Day 19

I can't believe what a whirlwind trip we have had.  Our "mid-trip excurtion" took us through four cities in five days.  We have traveled by plane, car, van, taxi, pedal-cab, boat, bamboo raft, gondola, tabogan, chair-lift, and train.  We have seen so many things that they started to blur and yet when I remember one particular experience it is clear as day.  We have been exposed to China's culture from the Advanced Metropolitan City to the authentic Chinese villages to it's history..  We have eaten food we never knew existed (I am SO proud of my wife for being a troope and not wimping out) and made friends we will never forget.  We have seen things we never dreamed we would actually be fortunate enough to see.  I learned so much about the Chinese and their culture and history on this trip.  Determination is a way of life for so many of them.  They are determined to survive.  Hard work and "waste not want not" are rules of life they follow closely. So today, as I sit waiting for Mr. Luo to take us to the airport I find myself in an emotional turmoil once again.  After seeing how so many here live I find myself so gratefull for what I have back home.  I find their friendship touching, their kindness moving.  This is a culture I would love the oppertunity to explore further.  It is interesting how so much structure from the communist party keeps order and peace.  I guess everything comes with a price. I am so gratefull to Diane and Pete for opening their home to us and showing us their life over here.  They are truly kind people.  Without them I would never have been interested in coming to this country in the first place and certianally would not have had the experiences we have shared here opened to us And now that my interest is peaked I find myself wanting to return.  Spend more time in some of the places we have seen and find new experiences to explore.  I do believe we will return again and I look forward to that with anticipation. And so as I write this - my final blog of our trip - I find myslef not wanting to say "good-bye" to China.  I find myslef instead saying "wǒ huì xiǎng nǐ China, bùjǐu jiàn".

Day 18

Wow!  Sunday already!!!  It is amazing that so much time has passed so quickly.  Today I decided to treat myself and go to Head To Toe one more time.  I mentioned I was going to do this yesterday and decided "absolutally" today.  First I got out of the house early 'cause we had bought a "special" present for Di for doing so much for us.  I tried to pick it up last night but they were out of them at the storein Pudong and had to ship it in from Puxi.  Got there at 9:30 and it was all ready for me.  Then off to Head To Toe I went to visit with Clare.  She is about 5'6", about 120 and nothing but muscle.  She worked me over for 90 minutes including walking on my back!  It was AMAZING!!! Then I met Diane, Di, Pete, Nick and Taylor for lunch.  After that Diane and I went into Puxi to get my shirts from the fabric market and then to the "Deal Market" as I call it to just buy some extra "stuff".  We did this all on our own and didn't get lost once!  We are becoming such natives!!! Met Di, Pete and Nick at the market and headed home.  Di made Lasagna and we all had a nice dinner together.  Diane and Di just left for Head To Toe to get their hair done and a foot massage.  I think I will have to join them for the last part - is that greedy???

Day 17

So I got up this morning and caught up on the blog.  Sorry I couldn't keep up when we were on the road but we never really found a place with wireless. This is kind of a "catch up" day.  Both Di and I are still a bit sore from our "encounter" (and I don't think we have hit the worse of it yet).  We headed out to the antique area again.  There is something there that I want to ship home but the store was closed so I think Di is going to have to do me one more favor and get it for me later.  Oh well. We stopped by the fabric market to pick up my other shirt and I decided to order a couple more.  I can't resist because of the cost.  They will be ready tomorrow.  Lunch at KFC and back home.  We talked for a bit and then Diane and I went for a walk after which Diane and Di went for their nail/pedicure thing and Pete and I went to the Man Cave place here at Vizcaya.  It is a wood paneled, leather furniture adorned bar where you can go and drink beer and smoke cigars - my kind of place! Met Kim and Mike for a nice Italian dinner and then bed.  Big day tomorrow - Scotty's venturing out on his own!

