[Caroline]
Ladeeda and Kayce came for 12 days, and 4 of those days were in Beijing.
Ladeeda and Kayce came for 12 days, and 4 of those days were in Beijing.
Day 1
Everett and I drove with Bob to the Pudong airport to pick up Ladeeda, Kayce, and my Dad. Ladeeda is my Mom's Mom, and Kayce is my 18 year old aunt. (And my Dad is my Dad :p)
No matter if we went to the restroom before the drive or not, Everett and I always desperately have to go to the bathroom at the end of the trip. It is only a 45 minute drive, but that makes no difference. Everett and I barely made it to the bathroom, and then hurried on to the gate where they would come out. We were just in time and as soon as we got to the gate and caught our breath, they popped out. I was so happy to see them. I had been talking to Ladeeda on the phone almost everyday the week before they arrived trying to convince her that she was going to want to stay longer than planned with us. She was excited, but I don't think that she bought it. ;)
We drove home, and I pointed out some of my favorite landmarks, such as the upside down old expo building, the star wars droid looking building, and all 10000 apartment buildings we passed. We were all a little bit squeezed into the car, Dad and Bob in the front, Kayce in one of the middle seats, a big blue tub in the other, and Everett, Ladeeda and I in the back. And don't forget the three big suitcases in the very back. We drove to pick up Mom from work, and we had to shift. Kayce was now sitting next to me in the back with Everett on her lap, and Mom was sitting in the middle where Kayce was. We made it to the apartment, and ate some dinner. We all went to bad shortly after because we all had had a big day. I was on the couch, Everett was in my parents room, and Ladeeda and Kayce were in Everett's and I's room.
Day 2
When we all woke up, we had some of the cereal that was brought from home. (Blueberry shredded wheat <3 <3, and peanut butter cheerios <3) Then Ladeeda, Kayce, Mom and I hopped into the car, and Bob drove us to the dress warehouse where they put the final touches onto dresses waiting to be shipped to designer stores in other countries. You can try any of them on, and buy them for very inexpensive prices. We tried on several dresses, but we were mainly here to help Kayce look for a prom dress. She did find one that she wounded up getting, a cobalt blue mermaid style dress with droopy straps that rested around her biceps. It was beautiful. I should know, for it hung in my closet for a week! :)))
Then once we were done, Bob took us back to the apartment where we picked up Dad and Everett. Then we took the subway to People's Park, and People's square. We stopped into People's park to get a molasses figure on a stick, and then we walked across the street to the pedestrian road. We walked, window shopped, observed, and smelled some great food. Then Dad took the subway home and the rest of us took the subway to Yuyuan Gardens. We walked through the temple inside, ate squid on a stick bathed in spices ( A first for me :D), bought some souvenirs, and admired all of the beauty. We then realized how hungry we were and took the subway to West Nanjing Station, which lets us out right into Food alley. We decided on the Gourmet Noddle House, and had some delicious noodles, dumplings, and rice. We walked home and crashed almost immediately.
Day 3
We all woke up in good spirits from the night before, and Everett was excited to go to his swim lessons. He extremely enjoys them, but often comes home saying, "It was good, but I got cold at the end.". It is twice as funny when his teeth are chattering when he is saying it. After he had had a bath to get all of the chlorine off his skin and out of his hair, we headed to Carrefour.
We began by getting lunch at the food court in the basement. You can choose from a variety of delicious options, such as dumplings, noodles, tapas, mini hot pot, rice, a communal huge bowl of meat and veggies cooked in spices, buns, soup buns, and many more. I usually get noodles, and some buns with meat and soupy broth inside. Mom and Everett get bowls of broccoli, cauliflower, rice, dumplings, and some buns. Dad gets a spicy mix of noodles, meat, and veggies on a steaming skillet. Ladeeda got some steamed veggies, and Kayce got some delicious beef green curry.
Then we began to shop upstairs.We got several household items, lots of fruit, other food that we needed, and got some food that Ladeeda and Kayce would take home. That lasted till about 2:30 or 3:00. We took the food home, unloaded it, and got into our church clothes. Bob dropped us off at church in the rain, and we walked quickly in. We had a bit of a mix up finding each other at the end, but we all ended up in the van, safe and sound, which is most important. We headed home, and Mom made dinner, and we went to bed.
Day 4
Mom had to go to work early, so after we were all up and fed and dressed, Bob took us to the Shanghai Museum. We started at the bottom and worked our way up, going through lots of exhibits of traditional clothing, jewelry, pottery, furniture, statues, and paintings. We finished up about noon, and took the subway to food alley where we had lunch with Julia, one of my Mom's work colleagues. We got there, and Mom and Julia had already arrived and ordered. We had spicy noodles, broccoli with a crab sauce, Shanghai style pork, which is sweeter, fish, with bones, which I did not appreciate, but the actual fish meat was good and crispy, and some other food. I couldn't stop laughing when Kayce used her chopsticks like a fork to spin the noodles around and move them to her plate. It was great.
When we finished, Julia and Mom went back to work, and we took the subway again, but this time we went tot the fake market. Ladeeda and Kayce had a lot of gifts and souvenirs to get. Ladeeda and Kayce decided they were going to just use me as their secret weapon in the bargaining field. I started my time of duty by helping Ladeeda get some scarfs for some of her friends and of course, one for herself. She got a beautiful thick scarf for chilly weather, as well as some colorful silk scarfs for the friends. I helped Kayce gets some Fake black Yeezys, some make-up, some face masks, and some fake wine colored converse. There was probably more that she got, but I forgot. Ladeeda got a lot of stuff like, silk pajamas for the boys, a red knit string key chain that means good luck for Megan Robinson, Qipaos for the girls, ties for Uncle Ronnie, and some other stuff.
