Blog « Melanie Fischer

Winter Vacation in the Philippines

January 18th, 2024

Dan, Morton and I arrived in the Philippines and spent the evening in Manila before heading north. It was brief but we were impressed (overwhelmed?) by the traffic and the chaos of the city. It felt like there was no city planning, no city ordinances on what could be built and where. It felt like insane chaos – even the electrical wires hung in crazy disorder.

The next morning we rented a car and spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to get onto the Skyway to get above the traffic and out of town but our GPS wasn’t working correctly and we kept missing turns. After quite a struggle we realized we were about to make another wrong turn. Dan pulled out of the turning lane and went straight. A cop pulled us over, took Dan’s drivers license and was saying something about our need to go somewhere on the 23rd. After passing him some money we were finally able to move on and get out of town.

We drove north through lots of towns and villages. We tried to find a place to grab some food for lunch. Morton and I ran into a supermarket but only found a chocolate bar that was grab and go food. No yogurt or cheese or peanut butter or crackers. Lots of cup of noodle but no way to prepare that even if we wanted to . We bought a few things at a bakery that we weren’t thrilled about and then made it to Mt Arayat for a hike. It was nice to get out and see some beautiful views and stretch our legs but it wasn’t fabulous.

Hike heading up Mount Arayat on way to Mt Pinatubo

At the bottom we saw the park had a sign pointing to a pool. Ended up being a bunch of pools – one of which was at the bottom of a waterfall. Dan and I couldn’t resist – it was so lovely and felt great after hiking.

We then headed to a small guest house near the base of Mt Pinatubo.

On the route we suddenly found our selves driving on these wide, well lit boulevards that were slightly overgrown in the middle of what seemed like no where. We saw one block actually had a couple impressive buildings on it – while there was nothing else around other than foliage.

Streets going no where in what is supposed to become New Clark City

Later we read up on the area. It is called New Clark City. After a number of relatively recent natural disasters in Manila, someone in the Philippines government developed a plan and got a bunch of support to develop a new city that is supposed to replace Manila but at this inland location. A bit of the most recent East Asian games took place in the buildings in New Clark City, but other than that its development seemed to be stalled. Very strange.

The next morning an obligatory guide picked us up in a very rough – McGivered together jeep type vehicle. The driver and guide drove us for about an hour over a gorgeous and surreal landscape of volcanic ash covered wide river bank valley. (Mt. Pinatubo had blown its top in 1991).

The jeep had to go through many rivers running through the valleys- it was nerve racking going down river banks and through rivers and then trying to find ways to go back up.

A couple places we saw what appeared to be old car bodies half buried in the ashy sand. We conjectured how they got there – got swept up in the water when river was flowing heavily? Got stuck in sand and abandoned?… We later found out that once a year the U.S. military comes and does join training exercises with the Philippino military and the cars were put there as part of the training.

Eventually the jeep couldn’t go any further and we continued up on foot. Apparently how far they can drive greatly varies season to season. The front of my old hiking sandals quickly blew out and I hiked on with them flapping from my ankles – we laughed that I had flop-flips. But then they flopped off – breaking off completely – leaving me to bare foot hiking – which wasn’t so great . Periodically we’d hike by a stand that locals, who were seasonally living in the dried out banks , would set up. For what I imagine was a hefty profit (but was only a couple dollars) they sold me a pair of actual flip flops to wear.

We eventually made it up and then down into the crater which is a beautiful lake. Locals were selling BBQ meats and cup of noodles. We hung out for a little while – the boys skipping rocks- when the rain started, we decided to head back down.

On the way down we saw a helicopter approach to land in the middle of the dried out, lava dust filled, middle of no where river bank. It approached them didn’t quite land and hovered as we drove by on the jeep. Very strange.

The next day we got into a different jeep in worse condition and headed out to a village a ways up and over the river bank. We stood in the back – looking over the driver, relieving our bodies of the bouncing seats. About fifteen minutes into the drive smoke was coming from under the dash. The driver pulled a jerry rigged wire that killed the motor. There was some looking at the engine, some starting and stopping of engine, then the driver decided to continue on. Didn’t give us a lot of confidence. We finally made it to a village and from there we hiked about an hour and a half to a tiny isolated village in the hills.

As we approached we saw farmers harvesting sweet potatoes and tilling the soil with an ox.

In the tiny village we stopped at the store and bought some chips for Morton who had gotten grumpy when we realized we needed to hike in and out – there was no pickup in the second town – as there was no street in – just the path we walked. The town had a beautiful basketball court where seeing us sitting some young boys decided to play for our amusement. They played in their flip-flops- occasionally loosing one- but I was impressed by their ability to run in them.

After we got back from this trip Dan had read about “the largest water park in Asia“ in Clark City. We thought how strange the empty city would have “The largest water park in Asia”. Who would go there? Before heading out I pointed out to Dan that the water park was in Clark City not New Clark City. We were disappointed but decided to check it out anyway.

It was supposed to be about an hour and a half drive but typical of our driving in the Philippines experience,roads on our GPS didn’t exist or dead ended leaving us to back track.

Suddenly there was a fancy Swiss Hotel – seemingly in the middle of no where. And then a fancy looking Japanese hotel/casino. Then the water park next to a large fancy looking 3/4 done decaying hotel.

There were maybe 30 cars at “the largest water park in Asia”. We went to buy tickets and they told us there were closing a couple hours early – so we only had an hour and a half. We figured we’d made the trek so we’d enter anyway. As the park was greatly understaffed and under utilized there was a schedule which rides were open when. Despite the restrictions, we ran around and had fun.

Afterwards we drove to Manila, dropped off the car and checked into the apartment with two bunk beds where we were spending the next two nights. I then ran back to the airport to pick up Celia. Unless one had a ticket you couldn’t go into the airport, so I waited outside at the crazy hectic airport until Celia arrived around 1:30 in the morning. I couldn’t believe how hectic the airport was at 1:30 in the morning. Dan read that Manila airport had been rated the worst airport in SE Asia so a few years ago they did a major renovation. Now it’s rated the 5th worst.

The next day I scheduled a bike tour of the old walled in neighborhood of Manila which the Spanish built and occupied with a moat around it. It was fun to explore and get a bit of history.

At one of the gates into the Spanish Quarter in Manila

That evening the boys met a volleyball friend of Dan’s for a game and Celia and I went to a delicious vegetarian Japanese noodle shop.

The next day we flew out to Caramoan peninsula – a remote peninsula on Luzon island – the same island Manila is on. We took a quick flight to Virac where we jumped in a van to the other side of the town to where we jumped on a boat for a 45 minute trip to where we’d stay. It was a fun way to arrive.

We stayed at a very remote resort called Tugawe Cove. The first 24 hours we were their only visitors. It is a lovely resort that was built with the hopes of more visitors and now other than two weeks a year is only open on weekends. It was under cared for and the few lovely employees were not quite winning the battle with nature that was fighting to regain the land. The place is on a steep hill. Our accommodations and the restaurant were at the top. The beach, at the bottom. The first 24 hours there was a good amount of rain and I took quite a fall on the cement, moss covered steps as I was going to complain about having no water running in our bathroom. But as the sun arrived we didn’t mind as much about the electrical outings and we learned to request special food accommodations to make food we liked. The views were stunning and we spent our days snorkeling, doing a little kayaking, and playing billiards. The first night we were there the staff were having their Christmas party – which was odd to have while we were there- but was fine.

