Okay...this is my third attempt to get these pictures uploaded. It took most of the evening to load them one at a time....very slow.....Anyway...here are the highlights of our tour on Thursday... Abi standing in front of one of the dragons guarding the gate to Tian'anMen Square. There are two dragons...one male and one female. Abi is standing in front of the male dragon.....we know this because his paw is holding a ball...this means power. The female dragon has a little baby dragon under her paw which symbioses future generations... We learned that every little detail in the Chinese culture has symbolic meaning....including Feng Shui design in the construction of the city.

Tucker and Kim in front of the gate at Tian'anMen Square.

Abi getting a medical exam from one of the doctors at the old pharmacy. This pharmacy was responsible for the royal family....none of the common people could be treated here. The recipes for the herbal treatments date back.....well....lets just say forever!!!!

Count down to the Olympics

Clocks like this are placed all over the city....you can really feel the excitement of the 2008 games that will be held in Beijing.

This is a structure that is being built in Tian'anMen Square for the National Holiday in October. The dark vertical figures are workmen. They are passing pieces of the structure piece by piece from the bottom to the top.

Whaz sup??

The gang in the Forbidden City. The forbidden city is huge!!! Why is it forbidden you ask??? It only for the Royal family....only very high ranking officials were allowed into the city.

Our lunch restaurant

Anny (our guide) ordering lunch

Lunch time....we ate cold noodles. The noodles were in a bowl and we added fresh vegetables and "soy bean jelly stuff " to the noodles to add flavor. This was not our favorite meal but it was a fun cultural experience.

This is the lake at The Summer Palace. The Summer Palace was built by a greedy, selfish, evil women. She lived a life of glutton while the rest of her county was starving. The Chinese people are ashamed to say her name so we are now calling her...... She-who-shall-not-be named (taken from Harry Potter). She stole money and cheated everyone and anyone she could. Her son, who was very young was the emperor and she controlled the power from "behind the curtain". When her son died at age 18, she appointed another very young emperor (age 3) so she continued to have all power. This emperor was said to be sympathetic to the common people and so She-who-shall-not-be-named but him in the Royal jail. This was kept a secret from the country. The young emperor waited and waited for her to die so he could help the people....but...he died mysteriously a few hours before S-w-s-n-b-named. It is said that she arranged for him to be poisoned before died. China has such interesting history!!!

Crazy Kids!!!

We drove by the Olympic Village....it is still under construction

The large squarish building in the background is
"The Cube" where all the swimming events will be held.

This is "The Birds Nest"....built for the opening ceremonies

Housing for the athletes

Okay....It is taking forever to upload pictures through the Internet in our hotel....I finally got some of yesterdays pictures uploaded and just finished writing when....KAZAM...it all just disappeared!!!!!!!!!! AARRGGGG!!!!!!!! So...a short recap of our past two days..... Yesterday we went to Tian'anMen Square, The Forbidden City, and The Summer Palace. Today we saw the Great Wall....WOW!!!....and took a rickshaw tour through the old city of Beijing, learned how to make dumplings, and eat dinner in a local families home...all very fun activities.

Stay tuned for pictures.....

Kim arrived right on time.....she made it through customs with no problem....Yippee!!! We took her back to the hotel for a quick shower and then off to Peking Duck Dinner.... Abi showing us her mad chopstick skills by picking up two peanuts at one time

Tucker practicing his chopstick skills

Here is the duck!!!

Our tour guide showing us how to eat Peking Duck

This was the best Chinese food I have eaten since we arrived in China

To Beijing
Tuesday Evening…

Going to the train Station:
We really were not sure what to expect as we arrived at the train station this evening. While we have been living in China we have discovered that some times we assume certain things and don’t really even know the right questions to ask. Lucky for us a friend has taken the train before and gave us some pointers. One of the most important…..the bathrooms are closed while the train is in the station and continue to remain closed for ½ hour after departure…I won’t go into the details around this rule…but the same rule applies when you are approaching your destination. This is the type of information that is “good to know”!!!

The train station in Shanghai.

At the train station:
Lesson 1 and "Note to self": No need to arrive early next time....good thing we brought books and cards...

Playing cards while we wait for the train

We are really not sure what this sign means??? Maybe....buy your ticket here if the train station is closed??? That is our best guess.

Got bored with the cards....moved on to drawing little creatures in their sketch books.

