thought that was the smart time to get on a ride as everyone should be watching the parade or some scheduled activity. Nope not here, you’ve been waiting in a long line and there is some guest appearance we must not let anyone go on the ride and just wait for 10-15 minutes.
One of the kids realized he lost his GPS watch. Great, we knew exactly where it was lost in the Marvel building. But it went from raining to downpour and it’s filled with rows of people sitting on the floor all around the walls. We keep calling it and calling it not able to get a pin point location. We know it’s somewhere in this building, it’s not moving. But whether it got kicked under something, stuck in the trash or picked up we don’t know. Tao asked all the workers. I’m looking at all the people, under all the nooks and corners. Some lady with a small child gets my attention and wave the watch at me. Thank you! Tao had put an alert on the phone and it came up with a scan button that either got their attention or they could no longer play with it. I’m just thankful it was only the watch we were looking for and not anyone attached to it.
Several more attractions closed due to the weather. After trying to stay dry and the rain stopping we got to the Shipwrecked Pirate part and the boys got into a big water cannon battle. The best part of the day. Another bummer, we tried to go on a really cool attraction(I forget the name), but after standing in line they told us no sandals. Really? It’s not listed under the Do Not’s list. All the kids had closed toe sandals too. I was really mad.
I really wanted to get the Star Wars smooshed pennies for the boys. Cheap souvenirs! Nope. Someone vetoed that awesome idea. So as we are walking out at 6:30 for a 7:30 pick up we hit the lego store and the boys got some create your own mini figures. Cost more than back home, don’t know if that was Disney or China. Their Disneytown shopping is outside of Disneyland. So anyone wanting to pay for parking can walk over there to shop and eat in Disneytown.
Beijing Roasted KFC
Lunch was wontons again. Hot soup on a hot day is not my idea of good eats.
Another boiling day, the kids have been pretty good being cooped up, but we need to get out. My father-in-law suggested a new market across the street from the Carrfour. I told him it looked expensive. No, no he hadn’t been there, but it has many prices.
Well it’s too hot to go to a park, we need to be inside, so walk around a big mall we will do. It was 2 basement levels and 7 above levels. We find the kid level and walk around there first. Not really kids my age, but 5 years ago age. All types of stores for “kids” to get there energy out via kungfu classes, dance classes, gym classes, music classes, learning abc, roller skating, race track time, baby to young toddler clothes, and 2 toy stores with a few legos.
I did peek at a few stores prices and as I expected expensive. I was right this was a mall not a market. (Market implies it’s where you go to haggle or shop cheap). We went up to the food court levels 6 & 7. Huge open area, possibly considered art. We walked around and got some DQ. Several super cute restaurants I would totally love to eat in, Japanese cute decor is the only way I can describe it. Boys vetoed it. One place said “The Okinami Experience” with a picture of a tanuki. But it wasn’t open, and I couldn’t tell if it was on it’s way out or in.
I didn’t see any need to keep walking around this mall. On the 2nd level it said the glass had electric shock to deter you from reaching over to look down to the basement levels. We walked half a block to Carrfour. The boys wanted the good rotating sushi place but said it was too early to eat. So we walked around a bit. Now there was a line at the rotating sushi place. So we went to KFC, Aidan wanted to try their Dragon wraps. The Dragon wraps ended up being KFC’s version of Beijing Roasted Duck(Peking Duck). They had fried chicken instead of duck, but same sauce, cucumber and onion all in a wrap. Definitely not as good as the real deal.
We picked up icecream on the way home. I got mango this time, very good.
Shortly after bedtime but before sleep, one had a waterfall of a bloody nose. He said maybe too much chocolate? He did have 2 chocolate ice creams today. I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner with all this heat.
Another boiling day, the kids have been pretty good being cooped up, but we need to get out. My father-in-law suggested a new market across the street from the Carrfour. I told him it looked expensive. No, no he hadn’t been there, but it has many prices.
Well it’s too hot to go to a park, we need to be inside, so walk around a big mall we will do. It was 2 basement levels and 7 above levels. We find the kid level and walk around there first. Not really kids my age, but 5 years ago age. All types of stores for “kids” to get there energy out via kungfu classes, dance classes, gym classes, music classes, learning abc, roller skating, race track time, baby to young toddler clothes, and 2 toy stores with a few legos.
I did peek at a few stores prices and as I expected expensive. I was right this was a mall not a market. (Market implies it’s where you go to haggle or shop cheap). We went up to the food court levels 6 & 7. Huge open area, possibly considered art. We walked around and got some DQ. Several super cute restaurants I would totally love to eat in, Japanese cute decor is the only way I can describe it. Boys vetoed it. One place said “The Okinami Experience” with a picture of a tanuki. But it wasn’t open, and I couldn’t tell if it was on it’s way out or in.
I didn’t see any need to keep walking around this mall. On the 2nd level it said the glass had electric shock to deter you from reaching over to look down to the basement levels. We walked half a block to Carrfour. The boys wanted the good rotating sushi place but said it was too early to eat. So we walked around a bit. Now there was a line at the rotating sushi place. So we went to KFC, Aidan wanted to try their Dragon wraps. The Dragon wraps ended up being KFC’s version of Beijing Roasted Duck(Peking Duck). They had fried chicken instead of duck, but same sauce, cucumber and onion all in a wrap. Definitely not as good as the real deal.
We picked up icecream on the way home. I got mango this time, very good.
Shortly after bedtime but before sleep, one had a waterfall of a bloody nose. He said maybe too much chocolate? He did have 2 chocolate ice creams today. I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner with all this heat.
Found: Haw on a stick
The boys and I walk down to the subway station and take a straight shot to Qienmen Street shopping. First we are walking up the main drag, a wide street with trolley tracks in the road. Many bathrooms. We go in a few stores, but I’m not really seeing what I’m looking for.
Ah, a break in the alley to the side streets where the real shopping is. And first thing we see is Haw on a stick! I knew if I was to find it anywhere it would be here. 2 of us get the haw, 2 strawberries. 10 yuan a stick! 5 years ago they were 3-5 yuan each.
We go into several 10 yuan stores, think dollar store, but it’s more like $1.65. Aidan got a giant colorful slinky, I got a few hair clips(I’ve been waiting to buy them in China), they each ended up with a spinner. Ethan is good at being the interpreter, we haggled and I feel won.
Aidan really wanted rear wheels for your shoes, they told us 85 yuan for 1. How many you want to buy. None really, but gee I have 3 kids, so 3. She tells me 180 for 3. No. 160. No. 120. No. 100. No. I want them for 90. Ok. Sometimes you just gotta think what are you willing to pay for them. I didn’t want them, so I was only willing to throw away $5 each and hopefully they break in the next 3 weeks. Plus sometimes you get a better deal if you buy more.
We also found meat on a stick. Not at any street vendor cart anymore, but form a restaurant with a walk up window. 12 yuan each! 5 years ago 5-6 yuan each. Maybe the price of rat meat went up? We ended with another haw on a stick because I don’t know if I’ll find them again. Knowing we are going to come back here to get another one before we leave and do some more shopping. The boys enjoyed it.
After we went home and told our tales of the best haggle we went out for dinner. Big steamy bowls of wontons in a steamy little restaurant on a steamy day. Uggh, I feel like a slug.
Ah, a break in the alley to the side streets where the real shopping is. And first thing we see is Haw on a stick! I knew if I was to find it anywhere it would be here. 2 of us get the haw, 2 strawberries. 10 yuan a stick! 5 years ago they were 3-5 yuan each.