Day 16

The Great Wall Of China. We started our two hour journey to the Great Wall at around 7:15 a.m.  It was suppose to be about a two to two-and-a-half hour drive but Di had hired Mario Andretti as our driver and we made it in about an hour and forty minutes!  Getting out of the van we are first greeted by the vendors of course.  And the excuse of "I don't want to carry it with me all day" doesn't really work, they are way ahead of you on that one.  "Ok, you come back!  I remember you!"  and trust me - they do. In the interest of time we took the tram up to the top area.  We actaully rode in the one that was just before the one Bill Clinton rode in - yes, they keep track of that stuff here.  At the top we were greated with two thousand years of history.  The Wall is amazing.  It has been restored in some areas and others they haven't really done much work on.  There are only eight areas on the Great Wall that you can actaully (officially) walk on.  The rest is closed to the public because it has decayed so much it just isn't safe and given China's safety standards that is saying quite a bit.. We walked for a while and then Di hung back (she had done this before and knew what was ahead) and Diane and I hiked up to the "20 Tower".  I can't really tell you how steep it is in some places.  Here's an idea:  Imagine if someone was standing about five feet in front of you and their feet were at the level of your head.  That will give you a pretty good idea of the angle we hiked up for about 4,300 stairs.  The Great Wall is not flat contrary to some beliefs.  I actually think there are more stairs than flat spots.  But it is an amazing view and a wonderfull experience.  We were fortunate enough to have great weather too.  Sunny and warm with a little breeze.  Since we were there in the morning it didn't get too hot but I bet by two in the afternoon it was COOKING up there!  We ran into some tourists ('cause we look so native you know) who wanted to take pictures with us.  It was funny to see all the old guys wanting to have their picture taken with my Diane.  "Oh, I take picture with hot american blonde!".  We stayed on the wall for a couple of hours and then decidced to go down in style so we took the tabogon ride down.  It is a metal trough with absolutally"zero" safety features to it at all.  You sit on an ABS tabogan that has a lever in the middle.  Forward is "go", back is "brake".  They have the turns banked and you lean like on a motorcycle into them.  I am not sure but if I had to guess I'd say it was probabally a mile long with all the twists and turns. Now, I am going to tell you the following in three parts.  First I will tell you my Diane's story.  Then Di's story.  Then Mine.  All are the truth, just three different perspectives. My Diane's version: The guy ahead of her kept stopping.  He said his tabogan was broke but there is nothing mechanical on these things to break - he just didn't know how to use it.  So this guy was stopping and starting and around this one corner he just simply stopped.  Diane stopped behind him and let him go to get a little ways ahead of her.  I stopped behind Diane.. Di's version: She came around the corner and saw Diane and I stopped. (You can see where this is going huh?) My version: I was stopped behind Diane and heard a noise like a jet airliner behind me.  It was very quick and I knew exctally what was about to happen.  I had enough time just to say "oh shit" to myself. Regardless of the version the result was the same.  Di came screaming around the corner.  In her behalf she DID try to brake but there was no way in hell she was going to stop in time.  She drilled me full speed.  My tabogon shot right out from underneath me and folded up in front of me.  I shot up in the air and landed right back on the track..  Di went off one side of the track and her tabogon off of the other.  Sunglasses were all over the track.  Crash site. We both picked ourselves up as quickly as possible and tried to gather our stuff before someone else came flying around the corner.  Looking back on it now it is really quite funny.  Actually my Diane can't tell the story without wetting her pants but in reality it is really amazing that neither of us was seriousally hurt.  Just a couple of bumps and bruises.  By the time we got down the guy ahead of Diane had about thirty people backed up and not really happy with him.  He kept insisting that his tabogan was broke but that's crap. We finished the ride and decided to do it again.  It was not expensive and we really wanted the full experience instead of being behind "grandma mosses" the whole way.  This was Di's idea and a brilliant one it was.  The second time was a blast.  I did have one mis-fortune - I was banking into a turn and was as high as I could possibally go on the side without going over.  I was leaning as far as I could and I started feeling my arm on the metal trough.  I could actually feel the friction from the speed and the heat of the metal burning my skin but I couldn't do anything about it untill I came out of the turn - if I hit the brake I would have crashed and if I tried to lean the other way I would have gone over the side.  "Ride it out buddy" but I kept feeling the metal searing my skin!  "Only a few more feet" I thought as I started to smell the oder of burning flesh.  Wisps of smoke were coming out from behind my elbow.  Then suddenly I shot out of the turn and finished the ride (after being told by three spotters along the way to "SLOW DOWN!!!"). Ok, well maybe it wasn't EXCTALLY like that but I do have a nice rug burn and quite a few blisters on my forearm.  Lost some skin too.  It cooked me pretty good. After the ride we left the Wall and went to lunch and then to the Summer Palace.  We didn't have a lot of time there so we walked part way down the lake and took a boat to the opposite side.  There is a boat there that the Empress had built a long time ago.  It is quite big, probabally forty feet or so and has three decks.  It is made from Marble.  Yes, Marble.  It has never sailed.  Why you ask? Well, because it is made from Marble.  Marble is rock.  Rock sinks. Now, somewhere along the line when they were building this thing someone HAD to have been thinking "you know, this thing is never going to float" but given that had they pointed this out to the Empress and it may have been taken as insulting to her intelligence (well, "if it walks like a duck and swims like a duck....") they probabally would have been executed they probabally thought it best to just keep their opinion to themselves and build the boat made out of Marble. Hopefully some day they will find the time, funds or desire to restore it because I really think it would be quite beautifull if it were taken care of. Even if it doesn't float. On the way to the airport our driver took us past the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube that were built for the Olympics.  I'm not sure what they are doing with the Cube but my understanding is that they are already remodeling the Bird's Nest into something other than a staduim.  Either way it was cool to go past them and see them. At the airport Di checked us in and gave us a special treat.  She upgraded all three of us to First Class for the ride back.  What an awsome treat!  And given how sore she and I were by then (remember the crash?) it was more appreciated than ever!!! Mr. Luo picked us up at the airport and we got back to the house about 11:00.  Don't even remember my head hitting the pillow.

Day 15

So, not a lot this morning.  Got pscked and had time to run to McDonalds for coffee (those of you who know how I feel about Starbucks coffee will understand why), then grabbed a taxi and off to the airport.  We left Pete (he had to get back to Shanghai) and boarded a plane for Beijing.  We arrived at our hotel - The Novatil - checked in and headed for Tinamin Square and the Forbidden City.  It is an interesting place, the forbidden city.  There are three "Recieving Rooms", one behind the other, where the Emperor would recieve you.  His priavte chambers were at the very back of them and depending on your status he would see you in the appropriate room,  if your status was low you would be seen in the room farthest away from his chambers, if your status was high he would see you in the room closest to where he lived. There were also quarters for the Empress and individual Concubines (mistresses) of which he would have around a hundred at a time. After we left there we went back to the hotel.  Di had to do a phone meeting so Diane and I went to dinner.  Diane tried my Duck and actually LIKED it!  She's becoming such a big girl!

Day 14 - Part II

So today we made the first stop Starbucks...Scotty needs his coffee you know!  Then off to the Warriotorium.  This has been a huge anticipation for me.  After about an hour's drive we arrive.  It is difficult to believe that just 35 years ago this was all farmland.  It is now buildings and parking lots.  I will say that it is really very tastefully done - they have tried to leave the surrouding area as natural as possible. Diane hired an English speaking guide and we were off.  Our first stop was a movie about the history (and ultimate destruction) of the statues, the discovery of them and the building of the Warriotorium.  Not exctally "Oscar" material but very informitive none-the-less. Next we entered the pits.  Now I promised myself I was not going to write about this part simply because if I start I will not be able to stop.  I will say words like amazing, incredible, unreal, wonderfull.....they don't even scratch the surface.  I did a ton of research before we came to China on this.  It interested me so i wanted to know something about it before we got here.  Trust me on this:  Whatever you have read about this place or seen on television....it doesn't hold a candle to being in the presesce of the real thing.  Two thousand years of history.  A different time, a different culture.  I was filled with so many different emotions - excitment, sorrow, amazement, wonder...awe. They call this the most historic archaeological find of the 20th century and the 8th wonder of the world.  Before seeing this in person I was like "yeah, whatever.  Nice marketing guys".  After being there in person I think I can say they are correct on both accounts. We left the Warriotorium and stopped by one of the factories that make the soldiers for purchase in today's market.  They actually follow the same process used two-thousand years ago!  They also make some incredible 30 layer, hand rubbed laquor furniture.  Beautifull stuff. On the way back we stopped by Dayan Ta or "big Wild Goode" pagoda.  My wimpy companions were like "oh, not more stairs!!!" and didn't want to climb it.  Fine.  I left them at the bottom and did it myslef!  Babies. We stopped by a resturant for lunch and headed back to the hotel.  A little "break" in the day (my companions had to rest - did I mention I am the OLDEST IN THE GROUP???) and we headed to the Xi'An wall. The Wall around Xi'an was built around the old city to protect it.  Since "the day" the city has expanded ouside of the wall's confines but they still keep it in good shape.  It is probabally forty feet or so wide with battlements on both sides.  The deck is very rough.  You can rent bikes and ride around it which we did.  Takes about an hour.  Diane and I were laughing at the fact that our street bikes would never have made it up there.  The stones are so rough and the gaps between them are wider than the tires on our Cannondales.  No doubt our tires would have caught in them and we would have been pitched over the side and landed 30 feet below.  It is about 14 kilometers around the wall which is about ten miles and it took about an hoiur to do.  You can see most of the city from there but you can't really see across from one side to another.  One reason is the pollution but the other is that the city is growing so much that there are just too many buildings in the way. Another famous site in Xi'an is the Bell Tower and that was next on our list.  There is a huge bell, probabally twelve or fifteen feet tall, on the corner and for ten Kui you can ring it.  So Di (not my Diane, the other one.  That probabally has been a bit confusing during these posts huh?  Should have thought about that sooner - sorry) was up first.  Next to the bell is a log suspended by a rope.  You pull the log back and swing it at the bell striking it on the side and making it ring.  Someone probabally should have told Di that you really should "swing" the log at the bell rather than hold onto the log as it hits the bell's surface............think about this - you'll get it. My turn was next.  I told Pete that I would give him five bucks if he stood up inside the bell while I was ringing it but he wasn't interested.  He "gets" things pretty quickly. We hit the local Starbucks for re-fueling and then went off to our next site. The Drum Tower is another "must see" in Xi'an.  Therre are big drums on their sides lining all four sides of the tower and again, for ten Kui you can strike one of the really big ones.  The guy told me to hit it really hard and I gave it everything I had. The bell was funner.  There is a resturant in Xi'an that is famous for it's dumplings and that is were we had dinner.  Our first course was interesting.  There were cold pea pods (they were actually very tasty), something wrapped up in something (it was "ok" but the pea pods were better), a goose gizard patte' (wasn't that great) and something that looked like brownish, clearish, yellowish gelatin (after seeing the expression on Di's face when she took a nibble I decided to pass.  I'm adventurous but I'm not stupid).  I was beginning to be a little worried about what the rest of the dinner ws going to be like but then the dumplings came.  And came.  And came.  And they were WONDERFULL!  They make cute little shapes out of some of them too like the duck ones look like a duck.  We had probabally ten trays of dumplings brought to us, all different kinds.  They brought four of each so everyone gets one of everything.  And I have to tell you again, my Diane was a trooper!  She ate like a native and tried all sorts of new things!  And to her surprise (and ours) she found she liked a lot of them!   After dinner we walked a bit and did some last minute shopping.  We were in a store buying some diet Coke and water and I saw a guy shoplift an Ice Cream.  Of course my natural reaction was to yell at the owner "hey, that guy just stole from you" but of course he didn't speak any english and just smiled.  With my Diane telling me to leave it alone and the fact that I was in a foriegn country where people get executed for pick-pocketing I curbed my instinct to grab the guy and lay him over the counter untill the police came.  It did surprise me though, in a society where Honor is held so high that even I would see something like this.  Oh well, you find the scum of the earth everywhere I guess.