After boarding the train:
We are pleasantly surprised about our “home on the train”. It is very cozy (translation: very small) and very clean and smoke free (except for certain areas that have good ventilation). I am so happy!!! The kids explored the other cabins and discovered a little restaurant in car #9 where you can watch the cooks prepare food. Tucker said he would never eat there…..so….we are happy that we brought snacks. In fact we happen to have a bottle of wine, cheese and crackers, and plenty of chocolate. What more could you ask for??? We are all settle into our bunks and about to watch a movie on the computer.

Our reflection in the mirror that is hanging on the door of our train car.

Abi on her upper bunk

Picture from the upper bunk

Cozy train car....

Our train car was equipped with slippers....Tim's were a little too small.....imagine that!!

Next Morning:
Most of us slept pretty well last night.....the beds are a little narrow but overall comfortable. Tim and I ordered coffee to be delivered at 6:00am this morning....we were really looking forward to a cup of Java.....but...it was really bad coffee... I took the first drink and everyone else enjoyed the sour face I made as I tried to swallow... nasty nasty coffee.. Next time we will order tea.

Tucker told us this morning that he called Kim while she was in San Francisco (1:00 am Shanghai Time) and she told him that someone had stolen her wallet somewhere between Portland and San Francisco. Luckily she still has her passport so she will have no problems getting into China.
Train Station in Beijing

Our tour guide for Beijing happened to be in Shanghai this week and was returning to Beijing on the same train...same car too...so just before we rolled into the station she came to our "room" and introduced herself. We followed her out of the train, through the station, and to the tour van.

Lesson 2: You need your train ticket to get out of the train station....oops!!! We left ours on the train. Who Knew? Lucky for us...Tim remembered that our travel agent made a photo copy of all the tickets and we used that to exit the station. The sky is blue and the temperature is bearable.

Our hotel is close to the train station and everyone is taking a shower and putting on fresh clothing. We will explore the area around the hotel until it is time to get Kim from the airport.

After Showers:

Tim and Abi went exploring and found that our hotel has a beautiful swimming pool, a Starbucks AND a Subway. We may never leave the hotel...

We are back in Shanghai....got home about 1:00 this afternoon. We were greeted by Xiao Zhang and a very clean house. The kids waisted no time getting their laundry to her so they would have clean clothes tomorrow to take with us to Beijing.

We had a great time in Hong Kong. It was hot but to my surprise much cooler than Shanghai. We saw blue sky and white clouds. Everyone spoke English which made life very easy. Overall I would say that Hong Kong is much much cleaner than Shanghai and felt more like "home". It was a very pleasant break!!! I can't wait to go back again...it is just a two hour flight from Shanghai, Abi and I think we could fly down and back in one day and do some serious shopping!!!

We took a three hour tour the first afternoon we were in Hong Kong so we could understand the layout of the city and become familiar with the "points of interest". Hong Kong is very "international" and we loved it!!!!!! There were Western style shopping malls, good food, wonderful views, and fresh air....sounds weird...but after living in Shanghai...blue sky and fresh air is such a wonderful sight. Oh....and did I mention it was very clean??? Hmmm...I wonder if I would think it was a clean city if I had not been living in Shanghai for the past 6 months???? The city has many different "mid-level" walk ways and outdoor escalators to make it easier to cross the busy roads and to get up the steep hill. We found the walkways a little challenging because they go in and out of different buildings and it was not easy to see if we were taking the right walkway. We walked in circles a few times and back tracked through large office buildings and one incredibly huge mall. But...the malls and buildings were clean and so were the bathrooms!!!! AND....the bathrooms had toilet paper!!! Small conveniences bring such joy!!!

When we got back to Shanghai today we stopped at Pizza Hut for lunch. I was quickly reminded that we were back in Shanghai when our waitress could not understand what we wanted to order. AAAhhhhh...I think it was a little depressing for all of us.

We are going to get some rest this afternoon, pack tomorrow, (Tim has to work most of the day), and then muster our energy and enthusiasm to make our trip to Beijing. I have heard that Beijing is very different from Shanghai.......Shanghai is the "international" city. But...Beijing has been making a lot of improvements for the Olympics so we may be pleasantly surprised. One thing for sure.....we are sooooo excited to see Kim when we get to Beijing. I think Tucker is counting the seconds!!!!

This is the latest in "fast food" in Hong Kong. In the food court at one of the malls we ordered "pepper steak" and rice. The steak and rice were served on a sizzling hot plate and the meat cooked as we turned it on the plate with chopsticks. We all thought it was wonderful.

This is the Hong Kong sky line from the top of Victoria Peak. We took a taxi to the top of the peak, eat dinner, and then road the tram back to the bottom after the sun set.

