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A really busy week here in Beijing and I’m falling behind with my posts.  Also kind of feels like the blog has turned into an endless stream of trip pictures with little about our actual day-to-day life in China… of which there is still so very much to tell… 

But our “side trips” just sort of fell when they did (i.e., close together), and I have this need to record them and share what we’ve seen.  So bear with me.  We have another trip in a couple of weeks, but after that a long stretch at “home” in Beijing.  During that stretch there will be more time for “regular” life updates…

For the second half of the girls’ spring break, we flew from Chengdu to Xi’an: the ancient capital of China.  We went to Xi’an (pronounced “she ahn”) primarily to see the Terra Cotta Warriors.  These are the 6,000 to 8,000 clay, full-size warriors that were buried underground (in standing, ready-for-battle position) about 2,200 years ago.  The discovery of the warriors (by a Chinese farmer digging a well) is old news.  I think you don’t need me to tell you all about it.  Well…  We saw the warriors (displayed in three large archeological “pits”) and learned about Emperor Qin and why he had those 8,000 soldiers cast and buried.  Historians actually do know how and why he did this: 700,000 Chinese laborers spent almost 40 years building this army in Qin’s mausoleum as defense for him in his afterlife.  You know.  Just in case…

It was indeed all jaw-dropping and wonderful and I’m so glad we saw this “wonder of the world.”  But we also did a lot more in Xi’an, including a visit to a 1,300 year old Islamic mosque and a glorious 9-mile bike ride on top of the ancient Xi’an city wall (one of the oldest such walls in China)… on groovy Chinese tandem bikes, with the sun shining and few other riders around.  Our ride that morning will remain one of my favorite memories of the entire trip… as will the Chinese couple who gave the girls hard boiled eggs to eat while we were taking a break at the Big Goose Pagoda…

Here’s the first day in Xi’an (before the warriors and the bike ride)… with lots more pics to follow…

(note: apostrophes in captions keep disappearing then reappearing… no idea why this is…)

Airport food while waiting for an early flight to Xi'an. Rice for breakfast. And a hug.

First stroll in Xi'an, on our way to the bell tower and the drum tower. Someone needed an ice cream fix...

And encouragement from sis...

So many old building are being torn down in X'ian. "Speculation" that more farmers will move to the city has led to the building of hundreds of high rises, though most of the finished apartments appear to be sitting empty. Eerie...

Xi'an street scene. Through the trees, you can see a blue Walmart sign. This is the second one we've seen (the first was in Kunming). We've yet to enter one.

Figuring things out as we go... So far weve managed to do all of our own trip planning, transportation, hotels, ticketing, etc... and always end up right where we want to be...

At the bell tower... another big bell and another big fish clapper (just like the one in Kunming...)...

Xi'an scene from the bell tower... (hazy pics in Xi'an = pollution. A serious problem throughout China.)

Note shopping mall behind them. I think China has as many shopping malls as it does people...

Quilt image 15...

Bell tower door panel. You can't spend time in China and not fall in love with this shade of red...

Ceiling inside the bell tower...

She likes it too...

Everyone is checking out the big fish...

Waiting outside because the air inside was so thick with cigarette smoke you could choke a kid. Lots of smokers in this town... even inside Starbucks...

The lower, outside base of the Xi'an drum tower...

Xi'an drummers...

Great, big, fabulous drums... irresistible...

Normally a drummer, but on this day a poser...

Entering the Muslim neighborhood in Xi'an...

Xi'an cutie...

Arriving at the "Xi'an Great Mosque." Parts of it are being restored, but most of it is intact... and serene. Its a lovely spot in the middle of a thick, noisy place...

The most spatial kid I know, Elle is our official "map girl" in China...

Great Mosque 2...

Spring...

Great Mosque 3...

Leaning against a centuries old tablet with Arabic inscriptions... reading her little guidebook about the mosque. Looks posed, but it wasn't. This is Peach...

Great Mosque 5

The mosque was quiet... not a lot of visitors when we were there... but a group of college students sketching fascinated Cece and Elle. Cece in particular has been drawing more ever since...

Old enameled art depicting the Kabba in Mecca...

Dont get me started on these blue roofs...

Sun setting...

The Great Mosque covers quiet a bit of ground and includes dozens of buildings... hallways, courtyards, secluded nooks...

Peace...

These memorial gateways are found throughout the grounds... each one is unique...

He was collecting fish... by hand...

... the fish... (I love this bowl)

On her own path...

Now theres' a door...

The Worship Hall. Only Muslim men may enter. While we were hanging around, a kind Turkish man emerged from the Hall. He saw my camera and said: "here... give me your camera... I will take you some pictures." He took it, kicked his shoes off again, and went back into the Hall... snapped about 10 pictures inside. Shots we would not have seen otherwise. We then had a marvelous chat. The Kabba? He said something like this: "You know... the Kabba... it is just an empty cube. God is in your heart. You pray what you believe in your heart."

