Qingdao

Tony left Beijing to return to Shanghai, only to be shipped out on a business trip the next morning. Matthew and I continued our journey to Qingdao. Qingdao is a seaside city, located in the southeast part of the Shangdong province. Across the Yellow Sea is Korea and Japan. Qingdao is also the home of the beer- Tsingtao where it is manufactured. We arrived in Qingdao, early Tuesday evening. Liza picked us up and we went straight to dinner. We met with Bill, Brian and Tammy. Matthew was very excited to see Brian again. They haven't seen each other in two years. It's amazing how time quickly passes. Tammy is a very precocious 4 year old. Let's just say she was quite smitten with Matthew. She spent the entire dinner following him around and insisting on holding his hand.

We checked into the hotel and it wasn't exactly what we expected. I should have known something was wrong when we turned the lights on, the room was very dark. Let me explain, I saw the ad on the internet and it showed a completely different hotel. Unfortunately, it was too late to find anything for the night, so Matthew and I had to tough it out.

Wednesday
Ok- we had a bad night at the hotel. The walls were paper thin, there was a hole in the window and all the street noises came in and there was a rather strange odor emitting from the bathroom. At first daylight, I looked at the carpet and....it was absolutely filthy. Yes- I packed everything up and we checked out. Luckily, we found a room at the Best Western and it's a "5" star hotel. In comparison to where we stayed the night before, the Best Western was like staying at the Plaza Hotel. Matthew and I were a lot happier with our new accomodations. We left the hotel and found the weather to be quite foggy and dreary. We went over to the Qingdao Regatta Center where the Olympic Regatta Races will be held next year. It's quite a beautiful place. Originally, it was the site where boats were built. The government relocated the boat builders to a different location and converted the area into the regatta center. Though the weather wasn't cooperating, we did get a good view of the area.

We continued our tour at Laoshan. Laoshan soars 1133 meters above sea level and is the highest mountain along the Chinese coastline.
The mountains are breathtakingly beautiful. It was as if a picture had been painted in the background. The mineral water from Laoshan is used to make the Tsingtao beer. Laoshan is also home to a famous monastery with an active Taoist community. It has many ancient temples, monastaries and at it's height, there were 72 nunneries in total. We toured the area and saw many Taoist monks, a 1000 year old cypress tree, camellia and azalea trees that were over 500 years old. We did the usual tourist things...rubbing the rock for good luck, praying to the Gods for good health and fortune and most of all, feeling the spirit that lives in Laoshan.

Thursday
We started our tour at St. Michael's Cathederal. St. Michael's is a Roman Catholic church built in 1934 by German architects. When you stand in front of this building, you do not feel as if you are in China. You feel like you're in Germany. St. Michael's church was heavily damaged during the Cultural Revolution. At that time, many Buddhist temples were destroyed. The parishioners of St. Michael's removed the twin crosses from the peaks and protected them by burying it. The crosses were later recovered and reaffixed. The church had gone through a complete renovation and was reopened in 1981.

We continued onto Badaguan where a lot of the European style mansions and villas are situated. For thirty three years, up until 1949, Qingdao was a colony of Germany and Japan. It was home to a large expatriate community consisting of Russians, Germans, Greeks, English, French, Dutch, Spanish, Swiss, Japanese, Americans and Koreans. The old European style homes makes the atmosphere of Qingdao quite unique. I fell in love with a home overlooking the Number 2 Beach. Of course, the home isn't for sale and is quite expensive anyway. It was quite cold that day, but I can imagine how beautiful it is during the summer. Matthew and I would like to return when the weather is more favorable for a long weekend at the beach in Qingdao.

We ended our stay at Qingdao with a farewell dinner with Bill, Liza and the kids. Matthew will miss Brian very much. He'll miss Tammy too....though he won't admit it. I think deep down inside, Matthew was quite flattered to have Tammy swooning over him. We'll see how she feels about him 10 years from now.

Beijing

We're currently in Beijing. We arrived late Saturday morning. We checked into the hotel and decided to go over to the Temple of Heaven for our first sight. The Temple of Heaven was considered sacred ground and it was at this site that the emperor would perform major ceremonial rites. The most important ceremony of the year would be performed just before the winter solstice, when the emperor and his enormous entourage passed down Qianmen Dajie to the Imperial Vault of Heaven in total silence. Commoners were not allowed to view the ceremony and remained cloistered indoors. The procession included elephant and horse chariots and long lines of lancers, nobles, officials and musicians dressed in their finest with flags fluttering. The next day, the emperor would wait in a yellow silk tent at the southern gate while the officials would move the sacred tablets to the Round Altar, where prayers and sacrificial rituals took place. It was believed that this ritual would decide the nation's future. Therefore, any hitches would be considered a bad omen.

