Shanghai Times (Days 12-14)



The longest leg of our trip, a 12-day stop in Shanghai, began with our late Wednesday-night arrival at the Marriott Executive Apartments near People's Square in the heart of the city. Our suite had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full kitchen and, to our surprise and great delight, a washing machine/dryer! 

We immediately lit some incense and said a prayer of thanks.
Although we were completely unable to decipher the settings and dials, I secured a manual in English (regrettably, no Chinglish) and proceeded to plow through two or three small loads a day for the next week.

Shanghai, the largest city proper by population in the world with over 24 million inhabitants, is known as the Pearl of China. It is a modern metropolis serving as China’s commercial and financial center and a symbol of the country's economic success, but also has its own deep history and long standing traditions. To me, if Beijing is your grandparent's house with old books and heirlooms on dusty shelves providing constant reminders of generations past, then Shanghai is your rich uncle's modern pad with both a shiny new sports car in the driveway and several cherished family mementos carefully displayed.
Our hotel in the background. Vaughn had to ditch the souvenir Mao cadet hat because placing it atop
his juan tou fa (curly hair) proved too irresistible to the citizenry of Shanghai.   
On Thursday, July 10 - a workday for Betsy - the kids and I started off in the heat and humidity for a walk through People's Park located adjacent to our hotel. The beautiful park was developed beginning in 1952 and currently features a waterfall, a lotus pond, fitness areas and a small amusement park.

One of the "fitness areas." We wondered if their wives know about their daily gambling exercise.  
Our plans to meet up with our friends from Guilin came to fruition as we miraculously rendezvoused with Danne, Layla and Ahmad Johnson on Nanjing Road, a nearby pedestrian shopping plaza. After bathing in the air-conditioned comfort of a three-story M&M shopping emporium we made our way back to People's Park. All five kids screamed and hollered their way through a thrilling swing ride before we wandered toward the exit through the beautiful park grounds.

NOT a busker; only in the parks do people seem to play for pleasure instead of pocket change.
Danne had a lunch place in mind in the French Concession, an area once designated for, go figure, the French that still retains a unique charm with its tree-lined avenues, small cafés and many fine old houses. The Johnsons had experience riding the subway and were happy to guide us on our initial plunge. Having navigated the much older subways in London, Paris and Brussels two summers ago, I can say that the 11-year old Shanghai subway is far cleaner, a bit cheaper (kids ride free!) and has an easier payment system. 

I'll never forget spontaneously belting out the Laverne and Shirley theme song with Danne and sharing obscure childhood memories as we walked past the Shanghai Museum on our way to the subway station. We also got a laugh out of being the ONLY non-Chinese riders on the train (which pretty much always seemed to be the case) and we wondered what the locals must have made of this crazy Brady Bunch of smiling American faces. Danne's choice of eateries did not disappoint as we all devoured the fried rice, sautéed sword (green) beans with minced shrimp, braised pork (amazingly fresh and deliciously fatty) and mixed pan-fried mushrooms. We said goodbye to our friends as we separated before boarding different subway lines with plans to meet up later at the Bund. 

Tragically, that meeting was not to be as our good luck ran out and we failed to find each other that night. We have little doubt that the Hughes and Johnson families will ride again and can't wait for our next adventure together. 


On that foggy night, we did make it to The Bund (more on that area later) to pose for some photos - some with just us in them! - before we strolled back to our hotel along the brightly-lit Nanjing shopping plaza.

Everyone say "qie zi!"
The word for eggplant is the Chinese equivalent of "cheeeese!"
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Day 13 was a quiet one as the kids and I beat the heat by exploring the businesses adjoining our hotel; we flipped through the menus of ultra-fancy restaurants, peeked into the Ferrari and Maserati dealerships and found the best places to pick up snacks and drinks. After an afternoon swim and a dinner cooked in our very own kitchen that satisfied our cravings for good old pasta with tomato sauce and steamed broccoli, we settled in for a movie and a good night's rest.