Tucker and Abi at the top of Victoria Peak with Hong Kong harbor in the background

Sunset from Victoria Peak looking West

We found a shopping mall...sort of by accident....on Sunday morning. The mall was in and area called Mongkok on the Kowloon Peninsula. The interesting thing about this mall were the escalators and the "spiral". The fourth floor had a four story atrium AND a four story escalator. You could expedite your trip to the top of the mall by way of two-four story escalators...4th floor to the 8th floor and then again from the 8th floor to the 12th floor. There were smaller escalators to individual floors and then you could "spiral" your way to the next floor by way of an upward walk-way.

This is one of the crazy stairs in the Mall in Mongkok. The stairs were illuminated with rainbow lights that changed colors.

Crazy kids (all three) on the escalator.

The "family" on the outdoor mid-level escalators....it was really hot and steamy on this escalator.


Night time in Hong Kong. I really liked the signs in Hong Kong....they hang over the street which is very different than Shanghai.

Very "cute" red taxis everywhere. Abi thought they looked like "Harry Potter" taxis.

Sandpan Boats

The tall building on the left is the IFC building. It is taller than the JinMao in Shanghai so it must be the 3rd tallest building in the world.....I am guessing this little factoid.

Abi and Tucker at the movie theater......we saw the latest Harry Potter in a wonderful...clean...very comfortable theater!!!

Stanley Beach - Hong Kong

Kowloon Peninsula across the bay from Hong Kong.

Abi watching the light show. Every night at 8:00 there is a huge light show on both sides of the harbor...it was pretty spectacular.

More beach....our driver told us that every year there are shark attacks on these beaches....YIKES!!!

The whole family went to a market today. We always find it amusing when we see "fake" products that have misspelled words on them or have a funny translation. Today we saw a leather belt that was supposed to say Harley Davidson but instead it said...Harei Davehong.
Tim bought a tee-shirt for Tucker that says...I come to Shanghai. I actually think the shirt was printed that way on purpose. We also saw a sign on the escalator that said....."Careless Bump Head".

Sad news....the Shanghai Daily reported yesterday that they have formed a task force of University Students to spot and report all misspelled or mistranslated signs. The city is planning to "clean up" it's image and get rid of all the "funny" signs. I am sad about this because it always makes me laugh when we find one of these signs. One of the "example" signs in the paper said.... "Slip Carefully". What happens if you Slip Recklessly??? Or....what happens if you don't slip at all????

Tim braved the heat and spent the day in a "golf" meeting. Tucker, Abi, and I went out briefly this afternoon to get lunch and pick up some shoes that Abi ordered. We discovered a place in the fabric market that makes custom shoes....ie....they can make them to fit us Westerners with large feet. Sad news....the shoes were not back from the factory. Now we have to go back tomorrow. AAARRRRGGGG! Oh well....TJC!!!

I have been on a hiatus from Chinese language lessons for a couple of weeks while the school found a new teacher for me. My last teacher graduated from University and went to Beijing while she is waiting to be accepted in a Masters program in the US. My new teacher started on Monday. This is good news.....except.....she will start University again in September so she is just temporary. (Note: She is Tuckers age....born in the year of the tuzi (rabbit) Wow! Do I feel old!) Anyway....starting in September I will have another new teacher.....#4 teacher in 6 months. I am starting to get a complex. After a friendly but stern conversation with Mandarin Today (which went something like this....."I am going to find another language school that can retain teachers on a long term basis." "Please do not invoice HP for any classes after August 31st and refund all prepaid invoices through the remaining year.") they assured me that the "September teacher" has a long term commitment. Hmmmm....I wonder? I decided to take one more chance with Mandarin Today because I will have Tim's teacher and he highly recommended her.

Today in my Chinese lesson I learned how to ask someone "covertly" how old they are. It would be rude to ask someone directly how old they were so the Chinese have a way of finding out this information by asking a different question. The question is.....Ni shu shenme? This literally translates to...You belong to what year? By "what year" they mean the zodiac sign you were born under. If you know this information....you can determine the persons age pretty easily. For example: I was born under the year of the RAT....laugh if you want...Tim is a HOG. In order to be born in the year of the RAT I would have been born in the year 1948, 1960, 1972, or 1984. By process of elimination you will discover that I am 35 years old....born in the year 1972. Stop laughing!!!!

News from Sauna City

There are a lot of jokes going around Shanghai about "cardboard buns". There was a cartoon in the newspaper today targeted at the production of cardboard buns and in the "buzzwords" section (this appears once a week to describe the newest Chinese words that relate to pop culture etc..) there is a new word zhixianbaozi which means "cardboard bun". I find this very entertaining!!!

