Daniel and Ashley

Shanghai Part 4

2012-02-06T17:01:00.001+08:00

On our last day in Shanghai we saw the Jade Buddha Temple and the Xuhuijia Catholic Cathedral.

Warrior guardian.

This temple was much more crowded and popular than the other one.

This statue was awesome. Super expensive, but really cool.

Carved from a single piece of wood and containing 18 Buddhas.

Lanterns up for new years.

Koi pond.

The larger the fish, the older the fish. That really big one is probably close to 100 years old, according to the Chinese.

Xuhuijia Catholic Cathedral.

This guy was the "bouncer." According to the laws of China, Chinese nationals and foreign nationals are not allowed to meet together for religious purposes. There was a Chinese mass in session and so as foreign nationals we weren't allowed to go in the cathedral at the time. He was there to make sure we followed the rules. We would have waited, but it was close to time to head to the airport.

We flew back to Xiamen late that night. According to Chinese custom, our flight was delayed. We got back to Xiamen around 1 am and asleep around 2. Long day.

Shanghai was good. I'm glad we went, but I'm not sure I have to go back. I'll go back with family if they come visit, but Daniel and I are up for a new adventure!

Shanghai Part 3

2012-02-05T20:48:00.003+08:00

The next day we went to The Bund and the Jing'An Temple.

The Bund is the waterfront area along the Huangpu River which winds through the middle of Shanghai. From the Bund you can see the newer part of the Shanghai. The Bund is where the banks and businesses set up business in the early 1900s. Most of the buildings are around 100 years old or so. It was nice, but it was super cold with the wind coming off the river.

Pizza Hut, a Brazilian Grill, and two Chinese restaurants.

Cables lines still used for trolleys and buses today.

We thought the statue was Mao. It wasn't. But interesting anyway.

Some of the building.

The obne with the clock tower is a bank.

The newer side of the river. The large needle looking thing is the radio broadcast tower. The one that is to the right of center, with a gap and a bridge is the tallest building in mainland China.

We were cold.

Built in 1906.

The Bund is now a place of banking and expensive stores.

Then we went to the Jing'an Temple

The wood is all Myanmar Camphor wood. Expensive.

A solid silver Buddha that weighs over 15 ton.

It was pretty cool.

Shanghai Part 2

2012-02-01T15:55:00.003+08:00

We did a lot, so this first day is broken into pieces.

After the gardens we to lunch. The girls took us for the Shanghai special. Xiao long ba. They are small dumplings with various things inside.

This is the large one. It was crab, I think. You drink the juices out then eat the dumpling. There was way too much fishy flavored juice in this one. And almost no meat. Didn't love it.

Dumpling and broth. This one was pretty good. The broth was pretty bland though.

Egg "rolls" - triangles. They were yummy, but super oily.

This was the part I loved. These are xiao long ba. We got three different kinds.

Then we went to People's square and wandered around parts of downtown.

Huan, Ashley, Claire.

They told us to strike a pose. So there you go.

The coins was one of our favorite parts of the museum of Shanghai.

Because of the year of the dragon. This was in part of the museum with the various ethnic groups in China. There are over 40. I can't remember exactly. It was cool to see.

The next day we were on our own. Check back tomorrow.

Because China

2012-01-31T15:00:00.000+08:00

Daniel likes to spend time trolling a website called Reddit. Lots of interesting things. One day he found this article about China. We laughed so hard, because it's so true. So True. Enjoy.

From now on my answer will be: Because China.
I've just pasted it here.

Here you go:

"Because China" is the only way to put it.

Last week I was in an elevator at 3pm with some nice people, patiently going downwards, stopping at every other floor for no reason because when most people in Guiyang want to call an elevator they hit both up and down regardless of which way they want to go (because China). Then the elevator suddenly dropped a foot or so (felt like way farther, but couldn't have been more than that), then shot to the 26th floor, then shot down to floor 1. We exited, confused and frightened, and a nice repairman explained that he assumed it was empty and was just about to do some repairs. Why would he assume that? Because China.