The second day after the beach activities we took a short hike up to a light house above the resort.

We could see from there a neighboring village.

Looking down to village only accessible by water (and, we found, bush wacking)

The next day Dan and I paddled out to near the village and thought we’d hike there later with the kids. That afternoon we headed out. The path we took ended at the ocean a bit before the town. We ended up bush whacking for a while before finding our way.

Finally made it out of the bush and into the town

When we finally arrived it felt a bit uncomfortable four white foreigners emerging from the jungle but as we walked around kids ran over to check us out and people said hello.

We stopped and bought some snacks to taste before heading back to the shore. We asked a man arriving in his boat if he’d drive us back to the resort – which we were quite grateful he did. A boy swam in the water to help the boat get off shore.

A couple days later we headed back to Manila. There was only an early morning flight a couple days a week so we had to leave at 5AM to catch The boat to the van to the plane.

Arriving back to neighboring island for flight back to Manila

We had to spend another night in Manila as there was only one flight out for our next destination. Dan booked the Fairmont Hotel – which was a completely different Manila experience- it was lovely -upscale and connected to- an expansive also upscale – mall that had restaurants more to our taste. Morton was desperate for clean clothes so we dropped his clothes at a laundromat. Both kids had run out of their prescriptions. I figured it was worth trying to get a pharmacist to give them to us without a prescription- though I thought the odds weren’t good. I was wrong – No problem. Crises averted!

We had a couple nice meals, used the hotel gym and pool and flew north the next morning.

Dior tree decoration in fancy Manila outdoor mall

We flew to Cauayan and then planned to make our way to Batad – supposedly one of the most beautiful rice paddy areas in the country- which one could only get to on foot – no road. We struggled for a while seeing if there was a way to rent a car or hire a driver – and debating which made the most sense. Unsure, we took a ride to where the road to Batad ended.

Out of car, starting to head to Batad for brief paved path part

It ended up being much further than we expected but once we hiked in – we were not disappointed. The scenery was stunning. We had a simple but good meal on the porch of our guest house overlooking the rice fields. The owner was lovely with her dogs and three year old son toddling around. We were saddened to hear that the famous waterfall there was shut down as a couple tourists that day had fallen to their deaths. That should have made us more nervous for the next day.

The next morning a guide picked us up and took us on a hike through the rice fields. Every inch was stunning – but the hike was crazy unsafe – hiking on the edge of drop offs and climbing up walls with tiny protruding steps.

The main town is at the bottom of the valley. We decided to have lunch there. After our lunch, we saw outside the church someone had set up a volleyball net. After hiking the crazy steep hike back up to our boarding house, and a little rest, Dan talked Morton into going back down in hope of finding a volleyball game. They went down and played for a couple hours. They had a great time getting to know some of the locals. Dan was dying on the climb back but Morton apparently ran up. Nice to be 15!

Morton playing volleyball at the town church

Early the next morning Yaehel, the owner of the guest house drove us to Sagada- our next stop (again much further than we expected) – roads are extremely curved and steep – with lots of dogs and Tuktuks getting in the way.

We pulled into a cute guest house, serving food on their packed patio and in their small “living room/lobby”. I tried to ask the owners about organizing tours in the area but was told I had to go downtown to “register”. We started walking downtown but quickly realized that although not a long walk, the crazy windy road with no where out of the road to walk was not a safe place to walk. We waved over a tuktuk taxi to take us into town to the tourist center. We registered ourselves (not sure if this is a leftover from Covid times, or if it’s making sure they don’t loose tourists on hikes). After registering we were told to wander down the street and there are many places to talk to about tours. The first one we found couldn’t help us out, but at a second one we set things up for the following day. We spent the next hour or two wandering around the town. Dan got a haircut and we bought some snacks at a holiday fair. We spent the evening in the guest house lobby – sitting by the fire, ordering dinner and playing cards.

The next morning the guide picked us up and took us on what ended up being a pretty crazy and fun underground cave hike/spelunking adventure. On the way into the caves, and later after this adventure, there are stacked and hung coffins – as the local people traditionally leave their dead relatives.

Kids were exhausted and wanted to chill out for the afternoon. The old folks took a short hike to a pretty local waterfall for a dip.

Due to a miscommunication between me and Google Maps, the trip back to Cauayan Airport was much longer than I had planned, so our Batad Pension owner offered to pick us up at 2 in the morning to bring us back to the airport. Definitely one of the more frightening experiences of our lives (all except Celia who smartly slept through it). The owner had driven 4-5 hours to get us, slept for an hour or so in her car in the parking lot, then drove us the six hours in pitch black on crazy windy streets with dogs often sleeping in the middle of the roads. Dan and I tried to take over the driving but she kept insisting she was fine (which she clearly was not). We arrived way too early to the airport, which was not yet open, but at least we arrived alive. We found a little something not too yummy to eat at a roadside restaurant/food stand, before waiting at the outdoor waiting area for the airport to open.

We were VERY happy we were staying another night at the Fairmont Hotel. We needed a nice hotel after such an exhausting trip! We spent sometime at the pool before heading out to another nice restaurant at the fancy outdoor mall next to the hotel. It was New Year’s Eve, but only Celia lasted beyond 9pm.

Again, the next morning we had to head out very early to the airport. We had to take two flights – the first to Cebu and the second to Camiguin Island, which is an island formed from one volcano eruption after another – the island has one of the most densely populated volcanic areas.

Our hotel was high in the mountains, feeling like a lovely tree house.

Morton on our deck. Small white dot in ocean is White Island, the first island we went to for snorkeling

The next day we spent exploring the island, seeing a large waterfall, snorkeling around what had been an old cemetery, which after a volcanic eruption become underwater, checking out some old sites (a church, a tower, and some what I’d call warm springs).

The following day we rented scooters and headed out on a guided hike.

Almost nothing do the Philippinos allow you to do on your own – you must register and have a guide. Our friends tried to hike on their own and were stopped. In any case, it was good to have a guide. The hike was straight up the volcano. The path wasn’t marked, only by seeing that possibly one other person had hiked this path, was it slightly clear which was to go. The hike seemed crazy unsafe and steep. Definitely not the “not too hard or long” hike we had requested. Kids decided to turn around mid mountain. Dan and I continued close to the top when I suddenly felt very ill. We thought it was heatstroke – but ended up being the flu.

The next two days we visited a couple near by islands for some snorkeling and resting on the beach. The first island was just a white sandbar off Camiguin. So beautiful. We were concerned on the boat over about the intense sun but once we got to the island we were able to rent an umbrella from the lifeguard.

White Island, a sand bar island we can see from our hotel balcony

Our last day on Camiguin, we packed our bags early and went to check out an island off the south east coast. This ended up being the best snorkeling of our entire trip. Dan and I swam along with a large sea turtle for about half an hour before it ditched us and went on it’s way. It was an amazing way to end our Camiguin stay.