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Betsy had organized a tour of the towns of Suzhou and Zhouzhaung on Saturday, July 12 and we were up bright and early to meet our guide in the lobby. Joined in the van by a family of three from Panama and a lady from New Zealand, we were whisked 75 miles west to Suzhou, the “Hometown of Silk.” Our first tour stop was the Master-of-the-Nets Garden, a World Heritage Site that contains a series of halls skillfully sculpted since 1140 to synthesize art, nature and architecture into one grand masterpiece.

One of our favorite photos so far. Hooray for Pano. 
Each of the rooms blends elements of feng shui to create the most ideal arrangements. The windows and doorways - all of which have a raised trestle to ward off evil spirits (bad form to tread on them, by the way) - are all carefully oriented with the surrounding water, rocks and vegetation to create inspiring views at every turn.


We were then transported to the "Suzhou No. 1 Silk Factory Co. Ltd." The factory, built in 1926, now combines fascinating elements of the ancient practice of silk production with the obnoxious heavy-handed salesmanship of a Chinese tourist trap. Still, it was worth it to see the complete process of sericulture (silk farming) including mulberry cultivation, the silkworm life cycle, silk reeling, silk weaving and silk quilt making. Our first sight was a mat of wriggling worms munching on mulberry leaves. 


After one month, the larvae stop eating and spin the cocoons that are sorted and harvested. A quick steam bath loosens the silk and kills the pupae inside. Workers then brush each cocoon to find one end of the single, mile-long filament and thread eight ends at once into this reeling machine that winds them together.   

The reel deal.
Those thicker threads are then fed into automated looms that use programmed punch cards to create the intricate patterns seen in silk clothing and blankets. Other cocoons are treated and stretched into sheets for quilts. 

Several child labor laws were broken at No. 1 Silk Factory Co. Ltd. that day.
The end of the tour is a typical Chinese sales assault where purchase is highly encouraged. (Anywhere there are shops, the proprietors will holler at and motion to foreign passers-by in broken English to spark interest in their wares. A bargaining process usually ensues unless the prices are clearly marked. Buyers should rarely pay more than ⅓ to ½ of the original asking price.) At this silk factory, the prices were clearly marked and we purchased one of the king-sized, medium-thickness quilts for a reasonable US$130. 

The next stop was a really tasty lunch that featured yu xiang you si, a new favorite. Yu xiang literally translates to the unappetizing "fish aroma" but it is a flavorful sauce that is incorporated into many meat and vegetable dishes. This one had thinly sliced pork and vegetables and was so good we didn't even stop eating to get a photo. Sorry, foodies!

The final tour stop was a visit to the “Venice of the East.” Zhouzhaung, the most popular ancient water village in China, has preserved a direct link to the past for more than 900 years. Classic courtyards, carved-brick archways and Chinese-style gondola rides offer a unique perspective of life in this fascinating town surrounded and divided by lakes, rivers and canals.

Over 800 households still call Zhouzhaung home so one gets a glimpse of the ancient way of life while still having the opportunity to explore the many shops, food stalls, temples, famous houses and historic bridges. The Twin Bridges, comprised of Shide Bridge and Yongan Bridge, are the most famous and considered the symbol of Zhouzhaung. Together the two bridges resemble an old-style Chinese key and brought notoriety to the region when painter Chen Yifei's depiction, Memory of Hometown, gained international attention upon being displayed in New York in the mid-1980's. 

  
We visited a beautiful open-air opera house where we saw a brief musical performance before we boarded a gondola for a pleasant and scenic 20-minute canal cruise through the town.
An even briefer performance.
Our request for 'O Solo Mio' went unfulfilled. 
A short rainstorm brought a bit of relief from the relentless heat and drove us into the shopping area where we were accosted from all sides. We ended up getting this artisan down to 100 yuan from over 300 for a trio of intricate glass orbs that are painted from the inside. Each of the kids got their Chinese names inscribed in these treasured mementos.
It takes a steady hand!
We were all happy to get back to the hotel at the end of a long and interesting tour, eager for a few days with very little planned except for wandering around Shanghai, doing some knock-off shopping and meeting some of Betsy's friends and colleagues for dinner.    