I went to a Pizza Hut with some friends a few days ago. (The Pizza Hut in Guiyang is one of the nicest restaurants in the city, partially because Chinese Pizza Huts are really nice places, and partially because Guiyang is a wasteland, which I say in an endearing way.) We ask if we can get a large pizza that's half one thing and half another. Nope, they don't do that. Okay, sure. We ordered a large pizza. Nope, they're out of large pizzas. Okay, that actually doesn't make any sense, but sure, we'll take a medium vegetable garden and a medium pepperoni, and a pitcher of pepsi. We can't give you a pizza with only pepperoni on it. Bullshit, yes, you can. Nope. Okay, whatever, not in the mood, give me the meat pizza. We get a small cup of pepsi and a medium pizza, half of which is vegetable garden and half of which is meat. I check the receipt. The receipt reflects what we ordered, both in English and Chinese. The waitress is at a loss to explain the theoretically impossible and utterly incorrect pizza. Why did they serve us that? Because China. (The previous time we went, we were served seven identical pizzas, having ordered three and paid for three, again because China.)

In the last month, I have been asked by different cab drivers, (1) how much whores are in America, (2) whether military service is compulsory in America, (3) if my parents are upset that I am 26 and unmarried, and (4) {edited out for content issue} But why do they think these are good questions to ask a guy who is trying to get to work? Because China.

A couple weeks ago, in the middle of the road I saw a twenty-five-foot-or-so ladder, being held upright by two men. It was unsupported by anything else. At the top was another man, working on a power line, with nothing to brace him, bolster him, or hold him but the ladder being held by two dudes. Cars were swerving all around them. Nobody found this exceptional. (Daniel once saw something similar to this - a ladder in the middle of the road leaning against a wire for some odd reason) Because, again, China.

It's not a land in which the foreigner suffers. It is not a hostile land or a wild land. It is, rather, a land of pointless minor absurdities and wholly unnecessary inconveniences, which coalesce to infuriate the ill-tempered and delight the rest. When I first arrived, I was informed by a nice older gentleman, "FIRSTNAME, do not ever ask 'why' here. You can ask yourself any other question, and the answers will enlighten you. But do not ask 'why,' because here, there is no 'why.'" And he was right. The answer--the only answer--to "why" is "because China."

So there you go. Because China. My life.

Shanghai Part 1

2012-01-30T15:00:00.000+08:00

We landed in Shanghai around dinner time on Wednesday and had three days to explore one of the world's largest cities.

We stayed at a Renaissance Hotel by Marriott. It was nice. Except for the fact that it was cold and the foyer was not heated because, well, because China. (See next post).

On our first morning we met a Huan. Huan is a graduate student at the U in the department where my dad taught. She is from Shanghai and I met her at the department Christmas party. She was in Shanghai while we were there and was kind enough to meet us and introduce us to Shanghai. Huan and her friend Clair (English name) showed us around and we had lots of fun.

First stop: The Yu Yuan Gardens and Bazaar

My Family

2012-01-29T14:04:00.000+08:00

Because my family hasn't had family pictures for a couple of years, it was time to get more. Instead of setting something up, we met at home, used my camera on the timer setting and had some goofy fun. We got some good ones, and some weird ones. Here they are:

"Smelling the roses"

What's going on?

Seriously?

My weird siblings.

Pretending Daniel is there too.

For reals.

Ashley can't wear the stripes.

Smile pretty.

Say what?

That's more like it!

Family love.

Magical moment!

Where did that dog come from?
It was fun. It was right before Daniel and I flew back to China, via Shanghai. Check in tomorrow to for our first Shanghai adventure.

As a music lover....

2012-01-28T13:47:00.004+08:00

Another woman, whose blog I follow, posted a link to this video. If you think you don't love classical music, you are wrong. And here is why:

It's long, but take the time and watch and listen. It's good.

Christmas Day

2012-01-20T17:50:00.000+08:00

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my family. Thanksgiving would have been with Daniel's family had we been in the states. We did our Christmas with them on the 30th and had a great day.

Christmas Eve was a great dinner of king crab, snow crab, steak bites and lots of sides. It's our annual tradition to do a meal of "surf'n turf" during the holidays. They day varies, but we have been doing it for years. I love it. I am a huge fan of king crab legs. Yummy to my tummy!

Christmas morning was good. We had a nice brunch of bacon, eggs, and sausage. The we started opening presents.