We go into several 10 yuan stores, think dollar store, but it’s more like $1.65. Aidan got a giant colorful slinky, I got a few hair clips(I’ve been waiting to buy them in China), they each ended up with a spinner. Ethan is good at being the interpreter, we haggled and I feel won.
Aidan really wanted rear wheels for your shoes, they told us 85 yuan for 1. How many you want to buy. None really, but gee I have 3 kids, so 3. She tells me 180 for 3. No. 160. No. 120. No. 100. No. I want them for 90. Ok. Sometimes you just gotta think what are you willing to pay for them. I didn’t want them, so I was only willing to throw away $5 each and hopefully they break in the next 3 weeks. Plus sometimes you get a better deal if you buy more.
We also found meat on a stick. Not at any street vendor cart anymore, but form a restaurant with a walk up window. 12 yuan each! 5 years ago 5-6 yuan each. Maybe the price of rat meat went up? We ended with another haw on a stick because I don’t know if I’ll find them again. Knowing we are going to come back here to get another one before we leave and do some more shopping. The boys enjoyed it.
After we went home and told our tales of the best haggle we went out for dinner. Big steamy bowls of wontons in a steamy little restaurant on a steamy day. Uggh, I feel like a slug.
Ta Ta Tao
My in-laws had breakfast delivered. They would rather get it delivered than go fetch it from a nearby restaurant not even half a block away. I really want the street food breakfast sandwich, but they feels it’s better to find from a restaurant(more clean or healthy).
The boys pile on daddy, getting ready to miss him. I chose not to see him off to the airport since we were just there a few days ago. We sent him off outside the apartment complex and came back up to get our stuff and head out. It was another hot one high 90’s.
We rode the bus to the Carfour(I always pronounce Carefour), not too far away. It’s a big department store. Be prepared to pay more here(in China) if you plan on buying Hot Wheels, legos, Transformers and Star Wars.
This time I scoped it out if they allow payment via WeChat or Alipay. Nope, their app or cash. Forgot to grab the cash, so we only bought a few books that all had pin yin in them with the Chinese characters. We will probably return here as I could buy a few more books here.
We had lunch at KFC. They have a “chizza”, a fried chicken fillet they use as a small pizza base with cheese and peppers on top. Their only pop is Pepsi regular, no diet, that comes in the combos. Otherwise you can buy alacart a few different teas, coffees or a 9 alive orange drink.
We could only find 1 bathroom on the 3rd floor. I don’t know why they bother hiring anyone to stand there to clean it. Apparently cleaning it only means picking up the stuff that didn’t make it to the trash basket. Remember no flushing toilet paper. Every toilet I’ve used has a big gob of spit staring you in the face (squat toilet) or that you have to walk over going into a stall. Really you couldn’t use the toilet less than a foot away for that?
Wontons were requested for dinner.
The boys pile on daddy, getting ready to miss him. I chose not to see him off to the airport since we were just there a few days ago. We sent him off outside the apartment complex and came back up to get our stuff and head out. It was another hot one high 90’s.
We rode the bus to the Carfour(I always pronounce Carefour), not too far away. It’s a big department store. Be prepared to pay more here(in China) if you plan on buying Hot Wheels, legos, Transformers and Star Wars.
This time I scoped it out if they allow payment via WeChat or Alipay. Nope, their app or cash. Forgot to grab the cash, so we only bought a few books that all had pin yin in them with the Chinese characters. We will probably return here as I could buy a few more books here.
We had lunch at KFC. They have a “chizza”, a fried chicken fillet they use as a small pizza base with cheese and peppers on top. Their only pop is Pepsi regular, no diet, that comes in the combos. Otherwise you can buy alacart a few different teas, coffees or a 9 alive orange drink.
We could only find 1 bathroom on the 3rd floor. I don’t know why they bother hiring anyone to stand there to clean it. Apparently cleaning it only means picking up the stuff that didn’t make it to the trash basket. Remember no flushing toilet paper. Every toilet I’ve used has a big gob of spit staring you in the face (squat toilet) or that you have to walk over going into a stall. Really you couldn’t use the toilet less than a foot away for that?
Wontons were requested for dinner.
Sad Saturday
Tao is re-packing his suitcase. So glad I insisted on 2 full sized and a carry-on size. He filled a large one with the clothes he brought, winter clothes his parents bought for the boys, a few small souvenirs and some stuff his mom wanted to give us. Plus Tao bought a huge chinese chess and go board. As it was he had to borrow a carry-on to carry the rest.
Since he wanted to rest before his long day of travel, I took the boys and walked 2 blocks down in the heat to the other small shopping mall with a different department store in it. It was a disappointment. 5 years ago it was all new, every store filled. Now it was under construction, only a few restaurants and the department store was missing a floor. When we went to pay we discovered they do not accept payment via WeChat or Alipay directly. You must use their app or cash. Wasn’t carring much cash, so we put a few things back. Apparently you could set up their app to pay through your WeChat or Alipay but I wasn’t going to go through all that trouble. I just don’t plan on going back there.
While there we did walk through the abandoned hallways due to construction, the only people there possible were the construction worker’s family? We say a guy straddling the top of a ladder and walk it over with out getting down. It didn’t appear to be tied to his feet either.
We took umbrellas with us. Not because of any rain. There was none. But to give us a bit of shade from the sun, it was just too hot. It doesn’t look silly here. Heck they even carry their umbrellas up walking in the shade.
My in-laws said that shopping complex was oringally owned by a British company, now by a Chinese company and on it’s 2nd construction since the change.
Tonight we DiDi it to meet Gu NaiNai and Gu YeYe for dinner. It’s Gu NaiNai’s 85th birthday, so her son and wife are there too. The private room has a seating area so those arriving first can visit and have a snack of melon and tomatoes and some bugle tasting crackers with powder sugar on them. The son arrived before us to order the meal. Then us. The guests of honor were last to arrive.
I commented on the velour or velvet on the chairs and walls. My mother-in-law said that it’s cheap in China, no big deal. But to me it was a fancier restaurant. They had a picture that Jackie Chan had dinned there in the entry way. It was in a hotel. Ironic that the rooms have no smoking signs but I find a burn hole in the table cloth. The plates were huge, the food on them small. Always family style on huge lazy Susan’s. I tried almost everything. I know I don’t care for the vat of pork fat so I skipped that and the bony smoked fish.
I have found the dish I will learn to make this trip: Suan Cai Yu. Szechuan boiled fish soup with pickled vegetables. I am quite surprised I loved it. At first I only took the fish out, but the buttery looking broth begged to be tasted. So I ladled some into by bowl. It did taste buttery to me, along with chicken bullion, spicy fresh red peppers, some capers on a vine, udon noodles, enoki mushrooms and what I thought was hot perperochini(later I found out was pickled mustard greens).
I came home and started trying to find the recipe. Which is hard when you can’t fully access the internet and it goes so slowly. When we get home I look forward to trying my hand at it. My husband thinks I should love more foods so I will want to cook more chinese dishes.
Since he wanted to rest before his long day of travel, I took the boys and walked 2 blocks down in the heat to the other small shopping mall with a different department store in it. It was a disappointment. 5 years ago it was all new, every store filled. Now it was under construction, only a few restaurants and the department store was missing a floor. When we went to pay we discovered they do not accept payment via WeChat or Alipay directly. You must use their app or cash. Wasn’t carring much cash, so we put a few things back. Apparently you could set up their app to pay through your WeChat or Alipay but I wasn’t going to go through all that trouble. I just don’t plan on going back there.