That afternoon we flew back to Cebu, then back to Manila. We got in late and stayed at a hotel next to airport. Dan’s friend Eric met him at the hotel billiards bar, Celia ordered room service, Morton played some video games, and I, sick with the flu, went right to bed and at four AM we headed back to the airport to fly home to Beijing. Great trip!

So happy to be reunited with Milo that they are starting to look alike!

Final push to Winter Holiday

January 7th, 2024

Our friend’s entry into a Cookie Kurfuffle competition

December arrived and serious cold kicked in.

Friday the first we made it back to Kehelat Shabbat. It was a special Shabbat as two members were getting married the next day – so family members came from out of China. I ended up sitting next to a man who had lived in China for decades but was in visiting from New York. At the end of the meal we made the connection that Judy Rossman, my mother’s friend from birth, had been his mentor at Community College of Philadelphia over thirty years prior. He was excited to hear about her and reminisce- such a small world!

The next day Morton had another Pingpong tournament and after was going to Beijing’s first BBYO event – where they were going bowling.

Dan and I decided to go out hiking around the wall. Our driver had the day off so I decided to drive myself – finally putting that Chinese driver’s license to use. Although it is nice to sit in the back of our van and let someone else drive, it was nice to have more control, get a better view, and get a better sense of Beijing’s layout. Once we got where we were going, we struggled finding the actual path but we hiked, got plenty of fresh air, and then went out for a lovely lunch at the base of the mountain.

After lunch we hurried home, to get dressed and then headed downtown to an Indian restaurant for the birthday party of my tennis instructor, Ganish. Was a fun party, though I was asked at last minute to give a speech – which is not my favorite thing. Dan was also asked to give a speech- possibly his favorite thing (just teasing him – but he is more comfortable with it).

The next evening we planned to go downtown to see an exhibit our friend organized and we had missed the opening. We were to meet our friends and then grab a quick dinner. I extended an invitation to another friend who owns the space the exhibit was in. She replied that she was sick but had organized a dinner for us in her entertaining space. She is the same person who had organized Celia’s graduation dinner (probably the best meal I have ever eaten). This meal was also – no quick grabbing dinner – but lovely.

That week was full of school/work, me frantically trying to figure out plans for going to the Philippines, doing a little artwork, playing some tennis,

Frisbee and volleyball, and my teaching Milo a video game(I tried to attach video but isn’t working).

Chanukah started and we lit the candles. Saturday evening Daniel was invited to light a candle at the Israeli ambassador’s apartment. Was a lovely event and was interesting to see where the Israeli ambassador lives after seeing the U.S. ambassador’s large, stately, walled off residence. The Israeli ambassador lives in a small apartment building with each floor housing different Israeli diplomats and the building feeling more like a kibbutz with kids running from floor to floor. Was lovely. (Sadly forgot to take a picture)

Heading to Israeli embassy Chanukah party and then to ISB faculty staff party

Afterwards we ran out to join the school’s faculty/staff party. We had to get there for Dan to say a few words, then to pick all the names for all the giveaways, and lastly to read a story with Longlong (the school dragon mascot).

Dan reading story with LongLong at ISB faculty/staff party

Starting that weekend and continuing the entire following week brought unusual amounts of snow – nothing to even compete with New York’s recent mild winters, but apparently plenty to panic about since Beijing isn’t used to the snow. Public schools had three days off! ISB was forced to close for a day. Snow days aren’t what they used to be though as the kids did online schooling! – what a terrible repercussion of Covid!

Our community club house dressed up the lions outside for Christmas.

We had a super fun tennis birthday celebration for my friend Irma with a Russian lunch to follow. (Trying to celebrate all currently offending countries)

Friday night we had our second annual Chanukah blowout party. Was super fun, bringing a new dreidel winner – who (gasp!) isn’t even Jewish!

Saturday night, our Sunday morning as we were rushing around getting ready to get on a plane to the Philippines, I received photos from Celia who was at Dan’s family annual Chanukah party in Boston. Wish we could have been there – but so nice Celia’s friend Cody was able to join her.

Mitch and Cody at Cousin Jane’s Chanukah party

And lastly a picture Celia sent me.

Celia sporting the necklace she dreamt of and I had made for her for Chanukah.

End of November

November 30th, 2023

Hoping to keep this blog from getting away from me, so hoping to get this month recap out as month finishes.

After Dave’s family left and Morton had his birthday party, Herb decided he wanted to see more of China. Dan was heading off to Hong Kong for a quick conference, so Herb decided to tag along. I quickly bought him an airplane ticket and booked him a tour for the day. The next afternoon he flew out with Dan. They got to the hotel late, had dinner and went to bed. The next morning he went down to the lobby to meet his tour guide. Tour guide never showed up. People at the front desk told him they had a free shuttle bus downtown to a cable car that goes up a big hill in the middle of the city – so Herb took it. Pretty impressive – he’s almost 90 years old. He went downtown, found the line, made lots of conversation, took the cable car up, then walked up to a pagoda on top, bought lunch, found a bus down. Asked people for help to figure out what bus to get back to hotel in time to go to Dan’s banquet dinner. He had a marvelous time!

A couple days later Herb and I went to FaHai Temple. FaHai Temple has magnificent frescos that have survived from the 1440s. The emperor’s favorite eunuch at the time, brought together the best painters from all over China to paint these frescos – which apparently made it unique having all the best talent together. Apparently their paints were mineral based – which I don’t really understand what other paints are – but apparently this has caused them to last much better than their European counterparts.

We bought tickets which allowed us to enter for 20 minutes into the dark room with a flashlight. Before entering the dark temple we were required to lock our phones into a small locker (so sadly no pictures). We had a great time though walking around with our flashlights looking at the painted figures, noticing the fastidious details, and trying to make out the stories they were depicting. A tour guide led the few others around talking in Mandarin and continually yelling at us in rapid Mandarin to “hush”.

Herb at Fahai Temple. There were lots of steps!

A school parent invited Dan and I and another colleague of Dan’s to dinner at their house. The dinner was so lovely, with many small beautiful courses, but I want to show off this fish:

I think this speaks for itself! Unbelievable!

Other things going on at the end of November:

I met a couple friends at the Beijing Botanical Garden, in which there is a temple with a reclining Buddha which my friend Dong thought we needed to see. We hadn’t seen each other since before the summer so we were more interested in catching up than admiring the Buddha, but the garden, although chilly , is really beautiful and we had a nice meal in the restaurant there.

Afterwards I ran back to ISB to represent New York (but really Brooklyn) for the second year in a row at the faculty/staff international food event. We again served Bagels and lox. The bagels were certainly not up to Brooklyn standards but we are all just thrilled to be able to find some here.

We went to a fabulous art opening of the artist Bing Yi. The work was beautiful and it was a lesson in marketing. She has created a character – almost an alter ego – that her work is telling the story of and she presents her work as if this alter ego made the work. SO MUCH EASIER to present the work as if it were someone else’s. SO SMART! She threw a large dinner after the opening a the Nue hotel, to which we were invited. It was a lovely evening.

Bing Yi giving us a fabulous tour of her work – telling the story of her fabled artist who “made the work”

Now that the play Morton was working on is over he is full speed ahead with the ping-pong team.

Dad and his Ojiichan at his first tournament.

