scenes from our trip to China- part IV

A few more highlights from our trip.

J testing out the strength of the silk at a silk bedding manufacturer.

We took a boat ride on this supposedly "only" wetland in China.

Moving on: at my parents' place in the outskirts of Shanghai- J/W really wanted to see the beach but there wasn't enough time to really explore.

W lost his 3rd tooth, same as J. This time he didn't loose his fallen off tooth. :) He is sporting a Chinese boy haircut which he didn't appreciate. You can visit J's blog for details.
J also lost 2 more teeth right before she left China. Here she is with her new haircut.

This is Ling-zhi, a chinese plant that is know for its immune strengthening and anti-cancer properties.

At a nature center in China.

J/W loved these wooden, natural equipment and the challenge of something new.

J/W was mesmerized by a Chinese elementary school. Most people in China can only afford to have 1 child as the cost of educating one is very expensive to the average person. Most Chinese children go to a Sat. review class to ensure they can score well on tests. The buildings are just as I remembered, usually 4-5 tiered. Daddy says J looked as if she were daydreaming, wishing she was in there working out and having fun with them. The students were out for quite some time...seems like they were in some kind of gym class.

At the Shanghai Expo; the scoop is China spent 10 year preparing for this event; many famous performers from all over the world came to perform for the opening ceremony and will perform at the closing ceremony. This event runs from May-October in Shanghai. The theme for this event is called "better city, better life". As you can imagine, security at this event, even entering Shanghai is heightened and tight.
In front of the China pavilion. Inside, the provinces have their own presentation and sometimes shows of their own. We spent a good 2-3 hours inside and don't think we saw everything.

Tibet- inside China pavilion

Inside the Russia pavilion; the theme for this country's theme was child wonderland.

Famous bridge in Shanghai (Nan Pu bridge); the president of China wrote the letters that is on the bridge.

Different ethnicity dolls of China. I love collecting these.

Inside the Expo. Just looking at some of the building themselves were very interesting. It is a huge area with some buildings like the "future" etc is across the river. But alas, waiting in the hot weather is not very fun, esp. considering the wait for the "hot" pavilions like US, France, India, Japan, Germany, etc were over 3 hours long. But later, the wait probably won't be as bad. Some countries just rented the pavilion while others built their own. But regardless, there is always food/souvenir from the particular country to purchase.

Watching a Shao-Ling performance at the Expo.

The famous Bund area in Shanghai; many famous building there, similar to any major city. Night in Shanghai is pretty and filled with activities if you enjoy that kind of lifestyle. But I think for our family, the suburb lifestyle suits us better.

Hope you enjoyed the tour.

scens from our China trip - part 3

One of the activities J/W enjoyed most was getting a Chinese total body massage. We were all in one room and it was very relaxing and just what we needed before we started our 2nd tour. At only $15 for 1 hour, it was great value for the $. Again, we took the overnight train to Nanjing and had to buy 2 extra beds for the kids. Luckily, they were available as they are normally sold out way in advance. This tour went a lot smoother but the days were long. Our day normally begins at 6:40 (if you want to eat breakfast or 7am (on the bus)- 10:00/10:30pm at night.

Arriving in Nanjing (2nd tour) "Fu zi miao" business district

Free time in Nanjing (this is also where we spent about $45 (300 yuan) for some 8 specialty dishes including duck tongue,etc and we weren't even full. Lesson learned- next time ask what is included in the specialty dishes.

city of Suzhou


This is the view from the top the tower (there are 10,000 canals, lakes, rivers, etc) You can see Chang-Jiang from here


City of Wu-Xi; Ling mountain Big Buddha temple ground. There is a little Buddha is inside of the dome and open up with 9 dragons sprouting water and other elaborate designs all around.


One of its major facilities. Inside is all marble and all the finest things. You have to wear slip on to go inside. The tour guide said many people come each year and line up to give tons of money to the priests.


A peek inside. (sorry for the blur) J/W loved sliding on the marbled ground.

It is believed that touching the happy Budda will bring you good luck. Many people buy incense (not cheap) to burn.


This is Hang-zhou

The blue-dyed clothes are made and dye all naturally by hand (no chemicals). Usually only peasants wear clothes made out this blue-cloth.

Enjoying a scenic boat ride at night.


This is West lake in Hang-Zhou

West Lake

I love the willow trees. Perhaps J does too.

J making friends with a 1 year-old. She loves J and lights up every time she see J.

Song Dynasty performance in Hang Zhou. One of the best performances I have ever seen. J was especially mesmerized and wanted to stay even after it was over.


The stage actually splits open and real water is used. There was also a live horse running across the stage to showcase the wars fought. All this to give you a feel of really being there in Song Dynasty. There were many other events in "Song City" Fun place!

I'll have one last post on Shanghai's World Expo and few other places we went.

scenes from our trip to China- part II

I think later I will post a link to all the pictures for those of you who are interested. For now, a little back track as more pictures from daddy's camera.

Yu- yuan in Shanghai. This is the place for specialty eats, and shops in Shanghai. Prices also vary greatly in the same place. If you buy your goods in a nice store front, you would probably have to pay double or more for the same item. Same goes for the food. It is all about the ambiance.


Very famous candied haw sticks. But for my kids, they prefer the candied strawberries. They have already picked out their souvenir from China- panda bears. :) Another thing you need to know is in China, there are generally no returns or store credit. Only exceptions are certain department stores may have 7 day return/exchange policy.


Day 3- Beijing. This is how we came up the Great Wall of China- via the cable cars. J and W liked riding these. They were my favorite thing to ride as well as a child, albeit little scary if the weight is not even distributed and you look down too much.