We had a great time there. While we were wandering, there was a tour group from Hong Kong. We would be walking beside them and I would listen to the descriptions and just translate it back to Tony and Matthew. At one point, while we were walking, a woman from Hong Kong made a statement in Cantonese. Tony turned around and translated it back to me. Correctly no less. I burst out laughing so hard, people turned around to see who was making all that noise. It was pretty funny that he doesn't understand a word of Mandarin but, can understand full blown Cantonese.

Later that evening, we went to see a play "The Legend of Kung Fu". Matthew absolutely loved the play. It was the story of Chun Yi and depicted life at a monastary. It was beautifully choreographed and we all had a great time.



Sunday
After breakfast, we walked over to Tiananmen Square and wandered over to the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was off limits to commoners for over 500 years. It was constructed between 1406 and 1420. It consists of over 800 buildings, 9,999 rooms and sits on 72,000 square meters. We spent hours roaming the place and still didn't see everything.

One major improvement since my visit to the Forbidden City in the late 1980's is the much improved public facilities. If you plan to visit China, I highly recommend that you look for signs that depict W.C. for Foreign Visitors or look for the four stars outside the toilets. Otherwise, you have NO IDEA what you're getting yourself into. Of course, I am known for refusing to use any public toilets. During my trip in the 1980's with my friend Margaret, my refusal to go earned me the nickname "The Camel". Believe me, you have no idea how strong your bladder can be when you were faced with horrible bathroom conditions. You too, would hold it in for 12 or more hours until you returned to your hotel room.

We wander out through the North entrance of the Forbidden City and walked over to Jingshan Park. It was created by all the earth excavated from the palace moat when the Forbidden City was being constructed. You have to climb the 198+ stairs (Matthew stopped counting) and it was Beijing's highest point during the Ming Dynasty. Once you reach the top (after stopping several times to catch your breath), you get a fantastic panorama view of the city and Forbidden City.

While at the top, we heard a loud chorus coming from somewhere. We didn't know where the music was coming from. As we began our descent down, the music was getting louder. As we were making our way out of the park, we stumbled upon a large group of middle-aged singers all clutching a lyric book and singing in unison. It was quite a sight to see on a Sunday afternoon. You had pockets of people singing, dancing or just performing by themselves.

We wandered across the way to Beihai Park. This park was the Imperial Playground of the emperors and sits on 169 acres of land. We wandered around the park and came across an area of the park where people practice their calligraphy with water brushes. Matthew proceeded to grab a brush and write his name in Chinese. I wrote my name in Chinese and Tony's name in Chinese as well. It was really a great way to "graffiti" the area and we could do it legally.

Monday
We took off early in the morning to join a tour. The tour consisted of a visit to Ming Tombs and the Great Wall. Both places are located about 2 hours outside of the center of Beijing. Ming Tombs is the final resting place of 13 of the 16 Ming emperors. We visited the Chang Ling tomb. This is the place where the emperor Yongle is buried. We saw the relics that were found in Yongle's tomb and is one of the better preserved tombs from the Ming Dynasty.

After lunch, we continued onto the Great Wall. The Great Wall is known as the "Ten Thousand Mile Wall" in Chinese. Let's just say that the Great Wall proved to be quite an aerobic workout. We took a bizarre single seat roller coaster up the side of the wall to reach the section of the wall known as Badaling. Many years ago when I was here, I had to literally climb up the mountain. The roller coaster ride wasn't installed until the early 1990's. Let's just say, the bizarre ride certainly took some of work out of it, but it was a bit hair raising.

We get dropped off and had to proceed to climb up to the top of the wall. The walk was on an incline. Matthew and Tony continued to the watchtower while, I was perched up against a railing trying to catch my breath. I don't get it. I walk over 20 miles a week in Shanghai and I can't climb up on an incline without wanting to pass out? How did the people who built the wall do it? Oh yeah, I forgot. Many died building the wall. Tony and Matthew had to scrape me off the side of the wall and help me back down. The ride going down the wall was different. This time, we had to sit in cars luge style. I kept thinking....."Thank goodness the life insurance policy has been paid this month."

We ended our tour with a stop at a tea house. We learned the proper etiquette on how to drink tea and....in some instances....loudly slurping the tea. Ok-we'll skip the slurping part. I just can't bring myself to do that.