Herb and I finally got out to the Summer Palace. It was definitely NOT summer. We had a really nice time but it was cold and windy.

At one point we looked over and there were three lines of Chinese people. At first we couldn’t figure out what they were doing.

Then we realized they were lined up to shoot a picture of the special temple through rocks. I don’t know why. I guess it looked amazing???? I didn’t wait in line to figure out.

The next day was Thanksgiving. Here it is a normal work/school day. We had originally hoped to celebrate it on Saturday but Dan and his dad would be heading to Shanghai for the weekend, so at last minute I decided we’d do a small thanksgiving. I ordered some chicken and vegetables to cook. The day before our friend Tiffany said she and her three kids would join us for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately we forgot to take any pictures, but we had a pretty mellow, but still delicious thanksgiving. It was nice to all hang out. I’d have to say my apple crisp a la mode with a home made butterscotch sauce was pretty yum!

The next Dan and his father flew off to Shanghai. They walked along the Bund (the famous Shanghai waterfront), and in the Yuyuan (rock) Park.

then they went to the Jewish Museum. The place was mostly empty except for a gaggle of high school girls. They approached Herb and asked if he was Jewish. They were writing a paper for school about Shanghai’s Jewish history and were excited to meet an actual Jew. They had lots of questions, which I hear Herb enjoyed answering.

Herb at Jewish Museum with gaggle of girls

Big brother David arrived that evening for a drink at the hotel bar dinner. The next morning they went up to the Oriental Pearl Tower (the third largest tower in the world) – which had a look out with a glass floor that apparently was pretty freaky to stand on.

They then took at boat ride before Dan had to head back to the airport, leaving Dave and Herb for one more night and day in Shanghai.

Herb’s last few days in Beijing, he and I walked around an interesting art neighborhood called ChowYangDi. It has some narrow traditional Chinese streets which we wandered around – checking out a gift shop, a snack shop and then stopping into a drink shop for a hot drink.

This graphic was in the drink shop. What does it mean?

Then we entered the red brick area that AiWeiWei developed as an artist area, which has now mostly become for high end design studios and such but there are some lovely art galleries and we headed to an art opening I’d been invited to. We had a great time looking at the art, talking as best we could with people at the gallery and Herb raved about the “7-layer cake” he ate at the gallery that I recognized as coming from Sam’s Club.

Interesting artwork we saw at the show by Fan Zhongming

For Herb’s last night we took him out for Hot Pot, a traditional Sichuan dish in which you order a broth type base that is put onto a fire in the middle of the table and then you order food: meats, fish, vegetables, noodles to put into the broth to cook – it’s an activity and a meal. We had eaten this is in Chengdu. Chengdu is known for its fiery flavor. Here we ordered much more mild. I got a tomato broth and the men got a chicken mushroom broth.

Here he is preparing the noodles – stretching them out long before putting them into the broth. It was amazing to watch.

This morning Herb and Fumiko left at 5:30 to start their trip home – three flights! Beijing to Tokyo, with a seven hour layover, then to LA, with a quick layover, then to Tucson. Soon they will board their second flight. Our fingers are crossed it all goes as smoothly as possible.

Fall Update

November 15th, 2023

Although I was sad to leave everyone behind in the U.S and fly for 20+ hours, it was also really nice to get back to my three boys (Dan, Morton and Milo, the cat).

It was a brief flurry before heading back out to Japan. During this time, Morton showed me the new ISB golf similator – I think it only took us about 20 swings per hole. It’s amazing how long it can be to play 3 holes!

Dan and I got reaquainted with Celia’s favorite breakfast at Jamaica Blue, the restaurant in the complex we live.

And I went with some tennis friends to the China Open Tennis competition. We went during the qualifiers. Few people were there and great matches. Other than the extreme heat, it was fantastic!

We caught the Matisse show that got majorly delayed as the owners of the works in the show (museums, collectors) were hesitant to send artwork while China was locked down – so the show was delayed a few years – to a time when I could see it – so convenient!

And I was busy planning for our trip to Japan!

At the end of September, after I was back for about a week and a half, we flew out to Osaka. We were supposed to head to Ikeda to see some family after getting off the plane, but at last minute, due to illness, plans were cancelled. I had always wanted to see Naoshima so decided to head there. On the way we had to go through Osaka, so we ran to a neighborhood that is famous for it’s anime as we knew Morton would love it!

Then we continued onto Naoshima.

Getting to Naoshima was quite a haul – taking subway to bullet train to local train to ferry. We had some time while waiting for the ferry and we were hungry so we went to a cute cafe/tiny hotel across the street from the ferry. We sat outside on the porch, music played, food was Western, and the vibe was lovely. Dan got talking the owners – they had lived in Brooklyn. So funny! It was a pleasant ferry ride to the island – we just wished it were light out so we could see the view better. Once we got there we realized we were on the wrong side of the island from where we were staying and no idea how, or even if it were possible to get a taxi. We dragged our luggage along – walking to the other side of the island for about 40 minutes. Morton found a 7-11 to stop at on the way – which helped a little. When we finally got to the Google Pin for where the guest house was supposed to be, we couldn’t find it. I called the guest house but the woman who answered only spoke Japanese and neither my English nor my Mandarin was any help. Dan used his “keep wandering in larger circles” method of finding something – and although I tend to insist asking for directions is a better method – this time his method worked out. The place was a traditional Japanese house with interior courtyard with shared bathrooms and tatami mats and futons to roll out. I booked it due to lack of available options but it was great. Made us feel like we were in Japan – and not in a hotel that could be anywhere. We had a nice breakfast in the central garden in the morning, which the owner was advertising as a “cat cafe” – as her cats were there – and “Cat Cafes” are the rage over here.

In any case, Naoshima is an island that was mostly a fishing village. As the population was decreasing, as the youth were leaving for the big cities, someone came up with using art to boost the economy. Yayoi Kusama’s works are the big draw but several beautiful, small museums have been also built on the island and “Art Houses” in which artist have done installations. Dan’s brother David helped us reserve bikes, but when we went to pick them up the next morning, we eventually found out that he rented them from back on the other side of the island where we arrived. This time we figured out the bus. Much easier. And a good thing we booked ahead – all the rest of the bikes on the island were already rented out. We were so glad to get on them and start our adventures around the island!

Appreciating art? Or just exhausted from so much art?

There is non Kusama art on the island but these are most photogenic

That evening we found a small restaurant near where we stayed. We thought maybe we were walking into someone’s house but once we walked in, a man came over and in broken English explained that we could stay if we wanted but we needed to be patient as he was doing everything that evening – waiter, matre’d , and chef all in one. Ended up wait wasn’t long and food was lovely.

Next day we headed out to Kyoto – back on ferry then more local trains and bullet train. We checked into our hotel then rented bikes and headed to a temple that Morton wanted to see as some video game is based on it (no idea – ask him). I knew nothing of it but figured if he was interested – I was all for it. The biking gave us a great look through many neighborhoods on our way to the south east part of the city to the Fushimi Inari Shrine. Other than the video game (again, I have no idea), the shrine is famous for it’s thousands of vermillion torii gates. There is a path under them in which we hiked up for probably an hour and a half. Too many people and a bit anti-climactic at the top, but it was very impressive and beautiful, and there were interesting little areas just off the main trail.