Day 3 in Beijing- Climbing the great wall of China. It was very steep. Most people need to hold on to the side bars as they come down. Another thing you should know is in China, you need to hold on to your tickets. They check it when you come in and check it again when you leave. So if you don't have your tickets upon exiting, you will have to buy the tickets again.


Not the best day to visit The Great Wall of China as it was foggy and drizzling.


Day 3 Beijing- tian an men square. Chairman Mao is the icon in China. We waited over 1 1/2 hours in a super harried line to see his memorial. Had we known the visit was only going to be 2 minutes, we would have skipped this.


Day 4- This the Ming Dynasty model of walk through history. This is also where we all got pictures taken dressed up as the imperial family. Fun!


Day 5- Beijing I was sick the day before when I came back to the hotel so we skipped the tour and rested up before venturing on our own to get our luggage from the train station. That was an adventure and pretty fun. Later people told me the city purposely turn off the escalators in the subway station to save money on electricity.
Transportation is very convenient and fast at least in Beijing and Shanghai. Bus, subways, taxi, you name it. There is also what I would describe as motored rickety saw, good for a little scenery tour but I wouldn't recommended if you are going further than that.

If you come to the city via the train and even if you did not, you can store your luggage at the train station. We didn't know that before leaving Shanghai and shipped our luggage to Beijing and then had to store it because it was too much to lug around esp. since we had to change hotel so often. It's also not that cheap in China to get your clothes washed through the hotel.

More later for our 2nd tour in Nanjing, Shu zhou, Hang zhou, Shao Xing and back to Shanghai.

Scenes from our trip to China - part I

There is nothing like learning about a culture than visiting its country. And boy, did we experience the good and the bad on this trip. Overall, we learned a lot about China and had many new experiences.

Our trip started pretty rocky. Due to a schedule change as a result of NW being bought by Delta, we missed the cutoff time for check-in by 2 minutes and lady won't check us in. But by God's grace, we were allowed to check in by a manager.

J and W were really troopers through the whole trip. Daddy says it is "boot camp" training for them with all the walking (you should see how fast the people, even the elderly walks faster than us esp on tour and tour guide seemed like she was flying) and waiting in lines, and dealing with all that many people. ha-ha. The tour is also entirely in Chinese so the kids and hubby are lost in the lingo so to speak most of the time. But pictures are worth more than a thousand words, right? Despite everything, the kids were happy campers and enjoyed their trip.

Day 1 in Shanghai, at upscale cafe. All I wanted was a cup of coffee to go but was urged to sit and wait. Little did we know, once you sit down, everyone had to order at least 15 yuan (or approx. $2) of food/drink. At least the view is not bad.
We also had to hunt for a cell phone right away. Am I glad I did get one as there was no way we could have made it in China without one.

Day 2 in Shanghai (visiting my grandmother's grave) with relatives. I should mention my dad took the kids for some shopping as I was too jet-lagged to tag along. He was very impressed that J didn't ask to buy any toy or clothes and said she have enough. Instead, she remembered I wanted a scrubbing board which my dad was able to find one for me. Grandpa got W a jacket because it was much colder than I anticipated.


Day 2 night on the over night train to Beijing. Problem was grandpa could only secure 3 tickets (=3 bed but 1 was not in the same segment of the train). Can you see the hard bed in the back? There are 3 levels with different prices. Finally we were able to secure 2 extra beds in the worker area except no children are allowed in the area. Luckily, our 2 other ticket was very close to the workers bed area so I can hear the kids call me and help them.

Meeting with a friend in Beijing. He was nice enough to pick us up from the train station and send us to our hotel. But alas, no reservation for us could be found. After a lot of phone calls, we finally settled in another hotel. Later, he took us to sample some authentic Beijing dishes but I think our taste buds are still used to Chinese food in the US. But the kids did love the wide variety of Chinese snacks.
The first time we took a taxi, the kids were super excited but after then nth time, the excitement died down.

Day 1 of our Beijing tour. This is also our 1st tour. Every day our day started between 6:30-7:00am on the bus and ended at 6-6:30 pm at the hotels. This is also a rotating tour so our 1st day is really the last day for some of the other folks.
J at the bird's nest where the 2008 Olympic opening ceremony was held.
On the very first day, because our tour guide forgot her flag and did not bother to count her people, right after we got off the tour bus, there was a split and we lost our group. It took us quite a while to find her because the phone # given to us was used previously by another tour guide and she didn't try to call us. Very frustrating. After that, we learned fast to really pick up pace and glue ourselves to her while she found a scarf to use as her flag. There are gazillion other tour groups all around us.

Day 2 - the rickety carriages, J and W loved riding these.

Day 2 Stopping at a scenic spot for a quick picture then continue touring Beijing's old style houses.
Day 2
This is "si he yuan" which are the old styled houses of Beijing. W is standing in the court yard. The actual rooms on the four sides are fairly small. Only the very rich can afford to live here as it is in the very center of the city and these kind of houses are extremely limited. Beijing, as the tour guide explained is deeply rooted in the art of Feng-Shui (strategic location). Everything in the city is planned around it. It was a fascinating history lesson as every new emperor who came into power used feng shui to eradicate the power/root of his predecessor.

At the court yard of Prince Gong's place. The place is huge, with numerous twist and turns, gardens, hall ways, room after room. One can easily get lost.


At the theatre house inside Sheng He's place. This is where he greeted some of his guests. He is the famous smuggler who smuggled an astounding amount of goods. When he was caught, he had what is the equivalent to over 10 year's worth of the country's total $$.

A brief rest: watching acrobatics- he was rotating that big pot around his head.

There is a Fu (or good fortune) hidden inside these rocks. It is designed so that the Fu could not be removed from here without causing irreparable harm.

One of the many hall ways

Back of He Sheng's house. By looking at the design of his windows, He Sheng knew what was hidden in each of the rooms.

Next stop: Great Wall of China and much more