Presents and stockings Christmas morning.

Christmas tree and presents. My sister decorates my parents tree. It's beautiful.

Zucchi, the little yorkie who was scared through most of the day. She spends a lot of her time being scared.

The early Christmas present to my mom from her parents. It's just beautiful and goes in their new living room very well.

My brother forgot to wrap my sister's present so my mom put it in a paper bag with a small bow. My sister is good at pulling faces.

My brother had me and got me a Bazinga Snuggie. It's awesome here in the cold, stone, uninsulated apartment in China.

The boys playing with the laser pens we brought them.

My mom was confused as to why we gave her chalk. It was part one of a three part present. The 2nd was a new recipe card book and the 3rd a chalkboard paint menu board my sister did. I wish I had a picture because my sister free handed the letters and they look beautiful. My sister is talented.

Last summer my dad accidentally bumped a custom picture from my uncle and the frame broke. So for Christmas my mom, my sister and I went and picked out a new frame and mat. He was surprised and it turned out great.

The linen shirt I got my mom from Thailand.

Christmas was good. Happy memories were made and good gifts were given and received.
Then it was off to church for good music and the true meaning of Christmas.

Then for Christmas day dinner we had ham and funeral potatoes. So yummy. My favorite. My brother had a friend come, who would have spent Christmas alone, and my grandpa came. My grandma didn't feel well, but we sent food home for her. It was a good dinner.

I was snapping pictures with my iphone and my grandpa was being silly:

The first picture I took the light was not quite behind his head and he told me I messed up his halo. So here is his picture with his "halo" in the right place.

Overall it was great.

Then we had Bingo. I'll track down photos and post about that soon. It's an annual "fiasco" and a good time was had by all.

My cute nieces.

2012-01-16T15:36:00.000+08:00

When I married Daniel there were 3 nieces and 4th was born shortly after the wedding. There are now 5 nieces and 5 nephews. They are all so much fun and I'm so blessed to have married into this family.

For Christmas each year, Daniel's Grandma Allen gives the great grandkids an outfit. For all his family's outfits, the kids match for each age group. We had that family party on the 17th and the girls outfits were too cute. I snapped some pictures with the iphone. Amelia, the oldest, is 9 going on 16 and so she got a more mature outfit. But they are all adorable and I love them all!!

The girls with their great grandma Allen and grandma Allen. Aren't they adorable?

Tuesdays with Daddy

2012-01-15T15:27:00.000+08:00

It's like Tuesdays with Maurie, but for me it was my dad. My dad has been having some trouble recovering from his stroke and so he can't drive. He had some things he wanted to get done that it was hard for others to take him to do until I got home. So I spent Tuesdays, the day my mom worked a 12 hour shift, with my dad taking him places and finishing up his holiday shopping.

One of the times we were out we stopped at Farr's Fresh for ice cream. Throughout everything, ice cream has been the one consistent thing he will eat and still tastes good to him. So we got him all he wanted. This was his treat for the day.

He kept wanting to try all of them. So this was the end result: egg nog ice cream, lemon custard, pineapple whip, raspberry whip and some peach tart yogurt on top. With some fruit. I had to grab a picture. It was good for me spend those specific days with just my dad. It was some quality time with memories that I will treasure forever.

Girls Treat

2012-01-14T15:21:00.000+08:00

Given that this fall was hard for us, some of my dad's co-workers and office staff gave the girls a gift certificate to Mindful Women's Day Spa. We treated ourselves to a pedicure. They have three chairs so we were all able to go at once. We didn't take a picture while we were there, but we did take some pictures of the end result.

Mine are the black/charcoal ones to the right.

My sister got red, I got a sparkly charcoal, and my mom got a deep burgundy color. It was fun and we all enjoyed it.

The Lights at Temple Square

2012-01-13T13:03:00.000+08:00

One of the first things we did after Daniel joined me in the states was to go down to temple square with friends. Some of us headed down earlier to do some initiatory work and then the other joined us for the lights and dinner at Rodizio Grill.

It was a great evening.

The other Thanksgiving

2012-01-11T12:28:00.000+08:00

After our dinner at the Mexican Restaurant, we knew that our Thanksgiving was not complete. We had a "real" one the following Saturday. We had a bunch of Chinese friends over and cooked a real American style Thanksgiving dinner to the best of our abilities with the resources at hand.