Taken by our friend...

Another...

Outside the mosque...

The Muslim neighborhood again...

Street chefs...

Great markets...

Young street chefs...

A group of Chinese tourists recruited Art to take their picture...

Happy to oblige...

Continuing Chengdu…

After our visit to the Panda Base and Pete's Tex Mex, Mary Kaye kept the girls for a bit and Bob showed Art and me a little more of Chengdu. Here the guys are standing in front of the premier building of Sichuan University...

Like everywhere in China, when you encounter a little road construction, you just step around it and try to avoid getting too much tar on your shoes. Really. No barricades here. (see post from way back in Kunming re: no civil litigation in this country)

Following Bob and Art to the music district...

Chengdu bike... (can't help myself)

Entering the music district...

Here in shop after shop are rows of Chinese instruments and pianos, and walls covered in violins. China's music prowess today is remarkable given that Mao's cultural revolution killed all western and classical music. A generation of young people (my peers from '66 to '76) grew up without a hint of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven... or the Beattles or the Stones...

At one shop, Art and the shopkeeper broke into a spontaneous jam session...

See how happy he gets when he's making music...

I'm liking these. A lot.

Cece and Nina at the Wuhou Shrine, in front of a tablet carved during the Ming Dynasty... The shrine itself was built in 223AD (and rebuilt many times since). It's old and serious, with a lush and mossy jungle of gardens surrounding it...

Random Wuhou doors...

We had just seen this instrument (called a Guqin) on our music tour the day before. Nice to hear one played.

Strikingly similar to the Bjorn Wiinblad figures on my (Danish) Nymolle collection at home...

Wuhou roofline...

Since we were at this shrine on Qingming day (but without fake money to burn as an offering...)... the girls gave thanks to their ancestors this way...

I give thanks to their ancestors every day...

Art thinking of Karl...

And always we get little signs along the way... like this ornamental ginkgo tree...

Love this...

Pretty grounds to stroll through...

Quilt image 13 (old Wuhou wall)

Mysterious cave...

And these...

And an enormous outdoor bonsai garden...

Mossy...

Quilt image 14...

Me and Elle...

Old wall plaque...

Awesome shade structure...

Detail...

Leaving the Wuhou Shrine... (see what I mean about jungle-like...)

At the entrance to JinLi Street (note the green circle at 11 o'clock in the street opening... Starbucks is everywhere...)

Doors on JinLi Street...

Old carved water trough on JinLi...

Strolling JinLi...

Pretty part of JinLi Street...

In search of Sichuan "hot pot" we found all these flowers...

And then we found a "hot pot" place. First, you light the gas burner (affixed to the center of the table)... then add lots of red hot chili peppers to the pot of oil...

When the oil gets hot and bubbling, you dump virtually anything you want into it. We did seaweed, lotus root, chicken and fish, various chopped vegetables and noodles... As foods rise to the top you fish them out with chopsticks. You need these oversized beers to cool off your tongue.

Happy campers all around...

Elle at the Tibetan quarter of Chengdu. She "made" lipstick from a lollipop...

Tibetan bag...

Beautiful people...

Tibetan meditation cushions...

On the other side of town is a waving Mao...

Farewell Chengdu... (she needed this...)

Whew…

The girls were on Spring Break from BISS last week; time off that just happened to coincide nicely with Tomb Sweeping Day (Qingming Festival) on April 5.  This is a national holiday in China (honoring ancestors), so Renmin also had a bit of a break that freed up Art.  Normally, he teaches on Monday and Tuesday.  This year, Qingming fell on a Tuesday, and just a week and a half in advance of it, Art received an email: Monday classes will be taught on the prior Saturday, and Tuesday classes are cancelled.  Just like that.  Imagine telling a bunch of faculty in the US: “you will teach your Monday evening class on Saturday evening.”  Ha.  And then imagine all the students showing up on Saturday evening.  (They did.)

Anyway.  We knew we wanted to go to Chengdu (in Sichuan Province) and Xi’an (in Shaanxi Province), and this seemed like the week to do it.  So we jumped on cTrip (Chinese Expedia) and off we went.  We flew to Chengdu on Sunday (about 3 hours from Beijing) and met up with the Jacobs family at the Bookworm (a somewhat famous independent, western bookseller in China; we’ve also been to the one in Beijing).  It was great to see Mary Kaye, Bob and their daughter Nina.  We first met them in February in Kunming where the girls became fast friends, and on this trip it took them only about 17 seconds to rekindle their friendship at full steam.   The Jacobs are doing a full year (10 month) Fulbright and living in Chengdu where Bob teaches public health at Sichuan University.

Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province, and a major economic hub in China, and so has many, many ex-pats living there, and consequently lots of western amenities (yes, we ate some non-Chinese meals.  Again.  See previous posts re: traveling with kids).  It’s another “big” city, though with only 4.2 million people, it is small-ish compared to Beijing.  During our three days there it was dense, overcast, a bit humid and to be honest, rather dirty/gritty (pollution is a problem everywhere in China).

I think the city’s number one major attraction must be the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda.  Not sure when the base was established (maybe 25 years ago?) but this is where animal scientists have been working on conservation and breeding… attempting to save the Giant Panda from extinction.  In addition to the real work happening here, is the adjacent beautiful park full of… well, pandas.  With two Chinese daughters, we’ve had many pandas in our midst over the last 8 years (all stuffed or in books).  We’ve also visited the pandas at the National Zoo in Washington, DC (though I think we caught them at nap time on that trip) and last year saw the delightful pandas at the San Diego Zoo.  But the Base in Chengdu was different.  The seven of us arrived at the park at 8am, and for almost a full hour, seemed to have the place to ourselves: an entire park of lovely wandering paths, with soaring bamboo canopies and a chance to get really close to many pandas.  I lost count.  Over five or six different natural habitats (that you really can get quite close to) I would guess we saw 20 or 25 pandas: adults, “sub-adults,” and babies.  And we adults enjoyed watching them just as much as the girls did.  After 9:00am or so, the tour buses began arriving and the crowds thickened a bit… but for the most part, like all of China so far, no real crowds of tourists…

One thing we had planned to do at the Base was to let the girls hold a baby panda, but on this particular day, the one and only baby available for holding had diarrhea and was declared off limits by the on-site vet.  Having used this as a bribe for many months prior to coming to China… on those days when Cece was adamant that she wanted nothing to do with living in China for five months (“But Cece, we protested, you’re going  to get to hold a baby panda!”) I thought Cece would be devastated and the day declared a disaster.  As it turned out, she was set back for about 10 seconds and then skipped off with Nina to see the red pandas.  So.  We saved $300 (holding a panda is $150 per person) and the world stayed on its axis.  The red pandas, incidentally, bear a much closer resemblance to the raccoons living in our tree in Redlands., and are fun little guys to watch…

Also in Chengdu we checked out the Jacobs apartment (living large… they have a bathtub, and two gas burners in their kitchen), ate at Peter’s Tex Mex (hello Texas pickles), walked the music district near the Chengdu Conservatory of Music (I’m aching for red Chinese drums), toured the tropical-feeling Wuhou Memorial Temple and bonsai gardens, walked the ancient, festive JinLi street, enjoyed a traditional Sichuan hot pot meal (my brother Neil would die for this) and strolled through the Tibetan area which stirred our curiosity further and made us hopeful for a chance to visit Tibet later in the trip.  All in all, a great time in Chengdu, made better by the excellent company of the Jacobs family.

Here’s the first set of Chengdu pictures, with more detail:

With the Jacobs at the Bookworm. LOVE this bookstore... where you can grab a book, flop on a couch, get a good glass of wine... and just hang out. They also have bruschetta (for me) and mac 'n cheese (for Elle)...

Wouldn't be spring break without a little bit of room service... (we also woke them super early on this day...)

Here we are...

Very quiet and peaceful strolling through this park... note Elle is catching a ride on Mary Kaye's back...

Walking backward to improve our memory...

First sighting... they were just coming around... looking for their morning food...

Another...

And another...

And...

Elle spies another...

Fun...

Munching...

It's hard not to call these guys "bears"...

Who couldn't love this face...

Morning cafeteria...

After eating they get very playful with each other...

Panda girls...

Rare sighting of a running panda...

Panda tree... there were 5 young pandas up there...

Red panda...

And there were black swans and fish to feed...

Which we did...

Dare I say they had as much fun feeding the ducks and the fish as they did seeing the pandas...

ouch...

Goodbye Chengdu duck...

Chengdu friends...

Us...

I love it when Elle beats to her own drum...

But at 7, she was so happy to have two new panda friends...

So happy that she immediately fell asleep...

Well… I thought that was the last of them, but this wouldn’t be a complete travel journal without these last tidbits from Shanghai.  Plus, the girls are asleep and Art is watching championship snooker (no kidding; the snooker world cup is in Beijing this week…)… so I have, you know… uninterrupted computer time.

Anyway.  The Astor House Hotel was great.  Stay there if you end up in Shanghai.  One of the plaques on the wall there says this (exactly): The red teak floor, faded and etched by the force of time, keeps the secret of the past 157 years, reticently continuing its listening, listening the story of history…

So while it wasn’t Chinese… at least it wasn’t a chain hotel… and it does have a history…

No kidding. It's old...