Day 14

Yesterday we landed in Xi'An (pronounced "shed-on") and had a one hour memorable cab ride to the hotel.  I won't bore you with the details of the road- let's just say Diane whispered to me " I'm never going to get used to the way they drive here" to which I responded "god I hope not!!!".  We checked into the Citadines Apart'Hotel" and found our room quite nice - more of a mini-suite.  It has two bedrooms and two baths so we are all stating in one big "apartment" sort of.  The beds are getting softer too.  By the time we get to Beiging they should be just like "Grama's feather bed" ! Uh huh. We headed out to walk around and get a bite.  It was late but we wanted to get in what we could.  The Muslim  quarter was amazing. It is streets with vendors down both sides and the middle which makes for very thin isles, pedestrians, cabs and scooters.  During the evening they fly kites.  Not the big Chinese kites you might be thinking about but these liuttle kites maybe about the size of a big dinner plate.  The thing about these is that they string about a hundred together and you have this long "line" of kites in the air.  It is really pretty cool looking.  At night there are a few guys who bring telescopes out.  Big telescopes. Like ten feet long telescopes.  They bring them on trailers and set them up and for ten kui you can look at Saturn.  We went to a place Yang Li (or "Jenny" as we know her), my Manderin mentor suggested for a dinner of tradional Mutton stew.  I thought it was pretty good but wasn't crazy about the bread they break up into it.  The place is very famous for it's Mutton stew and it was pretty packed.  Di kept pissing off the waitress because she kept ordering stuff they were out of - like that was our fault!!! Back at hotel we went to bed anticipating our date with the Terra Cotta Soldiers in the morning.

Day 13

Again, rain. Early breakfast and grab a van to the Yu Loung river for a bamboo raft ride.  Yes, it's raining but we are from Seattle so bring it on!!!  Seating two people per raft these things have "Zero" freeboard.  Actually a lot of the raft was under water a lot of the time.  Picture a Venice Gondola with no sides what-so-ever.  We almost lost Diane and Pete as their chair "shifted" while going over the first - what they call - rapids.  Apparentally they don't really "attach" the chair as much as "set" them between the bamboo poles.  It was a great trip, very scenic and serene.  Beautifull scenery even with the rain and the mist from the weather added a lot to the nostalgia. Back in town we did some last minute shopping and as we were walking I turned around and guess who was coming out of the shop behind us and just across the street?  That's right!!!   My "girlfriends" from last night!!!  They waved me over, another picture was taken and then the tall (hot) one asked me to sign her book.  Something about it being part of their "assignment"... Uh huh.... Then she asked for my e-mail.... take from that what you will... They saw Diane (my diane) standing there and asked her to sign and take a picture with them too but I think that was just a "cover-up" personally. As we all said "goodbye" and after a few knowing winks (I'm sure it wasn't because the rain was hitting their eyes) we had lunch, checked out and headed fir the airport.  Xi'An get ready - here we come!!!