Many of the girls came early because they wanted to see how we cooked things. They were pretty curious and excited about it all.

Peeling and slicing the sweet potatoes.

Cooking the sweet potatoes. My mom caramelizes them in a frying pan with brown sugar. So yummy.

The turkey was meaty enough, but not plump like in America. It was about 13 or so pounds. The Chinese were all very intrigued by it. We found it at a Costco like store that imports food.

They all took pictures of the turkey with their phones. They had never seen a turkey before.

Intrigued by the carving of the turkey.

The whole group before eating. Back L to R: Selena (Daniel's assistant), Mike, Dragon, Michael, Daniel, Licy, Sunny and her son, Susan, Bella, and Yimi (our Chinese tutor). Front: Ashley and Molly.

The food. Jello, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes (They couldn't believe that after baking them and mashing them with butter and milk that we were done. Selena kept wanting us to add more butter. She loves butter.) And the Turkey. For dessert there was gingerbread and apple crumble. We had various cheeses for them to taste, which they enjoyed, and some vegetables to snack on until it was all ready.

Dragon and Selena with a turkey leg each. The Chinese love the dark meat.

Michael, Molly, Licy, Susan, Bella and Selena enjoying the meal.

Selena ate her whole leg!! Such a tiny girl ate so much. So many of them do.

Sunny's little boy ate a whole plateful of jell-o and absolutely loved it. I told him he had a red tongue and he stuck it out and then laughed so hard. He was so cute.

The week before, Yimi had just returned from a trip to Utah that she won from work. While there she played and was given her own box of dominoes. They played with a vengeance! They all loved and were so competitive. It was funny.

All in all it was a great dinner and we had so much fun. They loved the food and we plan on doing an American meal for them a few more times while we are here.

My, my, my.

2012-01-08T18:15:00.001+08:00

I have sooooo much to catch up on. Sorry followers, I didn't blog while I was at home. For the most part, it wasn't exciting in a way that would entertain any of you. Even me. But it was very good for me. I spend a ton of time with family and my closest friend and I feel rejuvenated. It was good for my soul. Now back to Asia. So many things today (our first day back in Xiamen) made us laugh to ourselves as we said "ha, welcome back." I'm now in that hard part where it's home, but not home. I feel comfortable here, I have friends here and a life here, but it's not my first home and it will all come to an end this year.

But before that end comes, we have many more adventures in store. We have some travel plans for this year and some ideas for some other travel. I won't tell, because I don't want to eat my words, but this year will hopefully be a good one.

I'm not going to make any public resolutions on here, like blog more, loose weight, etc. But I will say, I am starting this new year with a bright out look and hope in my heart. Life is good. God is the granter of tender mercies and I can see his blessings in my life. That's all I need. Now, if I just keep my head up and remember that from day to day, I will do well.

Here's to 2012 my friends, may it treat us all kindly! As apparently the Mayans say it will be our last! Make it the best yet my friends!!

Oh. My. Gosh.

2011-12-16T12:31:00.001+08:00

You HAVE to help here guys. Read this.

The Final Push and a Bribe.

If that gets deleted I will personally hold you all responsible for the loss of possibly one of the greatest enjoyments of my life thus far.

Thanks to those who have helped already. You're great.

I don't think we're in Kansas anymore Toto.

2011-12-04T23:41:00.001+08:00

For those of you in Utah, you are aware of the wind storms we had on Thursday. For the rest of you - we had a huge wind storm on Thursday. I woke up to the wind a few times during then night and finally got out of bed around 7:00 am. The power was out, but that was about it. I decided I couldn't sit in my bedroom and watch the trees from that angle anymore so I go up and dressed and went down stairs. I looked out the back window and saw this in my grandparent's back yard.

I'll show you more later, but that's one whole tree down and the top 2/3 of another.

So we sat there watching the wind and hoping no more trees would go down. I had my camera pointed at one tree in particular because it was swaying something fierce. We were a little worried that it was going to go down. It's about 50 years old.

The branches were wrapped around when the gusts came. And then I caught this.