We stopped at Family Mart for some buns, which were delicious,as always, :p and headed back to the subway station. Everyone had had a great day, but it was not quite over yet. We had Chinese class. Our teacher, li feng, came and gave Ladeeda and Kayce an introductory lesson, instead of working with us on the material that was scheduled for My mom, dad and I. We ate some dinner that Mom cooked, and went to sleep,
Day 5
We woke up the next morning and hopped into the car with Bob. Bob took us across the Huangpu river to the Puxi side of Shanghai. We live, and had been doing activities on the Pudong side of the river, not the Puxi side. He dropped us off at the beginning of the Bund, and we let Ladeeda and Kayce do the walking tour in our Lonely Planet book. We took pictures, walked through a tiny little free museum depicting the story and evolution of the Bund. We admired this beautiful city from the other side where we could see the skyline with the Shanghai Tower, the Space noodle, (Oriental Pearl TV tower, the bottle opener building, and the ball point pen building. We walked, observed, and laughed our way to the end of the Bund. Then Dad let me pick where we got to eat lunch!
At the Bund, you get people wanting to take a picture with you every now and then, but we had a few encounters to remember that day. There were at least 3 photo shoots of Everett and some little girl posing together hugging, posing, and doing cool signs with their hands. And E is just pretty much used to it now, and actually started crying the other day because someone wanted to take a picture with me instead of him. I did not feel bad at all when he was whining, "But I wanted them to take a picture with me, not you,". There was also an encounter to remember with me in it too. We were walking, and we passed a young couple and their baby, and I smiled and waved at the baby who smiled back, and the Mom saw. She just walked up to me, and handed me the Baby! Didn't even say anything, just handed me the baby, and we posed for a picture. It was so fun and adorable, and I love how people just hand their kids to strangers for a picture. I am not sure if I could do the same...
We walked down a little side street far enough to get out of the tourist food area, and I settled on a little restaurant. Everyone made great choices, on what to eat. I did not see anything on the meal section of the menu that I wanted, so I turned to the appetizer section, and just ordered one plate of rice, and one plate of spring rolls, and that was my lunch, and I was content. :) After we finished up our lunch,we walked for a few minutes past some little shops, where I got Maggie some cool pencils, and Kayce got a pin to add to her collection. There is this thing I do, wherever I go, if I see a cool writing utensil, I get it for Maggie, because she has a love of drawing, and cool pencil. I got her a charcoal pencil wrapped in newspaper, it looked so cool. I think she will love it. And if she is reading this, I just spoiled it, but there will be others :p.
We walked back to the Bund, and bought tickets on the tram that crosses the river in an underwater tunnel back to the Pudong side of Shanghai. We went from there t the Shanghai tower, the 2nd tallest building in the world, behind the tower in Dubai. We bought tickets, and took the world's fastest elevator to the top. We went up 118 floors in about 30 seconds. It made my ears pop!We were packed in like sardines, and sent up. I felt like I was in a Willy Wonka movie. Once we reached the top, it was so bright that it was almost blinding when you first step off of the elevator and around the corner. It is also very warm in there because of all of the sunlight. There was so much to see, and it filled me with awe to see how huge and beautiful this city is. And the river, oh, it looked like liquid silver glimmering more than a diamond encrusted necklace.
We took the subway home after shooting down in the elevator. We went to Hot pot after that, and it was just as yummy as it was the first time, maybe even more. I think Everett had more fun this time, because he was not so sleepy. Last time he drop and broke a teacup, and fell asleep on Mom half way through the meal. Once we got home, Kayce, Ladeeda, and I went to food alley hoping for some Ice cream, but the shop that sells the bubble cones was closed, so Kayce got some from somewhere else, and Ladeeda and I decided to come again another night, but much earlier. We headed home, and went to bed quickly, for we had had a big day.
Day 6
This morning, we woke up earlier than all of the other days so that we could get on the road at 8 am. We were going to Suzhou, a water town about an hour and a half away. We stopped only once, so everyone could use the bathroom, and so that I could get a coke because my stomach was turning from sitting in the very back seat. I have learned through my China experience, that I cannot sit in the very back of a van for longer than 20 or 30 minutes, or I will get sick. This is new to me, considering I have never experienced any kind of motion or car sickness previously. I switched to the middle seat for the remainder of the trip.
We drove to the center of the town, to the tiger hill pagoda. It is a 7 story pagoda on top of a beautiful hill. We payed to get in, and decided to get to the entrance by horse and cart. There was one up for rent right at the beginning, and we hopped in. I had a bit of a misunderstanding, because I thought that the poor horse was going to have to pull all 5 of us, including the driver, up the whole hill all the way to the pagoda. I was not okay with that, and was threatening to hop out and walk next to it. But luckily for me, (and the horse) it just pulled us to the entrance, where you start walking up the hill. I even got the driver to get out and stand next to the cart and horse for a Polaroid picture. He thought that the picture was the bee's knees!! We started climbing, and were awed with all of the the greenery, flowers, and rockery. There were steps up and down swerving like a maze. We took it slow and eventually found our way to the top. The pagoda was so amazing, seven stories of rocks, and bricks, and cement, and made by man. It was definitely a heart stopper.
We walked around, climbed through rocks, and tunnels until we needed to find a place to eat. We walked back down, and, after some confusion, we got to a restaurant, and Bob stayed with us to translate, and eat with us. We had chosen a fish and noodle restaurant. Bob translated for us, and we got ordered. I like the system of this place. You get a identical bowl of noodles bowl of noodles no matter what you get. Then whatever you ordered comes on a little side plate or bowl, and you dump it in. So if you ordered eel noodles, you would get a bowl of noodles same as everybody else's. And you would get a bowl of eel and broth to dump into your noodles. If you ordered shri mp, you got your bowl of noodles, and a plate of shrimp to put into it. I got the shrimp noodles, Everett got rice, Dad got eel and beef noodles, and Ladeeda got eel noodles, and fish noodles, and shared. I am not big on seafood that is not fish, shrimp, or crab. (Squid, eel, octopi, clams (My belief is that clam only belongs in chowder) and oysters) So whenever I was asked, I quickly turned down the offer of eel. But after everyone kept mentioning how great it was, I worked myself up to it. I ate, and I LIKED IT!!! But I was good with my shrimp after that. Bob got some sort of noodles with black mushroom, shrimp, and eel, I think. I decided that if we ever came back, that was what I would get. We still couldn't get Everett to try the eel :)
After we ate, we walked down the street to gardens with water and ancient Chinese rooms.. There were little ponds, bridges, flowers, trees, bushes, and a little breeze. Definitely one of my favorite calm and beautiful places. We spent some time there, walking, and just breathing in the beauty. Then we walked across the way to a different garden, mostly carved out of rock, with barely any water. Maybe just one little pond. This courtyard reminded me of city museum in St. Louis. There was so much rock that you could go to the top, using a little set of stairs carved in the rock, stay in the bottom caves, or walk around on the little path. That is where the only bad part of the day struck. I was walking along the path, and I tripped on one of those jagged rocks that you only see after you tripped on it, and fell right on my face. I scraped and bruised both knees pretty badly, and ripped my nice jeans. That is really what upset me most. I didn't cry, just stood up, with the help of a young Chinese couple, who were sitting on the bench I fell in front of, and walked away as fast as I could. After a while, I finally found Dad and Everett, and I told them. Dad laughed, and to my great relief, wasn't mad that the jeans were ripped. I hadn't looked at my knees yet, but Dad said I would only have to keep a band aid on it. We walked to the car after Ladee and Kayce were done.
