Our Final Days in China

We are back in Nashville after a wonderful visit with Chris and Sarah. Above, we are sitting in a traditional tea house in Chengdu inside the a famous garden area. After spending a few days where few Westerners were seen, Chengdu seemed very Western. We did stay in a truly Chinese hotel, although a very nice one. Chengdu is the capital of the Sichuan province and has a much more relaxed feel than the other cities we visited. We took the train to Chengdu through beautiful countryside filled with farms. After checking into our hotel, we went to Zoe's for lunch, one of Sarah and Chris' favorites in Chengdu. Western food, including Dr. Pepper which is not available very many places. After lunch we visited Du Fu's Thatched Cottage. Du Fu is a very famous Chinese poet and the gardens surrounding the buildings were very beautiful. After a brief rest, we had dinner at a Peking Duck restaurant in the walking street area of Chengdu. Our final day we went to the Panda Research Station to see the giant pandas and the red pandas, which are a cross between a raccoon, a panda and a fox. We arrived early enough that we were able to see the pandas playing outside--they go inside during the heat of the day to eat and rest. We next visited a famous Buddhist monastery which also had beautiful gardens. We were weary from the heat and spent a few hours relaxing in a bookstore/coffee house called the Bookworm--wine, beer, coffee, books and music! For our final dinner, we went to Peter's Tex-Mex--Peter is Chinese but the Tex-Mex is pretty good. On Friday, we were up very early and after about 24 hours of travel, Marti and I were reunited with David who had flown home from Shanghai on a different flight. Of course, our luggage went on to LA without us after we cleared customs in Atlanta but it arrived by noon the next day. Next stop: David off to South Africa and Marti off to Ukraine.

Hello from China

Hello from the middle of China!  We met up with Sarah, Chris and David in Shanghai last Wednesday.  David was meeting us after spending a few days in Taiwan with a good friend from Stanford.  It was very, very hot and humid in Shanghai but we tried to see as much as possible in only two days.  We visited the walking street, Nanjing Lu, the Bund, Pudong, Old Town (the beautiful Yu garden) and the Shanghai Museum.  The heat finally got to us and we retired to the swimming pool at our hotel for the afternoon before going out for dinner.  We had dinner at three non-Chinese restaurants (middle eastern, Italian, and Tapas) knowing that the rest of our trip would be spent in the middle of China.  We flew inland on Friday and will spent a week here.  So far, we've seen many sights in this city and been fascinated as Sarah and Chris talk to their neighbors, shop owners and taxi cab drivers.  We have seen no other non-Chinese in their neighborhood while we have been here and have eaten some wonderful meals at places only locals go.  We leave again tomorrow for our final destination, Chengdu, before heading back to Nashville on Friday so David can move to South Africa on Sunday.