While there we did walk through the abandoned hallways due to construction, the only people there possible were the construction worker’s family? We say a guy straddling the top of a ladder and walk it over with out getting down. It didn’t appear to be tied to his feet either.
We took umbrellas with us. Not because of any rain. There was none. But to give us a bit of shade from the sun, it was just too hot. It doesn’t look silly here. Heck they even carry their umbrellas up walking in the shade.
My in-laws said that shopping complex was oringally owned by a British company, now by a Chinese company and on it’s 2nd construction since the change.
Tonight we DiDi it to meet Gu NaiNai and Gu YeYe for dinner. It’s Gu NaiNai’s 85th birthday, so her son and wife are there too. The private room has a seating area so those arriving first can visit and have a snack of melon and tomatoes and some bugle tasting crackers with powder sugar on them. The son arrived before us to order the meal. Then us. The guests of honor were last to arrive.
I commented on the velour or velvet on the chairs and walls. My mother-in-law said that it’s cheap in China, no big deal. But to me it was a fancier restaurant. They had a picture that Jackie Chan had dinned there in the entry way. It was in a hotel. Ironic that the rooms have no smoking signs but I find a burn hole in the table cloth. The plates were huge, the food on them small. Always family style on huge lazy Susan’s. I tried almost everything. I know I don’t care for the vat of pork fat so I skipped that and the bony smoked fish.
I have found the dish I will learn to make this trip: Suan Cai Yu. Szechuan boiled fish soup with pickled vegetables. I am quite surprised I loved it. At first I only took the fish out, but the buttery looking broth begged to be tasted. So I ladled some into by bowl. It did taste buttery to me, along with chicken bullion, spicy fresh red peppers, some capers on a vine, udon noodles, enoki mushrooms and what I thought was hot perperochini(later I found out was pickled mustard greens).
I came home and started trying to find the recipe. Which is hard when you can’t fully access the internet and it goes so slowly. When we get home I look forward to trying my hand at it. My husband thinks I should love more foods so I will want to cook more chinese dishes.
Summer Palace
Our last big outing before Tao heads home was to the Summer Palace. We take DiDi(the Chinese Uber), of course it was supposed to rain, but thankfully it was only a few sprinkles. Otherwise it could be dangerous walking as you have to do a lot walking/climbing over slippery stones. It is a very cool place, earning lots of picture taking. We tried more flavors of tea, this time lychee and perhaps grapefruit? The boys really wanted to rent a boat to go out on the lake, but it required a big cash deposit we didn’t have with us thanks to the ease of paying via phone on WeChat or Alipay. So we settled for a ferry ride across the lake. We did a lot of walking and the boys did really well. Most likely due to keeping them hydrated with drinks, ice cream and snacks.
It’s always funny to watch people just stop walking and start asking Tao about having 3 kids and a foreign wife. A few left their tour group to find out.
Next time we come to the Summer Palace I told the kids we should just walk around the lake and not do any of the climbing stuff. Then we would be able to go over all sorts of cool looking bridges.
There is a huge bridge that boasts 500 lions carved into the bridge to a small island. After we left the island I say we should’ve counted the lions. Ethan is game, so the others were told to sit and rest. Well we started out with good intentions to count and realized we couldn’t possibly figure out where the lions were due to deteriation of the bridge. Was that round thing a lion or a ball or something else? We decided to give our count at 498, 2 ran away. We started back to find them, not sitting but getting ice cream! WAIT.....Just in time! We got some too and drinks. I was glad I brought my sweat towel with me. It was so hot and it wasn’t even sunny today.
I wonder why you don’t see more people use the little sweat towels or handkerchiefs like you do in Japan. It seems like a really good idea. You want to brush at your face but use the towel so you keep your hands off your face. No hand dryer use the towel. So many uses.
Tonight we tried the rotating hot pot restaurant across the street. My father-in-law went with us. It was a buffet that included drinks from Pepsi to green apple pop to blueberry juice drink. Make your own sauce bar with everything unnamed and left up for guesses. I didn’t venture into the unknown and stuck with thinned tahini(sesame) paste, green onions, cilantro, black vinegar, chili oil and soy sauce. Besides the rotating items they bring each person 2 shrimp, 2 pieces of lamb and beef. So many options on the rotating line up, eggs, tofu, several different noodles, different greens, meats, tomatoes, cucumbers and watermelon, snacks to grab, water pictures to refill your personal hot pot. The problem is they only give you one tongs to grab everything with. So I grab the ones next to me to use on the tomato, cucumber and watermelon. Then I worry no one else is using 2 tongs to get the tomatoes, cucumbers and watermelon. Better throw the tomatoes and cucumber into the pot to kill any cross contanmination. I watch most people grab the watermelon with their hands and pray I’m safe not throwing that into the pot but I don’t eat any more just to be safe. They even had ice cream for desert. Good now we don’t need to stop on the way home. No green tea flavored, but they boys were happy for chocolate. Well the chocolate turned out not to be the chocolate they were looking for. They told me it tastes bad, maybe it’s coffee, and please try it. I smell it first since I don’t like coffee. Nope not coffee. I try it. It’s chocolate, but China chocolate that tastes like tootsie roll chocolate not real chocolate. So I get all their icecream. I put it in my pop and make a float. It tastes just like a chocolate soda.
It’s always funny to watch people just stop walking and start asking Tao about having 3 kids and a foreign wife. A few left their tour group to find out.
Next time we come to the Summer Palace I told the kids we should just walk around the lake and not do any of the climbing stuff. Then we would be able to go over all sorts of cool looking bridges.
There is a huge bridge that boasts 500 lions carved into the bridge to a small island. After we left the island I say we should’ve counted the lions. Ethan is game, so the others were told to sit and rest. Well we started out with good intentions to count and realized we couldn’t possibly figure out where the lions were due to deteriation of the bridge. Was that round thing a lion or a ball or something else? We decided to give our count at 498, 2 ran away. We started back to find them, not sitting but getting ice cream! WAIT.....Just in time! We got some too and drinks. I was glad I brought my sweat towel with me. It was so hot and it wasn’t even sunny today.
I wonder why you don’t see more people use the little sweat towels or handkerchiefs like you do in Japan. It seems like a really good idea. You want to brush at your face but use the towel so you keep your hands off your face. No hand dryer use the towel. So many uses.
Tonight we tried the rotating hot pot restaurant across the street. My father-in-law went with us. It was a buffet that included drinks from Pepsi to green apple pop to blueberry juice drink. Make your own sauce bar with everything unnamed and left up for guesses. I didn’t venture into the unknown and stuck with thinned tahini(sesame) paste, green onions, cilantro, black vinegar, chili oil and soy sauce. Besides the rotating items they bring each person 2 shrimp, 2 pieces of lamb and beef. So many options on the rotating line up, eggs, tofu, several different noodles, different greens, meats, tomatoes, cucumbers and watermelon, snacks to grab, water pictures to refill your personal hot pot. The problem is they only give you one tongs to grab everything with. So I grab the ones next to me to use on the tomato, cucumber and watermelon. Then I worry no one else is using 2 tongs to get the tomatoes, cucumbers and watermelon. Better throw the tomatoes and cucumber into the pot to kill any cross contanmination. I watch most people grab the watermelon with their hands and pray I’m safe not throwing that into the pot but I don’t eat any more just to be safe. They even had ice cream for desert. Good now we don’t need to stop on the way home. No green tea flavored, but they boys were happy for chocolate. Well the chocolate turned out not to be the chocolate they were looking for. They told me it tastes bad, maybe it’s coffee, and please try it. I smell it first since I don’t like coffee. Nope not coffee. I try it. It’s chocolate, but China chocolate that tastes like tootsie roll chocolate not real chocolate. So I get all their icecream. I put it in my pop and make a float. It tastes just like a chocolate soda.