Day 12

Rain Yesterday a nice plane ride brought us to Guilin.  We took a cab to the Hotel which was interesting.  Usually I like to take  freeways that are finished but this driver had different ideas.  We found ourselves on all sorts of roads that weren't fished (and by the looks of some tbey weren't even started) but we finally arrived at the Eva Inn. Nice hotel.  Hard beds.  VERY hard beds.  Literally one-eigth inch thick foam over a board.  We had a snack in the hotel resturant.  They were very nice people, They said they would remember us for dinner and save a table for us.  Diane is "hooked" on dumplings I think.  Concieage walked us to the boat - you would not believe the heels this woman was wearing on these loose stone streets!   A beautifull evening boat ride took us through four lakes and under bridges.  There was one bridge that was made from glass.  Absolutally stunning!  The Pagoda there is a beautifull sight- especially when lit at night.  After the boat ride we went walking and shopping in the "pedestrian zone" although that doesn't stop the scooters from trying to run you over in there.  We ate dinner at the Hotel resturant and they were true to their word-they had a table saved especially for us!  Dumplings again. Diane did order a spaghetti that was the hit of the table.  She said  "you can't go wrong with spaghetti - must be the Italian in me" hmmmmm, no mention of the French side Larry... Then bed.  Beds VERY hard but slept somewhat well anyway. This morning i woke up to the "sound of rain gently tapping on the window".  Actually it was more like buckets of water being thrown against it.  It is POURING!  And today we are set to go down the Li river with 500 of our newest Chinese friends!  And it doesn't look like it's going to slow any either.  According to a waitress here in the resturant it is suppose to do this today and tomorrow.  I THINK that's what she said..... either that or the breakfast special is eggs sauted with pig intestine -I wasn't quite clear on it...  We left the hotel went to the boat via our local travel guide Tony and a van.  We ate lunch on the boat and.Diane ate too!  (She's doing so well with the food here!).  Took TONS of pictures.  Pete had a deck of Cards that had 53 cards in it,  I'm thinking "extra joker" but after 2 queen of spades, two ten of clubs and three jack of diamonds we figures it was a mixed deck.  I kept taking pics and trying to get other boats to wave but they were all stick in the MUDs.  But as everyone knows I don't give up easily and I finally succeed!.  Now there are those who will say I just annoyed them to a point where they just gave in but I would like to think I found some new friends.. At the end of the boat ride we arrived in  Yangshuo.  After checking into the Yongshou Regency Holiday Hotel  Diane had a last minute conference call so Pete, Diane and I went to the Silver Mine with Wendy (our Yangshuo guide).   Beautifull, lights, a reflecting pool that you could stare into for hours and ten thousand of our newest Chinese friends in a dark damp cave made for a hot and wet experience indeed..  Back at the hotel Diane introduced me to "Kui pitching".  It's where you stand on your balcony, wait for a "sea of umbrellas" to come by (it doesn't work with only one or two) and then pitch a 1RMB coin onto one of them.  Them you watch as it bounces off the umbrella, hits the ground and all the people behind the person with the umbrella you bounced it off of and that person grab for the coin and try to figure out where it came from.  "ah, Buddha smile on me on this rainy day!". It's great fun and something to do on a rainy day.  And besides, you are helping the economy! We walked and shopped and pissed off a few more Chinese vendors who sold us stuff without "makee no moneeee!!!" and then went to a wonderfull dinner. Ok, I know this is a long post but I HAVE to tell one last thing.  So there are these Chinese flutes that they sell here.  Spenser, you will think these are so cool!  Anyway, I have been wanting to buy one since the first time I saw them but haven't got the right price yet.  So, from our balcony dinner table we see this old Chinese guy with these things hanging from his belt and playing one while walking around.  The "group" convinces me to go and talk to him.  "Buy one from the nice old Chinese man" Diane says.  So off I go. By the time I get to where he is he's around the corner so I hurry to catch up.  He is just finishing with a customer and I notice a group of eight attractive chinese (what I am later to find out are students here on an outing) young ladies have gathered aroud him to watch him.  He has three sizes of these flutes and I ask the difference.  The young ladies get involved and between his and their broken English and my broken (more like "shattered") Chinese I get that one is a bass, one a mid-range and one is the higher scale.  This communication of mid-pronounced words and animated hand gestures has us all just howling!  I ask the man "duo shou kui?" and he tells me " ye ba wu".  I counter, he counters and we finally settle on a price.  The girls all laugh and clap and everyone is happy.  But instead of walking away the man wants to show me how to play it.  This draws another round of applause from the girls so what the hell.  He shows me how to hold it and where to put my fingers and I see it is somewhat similar to the recorders we used to play in school.  So I play a resounding round of "Mary had a little lamb" which draws delight from the man " very good grasshopper" and cheers from the young female students ("big tall American man play 'Mary had a little lamb'....yaaaaay!")  The man turns to leave and the tallest (and did i mention they were HOT college girls?) asked if I will have a picture taken with them and I say "of course!" which draws another consecutive "yaaaay" from them.  So here I am with eight young college ladies (did I mention they were all really HOT???) gathering around me, putting their arms around me, leaning into me and smiling and laughing and having a grand time and wanting their pictures taken with me..  Any idea where my ego is right about now? After pictures are taken I start to leave but they aren't moving.  The tall (HOT) college girl asks me "so are you here alone?".  ALLRIGHTY THEN...  "No, i'm here with people up there" and point towards the second floor of the resturant.  "Oh" she said, her smile turning into somewhat of a frown.  She said something to her friends and then to me she says "why does she leave you alone down here?" Excuse me, I just need to take a minute here...... (breathe.....) We said goodby and I returned to the resturant finding it very difficult to fit my head through the door. Oh Doug how I was wishing you were here!

New posts

Ok, so we just got back from our five day excurtion. I will be posting all the days together this morning. These may be a bit choppy 'cause I wrote them on my Ipod since we didn't have internet access while we were away.  Hope you all enjoy them! S.

Day 11

So just getting packed and ready for our road trip.  I won't be able to blog for the next five days so this will be the last one for a bit. We will catch a flight today from Shanghai to Guilin where we will spend some time before getting on a boat (can't wait to see what THAT looks like, some how I'm not thinking "Princess Cruises"....) where we will travel down the Li River to Yangshou.  A car will take us about 3 hours to get back to Guilin where we will catch a flight to Xi'An.  After spending a couple of days there we will fly to Beijing.  We will take a whirlwind trip through Beijing for a couple of days and then fly back to Shanghai. We will talk to you when we get back to Viscaya!

Day 10

Streets and alleys lined with vendors selling eggs, bread products both cooked and raw, noodles, meats (again, both cooked and raw - some recognizable and some not, even to our guides, clothing, drink, houseware supplies vegetables............everything you NEED to survive. "Self-sufficent" would be the word to describe the village of Zhang Jiang. This is true China.  So we got up this morning and decided to take a walk to the village.  After about three and a half hours we were finally there (ok, maybe not quite but "just a little ways" was a stretch.  We walked by the river where people were fishing.  I have pics and video of how they do this and Spenser, let me tell you "patience" is the key word here!  Passing some buildings that were being torn down we were told that unlike in the States, in China they first go in and take out doors and windows to re-use.  Then they take off the roof tiles to re-use.  Then they take out the floor panels to re-use (you're seeing a pattern here right?).  Then they tear down what's left and haul it away.  Pretty brilliant from a recycle point of view. Finaly reaching the village we started walking and looking and buying and sampling and yes, even Diane sampled some of the stuff!  My girl is getting SO adventurous! It was amazing to see how these people live. They truly have eveything they need right here.  Oh sure, occationally they would probabaly have to go to the city for something but they have bars, churchs, a cake shop - even a bike repair shop.  They grow what they eat and they eat what they grow.  (No Doritos here baby!) After we walked around the village for a couple of hours we flagged a taxi and went to a nice lunch of rice, chicken (I THINK it was chicken...) and dumplings.  There was a DVD vendor outside of the resturant that Pete trusts so I thumbed throught the thousands of DVD's and bought a few.  For 5 RMB (about 70 cents how can you NOT take the chance?).  Then we walked Pete home (he had some work to do before we left tomorrow) and Di, Diane and I headed to the spa.  They needed to get their hair done and I thoiught "well, a masage wouldn't be all THAT bad....". We cane back home and Mr. Lui picked us up and took us to the fabric market to pick up my jacket.  It turned our really well, I was very pleased.  And the shirt is cool too.  I liked it so much that I left it there to copy and ordered it in a different color!  We will get it when we get back from our "road trip".  I am a little afraid though.........Diane saw a couple of shirts she really liked and since they can turn stuff in 24 hours.......I see more purchases in our future! Off to dinner at Teppanyaki with Pete, Diane and 7 of our new friends.  There were 11 of us total and it was a blast.  Think "Benni Hanna" on a bigger scale.  We had a wonderfull dinner of Sushi, chicken, rice, beef, smoked eel, white fish, salmon, garlic (LOTs of garlic - I feel sorry for the people on the plane tomorrow!), veggies, grilled bannannas and ice cream and a lot of beer.  It was a great time! After someone got the bright idea to go back to the spa for foot massage and since we ARE guests here........... By the time we got home I was VERY ready for bed!

