I’ve been back in America for about a week now, and let me tell you, it feels good! Eating delicious food every day, communicating easily with everyone around me, driving my car… man! I’m livin’ the dream. Of course, I’ve enjoyed one thing more than anything else, and that, obviously, is spending time with my family. It has not been the easiest year away from them and so this vacation home has been much needed. And it’s been great!
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| Sister bonding over panda hats and Chinese jammies |
However, due to jetlag, I’ve been waking up much (much much) earlier than I normally would (I’m talking before the sun rises). This leaves me with a little extra time and so I decided, “hey!” this could be a good time to fill in those gaping spaces in my blog (you know – that six month period where I was MIA). So I went and checked out some of my older posts and I think the last thing I posted about was picking those delicious Yangmei berries and going to the beach in the beginning of the summer… and then I disappeared! What happened next on my summer of adventures? Let me fill you in…
Mom & Sam Visit: Part I
4th of July
My wonderful mother and beautiful sister arrived to China via the Shanghai Pudong Airport. I took them back to Hangzhou for the night where we enjoyed catching up on life and eating a delicious Korean meal. The two hours I spend waiting for them in the lobby of the airport were the two longest hours of my life.
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| We <3 America!! |
My Birthday! (July 6)
For my birthday, my friends (Mom & Sammy included) decided we were going to dress up (it’s one of my favorite pastimes) and go out. We all went to dinner at a delicious Thai restaurant, Sawasdee, where we enjoyed all sorts of dishes involving coconut and mango – yum! Then, we all went to karaoke (KTV – duh!) where we sang the night away. Most memorable moment? One of our Chinese friends brought his dog to KTV… a dog which proceeded to pee right in the middle of our room. Did that stop our fun? No way! We just paper-toweled that urine and kept on singin’!
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| No, we don't normally dress like this... |
Xitang
I then took Mom & Sammy up to a tiny little canal town to spend a day. I think I have written about Xitang here if you’d like to know what I think of it. Overall, it’s a lovely little place with a beautiful canal running through it and lots of souvenir shopping to be done. If you’re interested, just watch Mission Impossible III – there’s a scene when Tom Cruise is dashing through “Shanghai” – yeah, that’s actually Xitang! It certainly is a famous little town.
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| Looking over the canals of Xitang |
Suzhou
In China, there is a (very) famous saying that goes something like this: “Above there is heaven, on earth there is Hangzhou and Suzhou.” Many people claim that Hangzhou is the most beautiful city in China – it’s only contender in the battle? Suzhou. Suzhou is slightly northwest of Shanghai (about an hour away) and it is famous for its lovely gardens and city-wide canals. Again, we only spent a day there, but it was enough time to explore the most famous garden (“The Humble Administrators Garden” – what a mouthful, right?) and walk along the canal. We also tried some “local” food, including a sweet and sour fish that somewhat resembled a blooming onion crossed with the loch ness monster (see below). Don’t worry – it tasted much less scary than it looked.
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| Mom & I at the Humble Administrator's Garden |
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| Sweet & Sour Fish! |
Dinosaur Land (Changzhou)
Our last stop on our first mini-adventure landed us in a city called Changzhou, home of a Chinese amusement park known as Dinosaur Land. Sammy and I have developed something of a tradition in the last few years which involves visiting an amusement park every summer (often times Carowinds or King’s Dominion, both here in the Carolina/Virginia region; sometimes Six Flags, Fiesta Texas, closer to where my grandparents live). So, once I learned of the existence of Dinosaur Land, it only made sense to take Sammy there. We spent the day seeking out daring roller coasters (there was one) and listening to the sounds of a Chinese amusement park… which was eerily silent, by the way. They had the standard cheesy music playing across the park, yes, but we hardly heard any screaming or laughter coming from the rides – it was like the Chinese people wanted to see who could be quietest while being hurled around the air and spun shamelessly for minutes. Sammy and I certainly won the award for loudest screamers that day – but it wasn’t difficult to do so. Aside from the lack of screaming, it was actually a pretty normal amusement park and we had an overall good experience there.
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| Welcome to Dinoland! |
Back to Hangzhou
After our 3-day spurt across Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, we headed back to Hangzhou to enjoy some more delicious food (including one of my favorites: “Big Plate Chicken”) and prepare for the second leg of our adventure (which has earned its own post for a later day).
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| It literally is a big plate of chicken... |
It’s been great seeing Mom & Sammy again here in America. We’ve been reminiscing about the trip we took last July and about life in China in general. We even dragged my dad and my grandparents to a local Chinese restaurant (which has pretty legitimate Chinese cuisine – yum!) to share with them the typical Chinese dining experience. For my dad’s sake, however, I think we’ll stick with safe and familiar western food from now on. (I love you, Daddy!)
Until my next update – ZaiJian everyone!
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