We drove home to get ready,because we had an event to go to that night! I hopped (Maybe I limped) into the shower as fast as I could, and when I got out, everyone was almost ready! I put my red and gold Qipao on as fast as I could, along with some thick, tight tights so no one could see my knees, and so I would stay warm. I blow dried my hair as fast as I could, and was ready the exact moment that Mom got home, and said lets go. I had just enough time to swipe a gold chain head band out of my drawer to put on in the elevator to match my dress. We went to the theater attached to our building to watch an ACROBAT SHOW! I loved all of the acts, and so did everyone else. I was really entertaining. We went home after, and made sure that our bags were completely packed because we were heading to Beijing in the morning bright and early. I packed and then I crashed pretty much immediately. I was thoroughly exhausted.
Day 7
Bob dropped us of at the Hongqiao train station around 8 or 9 am. We got through security, and hopped on the train. We were taking the bullet train to Beijing. Taking the fast train turns the all day car ride into a 5 hour train ride. I couldn't look outside for too long, or I would start to get a headache. I just sat and talked with Ladeeda or the first hour. After that, I got up to have a look around. The dining room was my favorite part, thought the food and snacks were not super great. They did have to-go cups of a coffee powder, and you you a boiling water spicket to fill up the cup and make the sweetest instant coffee on earth. I ended up drinking the last half of Dad's because it was more like a hot chocolate than coffee.
I switched with Everett so I could sit with Mom and Dad for the last hour, and when we arrived, we hopped off the train, and walked up the stairs, all of us looking for our hired driver that would have Mom's name on a sign. He was alright, but not super nice. We drove to the wrong hotel, called our tour guide who we would meet tomorrow, had her check, and then talk on the phone to our driver, who then took us to the right hotel.We got adjoining rooms, one with two queens, where Ladeeda and Kayce would sleep in one bed, and Everett and I were in the other. Mom and Dad had the other room with one King. The hotel messed us up several times, so we ended up with free hotel breakfast everyday of our stay, and access to the lounge that has free meals, drink and snack almost all hours of the day. We had the good life. The only thing that I didn't like was that if you got into the great cool amazing super pool, you had to wear a swim cap. I didn't like that..
Day 8
The next morning, we got up at 7:30, had a buffet breakfast with lots of yummy food that I loved, and we were in the car with Crystal, our tour guide who would be with us every day, and our driver. Today we were going to the Great wall of China! There are two sections of the wall in China, a section is closer to the city, and that is where everyone goes.We decided to go to the section of the wall farther from the city, but fewer people. We arrived there, and walked up to the ticket gate. Crystal got our tickets, and we walked up to the tram that would take us up to the wall. It was two people to a cart. It was essentially a bench, hanging from a string, being pulled up the side of a mountain. It was one of the scariest things that I have ever experienced. We reached the top and hopped of very fast so it didn't come and smash us.
We climbed onto the great wall, and it was even more heart stopping than that measly pagoda. When we got on it, our whole China trip flashed before my eyes. H w did I get here? It was something that you only hear about, and see in pictures. This great monument and symbol in our world, ON OF THE 7 WONDERS OF OUR WORLD, and I am standing on it. It was life-changing. We climbed up and down, and took so many pictures. There were so many stairs, and they were so steep. It was flat, and then up stairs, down stairs, and flat again. We spent pretty much the whole day there. You walk and climb for a little bit, and then there is the room structure that sometimes you could get out on the top, and some times you would just walk through. Crystal said that that is where the soldiers and their families stayed. To protect their side of the wall, and make sure there were no intruders. If there was an attack or intrusion, one station would climb onto the roof, and put on a fire or light. When the other stations saw it, they would put on their lights too, and everyone would see and be ready to protect their country and their wall.
I took a million Polaroids, And two dudes held there phone out to me and Kayce with a questioning look on their faces. We thought that they wanted us to take their picture, but they wanted to take pictures with us! dad held their camera, and took the picture. Then, one man said and raised his voice with the other telling him to get out of the picture. It was hilarious!!!!
Once we established that we were done, we had the choice to take the tram down, or get on a cart, and get on a metal slide to the bottom. Everyone rushed to that. It was even better than a theme park. You had a stick to pull for the break and push to go faster. It lasted like 5 minutes. It was so long, but was so beautiful and great!! Everett rode with Mom, in front of me, and the others were behind me. We all got backed up behind these people who were going slow at one point, but we got it straitened out by the end. It was great. After that, we all split two subway sandwiches, which was the first time I have had subway since we arrived in China, and it was delicious. We drove back to the hotel after that because we were all a little tired, and we wanted some family time.