Day 9

Today's mandra was a bit different........ "Hey you - Meester.....MEESTER!!!  Com here!!!  I have best!  Old.....OLD....no one else have what I have.  Everyone else have same 'cept fo me.....I have deeferent!  I garantee it!!!" "Hey laadee, com here! I have best!  Very old, one of a kind!  You trust me!  ONE OF A KIND!!!  How many yu want?" Dong Tai Liu is an antique row that makes Snohomish look like Nordstroms.  It is lined with vendors who all have antiques and collectables that you can not live without.  I have attached a couple of pics but since I am "remoting" this via e-mail I am not sure where they will end up on here.  They are of the street both ways from where we were standing. You can find a lot of stuff here you won't find elsewhere.  Lots of Terra Cotta Soilders, swords, statues......all "very old, you trust me!" Diane and Diane were looking at a bunch of hair "stuff" they absolutaly would need so I wandered.  I found a sword I thought interesting and pulled it out of it's sheath.  "Very old" I hear from behind me.  "You tell because blade is all rustee".  I'm like "yeah, no the blade is 'rustee' because it's tin and you left it out in the rain". When I was a lot younger my parents and grandparents had an antique/gift shop.  I learned a lot about antiques and one thing that is global, no matter if you speak the language or not, is the age of stuff.  Most of this stuff was somewhat new with a few exceptions.  One lady had a sword that was made of stone.  She said Jade but I'm not up enough on stone to tell you if that was true or not.  She wanted about 1,200 Qui for it - about $90.  I thought I'd screw with her and offered her 20 Qui.  It hought she was going to take the sword off of the wall and attack me with it! Another lady had a sword that she kept telling me was jade but when I would tap my finger against it it sounded suspiciousally like tin - I'm no expert but...... I did find a long shoehorn that I liked.  I have a small collection of them in the fitting room of my office and thought it might go well with them.  I'm told it is copper - uh huh - but it is pretty so I asked the guy "Dou shou qian" and was told 120 qui - not.  So I offered him 30 and we went back and forth for about 8 minutes.  We finally settled on 40.  $6 was probabally more than I should have paid but I like it and you never know, when I polish it up it just may be copper.  Either way, "one of a kind, very old, you trust me". After walking the street and having my backpack fillied with MUCH more than I bought (hmmmmm, those "silly spirits" as Diane called them must have been putting stuff in it while I wasn't looking!) we went to lunch at Simply Tai.  Had a nice lunch and then headed to the Fabric Market to pick up Diane's coat.  It is beautifull.  They did a wonderfull job and she looks awsome in it.  I ordered a - well, you wouldn't call it a suit jacket but not really a blazer either - and a shirt.  We will pick them up today and hopefully they will turn out as nice as Diane's.  And we found out I have a Chinese name!  It is "Su-ko-t".  Sound farmiliar?  The lady is going to embroider my name in Chinese on the cuff of the coat too!  We then came home and prepared to go to dinner.  Pete, Diane, Nick, Taylor, Diane and myself all went for a walk on the "Bund" before dinner..  It is like a boardwalk by the river but cement.  The view was amazing.  We had a wonderfull dinner outside in the open air with a view of the river and watched as the city came alive with lights and more people.  It was an incredible site. After dinner we came home, Pete and I had a cigar on the front porch and then we went to bed knowing that tomorrow would be another exciting day.