Rain, rain, go away!
So our final full day in Shanghai and we are stuck inside! From our room on the 15th floor it looks like sprinkles. But from the ground it is a steady downpour. The pool of course is closed. Finally after noon I can get the boys up and out the door. We go into the small indoor market within 2 blocks of the hotel, not much. We go to a bigger 4 floor market, mostly jewelry, 1 floor tea and traditional medicines. Nothing there either. Boys all whiny over nothing to look at and wet out. Fine lets go back. Tao says lets try that last market. It wouldn’ve been the mother load, but can we(meaning me) enjoy it(meaning shop), no! Whine, whine, whine......So instead of being able to do easy shopping right next door to the hotel we retreat to the boring indoors and stupid iPads.
It finally stops raining around 4ish but no one wants to go out. Finally for dinner we walk many blocks away to the big lit up street with the modern stores. We look for bathrooms and end up eating bad sushi from a rotating sushi restaurant. The only bright spot in the day was DQ! I got a matcha blizzard with chocolate in it.
It finally stops raining around 4ish but no one wants to go out. Finally for dinner we walk many blocks away to the big lit up street with the modern stores. We look for bathrooms and end up eating bad sushi from a rotating sushi restaurant. The only bright spot in the day was DQ! I got a matcha blizzard with chocolate in it.
Yu Garden
We walked around the Yu Garden Shopping Mall, seeing smoking ice cream drinks. It’s all theatrics. Blue water with dry ice put in a big cup, nest a smaller cup with 2 inches of tea inside and stick a lid on top with soft serve ice cream. So many food stores, but no meat on a stick or haw on a stick. Tao reminded me it’s not haw season and we are too far south for them.
We saw lots of traditional crafts like hand/finger painting, silk thread paintings, calligraphy several different ways, I like the dragon calligraphy turning your name into a dragon. Some stores had supposed lowest prices, no bargaining sign on their doorways.
I feel every food place sold crab. Fried crab on a stick, crab dumplings, crab soup dumplings....We went into a few toy stores, still not what I’m looking for. They might’ve held more official items due to the prices of Star Wars, Monchichis, Tottoro, lots of personal fans, Ultra Man, grown-up figurines(maybe they’re anime ones?), and Pokémon cards(but I could tell they were the fake ones).
Wandering around the corrdoors we came to the Yu Garden. I can’t remember if I was there before or not, I know I was outside of it for sure on the walkways over the water, I remember eating large soup dumplings outside in the sun. Today we went in the garden and it was so beautiful, every building had a different roof, there were dragons, storks, warriors, tigers.... So many walk ways and little doorways to go through to other courtyards. I took a ton of pictures here, I couldn’t resist. People love feeding the giant coi. The boys tried dipping their fingers in the water, but the fish were smarter, they knew it wasn’t food and didn’t even try to nibble on them.
Never fun shopping with Tao, his shopping is walking past the store 10 feet from the door. I like to window shop by walking though seeing what different stuff they have.
For dinner we came back to the shopping mall with Tao’s parents and went to a huge food court. You grab a tray, choose your food and then pay. I choose a cold chicken dish, noodle dish and mochi pears filled with custard. Some of the other things chosen were big soup dumplings, small soup dumplings, crab on a stick, and so proud my kids each picked out a veggie dish on their own!
We saw lots of traditional crafts like hand/finger painting, silk thread paintings, calligraphy several different ways, I like the dragon calligraphy turning your name into a dragon. Some stores had supposed lowest prices, no bargaining sign on their doorways.
I feel every food place sold crab. Fried crab on a stick, crab dumplings, crab soup dumplings....We went into a few toy stores, still not what I’m looking for. They might’ve held more official items due to the prices of Star Wars, Monchichis, Tottoro, lots of personal fans, Ultra Man, grown-up figurines(maybe they’re anime ones?), and Pokémon cards(but I could tell they were the fake ones).
Wandering around the corrdoors we came to the Yu Garden. I can’t remember if I was there before or not, I know I was outside of it for sure on the walkways over the water, I remember eating large soup dumplings outside in the sun. Today we went in the garden and it was so beautiful, every building had a different roof, there were dragons, storks, warriors, tigers.... So many walk ways and little doorways to go through to other courtyards. I took a ton of pictures here, I couldn’t resist. People love feeding the giant coi. The boys tried dipping their fingers in the water, but the fish were smarter, they knew it wasn’t food and didn’t even try to nibble on them.
Never fun shopping with Tao, his shopping is walking past the store 10 feet from the door. I like to window shop by walking though seeing what different stuff they have.
For dinner we came back to the shopping mall with Tao’s parents and went to a huge food court. You grab a tray, choose your food and then pay. I choose a cold chicken dish, noodle dish and mochi pears filled with custard. Some of the other things chosen were big soup dumplings, small soup dumplings, crab on a stick, and so proud my kids each picked out a veggie dish on their own!
Sunday, June 17, 2018
Shanghai Noon
Beep! 3:45 A.M. is too early. But thank goodness we were already packed and clothes picked out the day before. 7 people to get through the single bathroom. Throw the toothbrushes in the suitcase and our ride awaits us outside. Not much traffic out this early. Only when we get close to the airport does the road get busy. When you enter the terminal they group you in 7-10 people swab your hands and bags then run it through a machine before letting you further into the airport.
I don’t think they allow any liquid on their airlines(not counting drinks bought enough inside the airport). I had a 1oz in my purse and ended up thinking I’d better put it in check-in. No carry-on travel sizes here.
Once we got to our gate my mother-in-law broke out the baozas they bought the night before. We had to take a shuttle bus to the plane on the taramac. The first bus left it was dry. When we got on the bus we stood there for 20 minutes due to a storm. Then we had to run for the plane once it arrived at our plane. They were passing out tissues for people to dry off with. Since it is only supposed to be a 2 hour plane ride they don’t carry a lot of blankets. Those ran out.
Then due to the storm, it was thunder and lightening, we sat there for 3 hours before we took off. They brought breakfast on and had a movie play. Being more of a commuter plane they had a screen for every 5 rows. Breakfast was corn and rise gruel, chicken hotdog with whole pieces of corn in it(very sweet), a tea egg, melon fruit, a sweet bread and yogurt. They went through a few times with drinks. I saw olive juice, so I tried it. Ick, not good, but I’ve had worse. I mixed a bit of the kids orange juice and sprite. It didn’t mask the flavor much.
We had a car scheduled to pick us up in Shanghai. So they called and said they saw the delay and will be there to pick us up. The plane ride went without delay. A bit of sleeping. Instead of getting to Shanghai at 9 A.M., we got ther at noon! As soon as we landed the ride called. We get luggage, go the bathroom and try to find the pick-up location. That is where all heck broke lose. He said exit 7. There are only 4 exits in the terminal. We go out and see the 7-12 in the parking garage across the street, but to get there we must exit through the 2nd floor of the terminal. Back inside we must go, need to be reswiped, then put all our luggage through the security scanner to get back in and up the escalator and out to the parking lot. There must have been some type of music or production crew coming in, lots of long hair foreign roadies carting gear. There are several fancy sports cars that were used by Asians with tattoos. Wensen was happy to see a McLaren and Ferrari.