On the way down we tried an alternative path that ended up being a lovely hike down through woods and then through a quiet neighborhood.

We became a little concerned we had gone totally the wrong way but we eventually found ourselves back to our bikes. We popped into a ramen shop before heading back to the hotel. We then headed to the hotel’s onsen (hot spring type bath) – I to the ladies, they to the men’s. It was lovely.

Morton decided to take advantage of the hotel and stay in while Dan and I headed out to find dinner. We quickly found a cute restaurant in which the beer was served with either tomato juice in it – or something else I can’t remember. It was fine but we definitely decided we like our beer neat.

The next morning we took another train, bullet train, train trip to Shimoda, where Dan’s brother Dave and family live. Shimoda’s a beautiful beach town. Dave met us at the train station, took us out for a delicious Japanese fish meal. We then went to their lovely home, met cousin Lina for the first time (who just had her 5th birthday), and caught up with Megumi and Ty who I hadn’t seen in years.

Cousin Lina so happy with her new LongLong Dragon

The next day, while the kids were at school, Dave and Meg took us on a tour of the beautiful area and we stopped at a super cute Onsen – basically in a small green house with plants growing all around.

The next day Megumi and I went out for a lovely run – Megumi generously tolerated my slow pace and short distance. Then Dan and Dave headed out for a long and apparently fantastic bike ride while Morton napped in the yard.

That afternoon we went to a cute place for lunch and then decided to walk around the tiny town of Shimoda. Morton spied a shop full of old film camera. Megumi – acting as our translator – asked for Morton about the price of one of the cameras. They guy said they were just for display he didn’t actually sell cameras, but soon enough he was taken by Morton’s interest in them and sold one to Morton for close to nothing. Then we asked about film – a roll was almost the cost of the camera! – but Morton was so thrilled. The rest of the day was spent going over some basics of using an SLR film camera.

The next and our last day in Shimoda we went down to a local beach spot and spent most of the day there, swimming, taking the stand-up paddle board out, walking along the ocean front and eating at the small cafe there.

Last evening in Shimoda checking out the view

The next day – back on train: local, bullet, local to Tokyo. We spent the day, checking out a couple neighborhoods in Tokyo. First together and then Dan and Morton headed to a tech neighborhood that Morton had been dreaming about but found pretty overwhelming. and I caught up with college friends Aya, and Ayaki. It was so nice!

Catching up with college friends Aya and Ayaki

The morning before we left we checked out of our hotel and wanted to get breakfast. Dan saw there was a Bubby’s – a New York restaurant we’ve been to many times. We decided it’d be fun to go there. It wasn’t up to the NY standard of the restaurant but it was fun to go and felt like a little touch of home.

Got back to Beijing to a flurry of activity: Morton’s volleyball season in full swing. The school’s international day, I played in a silly tennis tournament mixer, we were given tickets to the opening game of the Beijing Ducks (of the Chinese professional league). Each team is allowed to have two foreign players on their team but only one can be on the court from each team at a time. It was fun to see but the level of play is not yet near U.S. standards. The foreign players were mostly able to dominate.

A friend named Xin invited me to join her for the weekend down in Jingxian (a couple hour flight)at an artist colony there, in Anhui Province. She had participated before Covid and this was the first time they had started it back and she wanted to see people there. It’s in a lovely hot springs hotel. She had two Croatian friends who flew to Beijing and we all went together. At the airport we went through security and then headed to the gate. We were early and were hanging out waiting for boarding when a guard came up to Xin. They asked if she had lost her computer. They then handed her her computer which she didn’t realize she had left at security. We foreigners were amazed that security had found a computer and must have quickly checked the security tapes, saw who left their computer, identified who she was and looked up what flight she was getting on, and found her among the people at the gate- all very quickly. We then boarded a bus to the plane. Another security officer came to bus and up to Xin – this security officer had Xin’s make-up bag! We couldn’t believe it (plus she was very embarrassed!)

We spent the weekend meeting the participating artists, seeing their work and just hanging out. It was so nice to be back among so many creators! I wish I had knows about it to apply. Hopefully it’ll continue and I’ll have an opportunity. On the way back to the airport on Sunday we went up the famous Huangshang (yellow) Mountain. The scenery was stunning – but typical China attraction – SO MANY PEOPLE!.

Beautiful location for artist residency!

In studio of Indian artist Nidhi Agarwal – lovely person and I love her work!!

That weekend was Halloween (here people celebrate on the closest Saturday) Dan was in Bangkok for a conference and I was at the artist retreat. Under pressure Morton gave out candy. Luckily we can count on Celia to always do it up for Halloween.

Celia and her friend dressed up for Halloween

The next morning, Monday morning, I went back to the airport to pick up Dan’s parents who had flown in from the States. What a trip for two almost nonagenarians! (Look it up! I think I learned that word from a They Might Be Giants kids song!). Two days later the temperature took a major dive and got quite cold (Beijing tends to have a week of fall and a week of spring) and Dave and Megumi and kids showed up for the week (I don’t think their arrival and the temperature drop are correlated, but maybe) Two days after their arrival, Meg’s sister and daughter came for the weekend. Lucky we have a big house! It was crazy but so lovely to have everyone together! We mostly just hung around, playing pingpong, sand karaoke, went to playgrounds, used the school facilities: playground, golf simulator, gym, rock wall…One day I took Ty out, who is twelve, and let him drive the TukTuk. That was pretty exciting for him. He was pretty good.

We did take one crazy trip with everyone to the Great Wall. It was quite a feat getting everyone there – we won’t forget it! For some reason I thought it would be easy as this one part of the Wall has a bus, to a cable car – but boy was I wrong! But it was an adventure getting everyone up and down in one piece! Half of us took the “luge” down (check out the images from around last September when we took it)

Whatever it takes to get everyone up to the Great Wall

Photos of us walking to the slide down, Cousin Ty, Morton and me

You do what you have to do to keep going

Tuesday the 7th was Morton’s birthday. A group of us went and saw the school production of Clue that Morton worked on the sets and props for and was working behind stage, and that night we celebrated his birthday. For him, no doubt the highlight was getting a ping-pong ball machine! (Other’s enjoyed it too!)

Jersey from a favorite Japanese volleyball player

She can be the princess even if it’s Morton’s birthday

Dave and family spent their last day at the trampoline gym – not sure it’s listed as a Chinese Heritage Site, but I think it was a highlight for the kids.

Sunday night Morton had five boys over for his birthday. They went to a place down the block for pool, darts and bar food then came home for mint brownies and video games. I think it was a success.

SUMMER RECAP

November 9th, 2023

The summer was both lovely and busy. Celia and I left Beijing during the first week of June, flew Beijing to Seoul, Seoul to JFK, then we rented a car and drove to my mother’s outside of Philly. We spent time with her, recovering from our jet lag, and working on her new apartment. Then we went up to NY to send Celia off to her Brooklyn high-school prom and for me to catch up with my friends.

Mom, Chris and Anita sending Celia off to the prom

June to July I mostly spent helping my mother recover from her surgery – a much bigger process than we had expected – but she made great progress and we finally busted her out of the care facility and got her to the beach.