Day 8

"You want to buy watch?  Roleeex?  Omeeega?  How 'bout purse?  Praaada?  Coach?  I give you best price!   BEST PRICE FOR YOU!!!  Meester?  Lady?  How 'bout YOU lady?  Very bootifull, you come and look.. Just LOOK!" is all we heard today.  It was a day by ourselves in Puxi. First we went back to the Tai Kang Lu district and the Yuyun Gardens.  Pete and Diane had taken us here before but we wanted to explore some more.  Di had a phone meeting from home so she didn't have to go in early.  My diane was VERY thankfull for that 'cause she got to sleep in and we all know how my baby like her sleep!  After dropping Di off at Jin Mao we kidnapped her driver again and headed toward our unknown fate.  It wasn't too crowded when we got there but that was soon to change.  By 11:00 we were in the midst of a tidal wave of short, dark-haired people.  I actually have video of Diane walking through the masses and believe me - although she is about the same height she is very easy to pick out!  Blonde was a good idea indeed! We passed by a hair booth and three young asian girls started in:  "You come in, we fix your hair bootifull!"  Well, before I could figure out something clever to say in Chinese they had her in a chair and one was braiding while another was picking out all sorts of treasures to adorrn her golden locks while the third was hovering over her and watching the first lady braid and "ooing and awing" at how "bootifull you hair is".  By the time they were done and gave us the price and we realized we would have to mortgage the house to pay for it (which incedentally, Spenser has informed me is now His and Katreena's.  Apparentally there is a room available for us at Doug and Lauries...) she negotiated for less and we left.  In all honesty the lady did a wonderfull job braiding her hair and it looked very nice and was fun to watch. And yes, I have video. One of the reasons we wanted to go back there was there is a place in the market that is famous for making dumplings.  By 11:00 the line is probabally a hundred yards long and it keep going like that or farther all day.  We really wanted to try them so in line we went.  I stood in line while Diane explored around the people - she was having fun looking and I wasn't too worried as long as she didn't go too far away from me (refer back to the blond hair thing).  We were in line for about 40 minuted and finally got to the window.  you get 16 dumplings for 12 Qui.  We each got a "set" of these and found a place to eat with ten of our newest Chinese friends.  Lunch cost us about $1.20 each and it was more than we could eat.  We gave our leftovers to a Chinese lady who was obviousally looking for someone to give her something to eat and continued on..  I bought Diane a set of earphones for her Ipod - her's had broke.  We got a really nice set of Sony ear-buds (I'm POSITIVE they were authentic!).  They wanted 150 Qui but of course that was ridiculas so we chatted a bit and I got them for her for 40 Qui. They actually are really nice and honestly were probabally worth the 150 to start with, they have a really nice sound quality.  After walking a lot more and looking at all the things the vendors were POSITIVE we needed (LADY, come here!  I have Goochee purse!  You look!) we found Mr. Luo and off we went Now the plan had been to search for a battery for the digital and maybe get another one for the video camera.  Pete had told us of a place and I ask Mr. Luo to take us there.  Apparentally he didn't quite understand my VERY CLEAR Chinese and we ended up somewhere completelly different than where we wanted to be.  After walking around for a while we noticed this.  I heard a couple of ladies speaking english so I asked them and they said "try telling him to go to.............".  We did that and sure enough we ended up exctally where I wanted to be.  This is the biggest electronics place I have ever seen!  Two buildings, both four or five stories tall and PACKED with little Kiosks of electronics vendors.  Think Costco size, four or five stories high, with 20 x 20 booths of every electronic brand you have ever heard of and a whole lot I'm sure you haven't.  It was amazing!  We went to about four of them and although I could get them to give me the camera battery at the price I wanted I could not seem to get them to see my way on the video batteries - cheap bastards!  We did find a nice case for Diane's IPod.  They originally wanted 120 Qui - I think not! (Di has been a great teacher to me!)   After some friendly chatter and a couple of "winks" to the lady behind the counter - I think she liked me - we got it for 30 Qui.  Nothing's too good for my gal! Um, unfortunatally my opinion of what the batteries were worth has kind of backfired and we still don't have them but I'm not done yet! Mr. Luo then dropped us off at CaarFour - it's a market/shops/food court type of place that Pete and Diane had taken us to our first day here.  We shopped a bit, had a bite to eat and got some essentials for the house (beer) and then headed home. Audrey, Diane's assistant, had scored us some tickets to The Shanghai Circus Theater, an acrobat show in Puxi that is very popular (think Cirque du Solie on a smaller scale) so we got ready to go to that and Mr. Luo dropped us off around 19:00.  We got our tickets and before entering the Theatre we decided to get a munchie and something to drink (you can take food and drink into the Arena).  We found an authentic Chinese Vendor who sold stuff so we bought a few Authentic Chinese Snacks.   One was a potato chip type of snack called "Pree-ngl-es", another was a sweet snack called "em-&-em's" and a drink named "pe-ps-i lite".  They tasted commonlly farmiliar....... The show was wonderfull and afterwards we got a call from Pete and Diane to join them for a drink at a resturant they were at.  It was there anniversary - I think their 63rd..... They had gone to dinner and enjoyed some "alone time" so we figured "well, enough of that" and joined them for wine and great conversation.  The time flew by and before we knew it it was almost midnight!  We had Mr. Luo collect us and headed home and to bed. It was a great day and a wonderfull night.

Day 8

"You want to buy watch?  Roleeex?  Omeeega?  How 'bout purse?  Praaada?  Coach?  I give you best price!   BEST PRICE

Day 8

"You want to buy watch?  Roleeex?  Omeeega?  How 'bout purse?  Praaada?  Coach?  I give you best price!   BEST PRICE FOR

Day 8

"You want to buy watch?  Roleeex?  Omeeega?  How 'bout purse?  Praaada?  Coach?  I give you best price!   BEST

Day 7

Today we left early again.  The first place was Suzhou.  This is a city where there is a lot of gardens and spiritual gatherings.  It is another "water city" which helps greatly with the irrigation of these gardens.  A direct place of interest is the Humble Administrator's Garden which covers about 13 acres.  It is the largest garden in Suzhou. There is an amazing amount of rock sculpture here.  Everything from small stones sculpted in flower beds to huge sculpturs big enough to walk through.  And when I say "walk through" that is exctally what I mean..  You walk in, out, over, under, up, down and through these things.  They are literally "honeycomb" rocks with stairways carved into them. Tons of flowers, acres of greenery and pond after pond with fish that rival the King Salmon of the Skagit River in size.  It is truly a tranqual place.  I think if I ever decided to leave Priority (or if they decide for me!) I would ask to be a gardener there.  I could truly spend time here. Next on the list was the Beizi Buddha.  This is a huge Buddha with a grin the size of a small alley.  He is about - oh, maybe fifteen feet tall.  I would say all in all about the size of a two car garage.  You used to be able to rub his belly but now they have him roped off so you can only get about six feet or so from him. Behind him is tha Pagoda.  This is truly a wonderfull site. There are eight floors and unlike the last one we were in there are no elevators or escelators.  It's all about the stairs folks.  This was awsome!!!  Eight floors and although I am sure some renovation has taken place it truly looked authentic.  You will see in our pictures that every flight meant smaller openings and steeper stairways.  Diane took a pic of the top of the Buddha from every floor.  Lost of winning about the stairs but finally we were at the top and oh my god!  What a view!  Amazing to be that close to that much history. We came back down the four thousand stairs (after Diane wrote our names on the wall.  Imagine the punishment for THAT in this country!  Execution for sure!!!!) and met up with Mr. Lo again who took us to Tiger Hill.  I'm not sure of the offical Chinese name for this but there are a couple of things at this site.  One is a story and history of swords which I will explain later when we put our video together. The other is the Pagoda.  This it truly history in itself.  It was unsure and unagreed upon exctally when this was built but the general idea is "Thousands of years ago" so that gives you a basic idea.  There is a realy cool story behind this tower that I will share later but essentially it has been "leaning" since the Ming Dynasty and they believe it is because there is a tomb below that may be collapsing.  They now longer allow the public in and when you see the pictures you will see why.  The Chinese Government is still unsure of what they are going to do with it - tear it down or restore it - but since they have gone to the expense of attaching cables and wires to it so that people can still see it without it falling on their heads I would say that at some point they will eventually restore it. We left there and after a two hour drive home had dinner with Pete, Diane and the kids.  Finishing this and off to bed. Have a good night everyone. "Wan Shang Hao" everyone.

