Beijing - part I

Our arrival in Beijing after an adventurous night on the overnighter. The bathroom down at the end of the cabin was out of t.p. early, and we figured out early on that one side was the whole in the floor and the other side was a toilet. I am becoming accustomed to the whole, and sometimes prefer it over the other option!

The above is the taxi line at 7:15 in the morning at the train station. It went very quickly and we were soon in two separate taxis on our way to the Sihe Courtyard Hotel in a Hutong. Hutongs are the blocks, like the lanes in Shanghai, where people live. They are little alleys along which are many homes and some shops. They are all behind walls with doors that enter into alleys where 1 - 5 families could live. The traditional hutongs did not have bathrooms, and everyone in the alley would share the bathroom down the street. They still have the public toilets frequently on the street.

Taxi lines.

Beautiful train station.
Upon arrival, we immediately went in and had breakfast. A fun buffet of a variety of things: noodles, ham/bacon, pastries, rice, soup. Eggs could be ordered, but we stuck to the fun offerings that were out.
Tea, cereal, yogurt.
This was one of the buildings in the courtyard. Rooms were all around a courtyard, and then there were lesser courtyards off to the side. If you want to book here, definitely ask for a room around the main courtyard. They are much larger.
This was the first room mom and Nancy and Storey had. They had to switch the next night to a MUCH smaller room that had the toilet in the shower, and no room to even lift your arm to brush your hair!



The large courtyard. Really fun living in the hutong style. It had a lot of atmostphere, and it was an experience walking down the lane to the hotel watching all the locals on the way.

Have to run. We are in Xi'an now (I am behind on the blogs) and we are running out to rent bikes and ride the city wall.
M

Shanghai - Beijing

We are on the road and I am posting past days to try and get caught up.

We finally made it into our soft sleeper cabin after elbowing and forging through throngs of people going home for the holiday. Iris managed to get us through security, which would have given us a full taste of China right there. About 50 people at once try to go through a single door into the train station and deposit their luggage, bags, purses, coats, immediately onto a security conveyor and then running to get through the screener before the bags come out the other side. Of course it beeped whenever someone went through, and no one was even looking at the screen for the luggage, but it was a good security device! We were tripping all over each other as everyone ran in every direction. There is hardly room to pull your bag as people are shoulder to shoulder, but we made it to the waiting room and then onto the train.


The girls got the upper bunks while Ridley and I took the lower. Paige hates her picture being taken, so you get to view these lovely shots!


It was a fun night, not necessarily one with lots of sleep! We arrived in Beijing at 7:15 a.m. to more throngs of people. Photos to follow in the next blog!

M

Grammy's first day

Lulu's first real day in Shanghai. After lunch at our favorite local spot, Number One HotPot, mom, Nancy and I went over to the massage house for a foot massage. The morning had been spent standing and walking around the fabric mart. Now we entered into a beautiful traditional rock garden, took off our shoes and were given slippers to wear up the three flights of stairs to this foot massage room for three. Feet were soaked in rose petal water while a shoulder and neck massage were given. Then the luxurious foot massage. Mom kept us all laughing the whole time. She groaned and moaned and laughed and walked out like we were on clouds. It brought everyone back to life after their long flight and big shopping morning.


The next event was a wash and dry at the local salon for the week on the road.

We then had an early dinner and left for the train station at 6:00 p.m. for our overnighter to Beijing. The streets were jammed as it was a Friday night and the beginning of the National Holiday week. It took about 45 minutes to get to the railway station. Our pal Iris from the Mansion went with us. The train station was wild. Next blog will go into the train adventure.
M

Grandma Lu and Nancy

My mom and Ridley's assistant Nancy got here Wednesday night. Yeah!! Their plane came in at about 6, being a half hour late. We didn't know what we were getting into, but the traffic back to Puxi at that time of night was something we have not encountered yet. We had hired a car to fit us all and thought we would be home by 7. We were in bumper to bumper traffic for 2 hours in Pudong (which is where the airport is) and didn't get home until 9pm. The girls had done homework in the car and at the airport while waiting. We came home to an incredible feast from Mei, although everyone was a little too tired to eat much. So happy to have them here! This is a picture taken on our lane.