We find our driver, they always include license plate numbers. But he doesn’t want to drive us now. My father-in-law jumps in his front seat and they have a screaming match, he refuses to drive us. Now this is already pre-paid for on-line. After and hour we call another car and take the guys pics and pics of his vehicle to report to the company later. Such drama!
Finally we get to our hotel and checked in and relax it’s after 2 P.M. We have food delivered and the old people take naps, I take the kids to the pool. An indoor infinity pool on the 21st floor. It’s quite warm, but the hot tub is very hot, my legs are tingling hot. After that the pool felt a reasonable cool. I can’t believe they let kids go into the hot tubs. Under age 2!
We finally go out about 7 to get dinner, we walk around, the few places Tao wanted to try didn’t have enough seating. So we walked around down by the water. Saw the boats lit up like a light parade, the 200 plus people riding the ferry over to the other side. The Pearl and other tall buildings all lit up.
We end up going back to the hotel and get food delivered. Tao ordered from one he wanted to eat at. A wonton shop. He was happy, the bowl had several different flavor wontons, you don’t know which you’ll get. Good Happy Father’s Day. Because it was way to early this morning to remember the cards I left in Beijing. Uggh.
I don’t think they allow any liquid on their airlines(not counting drinks bought enough inside the airport). I had a 1oz in my purse and ended up thinking I’d better put it in check-in. No carry-on travel sizes here.
Once we got to our gate my mother-in-law broke out the baozas they bought the night before. We had to take a shuttle bus to the plane on the taramac. The first bus left it was dry. When we got on the bus we stood there for 20 minutes due to a storm. Then we had to run for the plane once it arrived at our plane. They were passing out tissues for people to dry off with. Since it is only supposed to be a 2 hour plane ride they don’t carry a lot of blankets. Those ran out.
Then due to the storm, it was thunder and lightening, we sat there for 3 hours before we took off. They brought breakfast on and had a movie play. Being more of a commuter plane they had a screen for every 5 rows. Breakfast was corn and rise gruel, chicken hotdog with whole pieces of corn in it(very sweet), a tea egg, melon fruit, a sweet bread and yogurt. They went through a few times with drinks. I saw olive juice, so I tried it. Ick, not good, but I’ve had worse. I mixed a bit of the kids orange juice and sprite. It didn’t mask the flavor much.
We had a car scheduled to pick us up in Shanghai. So they called and said they saw the delay and will be there to pick us up. The plane ride went without delay. A bit of sleeping. Instead of getting to Shanghai at 9 A.M., we got ther at noon! As soon as we landed the ride called. We get luggage, go the bathroom and try to find the pick-up location. That is where all heck broke lose. He said exit 7. There are only 4 exits in the terminal. We go out and see the 7-12 in the parking garage across the street, but to get there we must exit through the 2nd floor of the terminal. Back inside we must go, need to be reswiped, then put all our luggage through the security scanner to get back in and up the escalator and out to the parking lot. There must have been some type of music or production crew coming in, lots of long hair foreign roadies carting gear. There are several fancy sports cars that were used by Asians with tattoos. Wensen was happy to see a McLaren and Ferrari.
We find our driver, they always include license plate numbers. But he doesn’t want to drive us now. My father-in-law jumps in his front seat and they have a screaming match, he refuses to drive us. Now this is already pre-paid for on-line. After and hour we call another car and take the guys pics and pics of his vehicle to report to the company later. Such drama!
Finally we get to our hotel and checked in and relax it’s after 2 P.M. We have food delivered and the old people take naps, I take the kids to the pool. An indoor infinity pool on the 21st floor. It’s quite warm, but the hot tub is very hot, my legs are tingling hot. After that the pool felt a reasonable cool. I can’t believe they let kids go into the hot tubs. Under age 2!
We finally go out about 7 to get dinner, we walk around, the few places Tao wanted to try didn’t have enough seating. So we walked around down by the water. Saw the boats lit up like a light parade, the 200 plus people riding the ferry over to the other side. The Pearl and other tall buildings all lit up.
We end up going back to the hotel and get food delivered. Tao ordered from one he wanted to eat at. A wonton shop. He was happy, the bowl had several different flavor wontons, you don’t know which you’ll get. Good Happy Father’s Day. Because it was way to early this morning to remember the cards I left in Beijing. Uggh.
Cousin Time
Tonight we got together with all of Tao’s cousins from his mom’s side. There are 5 of them including my husband. 4 boys and 1 girl. We were meeting at a meat stick restaurant. I didn’t know what to expect, just meat on a stick that’s for sure. When we arrived at the location it was in a run down “mall” where the escalator no longer moved caked with a thick layer of cigarettes, debris and dust. We walked up the broken escalator to the 2nd floor to a rinky dink looking elevator and took it to the next floor. The doors opened and it was like stepping into the twilight zone. The restaurant was full of life, clean, colorful, full of people, and good smells. The opposite of the outside.
We were directed to our room and most of the cousins were already there. The boys were bestowed gifts; mini electric fans by 2 cousins and a lego set. I was given an old fashioned hand powered fan. It immediately went into my purse for the next hot outing!
I recognized the oldest cousin as the one who first picked us up on my first trip to Japan after we were engaged. It was memorable because it was very late and he ran every red light. He could do that, because they didn’t have that many cameras and they didn’t have a way to look up out of state license plates. He said they can’t do that anymore, too many cameras. His wife and 2 daughters age 19 and 13 live in Singapore so the girls can study English. They said their school is mostly Chinese and other south Asians. The oldest is going into college and the younger is in 7th grade. They have been living in Singapore for 6 years and miss the cold. Their summer break is about a month long so they came back to China to visit. So they basically go year round to school, but their school days end at 1:30. Besides learning English mostly they also learn 4 other local dialects too.
My huband is the next in line. Tao enjoyed getting to get her with his cousins, they haven’t gotten together since my first visit to China 14-15 years ago.
3rd in oldest I didn’t get to talk to, he sat on the very far end of the table, he drove a motorcycle and wore a sleeveless shirt. When we went to leave he pulled out sleeves to cover his arms. These separate sleeves are very common, though people normally don’t wear at night. They usually were when out in the sun, cooking or gardening to protect the arms. Before they were always cotton type. Now they have a lot of athletic material type sleeves.
4th oldest is the cousin who drove us to the Great Wall, who went to Japan. His wife was here tonight. She also speaks some Japanese so I got to speak with her too. But unlike the rest of the adults she also knew some English. But we didn’t sit closer until the end of dinner.
The youngest, we had already met at the Great Wall with her daughter and her husband came too. The mom and daughter are so genki, you can’t help not smiling at them. The daughter wanted to play with the boys again.
It was so nice seeing the boys talking and playing whith their cousins. Plus if they couldn’t understand each other the older girl cousins translated for them. This was the best family time of all of our visits. The kids are old enough, not acting shy and using their Chinese.
The food! There was so much of it, you order sides separate like for hot pot. We were in a separate room and a table long enough to have 3 cooking pits. After we ordered they brought in the charcoal and put it in the bottom of each pit. Then the food started to arrive. Skewers of meat, bread, cut enoki mushrooms rolled up in bacon. It was on metal skewers with a little wheel at one end that you line up in the slots on the cooker so they rotate by themselves. Some stuff they brought already cooked liked more meat sticks, eggplant, more mushrooms, clam shells, rice pyramids(spicy and fried) and cold dishes like vegetables, edamame, boiled vinegar peanuts in the shell, cucumbers, a cold mushroom dish. The table overflowed with food and it kept coming. They had a Korean BBQ sauce(sweet and med spicy) and 3 different levels of dry dipping seasoning. I ate the whole time. Sitting between watching the kids interact, asking the girls a few questions and watching all the adults talk. So I ate. And ate. And ate. At the end I ate a piece of raw daikon it was like a carrot. But it gave me heartburn. Too much or not enough sauce on it to stop the heart burn.