Day 6

So today we started early.  Left the Vizcaya at 7:30, dropped Taylor off at school and Diane a Jin Mao Tower for work.  She gave us Mr. Lo for the rest of the morning.  Our first stop was Jing'an Temple.  This is a "Working Temple" where people go to pray and is open for visitors as well.  Locals and tourists alike will stop here to say their daily prayers and give offerings of incense to Buddha.  There are several statues all of which are huge and beautifull.  You pay 20 Qui to get in (about $3) and everyone pays whether they are there to pray or look.  The don't do "offerings" as traditional churchs we are use to do so this is one way for them to get the money the need to continue operating. Next on our list was Yufo Temple.  It was a direct contrast to Jing'an  as in as soon as you walk in there is a Coke machjine on the right.  There are paper and cloth lanterns everywhere and lots of information booths.  Again, there was quite a few statues and people praying and as with Jing'an you pay 20 Qui to enter.  Unlike Jing'an there is a HUGE area where they sell everything from jewelry to statues to shirts to just about everything you can imagine.  And the stuff ain't cheap folks! This is also the home of the White Jade Buddha.  She was brought over from Burma in the nineteenth century and she is AMAZING!  You can't get close - there is a barrier between her and the public and lots of guards.  I think if you tried to get too close you would find 40 of your closest new friends pinning you to the ground.  There are five different types of Jade in here.  I would have taken a picture but they are VERY adiment about NO PICTURES!  She is amazing though.  But here's the kicker:  Remember what i said earlier about "they spend money where they know they can make money"?  Well, you pay to get into the temple and of course unless you are going there to pray you go there to see the White Jade Buddha.  But if you want to see her you have to pay an additional 10 Qui.  It's all about the dollar folks. It was just amazing the difference between the two.  Almost complete oppisites.  One was very spiritual and although the other was spiritual it was difenatally comercial as well. So after that we picked up Diane and all went to the Silk Market and looked around.  Diane is having a really nice jacket custom made.  We got to see about four little old chinese ladies get really pissed at each other and start to go at it.  I mean REALLY go at it.  Apparetnally one was thinking another was copying her design.,  Anyway, security got called and we thought it best we left. After a quick stop at McDonalds (yes, Diane - my Diane - had her french fry fix) we dropped off Diane at Jin Mao and then Mr. Lo took us to Xin Xang Yong Market where Diane and I got attacked by every vendor there 'cause they weren't very busy.  It was fun though and we spent a lot of Yuan.. Then home and we thought we'd go for a walk but about thirty-two miles down the street it started to rain so we came back and I decided to catch up on this.  In about twenty minutes we are going to go to dinner at the Blue Frog. Again, remember what I said eariler about the Chinese naming things for a reason?  Let's hope not......... After that, Diane and Diane are gong to get their hair washed, dried and straightned.  That runs about 50 Qui - seven bucks. I think I'll get a neck/back massage.........

Day 5

Today Pete and Diane had to work (bummer for them, did I mention we were on VACATION???) so Diane and I were on our own.  Diane had tried to use the washer to do our clothes and failed horibally.  These Chinese washers are tricky.  We scrambled to get one or two things clean and dry so I would have something to wear out today.  It was not pretty. So Mr. Lo took us to the Pearl Tower, well actually due to a translation malfunction we ended up in Pearl City but after a phone call and a little back-tracking we were at the Pearl Tower.  What a wonderfull place!  It's kind of like our space needle but with more levels.  One of the levels is probabally 800 feet above ground and the outside ring is floored with glass about five feet in.  It is really cool 'cause you can walk on it and see below and it's like you are walking on nothing.  They even have signs warning people who get wigged out with heights and stuff not to walk there. Then we met Diane for lunch at the Hyatt.  We dined 54 floors up with a great view of the city (although a bit hazy today).  She joined us after lunch to go to the top of her building to the 88th floor and look down.  There is a spot where you can look down the middle and see the people below.  You know, Chinese people are little to start with.  Add 88 floors....... Anyway, after that Diane and I went to to one of the financial buildings I have affectionatally named the "Bottle Opener" - you'll see why when you see the pics.  We went 110 floors up and got to look down through glass panels in the floor there too.  It seems the Chinese like the idea of no floor when you are really, really high up. Mr. Lo picked us up around 2:30 and we headed home.  Diane wanted me to call Audrey, Diane's assistant, to have her call Mr. Lo to come and pick us up but given my vast versitility in Mandarin I knew I could do it myself.  It may not have been pretty but he got where we were and found us. Then we headed home where Diane promptly headed to the pool and I hooked up with IEA and she gave me a Chinese cooking lesson.  We made dumplings, beef and fried rice.  She speaks no english and so our time was mostly hand signals but the food turned out wonderfull.  It was funny, she was very "let me show you" but when I asked her if I could cut something up for her (onions) and she saw how I handle a knife she was like "OH!"  Then we just kind of worked together and made what I thought was a great dinner.  Diane had to work late but finally got back and she was able to eat so all enjoyed the fruits of my labors. So it's late and my eyes are blurry.  Time for bed, another Temple tomorrowl.

Day 4

Hangzhou.  What a wonderfull, tranqual place.  When you first arive you see a peak called Fei Lai Feng.  Legend has it that an Indian Monk named Huiii (yes, three "i's") arrived in the valley 1,600 years ago and was surprised to see a peak so dissimilar from any other on in the valley.  He believed that the peak had flown over from India because the shape didn't look like anything in China but was common in India.  However, he didn't know whyh the peak would have flown to this spot so far from his country.  Just another example of what smoking too much pyote will do for you! Anyway, it is right next to the Ling Yin Temple which is a wonderfull place.  There are six temples.  You have to clime stairs to each one as they escelate the mountain and they get more impressive as you go.  You will see them in our pics but believe me, the pics do not do them justice.  They are simply amazing and wonderufll. Mr. Lo took us to the train station where we caught a train to the city.  It was really nice, almost like an airplane.  But I have to tell you about the ride on the way to the Temple.  We took a cab.  Now, if you have ever been in a New York cab and thought "Maybe I should have done my Will before I got in her" let me tell you - you have seen NOTHING!!!!!!!  I have not been in a car where all four wheels have left the ground since I was like, oh say 24.  But as we were dodging bikes, scooter, people, cars, busses and other various obsticals we went over a hill.  At about 85mph.  ALL FOUR WHEELS WERE OFF THE GROUND!!!!!!!!!!!  I am not shitting you - ask Diane!  We were airborn!  "Hello tower, requesting take-off on runway 2"... As we landed on the other side of the hill there was a little two-door Honda making a U-turn right in front of us.  Again, ask Diane.  If we were 2 seconds early we would have drilled this guy without even landing on the ground. So anyway, we went to the temples and saw the Buddah carvings (which were amazing) and then we wnated lunch.  So we took a bus (yes, a BUS) to Shi Wu (West Lake) and hired a small boat to row (yes, row) us out to an Island where there was the resturant that Diane said we HAD to try.  I'm not going to say much about the boat guy except that him and I didn't really see eye to eye on his annoying ways and I ended up yelling at him and I think maybe a I pissed him off but hey, you can only handle "no, I'll take you back for this much" so many times. Anyway, we went to lunch.  I can't even tell you.  You have to hear this from Diane - My Diane.  You will howl. We then took a power boat (I really didn't trust the boat guy after that little ordeal) back to the shore where we got a taxi van back to the train station and then headed home. Dinner was in and bed was needed.