We'll be leaving Beijing tomorrow. Tony will be returning to Shanghai. Matthew and I will continue our journey to Qingdao where we'll see Bill, Liza, Brian and Tammy. It'll be a great reunion to see everyone after two years.

Never Ending Birthday Party

Matthew celebrated his birthday again today. We headed over to Blue Frog- one of his favorite restaurants. It's very kid friendly, has a Little Blue Bar where all the kids wind up eating their dinners. The Little Blue Bar looks like a bar. It has a counter, bar stools and behind the bar, you'll find jars and jars of assorted candy, toys and other chotckies. There's a "bar tender" who watches over the kids and instead of ESPN playing on the television in the bar, it plays the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon or kid friendly movies. It gives the parents a chance to have a dinner without kids screaming...."Can we leave yet?", "I'm bored- are you done eating?" In fact, it's often the parents prying their kids out of the bar.

We had dinner with Ina and her family. While Rene and Matthew spent time at the bar eating their dinner and buying candy, we were able to enjoy our dinner with drinks and great conversation.

We ordered a birthday cake from Blue Frog- a chocolate on chocolate concoction that was loaded with just the right amount of sugar to send the kids bouncing off the walls. It was the weekend and it didn't matter if they didn't sleep until who knows when.

We'll be heading over to Beijing next weekend for a long weekend. Matthew has a term break and it'll be a great time to take him to see other parts of China. Tony will be joining us for a few days and then I'll head to Qingdao with Matthew to visit Liza and her family. Liza's son, Brian was a former classmate of Matthew's in Chinese school on Long Island. Those were the days when we used to drive Matthew every Sunday morning at 8:00 AM from Connecticut to Plainview, Long Island for Chinese school. Liza and her family live in China during the year and return to the US for the summer. It will be nice to have a little reunion with someone we know.

Matthew's Birthday

Well, it's official. Matthew is now 10 years old. We had a birthday celebration at school today. I made cupcakes and delivered it to school. I had the kids frost and decorate them. Matthew's job was to have his friends line up in an orderly fashion. After his classmates devoured the cupcakes and sang "Happy Birthday" to Matthew, he then took four of his closest buddies to deliver the balance of the cupcakes to the teachers on the floor. It was great that I didn't have to bring home anything except the containers.

Matthew received electronic cards and phone calls from all of our loved ones wishing him a Happy Birthday. He was busy chatting on the phone with everyone that called. In addition, Uncle Boris and Aunt Irina have sent a birthday gift through a colleague of Tony's from Duracell. Bill Wandelowski had a meeting with Tony in China and he was the designated "mule". Sorry Bill!

Meanwhile, Murphy's law was playing with Tony. He was desparately trying to return home from his business trip in order to celebrate Matthew's birthday. We ordered in Matthew's favorite, pizza and I made Matthew's favorite chocolate fudge cake. Of course, Tony's flight was delayed and he didn't return home from the airport until 8:30pm. Being a horrible mother, I fed my son chocolate fudge cake at 8:45 pm and immediately sent him off to bed. Who was I kidding? Did I really think he was going to fall asleep? All the sugar from the cupcakes and the chocolate fudge cake will probably have him bouncing off the wall until at least midnight. Next time, I'll try doing it sugar free.

We'll be celebrating again this Saturday night at Matthew's favorite restaurant-Blue Frog. Ina and her family will be there to help us celebrate. Of course, we'll celebrate again this Summer in the US when we return for our vacation with our families. Who said it isn't great to be a kid and get to celebrate your birthday over and over?? It's like the Willie Wonka Never Ending Gobstopper of birthdays!

Knight Rider

What a great day!! Matthew finally decided to learn how to ride a bike. We've been trying to get him on a bike for the last couple of years without success. Over the weekend, we went over to a friend's house. Her son, Rene was riding his bike all over the place and Matthew was trying to keep up with him on his scooter without success. I think this was the last straw for him. Uncle Tony bought him this cool bike that has been collecting dust for the past year. Luckily, we had the foresight to bring it with us. It was amazing to me how fired up he was to learn. We went to the local sports store and bought some accessories to "pimp his ride". Helmet on, I gave him the same instructions they told me when I took my motorcycle classes and off he went. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that he was riding on his own in 10 seconds- literally. Boy was he excited!! He told me it felt like flying. Something I totally understand having ridden a motorcycle for the past few years. I am so proud of him. I realize that he didn't win the Nobel Peace Prize, that's next week, but still the same it's an important milestone. I told him that you will never know if you can do something unless you try and if you fall down, you get back up and keep riding. Hopefully, this is a lesson that will carry over into everything else he does in life.