We went out and walked down a snack street, and saw some bizarre food. Like scorpions on a stick, still alive until you picked it out and the cooked it, eel on a stick, grasshoppers on a stick, dry ice drinks, and fried ice cream. We did try the fried ice cream, and it wasn't bad, just...interesting. It was a scoop of ice cream covered in lard or something white and powdered, fried, and put on top of a piece of french toast. I liked it, I just couldn't really eat very much of it :) We passed a dumpling place, and got some to refrigerate and eat the next day. We got back to the hotel, and we went up to the lounge dinner buffet because we didn't find anything that we liked or that filled us up at the snack street. I just got a soda, some sushi, and some fruit. We went back down to the room, and played sequence a couple of times, which was really fun, and then we either took showers, or went to bed. I was with the latter group.
Day 9
The next day we were out the door at 9 am again, and we only drove for a few minutes to Tiananmen Square. In 1869, there was a huge massacre there protesting communism, and eventually, tanks were brought in, and almost every protester was killed. The ones who survived are in jail to this day. It was really emotional. We saw Chairman Mao Zedong's mausoleum, which was kind of mind-boggling to see a humongous beautiful building containing nothing but his coffin. It was kind of a spooky thought. We also saw A museum just for China, and the place where the meeting of several important people had just commenced.
We took some pictures, and walked across the street to the entrance to the forbidden city, where all of the Emperors lived. There were four gates to get in, and then it was beautiful every way you turned. Colors bursting from the walls the ceilings and just everything, even the people. It was such a huge place, so may rooms, courtyards, and walkways. We admired, watched, smiled, asked questions, and listened to the stories and history of this great place from Crystal. Soon we sat down for a snack break, and Mom decided it would be best if her and Everett walked back to the hotel so Everett could rest. He was very tired, and was acting like it. So we exited, and Mom started walking back.
We had lunch at a dumpling place, and Dad gave me money, and crystal, Ladeeda, And I went up to order, Kayce and Dad saved our seats. I got Dad and I an order of three different kinds of dumplings, and a coke each. It was the perfect amount. It was yummy.
We finished, and decided to go to Summer Palace. Summer palace was probably the most beautiful place that we visited. It is a temple palace on the water that one of the Emperors built for his mother, the Dragon Lady. It had the longest ancient corridor ever made, and it was crazy long, and it had pictures hand painted on the ceiling, and no two pictures were the same. we walked along the water for a while, me blowing bubbles like nobody's business. We saw an entire boat made of marble! It was docked, and it doesn't go out or it would sink, but It was built by one of the Emperors. It was so beautiful. Then we took some pictures, and Dad got Mom and I each a hairpiece that are so beautiful. Mine has pink metal flowers and jewels on it, and it is so pretty, I love it. Mom's is green. Then we got on a dragon boat, and rode back to the exit. It was such fun and a good experience.
We had dinner at the lounge, and then I went to the pool, and swam with Everett, cam back, showered, and flopped into bed. Beijing is exhausting, but it hadn't gotten all of me yet. I was ready to make the absolute most of our day the next day! Plus, I got more sleep because we weren't getting picked up by Crystal the next day until 10 am.
Day 9
Dad, Everett and I went down for breakfast that morning before the other girls, and they were coming down after. Dad and Everett went to the bathroom while I went and sat down at our table. Hold on a second... The dude at the table next to us had the same side profile of Jim Gaffigan. Hmm, that's cool. Then, he started talking and he sounded just like him! I literally ran out of the dining room to find dad. I whispered really fast, "This dude who looks and sounds JUST like Jim Gaffigan is sitting right next to us! I think it is!" Dad was very unimpressed with it until he walked in and spotted him, and his eyes got wide, and admitted that this man with his family was indeed, Jim Gaffigan, the famous Comedian that we listen to all of the time! We all played it cool until he walked up right behind me, getting the cereal right next to mine. And i just said hello, and we chatted a bit. It was so fun! And his family was there, and I even recognized them from the commercials.
We got in the car for our last day, and drove to the Llama temple, a small, but beautiful buddhist temple. We payed our dues, and went in. We got some free incense, and got to burn it. It was such a beautiful but smoky scene. Then we walked into a room with three buddhas. One is the buddha of the past, the next is the buddha of the present, and last is the buddha of the future. Buddhists pray to everyone. In the next, and last room, is the tallest standing buddha indoors in the world. It is 18 meters high, with an additional 8 meters underground making it a total of 26 meters tall. It was a gift from the seventh Dalai Lama to the Qianlong Emperor and it took three years to transport. It was so tall that I could barely see the head. It almost went out of the temple roof!
We walked out the back, and hopped into the car. Crystal picked the lunch restaurant, and we ordered some yummy food. Lots of mushrooms, rice, meat, and spiciness. It was very good. Then we walked to the 798 Art district. The art district was formerly a factory for war weapons, but has been transformed into a district with buildings full of art, cafes, exhibits, sculptures, and stores. I got a little porcelain whistle on a string, and Mama got a little vase and a bracelet. We stopped at a really neat cafe, and got coconut lattes. They were delicious. We walked, and visited some exhibits, including one that was made to look like an old Iranian home, and had art work specific to Iran. It was so beautiful. And there was the most beautiful chandelier that I have ever seen hanging from the ceiling. Soon, it was time to go to the airport, and fly back to Shanghai. Our flight was delayed by more than an hour, and it was 11 pm before we even boarded, and almost midnight before we took off.
It was the worst flight I have ever been on.
Normally, I am a great flyer, in fact, sometimes, I prefer being in the the air rather than the ground, but it was ridiculously hot, and the drinks were warm, I couldn't sleep, the movie was making my head hurt, my legs were cramping, and getting up and walking didn't help. No one felt well. Dad had flown to Xi'an instead of Shanghai to meet up with Zach, and meet with some foundries about making some parts that Zach needs. We Landed at 2 am, and Bob picked us up. Luckily, I was able to sleep on the 45 minute drive home. We walked like Zombies to bed, and I didn't get up until 11 am the next morning :p
Day 10
I woke up late the next morning, and it was almost time for lunch. We had leftovers, and then we went out for ice cream. We got bubble cones. Ladeeda and Everett shared one with mangoes on it, and Kayce and I shared one with strawberries.