Day 3

Today we went to Puxi (pronounced liked "PooShee" as in "PooShee, PooSee Galore" - obscure to a James Bond movie for those of you under 35).  This was an amazing and VERY busy place.  I didn't have to worry about losing Diane because although she is about the same height as the locals here she is the only blonde one.  You will see this in the video.  There is a sea of dark haired people and then all of a sudden................THERE SHE IS!!! We went to the Silk Museum where we saw how they actually take the cacoon of the silk worm and make it into, well pretty much anything slik.  It is truly amazing.  I got some pretty good video of it but you really have to see it up close to appreciate the finese. We had a great lunch at Tai Kang Lu.  There was this little Italian place Pete and Diane know about where they make their own pasta daily.  I have to tel you, I had a pasta dish with a white sauce and ham, spinach and something else green - I don't remember what. But I will tell you it rivaled any Italian dish I have had in the states.  Those of you who know me will know that is saying something.  It was AWSOME! We then took the Di Tie (the subway) to Xin Xiang Yang where we did some more shopping.  It is a great shopping place where you can get good quality for decent prices.  An example would be original Tony Bahama Shirts for 90 Qui which is about $14.  Diane scored some more chopstix and we got a couple of more things.  Then we headed home to clean-up for dinner. Dinner was wonderfull.  We went to the "Dolar Store" and yes, the spelling is correct!  It's kind of like a Melting Pot but each person has their own pot.  Anyway, some very good foot served differently ie: we had shrimp but it was formed into "Shrimp Balls" and we had white fish but it was formed into "fish balls" (ok, I didn't know fish had balls but.......).  We were with Diane and Pete, Kim and Mike (her husband) and a new friend who's name is "Bill".  Bill did most of the ordering and he ordered something that he didn't think anyone would enjoy except for himself.  It was Duck Blood Tofu.  He was very surprised when I said I would try it.  Those of you who know me know that I am a pretty adventurous eater and will try pretty much anything.  And guess what?  It was really good!  Ok, for those of you who are like "ok my god, no way!  I'd never....." blah, blah, blah.  But for those of you who are like "well, maybe......" you should really try this.  It is very mild and had a pleasant texture. After dinner Mike and Kim's driver, Mr. Wu took us home and we went to bed.  Another great day!

Day 2

So today we went to Tongli.  It is a water town that is over 1,000 years old.  It is pretty well preserved although when you see the pics you will see that the better preserved parts are where the "for sale" stuff is. This trip we met a friend of Di's whose name is Kim.  Very nice lady who spent the day with us. Diane got her first experience with a Chinese Bathroom here.  Ok, so I have to tell you I wish I had the video camera running.  There would of course be no video (no one wants, needs, desires to see THAT) but the audio would have made you wet your pants!  I could hear Diane and Kim in the bathroom and I was HOWLING!!! We walked around, Diane and I rode in a bike-taxi and we shopped quite a bit.  We had lunch at a little resturant by the canal (incidentally, there are no railiings here so you really want to be carefull when you push your chair back - trust me, you DO NOT want to end up in THIS water!).  We had a traditional pork dish that was quite good once you got under the layer of fat, fried rice, a fish dish, a tofu dish, and a couple of other things.  I have to tell you I am VERY proud of my wife.  She has been trying some stuff that I never thought she would.  Either she has been very hungry or is caught up "in the moment" but she has been a rock-star so far! After lunch we went to what was once the mayor of Tongli's house.  Amazing.  Big.  Beautifull.  Amazing that this was built over a thousand years ago.  One thing that really struck me was that even though this was before Communist rule here in china the similarities Communist rule and Dynasty rule are amazing.  You see how a select few - the mayor, his family and close friends would live in luxary while the rest of the country was in poverty. Anyway, after the Mayor's house we found ourselves in front of China's only Sex Musium.  Yes, you read that right.  The only thing I am going to say about this place is that when we show the video and pics there will be an "over 18" disclaimer on it. After all of this we headed home and had dinner.  Then we went to a Spa!  We had a foot massage!  Now a foot massage here is an hour long and they do your feet, legs and back.  Amazing.  Then the ladies had their hair washed and straightened, Pete had his hair cut and Scotty had a body massage. Here's the beauty of this.  For an hour of foot massage and an hour of body massage it cost me 280 Qui - about $40.  I LOVE CHINA!!!

Day 1

So we left Seattle and flew to Vancouver.. Larry, you were right - we didn't even clear the cloud layer.  It was like "take off, go up, go down, land".  I love those prop jets!  Especially when the propeller is right out your window! I should mention I was VERY proud of myslef with regards to the baggage.  I had weighed everything three times (once you get popped $125 dollars for overweight you learn your lesson!).  I had each bag within three pounds of the 40 pound limit.  Interesting thing, their scale was reading .5 to 1 lb even when there was nothing on it.  If you don't think I would have fought that.........! Anyway, we landed in Vancouver and had to walk twenty miles to international customs where there was a guy who had the personality of an emply beer glass waiting to check our papers.  Then onto the 767 for Shanghai. Uneventfull flight, watched a couple of movies, made the airline buy a couple of drinks and caught a little sleep.  Not much but a little. So we land in Shanghai and they tell us there is an aircraft at our gate so we have to wait on the tarmac for half an hour for them to get their butts in gear.  Then when we pull into our gate we are told that Quarantine will be coming onto the plane to make sure no one is "infected" (little late I think).  The funny thing about this was that when the people came on to pas out the "have you ever had this or that, have you been sick lately, have you been around any pigs lately, when was your last bowel movement" cards they were dressed nicely without masks or gloves.  Then they leave the plane and the guys in then white Haz-Met suits and goggles come on board with thermal guns to shoot everyone and see if they have a temp..  Does anyone see the flaw in this system????? Fortunatally no one had a temp so we all got to go.  A little note here:  They are TOTALLY serious about this.  One plane that Pete's company flew a couple of guys into Shanghai had somoene on it with a temp and the quarantined the whole plane for five days!!! Got our luggage and met Dil.  Great to see her and she had BEER!!! We stopped at the store for some stuff and then headed to her home.  Beautifull place with hardwood floors, about thirty balconies, two pools.....and an "easy bake oven".  You'll understand that part when you see our pictures. Anyway, Pete and the kids were there so we unloaded all the stuff we brought for them and then got setteled.  We are in the "bell tower" which is the highest room in the home with our own bathroom.  We had spaghetti for dinner (I know huh, spaghetti our first night in China) and then chatted untill about nine when neither Diane nor myslef could keep our eyes open any longer.  Bedtime.

First off, THANK YOU Heather McCormick for setting this up for me.  China restricts a lot of internet sites and apparentally anything that has to do with "opinion" a communist country has a bit of an attitude about (go figure). Second, as I am posting all of this please remember that my spelling SUCKS and frankly I don't intend on running spell-check on everything so you will just have to deal with it.  (it's the "way I roll" baby!!!). So this way you can briefly see what we have done every day, if you are interested.  If you're not - well you can always close this window!!! Ok, here goes.......

So, let's try this!!!

Ok, first

So, let's try this!!!

Ok,