Meanwhile we were busy getting her new apartment ready for her to move in: picking out light fixtures, paint colors, flooring, etc. and negotiating the sale of her house. My brothers had been champs at working to empty the house of things she wouldn’t be bringing with her to the apartment.

Celia got an apartment and a job canvasing in Brooklyn on gun control issues.

Morton and Dan arrived to the US a couple weeks after Celia and I and headed to the beach so Morton could look for a job before coming to visit my mother. He got some shifts at his dream job – working at Hartland Golf on Long Beach Island, and got a second job at the deli in Barnegat Light. They both were great!

What could be better than working at Hartland Golf?

Mid July I snuck away for a few days to Upstate NY with Anita to check out some of the Upstate Art Fair and the show my friend Manju put on – which was so lovely! We had a wonderful time staying at Manju’s home.

Before heading back to the beach I spent some time catching up with Celia – going to the Brooklyn Museum. She wanted to see the Picasso show there – which was disappointing – but the African Fashion show there was fabulous. We went out to eat and made a few purchases at the Brooklyn Pop-up show outside the museum. All around a lovely day.

A major perk of being back in Brooklyn – catching up with best buddy Cody

Dan and Morton did the third rendition of their mini-golf marathon – playing every course on the island, biking from one to the other, in one day. Thankfully this year the wind agreed – pushing them in the correct direction up the island! I joined them for the last course. The perfect amount of mini-golf in one day for me!

Just after that, at the beginning of August, Dan had to head back to Beijing (damn school to run!).

Morton stayed to work for a couple more weeks before he too had to return to Beijing. I was a bit nervous, taking Morton to the airport to make the trip back by himself. My biggest fear was he’d fall asleep at the gate and miss his plane – which left JFK at 1:40 in the morning! But we spoke on the phone until close to his departure time. 14 hours to Tokyo, transfer with four hour lay-over there before his flight to Beijing, navigating immigration, to where Dan picked him. Pretty grown-up!

Judd and I played in the local beach tennis club tournament.(How do I have no pictures??!!) Judd made a sweep – winning the men’s singles, men’s doubles, and mixed doubles with me. It was so nice to hang out and play with him this summer! The women’s singles got cancelled as there were only two of us who signed up. My doubles partner Nancy and I came in second in the women’s doubles after Nancy had heart defibs and we had to force her to quit. But we had super fun playing together.

Order of things is starting to get confused in my head but end of August brought many wonderful days of catching up with people. My friend Courtenay and her cute dog came to see Judd and I at the beach. I probably hadn’t seen her in …40 years? It was super fun to catch up. I snuck in a couple art making nights, art viewing trips and meals, and wandering the city with friends. It was all too brief but also wonderful getting to spend time with all my friends and family who I miss so much while in China.

While I was in Brooklyn, Celia was taking a trip with her cousin Zach and his girlfriend up to Montreal, stopping at Niagra Falls. Sounds like they had a blast.

I finished what I’d call my “Official Summer” going up to Boston, spending a few lovely days with Elon, Anna and Celia and then moving Celia into college (tear).

After moving Celia in, I quickly jumped on a train down to Philly to meet packers at my mother’s the next day. The next month was a blur. Tons of last minute packing and working to completely empty the house. Anita came down and was a major help hanging and positioning all the art work, and lifting our spirits as my mother and I were getting pretty tired – physically and emotionally. Judd, Finn, and Aaron came through as we tried to get everything moved in to the new apartment, cleared out of the old house, and help my mother get her bearings. And then Aaron drove me up to Brooklyn to have a really wonderful goodbye dinner with some friends and then bring me to the airport to begin the long trip back to Beijing, Dan, Morton and Milo (our cat).

Yunnan to USA

July 18th, 2023

Soon after we returned from Yunnan a neighbor named Dana posted a picture on the neighborhood chat group of her patio which was newly planted with flowers. It made me really depressed about our patio where the bricks were mud covered with not a flower in site. In the fall I bought some outdoor couches but looking at Dana’s picture made the idea of hanging out on our patio depressing.

Another neighbor, Sara, told me she had a power washer. I thought that was a good place to begin. I quickly realized both that we have no outlets outside – so I had to also borrow a long extension cord – and that the spigot closest to where I needed to wash was broken and the other has a gerry-rigged hose – it isn’t threaded so someone had taken wire to attempt to hold the hose onto the spigot. I worked a while on the one area I could reach with the hose and then asked the management if they could have someone clean the patio as it looks as if it hasn’t been properly cleaned in years. The next day a couple showed up to clean. He was using a floor polisher and she had a Chinese broom – which is more for dusting off an area than serious work. It took them the entire day! They did a good job – but so inefficient!

Also on our patio are two sculptures. One is really large and is placed in what looks like possibly used to hold water and small fish but now it just fills with leaves and lots of dust (can be seen in back of picture above). I asked the management if it could be removed. The owners told them the sculptures cost a lot of money and were essential for the Fung Shui of the house. Ugh!

Dana gave me the contact of the flower/plant lady. She sent me tons of pictures of different flowers and plants to choose from. But I didn’t even have any pots. The whole thing felt very overwhelming. Dana offered to come over and give me her opinion – which I greatly appreciated! She suggested places I put pots, that I put astro turf around the trees, and moving our barbecue to a different location. I started collecting pots. I bought a few from neighbors who were selling theirs and then Sara helped me order some more pots online. I SO miss shopping in the U.S – both in person shopping and online – I know where to go and how to order online. I know neither here in China. People say buying stuff online is amazing here but for me so far it’s just incredibly difficult and frustrating. Ayi Ling helped me order some large flower boxes. They came in pieces that needed tools to be assembled – more borrowing of tools.

I called Dana’s “astro turf” guy – there is a person for everything in China! He quickly came out, took measurements and gave me a price. The next day he installed the astro turf. It sounds strange to put astro turf outside around our trees but it made the patio look so much better! So much cleaner!

After days of hearing what Sara was doing in her garden, she had me over to see all the plants she had planted. I was asking her details about how she planted one of her plants when she said, “Oh, no – when I say I “planted” these – I mean I point where I want it and the gardeners plant it.” I laughed – so funny! Then she advised me, “If you spend more than 200rmb (a little under $30) the people who sell the plants deliver and plant them too. Make sure to insist they do that for you. They won’t offer it to you but it’s part of the deal”. Good to know.

I dragged my feet on ordering the flowers/plants. Felt so overwhelming ordering plants online. I drove out to see Dana’s flower lady in person – that was overwhelming enough. So much stuff – so hard to know how much I need. After a bunch of wandering I picked out some plants that I thought would look good together, plus some kale and mint. The proprietor told me she’d probably deliver and plant later that day.

Later that evening, as we were finishing dinner, and the sun had already set, I assumed that they weren’t coming to plant that day. Then I heard a truck pull up. So crazy. I turned on my phone light to direct and approve what they were doing. Hard to tell how it was all looking with just my phone light. I had them fill the “pool” below the large sculpture with soil and flowers. Despite their forgetting the yellow flowers I wanted, and planting in the dark, in the morning I was so happy with the way it looked. Such a nicer place to hang out.