We walked home, and at around 3:30, Mom got off work, and we all went back to the Fake Market to get some things that Ladeeda had forgotten, or still needed. We also went into the pearl market, and all got something there. (Except Everett) Mom got a necklace and some rings, Kayce got a ring, Ladeeda got a ring, and I got a little ring with one jewel and a little pearl on it.
We hung out for the rest of the day at home, and the next day. On the next day, at around 4 pm, they flew back home. It made me so sad. I had had an amazing time when they were here. I would remember it forever. I love you Ladeeda and Kayce! <3
We drove home, and I pointed out some of my favorite landmarks, such as the upside down old expo building, the star wars droid looking building, and all 10000 apartment buildings we passed. We were all a little bit squeezed into the car, Dad and Bob in the front, Kayce in one of the middle seats, a big blue tub in the other, and Everett, Ladeeda and I in the back. And don't forget the three big suitcases in the very back. We drove to pick up Mom from work, and we had to shift. Kayce was now sitting next to me in the back with Everett on her lap, and Mom was sitting in the middle where Kayce was. We made it to the apartment, and ate some dinner. We all went to bad shortly after because we all had had a big day. I was on the couch, Everett was in my parents room, and Ladeeda and Kayce were in Everett's and I's room.
Day 2
When we all woke up, we had some of the cereal that was brought from home. (Blueberry shredded wheat <3 <3, and peanut butter cheerios <3) Then Ladeeda, Kayce, Mom and I hopped into the car, and Bob drove us to the dress warehouse where they put the final touches onto dresses waiting to be shipped to designer stores in other countries. You can try any of them on, and buy them for very inexpensive prices. We tried on several dresses, but we were mainly here to help Kayce look for a prom dress. She did find one that she wounded up getting, a cobalt blue mermaid style dress with droopy straps that rested around her biceps. It was beautiful. I should know, for it hung in my closet for a week! :)))
Then once we were done, Bob took us back to the apartment where we picked up Dad and Everett. Then we took the subway to People's Park, and People's square. We stopped into People's park to get a molasses figure on a stick, and then we walked across the street to the pedestrian road. We walked, window shopped, observed, and smelled some great food. Then Dad took the subway home and the rest of us took the subway to Yuyuan Gardens. We walked through the temple inside, ate squid on a stick bathed in spices ( A first for me :D), bought some souvenirs, and admired all of the beauty. We then realized how hungry we were and took the subway to West Nanjing Station, which lets us out right into Food alley. We decided on the Gourmet Noddle House, and had some delicious noodles, dumplings, and rice. We walked home and crashed almost immediately.
Day 3
We all woke up in good spirits from the night before, and Everett was excited to go to his swim lessons. He extremely enjoys them, but often comes home saying, "It was good, but I got cold at the end.". It is twice as funny when his teeth are chattering when he is saying it. After he had had a bath to get all of the chlorine off his skin and out of his hair, we headed to Carrefour.
We began by getting lunch at the food court in the basement. You can choose from a variety of delicious options, such as dumplings, noodles, tapas, mini hot pot, rice, a communal huge bowl of meat and veggies cooked in spices, buns, soup buns, and many more. I usually get noodles, and some buns with meat and soupy broth inside. Mom and Everett get bowls of broccoli, cauliflower, rice, dumplings, and some buns. Dad gets a spicy mix of noodles, meat, and veggies on a steaming skillet. Ladeeda got some steamed veggies, and Kayce got some delicious beef green curry.
Then we began to shop upstairs.We got several household items, lots of fruit, other food that we needed, and got some food that Ladeeda and Kayce would take home. That lasted till about 2:30 or 3:00. We took the food home, unloaded it, and got into our church clothes. Bob dropped us off at church in the rain, and we walked quickly in. We had a bit of a mix up finding each other at the end, but we all ended up in the van, safe and sound, which is most important. We headed home, and Mom made dinner, and we went to bed.
Day 4
Mom had to go to work early, so after we were all up and fed and dressed, Bob took us to the Shanghai Museum. We started at the bottom and worked our way up, going through lots of exhibits of traditional clothing, jewelry, pottery, furniture, statues, and paintings. We finished up about noon, and took the subway to food alley where we had lunch with Julia, one of my Mom's work colleagues. We got there, and Mom and Julia had already arrived and ordered. We had spicy noodles, broccoli with a crab sauce, Shanghai style pork, which is sweeter, fish, with bones, which I did not appreciate, but the actual fish meat was good and crispy, and some other food. I couldn't stop laughing when Kayce used her chopsticks like a fork to spin the noodles around and move them to her plate. It was great.
When we finished, Julia and Mom went back to work, and we took the subway again, but this time we went tot the fake market. Ladeeda and Kayce had a lot of gifts and souvenirs to get. Ladeeda and Kayce decided they were going to just use me as their secret weapon in the bargaining field. I started my time of duty by helping Ladeeda get some scarfs for some of her friends and of course, one for herself. She got a beautiful thick scarf for chilly weather, as well as some colorful silk scarfs for the friends. I helped Kayce gets some Fake black Yeezys, some make-up, some face masks, and some fake wine colored converse. There was probably more that she got, but I forgot. Ladeeda got a lot of stuff like, silk pajamas for the boys, a red knit string key chain that means good luck for Megan Robinson, Qipaos for the girls, ties for Uncle Ronnie, and some other stuff.
We stopped at Family Mart for some buns, which were delicious,as always, :p and headed back to the subway station. Everyone had had a great day, but it was not quite over yet. We had Chinese class. Our teacher, li feng, came and gave Ladeeda and Kayce an introductory lesson, instead of working with us on the material that was scheduled for My mom, dad and I. We ate some dinner that Mom cooked, and went to sleep,
Day 5
We woke up the next morning and hopped into the car with Bob. Bob took us across the Huangpu river to the Puxi side of Shanghai. We live, and had been doing activities on the Pudong side of the river, not the Puxi side. He dropped us off at the beginning of the Bund, and we let Ladeeda and Kayce do the walking tour in our Lonely Planet book. We took pictures, walked through a tiny little free museum depicting the story and evolution of the Bund. We admired this beautiful city from the other side where we could see the skyline with the Shanghai Tower, the Space noodle, (Oriental Pearl TV tower, the bottle opener building, and the ball point pen building. We walked, observed, and laughed our way to the end of the Bund. Then Dad let me pick where we got to eat lunch!
