Our Memorable Moments

We shopped at 徐家汇 after breakfast. Then, we took the magnetic-levitation railway from 浦东 to the airport. The 7-minute ride cost us $40 RMB per person, but it was fun to see how quickly the train accelerated. There were times when we were going so quickly that the train was tilted to one side.

We had lunch with your cousin's family at 小南国. The dishes are all every extravagant. After the lavish meal, we visited the flat where you grew up in. I can't imagine how 4 families can fit into that tiny space... Then, we had the most wonderful 生煎 at a little shop in that neighborhood. At night, we had dinner at 金锚 with your parents and went to your cousin's and uncle's apartments. We watched your cousin's wedding video before heading to your uncle's place. Your uncle has a projector TV and pretty impressive karaoke system. Your mom and uncle ended up singing past midnight.

We went to 东山 with your mom today. After visiting the grave of your grandparents on your mom's side, we had 农家菜 for lunch. The prices were unbelievably low, but the food was extremely delicious. (Each hairy crab was only $34 RMB.) Then, we went to 席家花园 with full stomachs. It has a beautiful view of 太湖, but we were the only tourists there. After spending an hour or so there, we went to 雕花大楼, where owner of the estate just went crazy with the cravings. At night, we went to 周庄 for its night scene. The water town strongly resembles Disneyland with the lanterns and christmas lights at night. There was even a "parade" at night. Streams of boats with people performing on them would pass by in the main water way.

We went to Shanghai History Museum, which is at the very bottom floor of the 东方明珠 TV tower. Then, we shopped for a while at 正大百货. Things at the mall seems to be less expensive than those in Beijing. You bought a pair of leather gloves for me. At night, we poured tea for your grandma before having dinner at 吉士 with your family.

We decided to spend Thanksgiving in Shanghai. This is the first Thanksgiving I've spent without my family and a turkey.

We went to church in the morning, and had lunch with Sharon. In the afternoon we went to 景山, but unfortunately the hill top was closed and we were unable to see the Forbidden City from there. After that I went to practise piano. In the evening we went to 老舍茶馆 to watch show there. There were lots of differnet Chinese performances, including Chinese opera, face changing, 相声, etc.

We had a very comfortable weekend in Beijing in more than a month. We visited 古观象台, 神农坛, and had a walk at 后海 in the evening. We bought a nice lantern and a candle cover there.

We went to the movie Harry Potter: The Goblet of Fire together near 崇文门. It was a nice movie, but very dark. We both had nightmares that night.

We had a weekend visit to 大同. We left on Friday night, spent the night on train, and arrived Saturday morning. In the morning we visited 悬空寺, and in the afternoon we visited a wooden tower, 应县木塔, which was over a thousand years old and was the tallest and oldest in China. On Sunday we visited 云冈石窟, which was very impressive with tens of thousands of Buddas in caves. Wealso bought 5 pigs made of different materials during the trip.

You had diarrhea and vomitting though the night, and the situation was the worst around 5am. I took you to the emergency room at 协和医院. It was very efficient, and in 2 hours we had done blood tests, check ups, and liquid infusion, and you felt much better. I worked from home that day to take care of you.

We went to the church together, which was our first time going to a church together in Beijing. The place was the BICF, Beijing International Christian Fellowship, which allowed foreign passport holders only. It was the 25th anniversary of the church. Towards the end a lot of people from different races came up to the stage and waved flags of the various countries in the world. In the afternoon we attended a Hutong tour organized by the CCC. We learned a lot of the various doors of 四合院.