But Garden Bridge is right outside the front door... and that is the Bund, just beyond...

The old hall of the hotel has famous rooms where Albert Einstein and President Grant (among others) stayed. Looks like a train station...

Ceiling in the old hall...

Nice light...

And staircase...

We had fun exploring here... you know... letting the old red floors listen to our history...

We stayed in one of the newer old halls...

Kind of felt like Europe...

Fake glasses and Nintendo on the window bench…

Can't leave out the "mind bending tunnel" under the Huangpu...

Yikes. This plus techno beat. Maybe Pink Floyd would have worked better?

Au revoir Shanghai...

And here are the rest of the Shanghai pictures, taken last Saturday in the French Concession.  I loved this part of Shanghai, and wish we had time to see more.  This is just a glimpse of one part of it…   Also, regarding the doors and house numbers: Try to roll with it…

First thing I saw getting out of the taxi in the French Concession. Behind these doors was a preschool. I love how they removed the center panels of wood and replaced with glass for seeing through...

French Concession 16...

French Concession 38... (on a pebbled wall, something we saw a lot of in this area...)

Quiet part of the French Concession...

Always good to stumble upon das bierhaus while wandering around China...

Shabby chic apartment house in the French Concession... (strangely familiar to me...)

Sleepy Saturday in the neighborhood...

French Concession 70...

And 70 again...

Euro blue 7...

The quiet street of Sun Yat-sen museum and residence...

At the entrance to the museum... the kids find it important that we photograph ourselves with various tickets...

We couldn't take photographs inside, of course... but here's Dr. Sun's back porch. Note the pebbled exterior walls...

Another shot on the porch...

And Dr. Sun's backyard. Holy Toledo... the greenest grass - not to mention the most grass - we've seen in two months...

All over China, bikes and motorbikes have these permanently affixed "mittens" on the handlebars (winter gear)...

Sweet bike...

Tianzifang flower vendor...

Art at Tianzifang... a fun place to hang out on a Saturday...

Quilt image 10... (Tianzifang sidewalk)

More of these. Lots more. I'll spare the blog.

Quilt image 11... (Tianzifang sidewalk 2)

These little shopping alleys are endless...

But hip. Lots of fun places...

Like this wine shop...

And this brand new cooking school called "Good Tea. Good Rice. Good Life". Also on the wall, it reminds: Good Life Can be Simple.

Cool bag shop...

At the pizza shop. Happy campers are holding up well...

And then we went off to find Blue Nankeen (note the victorious navigator...)...

Good karma in this neighborhood...

We kept going and going...

Passing doors like this...

And this...

Cool pebblework... this time a sidewalk...

Bikes...

until this...

Treasure! I will never forget this place (see previous post...)

Quilt image 12... (Blue Nankeen patio...)

Shanghai is a two hour plane ride east and south of Beijing.  It sits on the Huangpu River, and is only about 30 miles from the Pacific Ocean.  According to 2011 statistics, it’s the largest city in China with an actual city population of more than 16 million.  So, it’s coastal and it’s COLOSSAL and… it’s really a neat city.  I was so surprised by this.  While I knew, intellectually, that it’s a huge modern metropolis… somehow the image I had in my mind of Shanghai was of a curious, odd, dark harbor town with garish shopping in seedy neighborhoods (no idea why; something I read once??).  But it’s not like this all.  At least the Shanghai we saw is not.  As cities go, it’s really quite pretty.  The 25 minute ride to our hotel was a little overwhelming with row after row after row (after row after row after row) of 20 and 30-story apartment buildings stretching for miles in every direction… but once we arrived downtown, there really was sunshine glinting off gigunda metal and glass skyscrapers, plus an ocean breezy, sprawling city-with-a-history feel.  It felt like we’d landed in an asian fusion version of San Francisco and Paris.  I was immediately happy.

Because it was occupied territory for so many years, you can see and feel the colonial French and British influence everywhere.  Gorgeous buildings the likes of which they just don’t build any more…  plus flower boxes, ornate metal railings, street cars, detailed brickwork, sidewalk flower vendors (never see these in Beijing), some art deco … and a more touristy feel, adding to the whole San Francisco kind of city feeling.  We stayed on the “old” side of Shanghai, in the oldest (western) hotel in China: the Astor House Hotel which is about 160 years old.  No pool for the kids, and we had to get two rooms to accomodate the four of us, but what a neat, neat place… with nooks and crannies, long fancy corridors, highly polished, wide plank wood floors (three cheers for uncarpeted hotels),  lots of blue and white china pots with purple orchids, and a decent breakfast buffet in the beautiful Peacock Ballroom…  It was also a quick walk over the wooden sidewalk of the Garden Bridge to get to the Bund, Shanghai’s famous touristy walk along the river.  We took this walk several times…