At the Bund, you get people wanting to take a picture with you every now and then, but we had a few encounters to remember that day. There were at least 3 photo shoots of Everett and some little girl posing together hugging, posing, and doing cool signs with their hands. And E is just pretty much used to it now, and actually started crying the other day because someone wanted to take a picture with me instead of him. I did not feel bad at all when he was whining, "But I wanted them to take a picture with me, not you,". There was also an encounter to remember with me in it too. We were walking, and we passed a young couple and their baby, and I smiled and waved at the baby who smiled back, and the Mom saw. She just walked up to me, and handed me the Baby! Didn't even say anything, just handed me the baby, and we posed for a picture. It was so fun and adorable, and I love how people just hand their kids to strangers for a picture. I am not sure if I could do the same...
We walked down a little side street far enough to get out of the tourist food area, and I settled on a little restaurant. Everyone made great choices, on what to eat. I did not see anything on the meal section of the menu that I wanted, so I turned to the appetizer section, and just ordered one plate of rice, and one plate of spring rolls, and that was my lunch, and I was content. :) After we finished up our lunch,we walked for a few minutes past some little shops, where I got Maggie some cool pencils, and Kayce got a pin to add to her collection. There is this thing I do, wherever I go, if I see a cool writing utensil, I get it for Maggie, because she has a love of drawing, and cool pencil. I got her a charcoal pencil wrapped in newspaper, it looked so cool. I think she will love it. And if she is reading this, I just spoiled it, but there will be others :p.
We walked back to the Bund, and bought tickets on the tram that crosses the river in an underwater tunnel back to the Pudong side of Shanghai. We went from there t the Shanghai tower, the 2nd tallest building in the world, behind the tower in Dubai. We bought tickets, and took the world's fastest elevator to the top. We went up 118 floors in about 30 seconds. It made my ears pop!We were packed in like sardines, and sent up. I felt like I was in a Willy Wonka movie. Once we reached the top, it was so bright that it was almost blinding when you first step off of the elevator and around the corner. It is also very warm in there because of all of the sunlight. There was so much to see, and it filled me with awe to see how huge and beautiful this city is. And the river, oh, it looked like liquid silver glimmering more than a diamond encrusted necklace.
We took the subway home after shooting down in the elevator. We went to Hot pot after that, and it was just as yummy as it was the first time, maybe even more. I think Everett had more fun this time, because he was not so sleepy. Last time he drop and broke a teacup, and fell asleep on Mom half way through the meal. Once we got home, Kayce, Ladeeda, and I went to food alley hoping for some Ice cream, but the shop that sells the bubble cones was closed, so Kayce got some from somewhere else, and Ladeeda and I decided to come again another night, but much earlier. We headed home, and went to bed quickly, for we had had a big day.
Day 6
This morning, we woke up earlier than all of the other days so that we could get on the road at 8 am. We were going to Suzhou, a water town about an hour and a half away. We stopped only once, so everyone could use the bathroom, and so that I could get a coke because my stomach was turning from sitting in the very back seat. I have learned through my China experience, that I cannot sit in the very back of a van for longer than 20 or 30 minutes, or I will get sick. This is new to me, considering I have never experienced any kind of motion or car sickness previously. I switched to the middle seat for the remainder of the trip.
We drove to the center of the town, to the tiger hill pagoda. It is a 7 story pagoda on top of a beautiful hill. We payed to get in, and decided to get to the entrance by horse and cart. There was one up for rent right at the beginning, and we hopped in. I had a bit of a misunderstanding, because I thought that the poor horse was going to have to pull all 5 of us, including the driver, up the whole hill all the way to the pagoda. I was not okay with that, and was threatening to hop out and walk next to it. But luckily for me, (and the horse) it just pulled us to the entrance, where you start walking up the hill. I even got the driver to get out and stand next to the cart and horse for a Polaroid picture. He thought that the picture was the bee's knees!! We started climbing, and were awed with all of the the greenery, flowers, and rockery. There were steps up and down swerving like a maze. We took it slow and eventually found our way to the top. The pagoda was so amazing, seven stories of rocks, and bricks, and cement, and made by man. It was definitely a heart stopper.
We walked around, climbed through rocks, and tunnels until we needed to find a place to eat. We walked back down, and, after some confusion, we got to a restaurant, and Bob stayed with us to translate, and eat with us. We had chosen a fish and noodle restaurant. Bob translated for us, and we got ordered. I like the system of this place. You get a identical bowl of noodles bowl of noodles no matter what you get. Then whatever you ordered comes on a little side plate or bowl, and you dump it in. So if you ordered eel noodles, you would get a bowl of noodles same as everybody else's. And you would get a bowl of eel and broth to dump into your noodles. If you ordered shri mp, you got your bowl of noodles, and a plate of shrimp to put into it. I got the shrimp noodles, Everett got rice, Dad got eel and beef noodles, and Ladeeda got eel noodles, and fish noodles, and shared. I am not big on seafood that is not fish, shrimp, or crab. (Squid, eel, octopi, clams (My belief is that clam only belongs in chowder) and oysters) So whenever I was asked, I quickly turned down the offer of eel. But after everyone kept mentioning how great it was, I worked myself up to it. I ate, and I LIKED IT!!! But I was good with my shrimp after that. Bob got some sort of noodles with black mushroom, shrimp, and eel, I think. I decided that if we ever came back, that was what I would get. We still couldn't get Everett to try the eel :)
After we ate, we walked down the street to gardens with water and ancient Chinese rooms.. There were little ponds, bridges, flowers, trees, bushes, and a little breeze. Definitely one of my favorite calm and beautiful places. We spent some time there, walking, and just breathing in the beauty. Then we walked across the way to a different garden, mostly carved out of rock, with barely any water. Maybe just one little pond. This courtyard reminded me of city museum in St. Louis. There was so much rock that you could go to the top, using a little set of stairs carved in the rock, stay in the bottom caves, or walk around on the little path. That is where the only bad part of the day struck. I was walking along the path, and I tripped on one of those jagged rocks that you only see after you tripped on it, and fell right on my face. I scraped and bruised both knees pretty badly, and ripped my nice jeans. That is really what upset me most. I didn't cry, just stood up, with the help of a young Chinese couple, who were sitting on the bench I fell in front of, and walked away as fast as I could. After a while, I finally found Dad and Everett, and I told them. Dad laughed, and to my great relief, wasn't mad that the jeans were ripped. I hadn't looked at my knees yet, but Dad said I would only have to keep a band aid on it. We walked to the car after Ladee and Kayce were done.