It was after 9:30 when finally left all smiles and promises of seeing each other again. This is what family is supposed to be like. This felt normal to me.
Kids home and in bed by 10:30P.M. Poor us we need to get up at 3:45A.M. the next morning!
We were directed to our room and most of the cousins were already there. The boys were bestowed gifts; mini electric fans by 2 cousins and a lego set. I was given an old fashioned hand powered fan. It immediately went into my purse for the next hot outing!
I recognized the oldest cousin as the one who first picked us up on my first trip to Japan after we were engaged. It was memorable because it was very late and he ran every red light. He could do that, because they didn’t have that many cameras and they didn’t have a way to look up out of state license plates. He said they can’t do that anymore, too many cameras. His wife and 2 daughters age 19 and 13 live in Singapore so the girls can study English. They said their school is mostly Chinese and other south Asians. The oldest is going into college and the younger is in 7th grade. They have been living in Singapore for 6 years and miss the cold. Their summer break is about a month long so they came back to China to visit. So they basically go year round to school, but their school days end at 1:30. Besides learning English mostly they also learn 4 other local dialects too.
My huband is the next in line. Tao enjoyed getting to get her with his cousins, they haven’t gotten together since my first visit to China 14-15 years ago.
3rd in oldest I didn’t get to talk to, he sat on the very far end of the table, he drove a motorcycle and wore a sleeveless shirt. When we went to leave he pulled out sleeves to cover his arms. These separate sleeves are very common, though people normally don’t wear at night. They usually were when out in the sun, cooking or gardening to protect the arms. Before they were always cotton type. Now they have a lot of athletic material type sleeves.
4th oldest is the cousin who drove us to the Great Wall, who went to Japan. His wife was here tonight. She also speaks some Japanese so I got to speak with her too. But unlike the rest of the adults she also knew some English. But we didn’t sit closer until the end of dinner.
The youngest, we had already met at the Great Wall with her daughter and her husband came too. The mom and daughter are so genki, you can’t help not smiling at them. The daughter wanted to play with the boys again.
It was so nice seeing the boys talking and playing whith their cousins. Plus if they couldn’t understand each other the older girl cousins translated for them. This was the best family time of all of our visits. The kids are old enough, not acting shy and using their Chinese.
The food! There was so much of it, you order sides separate like for hot pot. We were in a separate room and a table long enough to have 3 cooking pits. After we ordered they brought in the charcoal and put it in the bottom of each pit. Then the food started to arrive. Skewers of meat, bread, cut enoki mushrooms rolled up in bacon. It was on metal skewers with a little wheel at one end that you line up in the slots on the cooker so they rotate by themselves. Some stuff they brought already cooked liked more meat sticks, eggplant, more mushrooms, clam shells, rice pyramids(spicy and fried) and cold dishes like vegetables, edamame, boiled vinegar peanuts in the shell, cucumbers, a cold mushroom dish. The table overflowed with food and it kept coming. They had a Korean BBQ sauce(sweet and med spicy) and 3 different levels of dry dipping seasoning. I ate the whole time. Sitting between watching the kids interact, asking the girls a few questions and watching all the adults talk. So I ate. And ate. And ate. At the end I ate a piece of raw daikon it was like a carrot. But it gave me heartburn. Too much or not enough sauce on it to stop the heart burn.
It was after 9:30 when finally left all smiles and promises of seeing each other again. This is what family is supposed to be like. This felt normal to me.
Kids home and in bed by 10:30P.M. Poor us we need to get up at 3:45A.M. the next morning!
Saturday, June 16, 2018
The Forbidden City
We walked down two blocks to the new subway line station and made a couple of line changes to get to Tian’anmen. Recommend not to go on a weekend. But it couldn’t be helped. We were herded about a block through to the security check. Luckily I had pictures of our passports and visas on my phone. So many people! All moving through the few front gates until you can buy tickets. Thank you cousin for the tickets!
Another security check and we are still surrounded by so many people. My husband wonders why I take so many pictures of the same thing he knows I took a picture of last time. I can’t help it, I love pictures of the tiles and doorways and rooftops! All the red paint on the buildings are actually lacquered on. Verses the red walls are painted. Lots of walking in the hot hot weather. So glad we went early in the morning. We brought us each a drink and some snacks, the water went fast. The dried fruits snacks were all salty and only 1 got a eaten by me.
The last restroom before you buy tickets you have to pay for toilet paper. And you pay with your phone app by scanning the toilet paper spindle. All the other bathrooms we used inside had the 1 economy toilet paper at the entrance you can grab as you pass by.
We went into the Hall of clocks. Which was pretty cool, clocks from the 1700’s from china up to the 20th century from England and France. Some pretty cool clocks. I can’t imagine how they must’ve sounded in use. Some had singing birds, a little person that would ding bells, a person that would write, keep track of constellations, seasons, moving clocks and moving parts. Most clocks were at least 1 foot up to 3 plus feet. Ethan told me, I didn’t think clocks would be so interesting. They had 2 movies going inside. If there weren’t so many people we may have stayed to walk. One showed the gears moving inside of a highly animated clock. I would have loved to see the clock moving on the outside. We enjoyed the clocks more than the Treasure gallery.
The Treasure gallery had some old jewelry, silver and gold ware. Way more people trying to cram in and see it so we didn’t spend that much time in there. One of the neatest things was a golden constellation globe using pearls as stars.
I did get to see a section new to me, either under construction before or we didn’t go that way. The rose garden! It smelled so good. The boys were resting in the shade and missed out in my opinion. By the time we got to my favorite spot the Imperial Garden at the very end, the boys had had enough walking. Too hot, whiny and grumpy. I just got a quick view nothing to savor as we walked to the end. I welcomed the mini van “uber” ride home. As all the kids slept back to the house to rest.
Another security check and we are still surrounded by so many people. My husband wonders why I take so many pictures of the same thing he knows I took a picture of last time. I can’t help it, I love pictures of the tiles and doorways and rooftops! All the red paint on the buildings are actually lacquered on. Verses the red walls are painted. Lots of walking in the hot hot weather. So glad we went early in the morning. We brought us each a drink and some snacks, the water went fast. The dried fruits snacks were all salty and only 1 got a eaten by me.
The last restroom before you buy tickets you have to pay for toilet paper. And you pay with your phone app by scanning the toilet paper spindle. All the other bathrooms we used inside had the 1 economy toilet paper at the entrance you can grab as you pass by.
We went into the Hall of clocks. Which was pretty cool, clocks from the 1700’s from china up to the 20th century from England and France. Some pretty cool clocks. I can’t imagine how they must’ve sounded in use. Some had singing birds, a little person that would ding bells, a person that would write, keep track of constellations, seasons, moving clocks and moving parts. Most clocks were at least 1 foot up to 3 plus feet. Ethan told me, I didn’t think clocks would be so interesting. They had 2 movies going inside. If there weren’t so many people we may have stayed to walk. One showed the gears moving inside of a highly animated clock. I would have loved to see the clock moving on the outside. We enjoyed the clocks more than the Treasure gallery.