Harboring Contentment (Days 8 and 9)

An early in-room breakfast in Guilin followed by an intense round of re-packing occupied the morning hours of Sunday, July 6. A short 1½-hour flight took us to a dramatically different landscape. We found a city of densely-packed skyscrapers, fancy cars and a bustling harbor as we switched currency from Chinese yuan to Hong Kong dollars. 


Several years ago, Quinn wondered where Mommy was during one of her overseas business trips. She searched her memory for potential destinations and asked, “Is Mommy in Beep Beep?” It took us a moment to realize she heard “Honk Honk” whenever we mentioned Hong Kong and just had things a bit mixed up. Ever since, we have called the city Beep Beep in her honor.

Sisters say the darndest things.
Waiting for us in the lobby of the Renaissance Harbor View Hotel was a very special reunion with our good friend, Wen Ching, a classmate of Betsy’s from the Purdue Statistics department. We hadn’t seen her in seven years but we picked up right where we left off and had a nice afternoon together. She was especially excited to see the kids again as she was one of the first to visit Xander in the hospital and held Quinn as a baby the last time we were together. 


We ventured out into the blistering heat of the afternoon for a city stroll toward the tram that takes visitors to Victoria’s Peak for a reportedly spectacular view of the city. Unfortunately, we saw only a long line that drove us into a nearby air-conditioned mall and the comfort of a Starbucks for some refreshments. The kids were dragging from our non-stop sightseeing schedule, the rush of the plane flight and the dreaded - perhaps inevitable - onslaught of Mao’s Revenge. Yes, you can brush your teeth with bottled water, keep your mouth closed in the shower, avoid raw fruits and vegetables and walk around with a bottle of Purell but it it’s going to catch up with you eventually. Fortunately, two days and one overworked hotel restroom later, our box of Pedialyte packets were gone and everyone’s appetite was back.

ANYWAY, Wen Ching had just enough time before heading to the airport to join us as we met some friends for dim sum across the harbor in Kowloon. Evelyn and Ricky Chow and their boys, Kevin and Joman, were kind and informative hosts on two memorable nights in the city. 


Evelyn is the sister of Yin Wang, a second-grade teacher at Xin Xing Academy and our family friend. Betsy had visited Evelyn on a previous trip and both families were excited to meet each other. 


After we enjoyed a delicious array of snacks that touched our hearts and said an all-too-sudden farewell to Wen Ching, the Chows helped us find a taxi that took us back from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island via the tunnel underneath Victoria Harbor. Since the kids were exhausted, we called it a night but made plans to see the Chows again the next evening.

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On Monday the 7th, as Betsy headed off for a day at the office, I gave the kids some extra time to rest before we explored the amenities of our hotel where, on the sunny 11th-floor concourse, we found a playground, tennis courts, a mini driving range and a pair of beautiful pools. We also wandered around an extensive art gallery located between the hotel lobby and the subway stop underneath that includes an intriguing Kids At Art studio that holds classes for young artists. Inspired, Vaughn drew the harbor's edge as seen from our hotel window.
You can see how construction continues to expand the city through reclamation of land from the sea. This has been going on for centuries with major projects having been conducted since the mid-19th century. Buildings that once enjoyed waterfront views are now several blocks inland. It was amazing to see (and difficult to ignore the incessant sounds of) new construction all up and down the shoreline. Boats dredge up sand and silt from far offshore and pump it into cordoned-off zones, then dump trucks and bulldozers add rocks, soil and clay before deep cement mixing makes the ground firm enough on which to build. It is reported that up to 25% of Hong Kong Island is reclaimed land; both HK Disneyland and HK International Airport were built entirely on areas that were once water. 

That night, we decided to try the ferry to cross the ever-shrinking channel to Kowloon for dinner and enjoyed the leisurely sunset ride. 


We met the Chows at a Thai restaurant for another marvelous meal with many new dishes introduced to us by Ricky. We are fortunate to have opportunities throughout our trip to dine with locals who can introduce us to the most interesting restaurants and dishes to sample. Not only might we have settled for closer, "safer" places to eat but there's no way we'd have been able to get as deep into the mysterious menus as we've gotten thanks to friends like these. 