We drove home to get ready,because we had an event to go to that night! I hopped (Maybe I limped) into the shower as fast as I could, and when I got out, everyone was almost ready! I put my red and gold Qipao on as fast as I could, along with some thick, tight tights so no one could see my knees, and so I would stay warm. I blow dried my hair as fast as I could, and was ready the exact moment that Mom got home, and said lets go. I had just enough time to swipe a gold chain head band out of my drawer to put on in the elevator to match my dress. We went to the theater attached to our building to watch an ACROBAT SHOW! I loved all of the acts, and so did everyone else. I was really entertaining. We went home after, and made sure that our bags were completely packed because we were heading to Beijing in the morning bright and early. I packed and then I crashed pretty much immediately. I was thoroughly exhausted.
Day 7
Bob dropped us of at the Hongqiao train station around 8 or 9 am. We got through security, and hopped on the train. We were taking the bullet train to Beijing. Taking the fast train turns the all day car ride into a 5 hour train ride. I couldn't look outside for too long, or I would start to get a headache. I just sat and talked with Ladeeda or the first hour. After that, I got up to have a look around. The dining room was my favorite part, thought the food and snacks were not super great. They did have to-go cups of a coffee powder, and you you a boiling water spicket to fill up the cup and make the sweetest instant coffee on earth. I ended up drinking the last half of Dad's because it was more like a hot chocolate than coffee.
I switched with Everett so I could sit with Mom and Dad for the last hour, and when we arrived, we hopped off the train, and walked up the stairs, all of us looking for our hired driver that would have Mom's name on a sign. He was alright, but not super nice. We drove to the wrong hotel, called our tour guide who we would meet tomorrow, had her check, and then talk on the phone to our driver, who then took us to the right hotel.We got adjoining rooms, one with two queens, where Ladeeda and Kayce would sleep in one bed, and Everett and I were in the other. Mom and Dad had the other room with one King. The hotel messed us up several times, so we ended up with free hotel breakfast everyday of our stay, and access to the lounge that has free meals, drink and snack almost all hours of the day. We had the good life. The only thing that I didn't like was that if you got into the great cool amazing super pool, you had to wear a swim cap. I didn't like that..
Day 8
The next morning, we got up at 7:30, had a buffet breakfast with lots of yummy food that I loved, and we were in the car with Crystal, our tour guide who would be with us every day, and our driver. Today we were going to the Great wall of China! There are two sections of the wall in China, a section is closer to the city, and that is where everyone goes.We decided to go to the section of the wall farther from the city, but fewer people. We arrived there, and walked up to the ticket gate. Crystal got our tickets, and we walked up to the tram that would take us up to the wall. It was two people to a cart. It was essentially a bench, hanging from a string, being pulled up the side of a mountain. It was one of the scariest things that I have ever experienced. We reached the top and hopped of very fast so it didn't come and smash us.
We climbed onto the great wall, and it was even more heart stopping than that measly pagoda. When we got on it, our whole China trip flashed before my eyes. H w did I get here? It was something that you only hear about, and see in pictures. This great monument and symbol in our world, ON OF THE 7 WONDERS OF OUR WORLD, and I am standing on it. It was life-changing. We climbed up and down, and took so many pictures. There were so many stairs, and they were so steep. It was flat, and then up stairs, down stairs, and flat again. We spent pretty much the whole day there. You walk and climb for a little bit, and then there is the room structure that sometimes you could get out on the top, and some times you would just walk through. Crystal said that that is where the soldiers and their families stayed. To protect their side of the wall, and make sure there were no intruders. If there was an attack or intrusion, one station would climb onto the roof, and put on a fire or light. When the other stations saw it, they would put on their lights too, and everyone would see and be ready to protect their country and their wall.
I took a million Polaroids, And two dudes held there phone out to me and Kayce with a questioning look on their faces. We thought that they wanted us to take their picture, but they wanted to take pictures with us! dad held their camera, and took the picture. Then, one man said and raised his voice with the other telling him to get out of the picture. It was hilarious!!!!
Once we established that we were done, we had the choice to take the tram down, or get on a cart, and get on a metal slide to the bottom. Everyone rushed to that. It was even better than a theme park. You had a stick to pull for the break and push to go faster. It lasted like 5 minutes. It was so long, but was so beautiful and great!! Everett rode with Mom, in front of me, and the others were behind me. We all got backed up behind these people who were going slow at one point, but we got it straitened out by the end. It was great. After that, we all split two subway sandwiches, which was the first time I have had subway since we arrived in China, and it was delicious. We drove back to the hotel after that because we were all a little tired, and we wanted some family time.
We went out and walked down a snack street, and saw some bizarre food. Like scorpions on a stick, still alive until you picked it out and the cooked it, eel on a stick, grasshoppers on a stick, dry ice drinks, and fried ice cream. We did try the fried ice cream, and it wasn't bad, just...interesting. It was a scoop of ice cream covered in lard or something white and powdered, fried, and put on top of a piece of french toast. I liked it, I just couldn't really eat very much of it :) We passed a dumpling place, and got some to refrigerate and eat the next day. We got back to the hotel, and we went up to the lounge dinner buffet because we didn't find anything that we liked or that filled us up at the snack street. I just got a soda, some sushi, and some fruit. We went back down to the room, and played sequence a couple of times, which was really fun, and then we either took showers, or went to bed. I was with the latter group.
