Xian

Xian was our second destination and another labor intensive site- the Terra Cotta Warriors. Amazing! This was my 3rd visit and it still takes my breath away.

Good Fortune Peach

Labor Intensive. Farming in China is generally done on a small scale and by hand -not with big machines. Then to my surprise they even add more work by masking this “good fortune” character on each peach.

Beijing 2010

We landed in Beijing after the long and full flight on Air China. The Marriot where we stayed for the next 3 nights had surprisingly soft mattresses (I was actually sort of disappointed that not one of our hotels had the typical hard mattresses that my school provided me with for my 2 years in China – I sort of wanted a little sympathy/empathy for what I endured)

1st day in Beijing was a busy day that included Tiananmen Square, a Hutong tour and Pandas. 2nd day was filled with the Great Wall, Jade Factory tour, Summer Palace and ended with a quick look at the impressive Olympic Birds Nest and the Water Cube. Janice gets the award in our group of 3 for climbing the highest on the great wall. Living in FLAT south Georgia seems to handicap me when I encounter hills and heights such as the Great Wall. The grandparents of our large family group did great climbing but to their advantage they live in San Francisco.

Good Omen

This first day of our travels I saw this outside the airplane window – I figured that a rainbow around the shadow of our plane would be a good omen for our 2 week ChinaSpree Trip. It was! China was fantastic as usual but the group that we traveled with made it even more so. Our group consisted of 19 people with 11 from one family that was made up of 3 generations. I have to tell you that when we saw this big family we were a little worried about effect they would have on the dynamics of the whole group. It was a totally positive – plus 2 of them were doctors, which was sort of like having a security blanket along for any “just in cases”. Ming our tour guide was great at accommodating all of our different ages and demands. She taught hand games to the kids, made sure that Donna’s vegetarian needs were met and even helped me get train tickets to Hangzhou when I left the group at the end of the tour. She even answered all of our questions – even the embarrassing ones.

Side Note: I have to publically thank the kids on the tour for teaching the ins and outs of the new iPad game that I had become addicted to “Plants and Zombies”. They taught me the strategies that would get me pass certain hard levels of this surprisingly devious game. Thanks a Bunch!

New Old House and Address for Zac

Recently, Zac made the move from Wells, Vermont to Salem, New York. The above house was built in 1900 and is a duplex. I am happy because it has working electricity and indoor plumbing. It needs a lot of cosmetic work but Zac is now pretty experienced in that area. The house is located just a short walk from his job at Salem Art Works. Financing and all other of that legal stuff is in the works and hopefully he will be moving in by the end of May.

Hurry …….Bikini Weather……Please

A couple of weeks ago I did “every 3 month visit to Zac”. As you can see he had grown a thick beard for the winter. Zac says he will shave his beard when he sees his first girl in a bikini. I am afraid I am going to have to wait a little longer until Salem, New York has Bikini weather. Last winter he grew it to keep his scarf from slipping off in the winter. He says that beards are like Velcro.

I Thought It Looked Familiar

I knew that "Pandora" in Avatar looked familiar but in Zhangjiajie, China the mountains didn't float. I was watching the Today Show and they said that Avatar used the mountains of Zhangjiajie as models for their film. The Chinese have even changed the name of one of the peaks to "Hallelujah Mountain". Cynthia and I went there in the Summer of 2008. These mountains and the Tulous were my favorite part of the trip. Photos on side bar July 08.

Side Note: One of the best foods I ate in this area was a local dish of Kudzu root. Honest, it was delicious. This might be a way to get rid of the weeds by our southern highways - start eating Kudzu root for dinner.