So many other things were also going on during my patio craziness. Spring was packed full of end of year events:

Mid April ISB hosted the APAC (I think Asia Pacific Assoc. Conference) competition – in which similar schools from China and neighboring countries participate. The schools make a big deal out of it – and especially since these conferences are just starting back after a 3 year Covid break. Celia played on the soccer team. It was super fun to watch and I am so proud of her for going out for soccer for the first time her senior year.

My tennis buddy Coco (Gua Yan) threw a lovely dinner party for a few of us who play tennis together. — it’s funny, almost all Chinese have a second English name. They always introduce themselves with this name (such as my friend Coco). At a certain point this year it occurred to me that it’s weird I don’t know my friends’ real names. I mentioned this to my friend Jing Yu. I had just found out she had an English name after I had known her for close to a year and I had spent a long time trying to remember her Chinese name and the proper pronunciation. She then told me she doesn’t know many of her Chinese friends Chinese names either. Many Chinese people introduce themselves to other Chinese with their English names as well. Very strange!

Celia had the Senior Parade. It’s a tradition among the international schools when the seniors, about a month before graduation, dress in their cap and gowns, all the other students in the school and the faculty and staff and parents stand in the school halls and the seniors walk through the entire school and everyone cheers them on. It was super nice – but I don’t know why they school needed to get me started crying so far in advance of graduation.

A number of big art shows and fairs started back after years of hiatus.

An art installation titled The Quantified Power by Mingzhu Zhang

The day after I finally finished my garden we had a barbecue and Celia had her senior prom! The prom was kind of a bust: it started at 6:00 and only ran until 9:00, mashed potatoes were the only vegetarian food Celia could eat, the time for dancing was brief and Celia was unhappy with the music the kid DJing played. But despite that Celia had a great time: getting her nails and make-up done and dressing up with friends and going out after the prom was a blast. Plus she looked beautiful!

May 1st Celia turned 18! – the legal age of drinking in China – though no one pays attention to that. She went out with friends to the Chun Bing restaurant (very thin pancakes which you wrap around different ingredients) – that we went to in the hutong much earlier this year. As a family we went to a vegetarian Chinese restaurant (a rarity) and I ordered her an incredible strawberry cream cake that my friend Jingyu had brought to my ladies tennis dinner.

Quick highlights as this is getting way too long:

Mid May Celia and Dan went to Japan to meet up with Dan’s parents. Celia went for a week (as she was done with all her classes and exams) and Dan for a long weekend. Morton planned to go on a camping trip, so I invited a bunch of ladies over for my birthday. My friend Su-en brought one of the most amazing looking cakes I have ever seen.

The school had it’s first Spring Fair in four years. It was super fun but the weather was cold and Dan turned purple doing the dunk tank!

Morton went to Gobi Water Town for the eighth grade trip. Despite his not wanting to go, I think he had a good time.

Dan and I went to see the premier Chinese violinist at the Egg (Beijing’s version of New York’s Lincoln Center). It was so beautiful and I was so impressed by how young the crowd was and how the audience really seemed to know the music – cheering when songs were announced.

Also note worthy: Celia’s friend Tommy gave Milo a new tie (he didn’t like it – but boy did he look cute!)

And on May 27th Celia graduated highschool! Dan gave speeches: at the senior dinner (putting pictures of her up) and at graduation when he directed the speech to her, and then presenting her with her diploma. After graduation a parent organized for the four of us the most amazing vegetarian Japanese and Chinese dinner in their private space. It was one of the best meals I have ever eaten.

Hug as walking across dais to get diploma

Senior dinner speech with images of Celia

After dinner Celia met up with many of her classmates at a club where some Canadian rapper played and then they ran down to Tianneman Square for the raising of the flag.

Before Celia and I ran off to the U.S, my friends organized a special tennis match for me and Morton had his 8th grade final dance. He looked so handsome!

Morton and buddy Sam at Eighth grade dance looking dapper

Then Celia and I flew off – 1.5 hours to Seoul, 18 hours to NYC, then picked up the rental car and drove two hours to my mother’s in Bryn Mawr. Quite a trip!

Since being back in the US, Celia and I spent some time with my mother, adjusting to the time change and seeing Judd who came up. Celia went to her Brooklyn Prospect prom.

Celia going to her Brooklyn prom with buddy August

My mother and I also went to NY. We had Art Luck night – which was so great to get together with my art ladies after only virtual get togethers for the last year, had dinner out with some friends and went to some galleries to see some art. it’s been so nice to catch up!

Doing amazing after surgery – though her Racko skills need to honed

Working as a canvaser in Brooklyn fighting to get semi automatic weapons off our streets

Playing in a silly tennis tournament on LBI

End of March to first week of April

April 29th, 2023

The International School of Beijing, ISB – where the kids go to school and Dan works, does nothing small and among other things – the school Gala was approaching. After a friend took me out to find shoes – and succeeding, I was kindly told, by multiple people, that my very fancy dress was not fancy enough. I needed a full length gown. Another friend took me to a thrift store, and then to “Jenny’s”. Jenny’s is where many ISB women buy their dresses. Jenny lives in a very large Chinese apartment complex across the street from the school. Jenny has filled a tiny first floor apartment with dresses. You need to squeeze between racks of dresses – and pulling a single one out is tough as they are packed so tight. But if you aren’t too picky – you’ve got to be successful at finding one that will flatter. I found a black one. Nothing I would buy under normal circumstances but with the pressure of the impending Gala I bought one. Then I had to go shoe shopping! So much easier to be a man. Dan had a new tuxedo shirt made and put on his tuxedo.

When I got to the Gala, I was glad I had listened to friends who told me I needed a full length gown. People really did it up for the event – and the space was amazing! – actually the entire evening was amazing. It was so fun to see everyone so done up and the entertainment and the food were great. The high-school orchestra played. I am skeptical there is a more impressive high school orchestra in the world. They were fantastic. There were two student dance performances: one traditional Chinese dance and the second a hip hop dance. The middle school and the high-school choir sang together a couple songs, a parent group (who were also fantastic!), and the professional Beijing Acrobats performed (a much smaller performance than our private performance I spoke about in this blog earlier – but a completely different piece and also jaw dropping amazing).

Dan said a few words (also of course AMAZING!), and an alumni from the first graduating class of 5 students spoke. She spoke of her time at the school and her experience in Beijing just following Tiennamen. It was really interesting to hear about. She was seated next to me and was blown-away with how far the school has come. As the dessert was served, people started dancing and others started leaving – and everyone wanted a picture with Daniel and me. Felt funny that they wanted my picture – but touching and a funny reminder of how being the head of a school here is looked upon very differently than in the U.S. It is as if we are celebrities.

This past Thursday late afternoon the kids and I flew to Lijiang in Yunnan Province. Many people have told me Yunnan is the most beautiful – that we need to visit. After checking into what ended up being a much lovelier hotel than I expected, with a beautiful interior courtyard, Celia and I headed out for an evening stroll/explore.