I only stopped stuffing my face long enough to keep the camera still for a moment. 
We were glad that the kids had the energy for a pleasant postprandial stroll along the waterfront in the relative cool of the evening. The bright lights of Hong Kong reflected beautifully off the harbor and gave us the opportunity to take some great photos.


Also to appear in several other families' Kodak/iPhone moments.
Here Betsy gets the star treatment.
We said our goodbyes to the Chow family and confirmed our plans to host Kevin and Joman at our home in Edina, Minnesota later this summer. We can only hope that we show them as good a time as Ricky and Evelyn showed us during our first two evenings in Hong Kong. 

Rollin' on the River (Days 5, 6 and 7)

We arrived in the mountain paradise of Guilin on Thursday afternoon and took a forty-minute taxi ride to the Sheraton Hotel through some of the most lush and beautifully manicured terrain we've ever seen. Guilin is known for having the best landscaping in the world and we found that to be true everywhere we went. If ever presented with the opportunity to make the 17-mile bus or taxi ride between the Liangjiang International Airport and Guilin, one is rewarded by scheduling at least one way during daylight. We've never seen a longer stretch of road more beautifully maintained on our travels.

 After briefly exploring the streets near the hotel, we opted for a restaurant that claimed to have authentic cuisine from around the world. Although the menu offered such fare as "double-bailed eggs with ham, bacon and intertines" (?) and cucumber-flavored milk, we opted for (what they considered) pizza. Oops. No tomato sauce, just a thick coating of mayonnaise between the crust and cheese. Still, we enjoyed the novelty of it.
The best part was the beer-flavored beer.
To our delight, as we waited for our Li River tour guide in the hotel lobby on the morning of the 4th of July, a family we noticed at the pool the night before joined the group. Danne Johnson, her daughter Layla (11) and son Ahmad (7), were as eager as we were to partner up and an instant friendship was born. We would hardly separate for the next two days as we enjoyed eating, swimming, waiting out rainstorms and exploring together.  

The 3½-mile cruise on the large, air-conditioned ship included tea and lunch but we mostly devoured the scenery. The verdant limestone hills jut and roll as if a child had drawn them in a unique topography known as karst and minerals have turned the rock faces various striking shades of yellow, white, black, gray and green. 
A very famous view available for just US$3.22,
far lass than the cost of a seat on the riverboat.

We saw water buffalo grazing and a line of trained cormorants which are diving birds around whose necks fishermen tie nooses to keep them from swallowing their catch. A few merchants standing on thin bamboo boats rowed right up to the fast-moving tourist boat and latched on to sell their fruits and vegetables. 

Many of the hills along the river have been named based on distinguishing features such as the famous Nine Horse Mural Hill on which one is supposed to be able to see up to nine horses in various poses.

Some of the highlights for the kids were their rain dance on the deck above the captain's head, getting soaked by intermittent showers and encouraging passing boats to lay on the horn.

A brochure we received reminds us that the reflections of the hills in the clear and greenish water provide bright, beautiful images: "One hundred miles Lijiang River, one hundred miles art gallery." Both ancient and modern literary works appreciate the beauty of the region. Han Yu, a great poet form the Tang Dynasty, wrote a popular work praising the scenery:
The river winds like a blue-silk ribbon,
While the hills erect like green jade hairpins

 The tourist town of Yangshou is the terminus of the cruise and is visited by 20 million people a year. 


We had about four hours to wander the streets before catching the bus back to Guilin but ended up spending much of the time chatting and avoiding the rain and intense heat by talking our way into the deserted dining area of a hotel. We did manage to break away and head through town to check out the many shops and visit a park across from the bus station before we left. 

We woke up on July 5 to torrential rains, a swollen Li River and flooded streets outside our hotel; not enough to do damage like some areas we've seen on the news, but enough to divert traffic here and there. We relaxed in the lobby to ride out the rain with Danne, Layla and Ahmad after the first of our two extravagant hotel breakfast buffets. The kids all had a wonderful time together and Danne and her husband, Reggie, share so many of our interests and values that we are excited to have found these life-long friends. We've already made plans to see them again in Shanghai on July 10th and have been sharing travel tips and stories with each other by text and email.