I could tell it was going so I hit the button to record it. The thing with this tree is that it was planted by the ward for the family that lived in that house before my grandparents. Their daughter had died in a hiking accident when she was young. My grandparents had always honored that and left the tree there. They are debating whether or not to take the rest of it out or not.

After the storm started to die down Grandpa and I walked around to survey the damage.

Then I went for a little drive and over to my parents house. This is what I saw along the way.

This is one Polk just before 35th.

This is at the corner at the bottom of my parents street.

My parents neighbor's lost most of the trees along the road.

The fence just snapped right off.

Almost the whole thing.

The odd thing about this one is that it is up against the house normally. So it spun around and smashed over. It's alright though.

Then the cleanup began. It was rough going.

Taylor just got a brand new chain saw that was sharp and highly effective.

He's single ladies. 26, hard worker. Any takers? hehe.

When the top half flew off it landed broken part down and the sharp part impaled itself in the ground. It missed the walkway by 1/2 in.

Mucking out all the crud from inside the stream. It was icky.

So there you go. The wind storm of the century folks.

My Chinese, locked out, Mexican food, Thanksgiving.

2011-11-24T20:25:00.001+08:00

Yes, each of those happened to me. Today alone.

To start, I woke up early and taught seminary. I am grateful for this opportunity for many reasons. I have never been very good at the Old Testament. I'm at least passable with the other books. The Old Testament is like me doing calculus. And if you know me, I haven't had math since I was about 16 years old. Not my thing. So now I am learning the Old Testament much better and I love that. I also get to start my days, every other week, with an hour of spirituality, despite the dead pan attitude of my skype attendees. Seriously, teenagers in the morning is bad, but over the internet where you can't stare them down? Worse.

But the best thing is the preparing of the lessons in which I learn and feel the spirit and grow according to my own knowledge. I believe I need this specific boost at this time, partly because of the challenges of living in China, but also dealing with the challenges that life is giving us in general right now. Things are hard and the gospel is good.

After this, I go back to bed for about 2-3 hours. I am not a morning person. I need that morning nap. It gets me going for the rest of the day. And apparently I need it when I roll over and find it is three hours later. Today I exercised, thank you Pinterest, and then called my mom for a good chat. Then I finished getting ready, had some leftovers for lunch and headed out the door. Without my key. As the door slammed shut I remembered that I saw my key outside my purse. Lovely. Now this isn't Utah, where the doors are unlocked until you lock them. I have no door knob. Just a pull lever. The latch will always catch. Which means it always locks. Always.

Fun, huh? Since it was 1 o'clock and I had stuff to do for a while I didn't worry about it much. I called Daniel and told him I was a dork and to make sure he comes home on time. then I went with a woman that goes to church with us and we walked like around our nearby shopping centers for nearly 3 hours. I was successful in what I was looking for and came home with about 30 kuai in my pocket. (That's like 5$). This can't do much.

While shopping we found these little treasures.

In any of you understand what these are supposed to mean, please let me know. We are making a little bit of a collection of bad translations or just bad English in general. It's awesome.

When I got back I went to see if the building managers could let me in. Nope. Not unless I wanted to partially destroy the door and get new locks. Not happening. So I called Yimi, my translator, and had her call my maid to find out how she got in when the door was jammed. Turns out Ayi was in the neighborhood and she ran her key over to me on the condition that I pay for her taxi fair. Let me clarify here, that this is not a greedy move. For someone who only makes 130$ from me, a taxi fair is a luxury that is not indulged. So I said gladly, and 15 minutes later she came running into the building, handed me her key, told me to pay her tomorrow, and ran back out. Thank heavens. I was in.

Then Daniel and I talked about dinner and what to do. He text me on his way home and said "Let's do Coyote." sounds good to me. So I turned on Pushing Daisies, which by the way should never have been cancelled, and started to organize things for my trip home. 45 minutes later, Daniel text me and said he was at Coyote and was I coming. Well, yes. I had no idea that I was supposed to meet him there.