On Thursday eve we took an obligatory (and chilly) Huangpu River cruise, watching the lights come up on both sides of the river… the east side a wall of modern skyscrapers, some with bizarre light displays 50 stories tall… the west side more like a night scene in Paris, with elegant old buildings highlighted by strategically placed spotlights.  You’ll see which side I preferred below, as I got almost no pictures of the skyscrapers of Shanghai…

On Friday we walked over to the shopping areas of the famous Nanjing road… then past Tomorrow Square and the grand Shanghai Theater… eventually landing in a nearly empty amusement park, where the four of us had a roaring time on the bumper cars.  Twice.  Strange, but true.  Later in the afternoon we hung out with fellow Fulbrighter Julian Ku, his wife Winnie and their daughter Lyra.  Together we hit the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium (always fun for kids, and this one has penquins) and then Winnie turned us on to the Japanese noodle chain Ajisen Ramen (which, it turns out, can be found in California), followed by smoothies at the hip chain Element Fresh.  Great company for the afternoon… we really like this family and wish we could see more of them.  (note: We did not eat a single fancy Shanghai meal.  Constant travel with a 7 year old and an 8 year old requires a lot of simple, good food and that’s what we focused on in Shanghai.  That said, we will eat at both of these places again and again.  Great eats!  Thanks Winnie!)

On Saturday, Art led us on one of his “walk till you drop” touring days.  We started early in the morning with the French Concession which I absolutely loved: just walking around these streets… tree lined and quiet… with amazing old buildings, brick work, doors, house numbers, alleys.  Kind of like walking around Shadyside on a Saturday morning.  We toured the home of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen (startlingly similar to the turn of the century homes back home in Redlands) and covered a history lesson with the girls (the “father of modern China”… his devotion to China, how he worked to overthrow imperial rule, and his dying hopes for the principles of “democracy, nationalism, welfare of the Chinese people” … held too by Chiang Kai-shek… but… too much to cover, so little time…) before heading off in search of Tianzifang Street.  This really isn’t a street, but rather a series of skinny brick walkways between old, old buildings… with everything from high end art galleries and studios to wine boutiques and chic cooking schools to souvenir shops… and even an excellent new york pizza restaurant (couldn’t resist; see note above about food).  Cece found some wonderful handmade felt animals… and Elle got a Chinese dress (naturally).  We totally resisted the art galleries…

The true highlight of Saturday, however, was making our way to the “Shanghai Lan-Lan Hand Printed Blue Nankeen” shop.  No easy feat.  It took several cab drivers, one bi-lingual friendly passenger in another taxi, one iPad, one paper map, plus Art to figure it out… but eventually we landed in a lovely sunny neighborhood… where we wandered down our umpteenth alley (though this one was quite pleasant!)… until we found this backyard:

Be still my heart...

Love at first site.  I already know where I am having the poles cemented into our backyard in Redlands so I can run a bunch of clothes lines, then dye fabric like this that I can pin up and dry all over our backyard.  Could have stayed put here for hours.  (note: Tell me… does this not look exactly like our backyard!?)

Birthday boy Art scored the prize of the day at this shop: a beautiful indigo jacket that those of you who see Art regularly will be seeing regularly for years to come.  It looks like this one seen here drying on the line:

Blue nankeen coat...

The shop specializes (obviously, in case you haven’t gathered already) in producing hand dyed indigo cotton fabrics, traditionally worn by “ordinary” Chinese.  Primitive, natural, beautiful.  Our short visit there was such fun, I think we would return all the way to Shanghai just to stop in there again…

Here are a few more shots of Blue Nankeen…

Blue nankeen 2...

Wide striped scarf came home with me...

Display room inside...

In the same neighborhood as the Blue Nankeen shop, I spotted this: someone spent the morning dying yarn! Wonderful creative juices flowing in this hood...

Later in the day, we took the girls up to the highest observation deck of Shanghai TV’s funky Oriental Pearl Tower.  After our glorious time in the French Concession and the blue nankeen shop, this “highlight” was sort of a bust.  Like everywhere we’ve been so far, it wasn’t crowded at all, and yet for some reason we waited in line for more than an hour (with two hungry kids) to finally get to the top (350 meters)… and once there, the double paned windows were so clouded over that the view was hazy.  Impressive, nonetheless:

The tallest building you see here (with top that looks like a basket handle) is the Shanghai World Financial Center. It's the second tallest building in the world, and the tallest in China...

Shanghai from above, view 2... here you see the "old" side of Shanghai...

Getting there and back from our hotel, however was a hoot.  We took the “amazing, mind bending” tunnel ride under the river.  This entailed the four of us riding in “a capsule made in France” (this was carefully pointed out to us) through an otherwise ordinary subway tunnel transformed by a psychedelic light and pulsing music show.   In a word: Weird.