Day 9
The next day we were out the door at 9 am again, and we only drove for a few minutes to Tiananmen Square. In 1869, there was a huge massacre there protesting communism, and eventually, tanks were brought in, and almost every protester was killed. The ones who survived are in jail to this day. It was really emotional. We saw Chairman Mao Zedong's mausoleum, which was kind of mind-boggling to see a humongous beautiful building containing nothing but his coffin. It was kind of a spooky thought. We also saw A museum just for China, and the place where the meeting of several important people had just commenced.
We took some pictures, and walked across the street to the entrance to the forbidden city, where all of the Emperors lived. There were four gates to get in, and then it was beautiful every way you turned. Colors bursting from the walls the ceilings and just everything, even the people. It was such a huge place, so may rooms, courtyards, and walkways. We admired, watched, smiled, asked questions, and listened to the stories and history of this great place from Crystal. Soon we sat down for a snack break, and Mom decided it would be best if her and Everett walked back to the hotel so Everett could rest. He was very tired, and was acting like it. So we exited, and Mom started walking back.
We had lunch at a dumpling place, and Dad gave me money, and crystal, Ladeeda, And I went up to order, Kayce and Dad saved our seats. I got Dad and I an order of three different kinds of dumplings, and a coke each. It was the perfect amount. It was yummy.
We finished, and decided to go to Summer Palace. Summer palace was probably the most beautiful place that we visited. It is a temple palace on the water that one of the Emperors built for his mother, the Dragon Lady. It had the longest ancient corridor ever made, and it was crazy long, and it had pictures hand painted on the ceiling, and no two pictures were the same. we walked along the water for a while, me blowing bubbles like nobody's business. We saw an entire boat made of marble! It was docked, and it doesn't go out or it would sink, but It was built by one of the Emperors. It was so beautiful. Then we took some pictures, and Dad got Mom and I each a hairpiece that are so beautiful. Mine has pink metal flowers and jewels on it, and it is so pretty, I love it. Mom's is green. Then we got on a dragon boat, and rode back to the exit. It was such fun and a good experience.
We had dinner at the lounge, and then I went to the pool, and swam with Everett, cam back, showered, and flopped into bed. Beijing is exhausting, but it hadn't gotten all of me yet. I was ready to make the absolute most of our day the next day! Plus, I got more sleep because we weren't getting picked up by Crystal the next day until 10 am.
Day 9
Dad, Everett and I went down for breakfast that morning before the other girls, and they were coming down after. Dad and Everett went to the bathroom while I went and sat down at our table. Hold on a second... The dude at the table next to us had the same side profile of Jim Gaffigan. Hmm, that's cool. Then, he started talking and he sounded just like him! I literally ran out of the dining room to find dad. I whispered really fast, "This dude who looks and sounds JUST like Jim Gaffigan is sitting right next to us! I think it is!" Dad was very unimpressed with it until he walked in and spotted him, and his eyes got wide, and admitted that this man with his family was indeed, Jim Gaffigan, the famous Comedian that we listen to all of the time! We all played it cool until he walked up right behind me, getting the cereal right next to mine. And i just said hello, and we chatted a bit. It was so fun! And his family was there, and I even recognized them from the commercials.
We got in the car for our last day, and drove to the Llama temple, a small, but beautiful buddhist temple. We payed our dues, and went in. We got some free incense, and got to burn it. It was such a beautiful but smoky scene. Then we walked into a room with three buddhas. One is the buddha of the past, the next is the buddha of the present, and last is the buddha of the future. Buddhists pray to everyone. In the next, and last room, is the tallest standing buddha indoors in the world. It is 18 meters high, with an additional 8 meters underground making it a total of 26 meters tall. It was a gift from the seventh Dalai Lama to the Qianlong Emperor and it took three years to transport. It was so tall that I could barely see the head. It almost went out of the temple roof!
We walked out the back, and hopped into the car. Crystal picked the lunch restaurant, and we ordered some yummy food. Lots of mushrooms, rice, meat, and spiciness. It was very good. Then we walked to the 798 Art district. The art district was formerly a factory for war weapons, but has been transformed into a district with buildings full of art, cafes, exhibits, sculptures, and stores. I got a little porcelain whistle on a string, and Mama got a little vase and a bracelet. We stopped at a really neat cafe, and got coconut lattes. They were delicious. We walked, and visited some exhibits, including one that was made to look like an old Iranian home, and had art work specific to Iran. It was so beautiful. And there was the most beautiful chandelier that I have ever seen hanging from the ceiling. Soon, it was time to go to the airport, and fly back to Shanghai. Our flight was delayed by more than an hour, and it was 11 pm before we even boarded, and almost midnight before we took off.
It was the worst flight I have ever been on.
Normally, I am a great flyer, in fact, sometimes, I prefer being in the the air rather than the ground, but it was ridiculously hot, and the drinks were warm, I couldn't sleep, the movie was making my head hurt, my legs were cramping, and getting up and walking didn't help. No one felt well. Dad had flown to Xi'an instead of Shanghai to meet up with Zach, and meet with some foundries about making some parts that Zach needs. We Landed at 2 am, and Bob picked us up. Luckily, I was able to sleep on the 45 minute drive home. We walked like Zombies to bed, and I didn't get up until 11 am the next morning :p
Day 10
I woke up late the next morning, and it was almost time for lunch. We had leftovers, and then we went out for ice cream. We got bubble cones. Ladeeda and Everett shared one with mangoes on it, and Kayce and I shared one with strawberries.
We walked home, and at around 3:30, Mom got off work, and we all went back to the Fake Market to get some things that Ladeeda had forgotten, or still needed. We also went into the pearl market, and all got something there. (Except Everett) Mom got a necklace and some rings, Kayce got a ring, Ladeeda got a ring, and I got a little ring with one jewel and a little pearl on it.
We hung out for the rest of the day at home, and the next day. On the next day, at around 4 pm, they flew back home. It made me so sad. I had had an amazing time when they were here. I would remember it forever. I love you Ladeeda and Kayce! <3
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