The Treasure gallery had some old jewelry, silver and gold ware. Way more people trying to cram in and see it so we didn’t spend that much time in there. One of the neatest things was a golden constellation globe using pearls as stars.
I did get to see a section new to me, either under construction before or we didn’t go that way. The rose garden! It smelled so good. The boys were resting in the shade and missed out in my opinion. By the time we got to my favorite spot the Imperial Garden at the very end, the boys had had enough walking. Too hot, whiny and grumpy. I just got a quick view nothing to savor as we walked to the end. I welcomed the mini van “uber” ride home. As all the kids slept back to the house to rest.
Friday, June 15, 2018
The Great Wall
Today we are off to the Great Wall! This will be my 4th time and the kids 2nd time. Tao has been looking into how we should get there for the past few months. 5 years ago we took the train there and it was supper easy and convenient. This time the stop we took is under construction and he didn’t know where we could get on it. We debated a tour bus, hiring a driver for the day or borrowing a family members car. In the end the same cousin we visited with at Tiantan would drive us, but it was the day his license is not allowed with in the 4th ring or rather with in the city. So we took “uber” out to the 5th ring and then we drove packed in like sardines 4 in the back of his car for almost 2 hours.
After parking we used the public toilet before getting on to the shuttle bus. As I was standing in line, a rude person walked right in front of me. Which I know is very typical from past experiences, but I think they are trying to correct that as a whole because they put a lot of ques up for waiting all over the place.
Another cousin(girl) and her child age 6 met us there too. We have our tickets and we are climbing the north side of the wall. The weather is sunny and hot, we’ve got a larger party to occupy everyone. Some of the legs between towers are quite scary. The wall rises higher on one side than the other. Think it’s so steep you are practically doubled over so the short side at knee height doesn’t appear so bad. But stop and stand up and look out that side. Woah, instantly I feel off balance. I wouldn’t even walk next to it. Only the middle. And if I had to stop I’d sit down. The high side was about shoulder height with jutted lookout windows and was where you walk down by it since you are upright. The floor of the wall ranged from steps from a few inches to a foot in height with no consistency. Plus add to that all the wear over time and usage that the steps were worn and sloped. Other times it was a flat surface at a steep incline. Ethan and the guys decided to take the passage down at the 4th tower.
The rest of us continued on. Aidan was a mountain goat, we’d find him waiting at the next tower. We stopped at tower 7 for water and icicle pops before heading to the highest tower to the North the 8th. After that the rest of the towers slope down the mountain. We kept getting calls from below on when we were coming down. So we took the passage down. Thank God because I did not want to retrace my footsteps down the wall! The down passage is at the base of the Great Wall and was made later with tourists in mind as the steps are consistent, the slopes not as steep and several stops with information and lookouts. I’ve never went down the passage down on my previous trips to the Great Wall, but it’s a real time saver, plus you get to see some other stuff you wouldn’t see hidden under the trees. You could even cheat and go up the passage down and walk up into every tower.
The parking lot was getting sparse by the time we made it back to the car, we’d spent several hours there. Tao drove back with his cousin and her daughter and me and the boys drove back with the cousin who drove us. We were all going to meet for dinner at Big Pizza, a pizza buffet place. It was nice I got to practice my Japanese, as this cousin used to live in Japan. Yeah!
It was so nice the kids had a cousin their own age, she was so adorable and they all got along well. At dinner my in-laws also met us there. I did have a few pieces of pizza, because it’s pizza and you have to try it. But it was eh, most didn’t have sauce. So I just stuck with the rest of the choices like cumin crusted lamb on a stick(love it!), something called new product(didn’t even try it), cherry tomatoes right next to the chocolate fountain(left that for the kids). But it was the most delightful day, my best visit to the Great Wall and got some time getting to know family. Bonus we were all so tired we slept till 7A.M.
Thursday, June 14, 2018
Tiantan Solo
Today was our first day of sightseeing. Everyone was up before 6 A.M., I feel it gets light really early here. I went with the boys to get breakfast today. We tried to go to the bread store, but it opened at 7 and there was a line waiting. We ended up getting made to order soup dumplings from a restaurant, then got the soy milk and yotel. This time they got fresh tofu with some brown sauce on it. I knew I wouldn’t like it, but I was a good sport and tried it anyway. Yuck. Apparently some kind of bean sauce, but it was brown and looked like it had mushrooms in it. An acquired taste I’m later told. I prefer my fresh warm tofu with jam on it. Now that is yummy!
My husband is not a fan of public transportation. We “ubered” it to Tiantan(The Temple of Heaven) and met his cousin there. On the way there we went past several places I went 5 years ago. This was a park my husband used to play a lot in as a child. It’s a lot walking to the various relics, everything is fenced in to keep you off the grass and out of the buildings, letting you just peek inside. Since people aren’t allowed in, 1 particular building was getting a lot of attention from the sparrows flying around it like bats.
I totally forgot most public bathrooms don’t provide toilet paper! Thank God I have boys. Some places will have 1 roll at the entry to the bathroom where you can grab some to take in with you. Lots of squatter toilets. You also are not to flush the Kleenex/toilet paper you use, but put it in the garbage can inside every stall.
The echo wall I think used to be the coolest part of The Temple of Heaven. But since you can’t get close enough to actually use it, nor is it quiet enough with all the tourists. This park doesn’t have any water or a lot of flowers. Mostly long grass you cannot walk on and lots of different pine/cedar trees. We did get my favorite tonghulu(haw on a stick). This time they were packaged and frozen. Maybe we can start to find them back home now?!??
We could here some massive thunder so I opted to go shopping right after since the Pearl Market is right outside the entrance. I also remember Toy City being close by. That place has since closed in the last few years, so the cousin led us to a mall close by, we did bus it 2 stops. The toy floor of this mall we went to was more geared to figurines from Pokémon to anime to
Transformers to wildlife. A whole floor of shop windows filled with shelves of figurines. It was like walking through a museum but not what kids think of as a toy store. This mall reminded me of bein in Japan, so many floors (9) and all rather small just around the elevators.
We went to the food court on the top floor. We got several small bowls of yummy side dishes with rice. Garlic scapes and pork, Beijing style spinach and peanuts, marinated cucumbers. After I went to the bathroom there and saw a worker washing their hands. Lovely a no soap bathroom! Thank goodness I was already done eating, sometimes you just can’t think about it or you’ll be sick.
We walked to a different mall a block away to watch Star Wars: Solo! Their regular popcorn was carmel corn. The boys were so happy to finally watch it. Han Solois the best! But I was hoping it would have Harrison Ford in it. They boys were like no mom he(Han) is dead. Well it could’ve been his life flashing before his eyes as he died. As soon as the credits started they shut it off and turned on the lights....leave now.
My husband is not a fan of public transportation. We “ubered” it to Tiantan(The Temple of Heaven) and met his cousin there. On the way there we went past several places I went 5 years ago. This was a park my husband used to play a lot in as a child. It’s a lot walking to the various relics, everything is fenced in to keep you off the grass and out of the buildings, letting you just peek inside. Since people aren’t allowed in, 1 particular building was getting a lot of attention from the sparrows flying around it like bats.
I totally forgot most public bathrooms don’t provide toilet paper! Thank God I have boys. Some places will have 1 roll at the entry to the bathroom where you can grab some to take in with you. Lots of squatter toilets. You also are not to flush the Kleenex/toilet paper you use, but put it in the garbage can inside every stall.