We went out in the heat this morning for a few hours....Tucker finished the newest Harry Potter book last night so he was looking for new reading material. The HPotter movie does not come out in Shanghai until August 11th so we are planning to see it in Hong Kong next weekend. Abi and I decided we should read the 5th Harry Potter book before we see the movie. Reading is a good activity for hot muggy days.....so are naps!!!

We are going to Hong Kong on Friday...another hot and muggy place. Tucker has to leave the country for at least one day. He has a multi entry visa but he can only stay 30 consecutive days during one visit. So...we are taking a little vacation to see Hong Kong. We will be back to Shanghai for one day before we take the train to Beijing to meet Kim.

News from China....

You may have heard a news story a couple of weeks ago from China about a factory that was making steamed BBQ pork buns with cardboard filling instead of pork. The story was very graphic about how the factory was cutting up recycled cardboard, soaking it in a chemical to break down the glue, and then soaking it in pork broth to give it "flavor". The story made international news and totally grossed me out. The reportor said that the factory supplied "pork buns" to many restaurants and stores all over China. Note: you can buy frozen buns at the store and then steam them at home.

.....Now go back a few weeks.... Xiao Zhang has been making us "snacks" in the afternoon since Tucker arrived and Abi has been out of school. She has been introducing us to some local Chinese foods and a few times she made us....guess what???.....Steamed Pork Buns!!! These buns are pretty good, they are very filling, and they are not something that I could eat very often. ......A few days after we ate the steamed pork buns the news broke about the "cardboard buns".


.....Wednesday....XZhang makes steamed buns for us again.... I tried but I just could not eat them...all I could think about was cardboard and the dirty floor that the cardboard was sitting on at the factory. Later that night Tucker and I were looking in our freezer and guess what we found????....boxes and boxes of steamed buns. AAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!

.......Today.... The Shanghai Daily announced that the story about the "cardboard buns" was false....it says that the TV reporter made up the story because he had a deadline. It said that investigators assigned to the case could not find any "illegalities" at any of the factories they visited. The reporter has been "sacked" (a direct quote) and the senior editors at the TV station were "punished" (another direct quote) for reporting a false story.

Tim read this article to me today while we were driving.....I said....a huh.....Surrrrre it was made up! When we got home I told Abi about the story......and......She said the same thing I did. I think we are becoming.....shall we say....skeptical?

The kids stayed home today to read their books.....so....Tim and I went out to breakfast. Our mission for the day was to purchase Tim some new golf clubs....his belated fathers day and birthday gift. We were successful and he just went out the door to take the golf clubs for a test run at the driving range.

While we were out shopping today we got into a little fender bender. We were on our way to the Shanghai Grand Theater to buy tickets for Mama Mia when the car behind us ran into the back of our van. Things work a little differently in Shanghai when there is a car accident....but the long and short of it was that it took over an hour to get it all sorted out. One hour in the middle of the day in the summer in Shanghai is like 4 days!!!! So....Tim and I got out of the car and walked around Peoples Square while Mr. Zhang worked through the details. Here are some pictures from our "sauna walk".

This is the Shanghai Museum

This is an intersection at People's Square...note all the umbrellas...they are for the sun not the rain.

More umbrellas

The Urban Planning Building

It was another hot day in Shanghai. The kids did not want to leave the house and I was dreaming about a vacation in Alaska. I went out to run two errands and only made it to one before I went back to the air conditioning.

Tonight we went to dinner in Puxi.....just on the other side of the river in an area called The Bund. It was developed by the English so the buildings are all very "English style. It is now mostly a financial district with shopping and restaurants scattered among the bank buildings. We watched another rain and lightning storm while we were eating. But....when we went outside after the storm....it was still hot and muggy. So....Tim and I contributed to the delinquency of our children....we took them to the ice bar so we could cool off.

There is no "drinking age" in China so Tucker and Abi are not considered "minors". The "ice bar" is really a big "freezer" with tables that look like they are made of ice......before you go in they give you a big parka to wear. It was very refreshing after a long hot Shanghai day. We did not stay long because it was really cold and they did not serve any "kid" drinks. It was an interesting experience going from hot and muggy to freezing and back to hot and muggy. It took a long time for Tim's glasses to un-fog after we came out of the "freezer".

Tim and Deb dressed for dinner.

Abi taking a picture of Tucker taking our picture.

Ah....such sweet kids.

Typical big brother

Little sister gets a hug.