In other Shanghai notes: the girls scored a bunch of new release DVDs at less than $2 each… while dessert at Haagen Dazs for the four of us (which totaled 7 small scoops of ice cream in cups) cost almost $40.

And so… here’s the first set of Shanghai pix (or whatever my internet access will allow me to upload today)…

Along the Bund...

Along the Bund 2 (taken from the famous Atanu Cafe where we stopped for coffee...)

Hanging at the Atanu, overlooking the Bund...

Ever delightful...

Along the Bund 3... gorgeous at night...

Whereas this is what you see on the other side...

You can see why I prefer this side...

Shanghai cruiser... (pointy tower on left is the funky TV tower with observation decks)

Shanghai cruiser too... she and Art stayed up on top while Elle and I rode in the snug cabin below...

The famous Peace Hotel on the Bund... still closed for renovations...

Along the Bund... could be Paris... London...

Nanjing Road shopping... location, location, location...

Nanjing Road 2...

Excellent travelin' girls hit Nanjing Road...

Nanjing Road goes on and on... almost all of it is pedestrian traffic only...

He is beautiful everywhere...

Not far from the Tomorrow Square building (which Art pointed out looks like a soviet missile, and I didn't bother to photograph) are other wonderful buildings...

Nice...

Old and new...

Nanjing Road pretty girl and flower boxes...

And this cutie...

Shanghai's Grand Theater. So close and yet so far... on April 4th is a special concert celebrating the 100th anniversary of Mahler's death...

In front of a government building...

At the park, we weren't quite sure what we were buying tickets for...

But we needed to break things up a bit...

And had a blast on these...

It's not all high tech and modern... the ladies play cards in the park here too...

Elevated pedestrian walkway near the aquarium...

The girls with sweet Lyra...

More Shanghai pictures yet to come…

Internet access being what it is, I have to post when I can.  I’m also determined to keep this blog reasonably “in order”…

And so… while we’ve just returned from a great adsventure to Shanghai, with lots to share, before I do that, I need to post this “part 2” from our previous weekend in Beijing.  These are pix from the Azure Clouds Temple and Fragrant Hills Park…

The Azure Cloud Temple was built on a hillside, with temple buildings at six different levels. You walk up steps like these, then through the first temple building and out the other side... then up another similar flight of steps and into the next building... and on and on. By the 4th or 5th building (all massive stone undertakings) it really begins to feel amazing and endless...

At the entrance to just one of the many temple buildings...

Temple roofline...

Gorgeous stone carvings everywhere...

At one level were these drum towers that reminded us of clubhouses... open to the public, we climbed high skinny ladders to the top where we found elephant statues bearing the drums...

Here's my gang as they tie red prayer ribbons on a tree outside of one of the temple buildings...

The girls and me... at the final (highest) temple area, the Vajra Throne Tower. (note: I am not getting fat, just still cold and wearing many layers under my large grey parka. Honest.)

Vajra Throne Tower...

Another carving...

Temple girls...

Bright spot in an otherwise grey day...

This soaring glazed pagoda is the "symbol of Fragrant Hills Park"... it is under reconstruction...

Near the glazed pagoda is this massive glazed archway: one of the few architectural treasures in the park not destroyed in the Opium War of 1860 or the Boxer Rebellion...

Closer view of top of glazed archway...

Elle on the old stone steps...

Three Svensons braved the park's "sausage on a stick"...

As mentioned in the previous post, we rode the cable car to the highest point of Fragrant Hills... something I'm not sure I will ever do again. At the top (granted it was an overcast day) were views in every direction with dozens of different hiking trails and paths to take down. We'll return later in the spring for a day of hiking...

Another view from the top... mysterious...

More exploring back at the bottom...

Elle...

Old wall...

Dried fruit for sale...

Quilt image 8...

Wednesday in Beijing… and we are celebrating Art’s 60th birthday!  Getting ready for a party in our apartment tonight, then off to Shanghai in the morning…

Born in the Year of the Rabbit… and now celebrating 60, again in the Year of the Rabbit…

Happy Birthday Artie!  Life is Wonderful…

Art and the girls this morning: 23 March, 2011.

Another weekend packed full with family field trips that left us pleasantly exhausted.  We are having a blast… though we’re not without our Chevy Chase moments (Art walking us down one Beijing alley after another as he is determined to find the hutong where Zhao Ziang was placed under house arrest in 1989, after the Tiananmen Square massacre; turns out they’ve torn it down)…  and not without the occasional unhappy kid… but mostly great times.  So far, China has been an easy country to travel in with kids.  I’m not in constant hyper-alert mode (except when on crowded subways), and feel relaxed wherever we go.  Maybe because it’s still early, and not yet tourist season, so there haven’t been any crowds?  In any event, Art’s been leading us on a lot of fun fieldtrips.