There are two times at which it is a nightmare to catch a taxi. During shift change, from 4:20-5:00 and after the work day, 6:00-6:30. It was not 6:15 and I had to wait nearly 15 minutes for a taxi. But I got to the restaurant (using 9 of my 30 kuai) just fine. I had a delightful dinner of soup that burned my throat a little, a quesadilla with black beans, and some guacamole (new recent favorite acquired taste). To top it off we indulged in this rare treat:

Look carefully and home made pumpkin cheese cake with white chocolate chips made in China and eaten at a Mexican restaurant. Jealous? You should be. It was amazing. We bough 2 pieces. One we shared there, and the other we will share tomorrow night for out at home date. It was so good.

Then we had the fun of giving our taxi driver directions home because he didn't know where it was. This, by the way, is only the 2nd time this has happened.

All in all, it was a pleasant day, though, despite the challenges. It made me grateful for things like cell phones with translation apps and cheap taxi rides.

I am looking forward to being home on Tuesday and seeing as many of you as possible. I can't wait to taste things like my grandma's cranberry jello. Oh,. So. Good. To sleep on a soft bed, to smell fresh air, to indulge in quiet. I know, "quiet you say," well yes. Even though I am often home alone, I can hear cars, wind, boat horns, the songs blared over the loud speaker for the kindergartners to exercise and have recess with, and the grinding. The jack hammers have quit for the time being, thank heavens, and all it is now is pounding with like a sledge hammer.

Well, have I been entertaining this post? I hope so. I hope all of you Americans that read my blog are grateful for the traditional Thanksgiving that will be yours this year. Enjoy some pie for me, okay?

My generous husband

2011-11-23T22:41:00.001+08:00

Daniel is starting something for Christmas this year that I hope all of you will participate in. I also hope that it will become a yearly tradition.

The program is called Heifer International.

It is a program to which you can donate money to help provide a farm animal to a rural family in need. The animals given are the kind that will help sustain the family for years. Daniel has elected to donate towards a water buffalo, his new favorite animal.

Water buffalo are used for plowing fields and other heavy transportation needs. Should you feel inclined to donate, as little or as much as you feel comfortable with, please do. The water buffalo will go to a family in South East Asia. All that is needed is $250.

Here is Daniel's webpage. Help him, help you, help him.Get it?

Little Treasures of Xiamen

2011-11-15T16:37:00.001+08:00

Here are some weird tidbits from my outing today. All these were taken with-in 10 minutes of each other. This is my visual adventure every day.

Check out these eyebrows.

No joke. They are totally real.

Which was funny, because his wife had her eyebrows colored on because she didn't really have any.

You diggin' this style?

And my favorite, the backwards sweater thing. I'm not sure what she was trying to accomplish.

My regular sightings in China are such a delightful part of my day.

A Chinese Wedding

2011-11-12T12:52:00.000+08:00

On Nov. 2 we had the opportunity to attend the Xiamen wedding of the workers from Lifetime. Both Lori and her new husband work at Lifetime.

Weddings here are a huge deal. You are invited to attend a nice dinner. Instead of registering of giving gifts, you give money in a red envelope. It ends up being anonymous.

You are greeted at the Hotel (it's usually at a hotel) by the Wedding party, bride, groom, maid of honor and best man. The Maid of honor takes the red envelopes for them and the best man does this:

That's right, he has a tray of complimentary cigarettes.

All of us with the wedding party.

The dinner table. That's a carafe of wine.

A video shows the whole time of the photos they had taken previously. They were beautiful.

The dinner guests at our table.

Lori and her husband. There was a 15 minute presentation where they say things, drink wine with interwoven arms, and do a champagne waterfall thing.

Then we all toasted to them. Then an 8 course dinner begins.

Then the bride changes to another dress and the couple goes around and does a toast with every table.

The bride with our beautiful Selena. Selena was the Maid of Honor. Poor girl didn't want to drink any wine because she didn't want to get drunk but when they went around and toasted at each table, some tables made her switch out her alcohol free drink for real wine. She was a little tipsy by the end of the evening. Daniel said the next day she wasn't her usual stellar self. We sure do love her though.

It was a fun evening, but one we don't feel the need to repeat. Because of the free cigarettes (three packs at each table) there were no inhibitions by the guests to smoke in the dining hall. When we got home and undressed we smelled like cigarettes down to our garments and we had to change. It was interesting to attend and we wish the new couple all the best!