 After the rain slowed and before Danne ushered the kids to the train station for their 18-hour journey to Shanghai, we ate lunch together at a conveyer-belt sushi restaurant in Guilin. Vaughn and I plucked various delights such as cuttlefish and seaweed from the passing plates while Quinn, Xander and Betsy ordered noodle soup, fried shrimp, sushi and broiled fish from the menu. We were going to wait until Tokyo to have sushi, but we couldn't pass up the presentation and it was well worth the visit. 


 Our last great memory of Guilin was when we took some sports gear to a nearby sprawling plaza to get some exercise. Quinn garnered her usual share of attention but when the boys and I pulled out our baseball gloves and started whipping the ball around we ended up becoming a major tourist attraction. Scores of people stopped and gathered to watch, fascinated by the unusual sport and the boys' ability to throw accurately and catch hard liners and high flies. We encouraged young and old to try their hand at throwing the ball and even tossed our gloves to a few willing participants and challenged them to catch a popup or two. As darkness brought the activity to a halt, everyone whipped out their cameras and wanted to meet us face-to-face. Right at the end, I gathered a part of the group together and asked them to pose. It was a great joy to be ambassadors of goodwill and sportsmanship and to be a part of so many people's enjoyment of the evening. The smiles we saw and the oohs and aahs we heard from the crowd are moments we won't soon forget.     
Sadly, there were no scouts on hand.
We'll have to try again in Japan. 

We’re Packing Our Bags Again!

This weekend , we begin a month-long journey through China and Japan that will include two world capitals, eight separate flights, as much dim sum as possible, the Great Wall, rice paddies, the Forbidden City, street food, Japanese baseball and maybe our second international Disney visit. 

WHERE?
  • 5 nights in Beijing
  • 3 nights in Guilin
  • 3 nights in Hong Kong
  • 11 nights in Shanghai
  • 7 nights in Tokyo 
WHO?
We are a family of five from Edina, Minnesota. Brett is a stay-at-home father and writer, Betsy is a mother and businesswoman, Xander (10) is a fifth grader, Vaughn (9) is a fourth grader and Quinn (7) is a second-grader. All three kids have attended Xin Xing Academy, a Mandarin Chinese immersion program, at Eisenhower Elementary School in Hopkins, MN since preschool. 



WHY?
Betsy travels internationally several weeks a year as Director of Market Intelligence for St. Jude Medical. Her work has taken her to exciting locales such as Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Melbourne, and Sydney; the kids and I accompanied her to Brussels, Paris and London two years ago (see previous blog entries) and now we’re ready to join her in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo for our second Family-Trip-of-a-Lifetime.

We’ve been researching, packing and preparing for this trip for some time and will feature all the highs and lows with lots of photos and videos on this interactive blog throughout the trip. We’ll be checking the comments frequently for your questions and suggestions and make them a part of our explorations.

Share in the adventures and misadventures of family travel in a foreign land: 
  • Find out what it’s like for American kids who can speak and read Mandarin to visit China and speak the language in real-world opportunities.
  • Learn along with us about the history and people of the places we explore. We are excited for two visits to “host families;” one coordinated by Xander’s fourth grade teacher, Lixia Shi, and another by Xin Xing second grade teacher, Yin Wang.
  • I will attempt to incorporate my new Google Glass (sponsored by Armaverse Armatures) into our travels. If I can marry it to my iPhone and hack a couple of travel apps in time, the Glass could immensely augment our experience - or I could be arrested by the Chinese authorities for espionage. 
  • It’s a blog with suspense!...Will They Survive? After submitting a phonebook-thick stack of paperwork to our local Chinese consulate and securing our visas, we spent a morning as pincushions at our local Travel Clinic in an effort to ward off typhus, hepatitis A and B, avian flu, tetanus, and more! We also hope to avoid getting bitten by mosquitos and contracting malaria or dengue fever. We’re prepared for the crowds and shoving in elevators and lines; we have our respirator masks for the pollution; we’ve packed toilet paper to carry with us at all times and I’ve got my sneer ready to repel the tourist scammers. 

    Paper holders and toilet bowls not included.
  • We will, however, eat as many delicacies and unusual foods as we can safely sample and share the results. 
We'll just save the fugu for the last night.