He’s made it his job to ensure that we eventually see everything in Beijing.  We’re saving some of the “big” sites (like the Great Wall) for better weather in a few weeks, but on Saturday we went to Wangfujing: the famous shopping area of Beijing (closed several weeks ago when Chinese authorities thought there was going to be an uprising…).  If you live in China but want to pretend that you really live in Chicago or New York, this is one of those areas where you would be perfectly comfortable.  You can stay in really swanky hotels, and get anything you desire in several high end malls that offer everything from Tiffany’s to Bally, Givenchy and Burberry, to Coach, Prada, Max Mara, Birkenstocks and Nikes… to every single brand name of every single thing you can think of.   All very expensive.  We hit the fun part (for kids) which was not the malls but rather the shopping district outside with alleys full of unusual sights, lots of souvenirs for sale (think Chinatown in LA, but on steroids) and curious food stalls with things like live scorpions and big crunchy bugs on sticks… waiting to be fried and eaten (which we did not)… and another alley with a “steamed stuffed buns” restaurant where we ate really well.  Also stopped at the famous Shengxifu hat shop and the foreign language bookstore where we finally found maps to hang in the apartment…

Afterward, we walked through several hutongs, and took a tour at the former hutong/home of one of China’s most famous writers: Lao She.  He wrote a number of books, translated into dozens of languages over the years.  I’ll see what I can get on kindle.  For my mom and anyone interested, check out: Rickshaw Boy, The Teahouse, Four Generations Under One Roof…

He had a hard life (who didn’t in the China of 1899 through 1966), but with many bright spots (esteemed career, wonderful artist wife, four kids).  Sadly, he killed himself by drowning, at age 67.  Suicide is the official story, but he had been marked as an enemy of the party and was marched into the streets of  Beijing and publicly beaten… so there is that to consider on top of the official story…

On Sunday morning we took a taxi out to Fragrant Hills, an enormous park beyond the Summer Palace and sort of off the beaten path of Beijing… up and around narrow, winding streets (similar to the south side of Pittsburgh).  There was so much to see that in nearly 5 hours we only grazed the surface, but chalked up another temple: the Azure Temple in the Clouds, and another cable car ride.  The temple was wonderful… originally built about 900 years ago, it went on forever (dozens of buildings) and culminated in the Vajra Throne Tower.   Too much to write it all here, but these impressions: how did they move/cut/carve/stack all that stone 900, 700, 500 years ago?  Hmmm.  That’s what I’m thinking…  Also, very little incense at this temple.  Instead there are red ribbons with prayer wishes which can be tied throughout the grounds and inside the buildings and halls near various deities.  Loved this.

Also in the park itself are trails and paths winding for hours.  We’re planning a return trip later in the spring to hike those trails…

The cable car ride was another story.  I used to be so fearless; now I am completely freaked out by these kinds of things.  Really.  This was a longer, higher cable car than the one we did in Kunming… also (seemed to me) more ancient and rickety.  Terrifying.  On the return trip I rode with Elle who was getting a kick out of me hanging on for dear life.  Halfway down she told me to close my eyes and imagine something peaceful, and so I did.  OK, I said (eyes shut)… I’m at the beach and this is the wind in my hair…  Then Elle starts hollering: “We’re going down, Mom! We’re going down!” … laughing her head off.  Where did that come from???

Good days both.  Back to school today (Monday).  I will never ride another cable car.

Emerging from the subway is this part of Wangfujing. Probably the most famous avenue in Beijing... from behind me in this picture it goes for a mile or so before passing Tiananmen Square...

Further along and beyond the high end malls things open up... more foot traffic and people outside...

Off the main drag are these shopping alleys crammed with people and souvenirs. We bought slippers for the girls, and postcards... (whoo hoo...)

Wangfujing tchotchkes...

A light snack... you know, if you like eating scorpions...

Enormous bugs on sticks, as food. I don't think so...

But the corn was good!

Here we are... wandering down another alley...

Look for the sign...

Love this garage...

Hutong doorways run the gamut.. from really, really rustic to chic to somewhere in between. These are ancient neighborhoods and I imagine "hip" places to live for lots of young people, but peering into some of the open doors, it looks like many seem to have not had a change in occupancy in the last 50... or 100 years. Love walking around here...

Hutong doorway 2

Hutong doorway 3

Hutong doorway 4

Hutong doorway 5

Hutong doorway 6

After the hutongs we stumbled into the Dynasty Hotel where we stayed in 2005 (memories!). The hotel sits next door to St Joseph's church. Churches of any denomination are a very rare sight in China....

