China- Day 6

This is a village outside of Shanghai. It is believed that this is where Mission Impossible Three was filmed.



This is a chinese opera going on in the outdoor theater.

We had a peaceful ride on these gondolas taking through the rivers and showing us different homes that were right on the water.


The tiny alleys between shops was packed with people. The smells were horrible but the the sites were amazing.
This one is for you, Cassie! Eat up!


After a morning in the village, our tour guide to us to a nice place for a lunch of interesting cuisine. The first picture is fried fish, with the face staring up at us!

Many guesses were offered as to what kind of soup this is. Any suggestions?

This is pig leg- a very special treat.
Once we were done eating, we started to go down the hallway toward to exit. We found this door was open to reveal the tanks that held the fish before they are served. With 24 people in our group, it's a shock that no one got sick on this trip.
We went back into the city of Shanghai for the night. As you can probably understand, we were all very excited when we found a Papa John's for dinner. We even found a Dairy Queen around the corner to get some ice cream for dessert.

We ended the day with a bang. We went to an famous acrobat show full of music, dancing and death defying stunts. It was awesome!
Kade (Kent's nephew) was able to get a picture taken with the motorcyclists that rode all together in a large steel ball.

China- Day 5

After a night on the train- it was a welcome sight to see someone waiting for us as be deboarded the train. We had time to get breakfast and some of us were lucky enough to have a quick shower before we were on our way. This day was one of Kent's favorite sites. We went to the Museum of the Qin Terra Cotta Warriors.
Before going to see the actual pits where the warriors were buried, we stopped to see where the current souvenirs and statues were created. In this picture you can see the woman using the molds to create rows and rows of terra cotta statues.

There was a station where the kids got to use some clay and create their very own little statue to take home with them. Speaking of statues to take home.. Alison?... Look at Jon in the background studying the big ones. Jon (Kent's brother-in-law that lives in China) ended up buying a life-size statue for his home. I'm still anxiously waiting to hear what they name him!

Can you find me?
I didn't know much about these warriors before the trip- except for that I had seen them at PF Chang restaraunts. Here is a quick lesson- "Upon ascending the throne at the age of 13 (in 246 BC), Qin Shi Huang, later the first Emperor of all China, had begun to work for his mausoleum. It took 11 years to finish. It is speculated that many buried treasures and sacrificial objects had accompanied the emperor in his after life." Looking at these warriors and knowing they were created over 2,000 years ago- it is truly amazing to see the detail and precision in each of these statues.



These in the boxes, were ones they found in almost perfect condition. Pay attention to the detail on these pieces. Unfortunately, 72 hours after being exposed to light and air, the paint wears off. In some pictures taken by archeologists, as they were first discovered, shows brilliant colors they used to paint each warrior.

This is one of China's national treasures- they Bronze Carriage. Here's a blurb I found to add: "The chariots were mainly made of bronze. However, there are 1720 pieces of golden and silver ornamentation, weighting 7kg, on the chariots. The chariots are so well-made and so vivid in detail that they are recognized as the best preserved, the highest quality and also the earliest known bronze relics in China. They are the biggest items of bronze ware ever found in the world. "

Alison and I had a nice time chatting on the bench while the other women took a bathroom break. Remember what I told you about the bathrooms? I think I'll wait until we get back to the hotel!

China- Day 4

The Temple of Heaven Park was one of my favorite places to visit.
The park surrounding the temple is used by mostly retired people who are involved in different activities of exercise and relaxation. We saw lots of different people learning to ballroom dance, line dance, or traditional chinese fan dancing.





The park served as a HUGE outdoor gym. Take a minute to look at this first picture and see all of these fun things to do.

This active old guy was challenging Kent to a dual of events.

Active Old Guy- nice and easy.
Young American- not so graceful.
Angie (sister-in-law) did her best to stretch with this guy. She did a great job, but I think that gentlemen was in that same position from the time we arrived at the park, until long after we left.

Some groups were doing Thai Chi. Notice the stretching guy in the background- he's awesome!

Kent got in on the action when this man started a ring toss game.
Kent caught all of them around his neck. Way to go!
There were different groups around playing dominoes, cards, singing or playing musical instruments. We were especially impressed by the man playing the- what looked like a crochet mallot. It sounded just like a violin.

After a serene morning, we went over to the silk factory. This tour was very interesting. We learned the lifespan and duties of the silkworm.

These are the worm cocoons.

We had the great opportunity to do some silk stretching. We weren't as good as the professionals, but you get the idea.

We were lucky enough to go on a royal ride in a rickshaw. It was hilarious. We had to laugh when our bike drivers would get frustrated and try passing each other. I felt like we were in some chariot race that we had no control over.


On our ride we saw these alleys that led to people's homes. These homes do not have their own bathroom so they share a public restroom to be used by the entire block. We finished up the day with a stop at the Olympic Venue- "The Bird's Nest." It was so neat to be able to stand where gold-winning althletes have competed. Underneath the protective flooring, we could see the track.





That ends our time in Beijing. We caught a train that would take us through the night to our next stop- X'ian. The rooms were tiny and our neighbor was smoking, but we had lots of fun seeing the country and having that experience of riding a passenger train (my first time).