Zhang Zhou Temple

2011-11-10T15:00:00.000+08:00

I don't actually know the name of the temple, but it is the town of Zhang Zhou. We stopped there on our way home from the Tulou buildings. The sun was setting so my pictures aren't all that I hoped, but I did get some good ones.

This tree is called a ficus macrocopa. It sends down roots from its branches into the ground thus growing into a huge tree. The monks have facilitated some of the roots of this tree.

It was a nice end to our day.

My flea bitten adventure into the wild...

2011-11-09T15:00:00.000+08:00

Or as everyone else called it, a trip to another set of Tulou Earth Buildings. This time we went out to the Dadi cluster. It was a beautiful drive to a very large round building. Here are some photos from along the way.

Our journey had some amazing sights like:

Carrying a bike on a motorcycle.

Small trucks full of pigs.

Amazing tea farms.

Rows and rows of neatly planted and trimmed tea bushes.

Farmers drying their tea leaves.

People transporting the tea leaves.

Nicely dressed people transporting the tea leaves.

And then we arrived. This little woman here kept telling Selena something in the local language so I had no idea what she was saying. She kept pointing to me and then touching her face. Selena told me she kept saying my skin was beautiful. I guess that inability to hold a tan is pretty in China.

She let us take her picture. Don't mind me, look at the cute little Chinese woman. She was collecting plastic bottles to turn in for money. All the old ladies are doing it.

Here it is. The Big daddy. It has a diameter of about 75 meters.

Inside.

This is the highest floor. It has this "hidden passage" all along the outside.

Then we headed over the other Tulou near it. On the way we were warned of danger.

I think. Translation?

And then this was apparently the danger.

This is one of the tea "fields" where they are currently harvesting.

We all know how safe it is to combine water and electricity and they have taken it to heart here.

This is where, when I sat down because I was so blasted tired, and I was bitten repeatedly by fleas. I saw the little black buggers and I think I can now count over 40 bites. They are worse than mosquito bites. I have scratched the top off many of them and they hurt more! Thank goodness for prescription itch cream. I hate fleas.

The paving stones were kind of cool.

Then we went for lunch. At 2 pm. After most of the restaurants had closed. Selena and the driver found us a little restaurant in the local city and we asked if they would still cook lunch.

So up the stairs we went to an amazing lunch of 8 or so dishes of traditional Chinese food, many of which I liked.

I grabbed a picture of the kitchen on our way out. They whipped up those dishes so fast.

Then we one more place to see before the sun set.

Check back tomorrow....

Fall

2011-11-07T11:43:00.000+08:00

Fall doesn't really happen in Xiamen, China. On Saturday, it was 87 degrees. In November. No leaves change, no crispness in the air. when it decides to cool down it's going to fall down to the 40s and be there for winter. I'm told the humid cold can feel pretty cold here. But come on, 40? That's hardly cold for a full winter.

With this in mind, I found a bush the other day while at the Buddhist Temple that apparently is changing for fall, unlike the other trees who think it's time to flower again. Really guys, it's fall. Here is my only fall bush I have found.

Do you see it? It might actually just be dying, but it's fall colors and that works for me. Yay!

You all enjoy that beautiful fluff called snow and I'll just keep sweating in oppressive humidity here.

Our Last Day

2011-11-01T13:08:00.000+08:00

On our last day we had the opportunity to go out to one of the floating fishing villages. Before we went there we stopped at a local temple and cemetery. It was very interesting. Then we headed out to the floating fishing village. It was very interesting. Then after we got back we went for a bike ride towards the temple.

It was a beautiful day and a wonderful end to our dream vacation.

Angkor Dinner Show

2011-10-31T12:09:00.000+08:00

After spending all day at the temples we were taken to a wonderful buffet and show. The show consisted of 5 different traditional dances, 3 from the courts and 2 from the villages. They were so fun. A couple of these video clips are long, but the long ones are the whole dance of the the traditional villager's dances. They were delightful. Enjoy.

These are from the Welcome Flower dance, traditionally done in the courts to welcome important visitors.

A dance of couples.

This is from a dance telling the story of a princess of good overcoming the demon of evil.

Here are some video clips.

This is one of the village dances. The Coconut Dance.

The fisherman's dance. I loved this one. Watch for the story that it tells of young people courting.