[note: posting this incomplete and 9 hours after I wrote it as I can’t get photos to load; will continue when full speed internet kicks in again…]

I’ve posted several times now how happy we are with BISS, and we are.  It has great facilities, wonderful teachers, happy kids… and hot, decent lunches including broccoli, rice, beef, pizza, etc. (nice break for me; I’m not scrambling to pack lunches every morning… ).

This week the girls had “student led conferences” where they got to show us all that they are doing and learning, and Art and I came away duly impressed.  I think they are both right on track with (and likely ahead of) the California curriculum, and so have no qualms about what they might be missing back home.  They both have Chinese class in addition to the full British curriculum, Elle’s made strides in reading, Cece’s been writing a bit more and was recently in a play (as a robot named Toot), and both girls now have swimming as part of their PE classes.  This I was able to observe earlier in the week as a parent chaperone.  The entire class hops on a BISS bus with the PE teacher (a young Tiger Woods-look-alike from the Phillipines; there is no nicer PE teacher on the planet) and heads over to the Hilton just 7 minutes away.  There they meet up with two additional swim coaches and the entire group takes over the Hilton swimming pool.  I have no idea how they’ve worked this out with the Hilton (no complaints from guests?), but it seems to work.  And for the kids who know how to swim, it’s a great work out.  I love swim days…

The BISS school day is a little longer than our elementary day back home.  Here the girls go from 8:15 until 3:15 (7 hours versus 6 hours at home).  Plus several days a week they have “ASAs” (after school activities such as outdoor recreation, knitting and cooking) and on those afternoons stay until 4:20.  Add to this the commuting time in both directions and it really is a much longer day.  They’ve adjusted just fine and all in all, are having a great school experience.

BISS is actually “Beijing BISS International,” aka the Beijing campus of the original British International School of Shanghai.  The Beijing campus was opened 16 or 17 years ago and has been growing steadily.  They follow a “unit of inquiry” structure and “aim to develop globally minded citizens” who are independent learners.  I like that.

Somehow haven’t snapped a picture yet of the girls and their teachers, but plenty of time for that.  The pictures below were taken in and around BISS, in the An Zhen Xi Li neighborhood where you can happen upon just about anything… from a brand new Porche Cayenne to a 70-year-old man on a 60-year-old bicycle delivering round bricks of coal for the old coal furnaces still used to heat many buildings here.

There are two parks near BISS that I pass through when walking to or from the Beitucheng subway station.  The park nearest the station and alongside the canal I especially like.  The canal had been frozen for our first three weeks at BISS, but is thawed now, and the park is coming to life.  For China friends who have read the book Mei Mei Loves the Morning(500 times or so as I have) this is one of those parks where Chinese grandpas congregate in the morning.  On bicycles and in covered motorcycles they bring jars and thermoses of tea along with their caged birds which they hang in the trees while they sit and talk and play games for hours.  Keeping birds appears to be a popular hobby with retirees.  Am keeping this in mind for Artie one day…

The other park (I call it Confucius Park) is older and is nestled inside the maze of apartment buildings in An Zhen Xi Li.  Here too retirees gather to dance, exercise and play cards intently, also for hours.  Below is a picture of the Friday Afternoon Bridge Club.  I realize it’s probably not Bridge that they’re playing, but these women are serious, dedicated card players.  Will find out what the game is…

…. to think about what they’ve seen/endured in their lifetimes… from Mao and the cultural revolution to Deng Xiaoping and one child policies….. to today’s rapidly growing consumerism and astonishingly present technology… China’s impact on the global economy… and an emerging middle class…

They all wear cardigan sweaters they’ve had since 1969 (I know because I’ve seen them without their padded coats)… carry iPhones and smart phones and rely on text messages… dote on their sole grandchildren, and now their sole great grandchildren.  Incidentally, in China women are required to retire at 55, men at 60.  Some professions extend this and a fair number of people seem to work longer, but mandatory early retirements ensure jobs for the younger generation…

Friday Bridge Club...

The woman at 12:00 is about to blitz...

Confucius... an ethicist for all time...

The Chinese build lovely parks with lots of wandering paths, seating, and covered areas like this shade prototype that I like. Parks are spotless and pleasant. No graffiti, no gangs. Very controlled...

Signs for the "foreigners schools"...

There is also a great elementary school in this neighborhood... the yellow caps are part of their uniform. Kids gather at this stand in the park for after school snacks...

All over Beijing, great fresh fruit is plentiful and cheap. This is one of the fruit ladies near BISS...

Just tubers...

Coal delivery, via bicycle...

Near the canal park, you can walk along this original wall built by the Mongols, centuries ago...

History...

Nice to run into a lab here...

The frozen canal...

Men gathering in the morning...

Nice morning out for the birds...

Pampered birds hang all over this park in the morning...