...or, How I Spent My Christmas Vacation.
As this is our final year in Shanghai, we are trying to get in some China touring before completion. So for the long (18 days) break we decided to stay mostly in Shanghai and take a few short trips. Our first trip was to Nanjing (also known as Nanking, as in "The Rape of Nanking"), the former capitol of China.
Loved the convenience of the subway system in Nanjing. We spent 24 hours in Nanjing and ultimately wished we had given it another day to see more sites. Beautiful scenery, gardens, and fresh air.
Lots of walking to and around Ming's Tomb - and those Chinese really know how to make a good wall!
Back in Shanghai we went to Shanghai Stadium to see a basketball game. The Shanghai Sharks vs. the Beijing Ducks. Half the fun was the negotiations with the scalpers outside the stadium before the game (I am pretty sure it is impossible to purchase tickets the 'usual' way). Jeff had informed the kids ahead of time that 'all the action in a basketball game takes place in the first half' , just in case he got bored and wanted to leave. We stayed through the end and the fourth period was soooo exciting that several of us lost our voices screaming.
Our final adventure was to Guilin/Yangshuo - a beautiful, picturesque province in the southern part of China. This is a place tourists generally go in warmer weather when there is more greenery and the river levels are higher. The first day we went on a 5-hour boat trip from Guilin to Yangshuo down the Li River. This mountainous area is the inspiration for many Chinese paintings as well as the photograph on the 20 reminbi bill.
Zach and I spent the following day in the hotel room as he fought a 103+ degree fever, while Jeff, Sarah, and Max went on a bike tour. They stopped in a village and learned how to make soy bean milk. That evening, Jeff, Max and I went on a very small boat to observe a fisherman as he used cormorants (birds) to fish.
This gentleman is 82 years old and he started fishing at age 12. Yep, he has been doing this for 70 years! Mostly, he is a tourist attraction - leaving the younger fisherman to actually go out for hours each evening to catch fish. This man's small raft holds 5 or 6 birds. When they get in the river, the birds/ducks dive under water and catch fish. They have rings around their necks so they are unable to swallow the fish which they bring to the surface. The fisherman picks up the bird and it spits the fish into the basket.
On our last day we visited the Reed Flute Cave - which is this large cave system with stalagmites and stalactites hanging, lit by strategically placed colorful lights. It was an astounding feat of nature. Our pictures just did not do it justice. I'll show you the postcards sometime!
Wednesday, the 4th, it was back-to-school. As testament to how much fun Max had during his Xmas break, here is a picture of him about 10 minutes after returning home from the first day of school:
Zaijian!
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