We made a stop at the Mansion Hotel where Ridley and I stayed in January. It is just around the corner from our house. We loved this area so much when staying here and didn't realize the house we rented was right around the corner until later. The Mansion was originally a house for the leader of a prominent gang lord in the 30's when it was built.
Mom and Nancy at Element Fresh, a wonderful restaurant that is oriented to ex-pats and has good asian and western food. We are initiating them slowly!
Xiangyang Park down the street from us. Early morning (much earlier than this photo) finds the park packed with people exercising: tai chi, backward walking, dance, saber moves, beating up against a tree. . . . on and on with such a variety of things. The parks are really well used during the day, too. Just hanging, playing card games, walking. This was an extremely humid day, and it was nice to be under the trees with the breeze.
After doing a lot of visa and bank business, mom, Nancy and I headed off to Pearl City after lunch. Not enough time there! Too much to see. It got mom and Nancy through the day without a nap, being excited about seeing all the great pearl deals. We went to school to pick up Storey who had stayed after for swimming, and then back home to another luscious meal. Mom was in bed shortly thereafter and got a good 12 hours in!

We are heading to Beijing by sleeper train tonight. I will try and post from the road. We'll see!

Street scenes

I have been walking the streets of Shanghai seeing lane houses and street scenes. Shanghai had a lot of building in the 20's and 30's, the height of the art deco movement. There are many examples of this in the French Concession in particular, where we live. One thing we have discovered is that the Chinese will tear out and completely remake things, such as our sidewalk, in a beautiful, time intensive and good way. What doesn't seem to happen, however, is any sort of maintenance, of streets, sidewalks, buildings. They wait for the good work to go bad and then just redo the whole thing. This beautiful gate was all rusted.


The arch and lion's head above this gate. The arch ended in a corinthian capitol on the other side of the door frame.

Liked the sign. If you can't see it well: Poker Coffee Healthy That's always what I thought!
This is lovely Mei who makes the most wonderful meals for us. About 5 dishes every night with as many flavors and all delicious.
The girls were laughing hysterically at old videos showing shots of friends back home - and of themselves, of course. Paige is usually the photographer, Storey the actress.
On one of the walks I went into a wet market which is so called for the wet floors, I believe, of always cleaning up. It has meat and fish. A variety of things that I have no idea of what they are except for in the upper right hand corner. That is jelly fish which we have had the pleasure of trying. It is surprisingly crunchy.
Vegetables and some sort of root vegetables in the back.


This was on our street corner. Never much need to go far for something good!
A sunny day for hanging clothes. Down one of the many lanes I saw.
Peering into a beautiful doorway, stone and brick arched.
A street of many 30's style lane houses.
Another lane.
On our street. Look carefully and see the two workers taking a little break.
This is a new store on our street, very cute hand made shoes. The name is "No Concept." I keep thinking they may have meant "New Concept". The sign below the one you can see says, "No concpt".
Storey had a birthday party to go to, see photo below for her wacky outfit, and after roaming the Pearl Market for awhile, Paige, Ridley and I ended up at a Thai restaurant. Goofing around and having fun. Paige was eating sweet and sour chicken out of a pineapple. Yummy.
The party asked for whacky dressing, and we got there and only Storey had complied. Sweet girl. The red face came off immediately, as did the tie.
Overflowing flowers being pedaled along.
One lane we went down had someone cooking out of a window on the left side. The men were eating and playing cards and other games I don't know the names of.

This was once a grand Russian Orthodox church that has gone through many reincarnations. It was a factory, a restaurant, during the cultural revolution a headquarters of sorts, and now looks as if it is tumbling down, though I understand that it is used for something else now. Can't remember what.
These bamboo scaffoldings are everywhere. They go up and down in a day.

One of the dumpling shops. They make the dumplings by hand and then fry them up in this large pan. You buy them in groups of 4. Delicious.
Another set of workers taking a break on the job. I see them sleeping on their job sites at night, also. They may live far away and come into town to do these jobs and they just sleep there or on a cot on the sidewalk.



My mom and R's assistant arrive tomorrow. Next week the girls have off school for the National Holiday of mid-autumn festival. We will be going to Beijing and Xi'an. Our first excursions out of Shanghai.