The echo wall I think used to be the coolest part of The Temple of Heaven. But since you can’t get close enough to actually use it, nor is it quiet enough with all the tourists. This park doesn’t have any water or a lot of flowers. Mostly long grass you cannot walk on and lots of different pine/cedar trees. We did get my favorite tonghulu(haw on a stick). This time they were packaged and frozen. Maybe we can start to find them back home now?!??
We could here some massive thunder so I opted to go shopping right after since the Pearl Market is right outside the entrance. I also remember Toy City being close by. That place has since closed in the last few years, so the cousin led us to a mall close by, we did bus it 2 stops. The toy floor of this mall we went to was more geared to figurines from Pokémon to anime to
Transformers to wildlife. A whole floor of shop windows filled with shelves of figurines. It was like walking through a museum but not what kids think of as a toy store. This mall reminded me of bein in Japan, so many floors (9) and all rather small just around the elevators.
We went to the food court on the top floor. We got several small bowls of yummy side dishes with rice. Garlic scapes and pork, Beijing style spinach and peanuts, marinated cucumbers. After I went to the bathroom there and saw a worker washing their hands. Lovely a no soap bathroom! Thank goodness I was already done eating, sometimes you just can’t think about it or you’ll be sick.
We walked to a different mall a block away to watch Star Wars: Solo! Their regular popcorn was carmel corn. The boys were so happy to finally watch it. Han Solois the best! But I was hoping it would have Harrison Ford in it. They boys were like no mom he(Han) is dead. Well it could’ve been his life flashing before his eyes as he died. As soon as the credits started they shut it off and turned on the lights....leave now.
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
We made it
The night before leaving we ate at Mandarin in Toronto. It’s been a while since I went to a restaurant with a time limit. It is a buffet, reminded me of Rainforest Cafe in their decor, each room had different animal themes, we were in the bird room with 2 huge fake birds hanging down from their ceiling, they had a bird enclosure with real birds. All good food, though I was looking forward to green tea ice cream and they didn’t have that.
We flew Hainan Airlines. What I didn’t like was on-line it allowed us to change our seat assignments that morning, but they wouldn’t acknowledge it at the airport, even though it took our old seats away, so now we weren’t all sitting by each other. Fortunately people traded with us so we could sit together. When we were boarding I got my first reminder of the screaming Chinese person. You are never too old to ack like a toddler and yell at service workers because you are upset. Definitely a more diverse movie selection. I watched an Italian movie with English subtitles called “Look Up”, a strange movie about the rooftops in Rome. And a funny Japanese movie with English subtitles about a girl who gets fired from her job and then finds a job as a promoter/office woker with a wrestling company and her out of work actor boyfriend gets jealous. The best part of dinner was the roll and chocolate cake. I always travel with sea bands, and thankful I bought them for the kids too. Still had 2 get sick on the descent, don’t think they got enough sleep. First time I actually ever say them spraying the chemicals on the floors, they had on masks and gloves. What can you do?
Once arrived, a friendly kiosk fingerprinted us, picked up luggage and stood in the short line of foreigners with only 1 customs official refingerprinted the adults and facial scans of everyone. I didn’t remind them they didn’t scan my face! Then we can exit and look for Yeye. We easily find him. There was some miscommunication on where our driver would be that caused an embarrassing distraction. And then I sleep the hour ride to their home since it was dark out. Woke up 2 blocks from their house and it has changed a lot, lots more fluorescent lights around the businesses. We arrived 10:30P.M., there are still families walking around. Had dinner, watched some TV and went to bed. They still have Boonie Bears on! This episode had a polar bear with antlers.
The kids were up around 5. I was up by 6. Yeye took the boys to get fresh soy milk, yotel and baoza. Ethan said I think I need to have soy milk everyday now. I chose boxed yogurt drink. It was plain but very sweet. The kids wanted to explore the garden area then we walked up 26 flights of stairs to look out the roof. The roof has been locked and we can not access it. The stairwells are well used, there was a desk set up out there among other storage.
Today was all about getting things done, making sure electronics, phones, bank cards got set up. My husband insisted I upgrade to his old iPad. I am not happy, it’s set up with all his apps and I can’t get the ones I used to work like they did on mine. Including how to add pictures to this blog. So that is forthcoming. Kids crashed at 4, woke for a light dinner and were back out until 4 the next morning.
We flew Hainan Airlines. What I didn’t like was on-line it allowed us to change our seat assignments that morning, but they wouldn’t acknowledge it at the airport, even though it took our old seats away, so now we weren’t all sitting by each other. Fortunately people traded with us so we could sit together. When we were boarding I got my first reminder of the screaming Chinese person. You are never too old to ack like a toddler and yell at service workers because you are upset. Definitely a more diverse movie selection. I watched an Italian movie with English subtitles called “Look Up”, a strange movie about the rooftops in Rome. And a funny Japanese movie with English subtitles about a girl who gets fired from her job and then finds a job as a promoter/office woker with a wrestling company and her out of work actor boyfriend gets jealous. The best part of dinner was the roll and chocolate cake. I always travel with sea bands, and thankful I bought them for the kids too. Still had 2 get sick on the descent, don’t think they got enough sleep. First time I actually ever say them spraying the chemicals on the floors, they had on masks and gloves. What can you do?
Once arrived, a friendly kiosk fingerprinted us, picked up luggage and stood in the short line of foreigners with only 1 customs official refingerprinted the adults and facial scans of everyone. I didn’t remind them they didn’t scan my face! Then we can exit and look for Yeye. We easily find him. There was some miscommunication on where our driver would be that caused an embarrassing distraction. And then I sleep the hour ride to their home since it was dark out. Woke up 2 blocks from their house and it has changed a lot, lots more fluorescent lights around the businesses. We arrived 10:30P.M., there are still families walking around. Had dinner, watched some TV and went to bed. They still have Boonie Bears on! This episode had a polar bear with antlers.
The kids were up around 5. I was up by 6. Yeye took the boys to get fresh soy milk, yotel and baoza. Ethan said I think I need to have soy milk everyday now. I chose boxed yogurt drink. It was plain but very sweet. The kids wanted to explore the garden area then we walked up 26 flights of stairs to look out the roof. The roof has been locked and we can not access it. The stairwells are well used, there was a desk set up out there among other storage.
Today was all about getting things done, making sure electronics, phones, bank cards got set up. My husband insisted I upgrade to his old iPad. I am not happy, it’s set up with all his apps and I can’t get the ones I used to work like they did on mine. Including how to add pictures to this blog. So that is forthcoming. Kids crashed at 4, woke for a light dinner and were back out until 4 the next morning.
Friday, June 8, 2018
5 years later
It’s the eve of our return to China, 5 years later. This time for 5 weeks. I was not keen to give up so much of my summer to this trip. And I’m not ready. Too many things on the burners, too much to do to adequately get my mind wrapped up in this trip.
The kids went to bed late. All day I’ve been gathering stuff to take. Knowing I will forget something. It’s 11 pm and I just located my camera! I’m still not fully packed. And need to do at least 2 loads of laundry. Though I’m sure it will all come together.
The kids have been looking forward to going back for several months. Mostly to eat. I think we will be on a grand dining excursion. We had planned only to be in Beijing and recently added Shanghai to our itinerary. When my mom asked what there was to do there. I said it’s the biggest city, like going to New York City or Tokyo. But we will definitely eat soup dumplings! Hopefully this trip will give good memories for my kids aged 10, 10, and 8. I don’t know how much they actually remember from when they were aged 4 and 5. So here starts another journey back to China!
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