The hotel sits in a beautiful old neighborhood with winding streets that abuts into the very old touristy area – which was full of women in salons being made up to look of the time period and photographers walking around photographing them once they left the salon. It was interesting, but we wanted to get away from the touristy crowds – which was easy – a block in the opposite direction, the streets were quiet. But by the edge of the touristy area Celia and I came across a street where to proceed everyone needed to go through a turn style that scanned your face before allowing you to proceed. Not sure if this was to keep track of people or a Covid remnant – making sure no one had a fever. It was very odd. We ended up finding some odd snacks before heading back to the hotel.

The next morning I woke early feeling very ill – I assume I had altitude sickness as many Chinese take medication before going to Yunnan to prepare for the high altitude. I postphoned our driver by an hour. I finally got up and the kids and I had the lovely Chinese hotel breakfast – mostly Congee (rice porridge) with things to put in the Congee: egg, pickled vegetables and Morton had some meat. Feeling a little better the driver took us out to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain – which is the most famous site in Lijiang – a mountain with glaciers on the top. I was conflicted about going – one, because I was worried I’d get really sick from the added altitude, and two, because I had heard it can get crazy full of tourists and there can be lines to go up. To deal with the second issue, I had been advised to go up to Yak Meadow – a side area – and not the main area tourists go. To go to Yak Meadow the driver could only take us so far, then we had to get onto a bus. It drove us half hour up the mountain on crazy winedy narrow road up the mountain. It then dropped us at a cable car. The kids wanted snacks so at the bottom of the cable car we stopped at the little snack booth and they bought a Snickers Bar and some chips and then we saw the oxygen bottles we had heard so much about. Apparently everyone brings oxygen bottles to help them breath. We decided we’d get one in case.

Morton and I on cable car going up. Celia in car behind us with man who wouldn’t talk to her

As we were getting onto the cable car Celia was directed to the one behind us – apparently only two to a car. Celia went up with a young Chinese man who didn’t speak to her the entire time. The ride up was much longer than I expected and unbelieveably beautiful. When we got to the top we were just below the ice covered peak with only a few tourists and a few goats. A hiking path lead up.

At top of cable car with Tibetan monastery behind Celia on mountain

The kids and I walked a good 100 feet before the lack of oxygen made us all dizzy and we had to stop. We sat and took out the Oxygen bottle. Ends up you put it to your mouth and spray the oxygen in as you breath in. The break of sitting and using it helped a little – until we stood again – but I am skeptical about the oxygen. A couple huffs doesn’t seem like it could do much.

We finally made it a few hundred feet more, maybe, to a beautiful Tibetan Buddhist monastery. We spent a bunch of time there, checking it out, enjoying it’s beauty.

We then continued on the path. After maybe another 100 feet I asked if the kids wanted to continue on – none of us felt up for it – the lack of oxygen felt terrible.

We headed back down, this time I went alone on the cable car – and we had another fabulously beautiful ride.

Kids in cable car – me in car behind them

After the cable car ride down, we got on the bus. Ended up the bus ride down was not direct. It dropped us at this series of unbelievable blue lakes completely overrun by tourists. I think Celia and I counted 6 brides getting photos taken. We took an extremely quick look and decided it wasn’t for us, and got onto the next bus continuing down the mountain. We missed the stop where we were supposed to meet the driver, got off at the next stop, and spent the next 45 minutes wandering around, trying to meet up with him. Where we got off seemed to be the Disneyland of mountain viewing – so many tourists and sounded like there was some kind of virtual or fantasy land experiences going on.

By the time we finally got into the car we were exhausted and famished. I asked the driver to take us to a small nearby town that I heard had a bunch of restaurants. Once there we struggled to find a restaurant with vegetarian food -and we were all getting cranky from hunger. The manager of a Tibetan hot pot restaurant told us they could do a yak burger (for Morton) and a vegetarian pizza for Celia and I. We sat down, much relieved. By the time the food came it must have been at least 3:00, maybe 3:30. Morton loved the burger and the pizza may have been the best we’ve had in China – that’s not saying a lot – but it was pretty good. As we sat eating we saw two men, who appeared to be Caucasian walking down the road. They were then followed by their wives wearing habibs. These were the first non Asian appearing people we’d seen since we got to Lijiang. When I came to China around 1994 with my parents and brothers people would stop to see and take pictures with the large white people. It is not as extreme as back then but we are still regularly ogled as we walk down the streets in China, people comment on the “Wei gua ren” (foreigners) and take pictures of us. So we notice when there are other foreigners.

After eating we wandered around the town for a while. Celia found a mango ice cream and I found a guy piecing together recycled clothing and embroidering them. They were lovely. It was the first time I have seen contemporary creative crafts since I’ve gotten to China. Unfortunatley the clothes didn’t fit me. I bought a hat his wife had made – mostly just to support them. I wish he was in Beijing so I could keep checking back.

The kids and I then headed back to the hotel. We were exhausted. As we had eatten lunch so late, we decided to wait for Dan’s arrival for dinner. Unfortunately we couldn’t find a restaurant that both served vegetarian food and would still be serving food by the time we’d be able to get there with Dan (probably 9:30). A woman at the front desk walked me to a sushi restaurant to pick up food. She thought it’d be easier to walk me there than to give me directions- no one at the hotel spoke a word of English. We ended up walking by a restaurant with large glass windows. Inside were the same muslum families we had seen walking down the street in the town we went for lunch. In a town of 1.25 million people was surpring to see them again. Maybe all foreigners stay in the same area?

The woman from the front desk dropped me at the small sushi restaurant. There were two people inside: the owner/chef and one customer. Ends up they both spoke English. The owner/chef was a Chinese man who had lived in Orlando, Florida and had worked in a sushi restaurant there. There wasn’t much variety in fish he could get in this far inland part of China – it was mostly salmon. I ordered a number of salmon rolls, a couple cucumber/avocado rolls for Celia, and a seaweed salad. While he prepared the food he and I and the one customer chatted. Ends up the customer, a young woman from Chengdu – the city we visited Christmas time- was heading out the next morning to hike at River Leaping Gorge – where we were also heading. After quite a while the food was finally ready and I went back to the hotel – arriving just behind Dan coming from the airport. We checked into our second room – we ate our dinner – which although limited- was really good sushi for China.

The next morning we all had our Chinese congee breakfast and then Nate, the owner of the B&B we’d be staying at in ShengriLa, picked us up. He drove us around two and a half hours through spectacular scenery and up frighteningly steep, windy, and narrow roads to the top of River Leaping Gorge.

He dropped us off at the hiking path that went the length of the Gorge.

Where we jumped out of the car and onto the hiking trail.

We were going to hike just a section of it. When we were setting out we noticed a rainbow circle, a halo, around the sun. It was amazing.

The portion of the path we hiked was pretty flat: a narrow path, winding high above the gorge. It was lovely and not too strenuous.

We hiked about two and a half hours until we came to a very small village with a rest house. We stopped and ate lunch.

People at the rest house restaurant sign the walls, ceilings and windows

The view was amazing and as we waited for our food, the woman I met the night before at the sushi restaurant walked in. She had just hiked up to where we were and after her lunch she’d hike what we just did and a little more before spending the night at a rest house mid way on the trail. It was fun to see her again. We on the other hand, after our lunch, we climbed back into Nate’s car.

At last minute we decided to take a two and half hour detour to see an unusual natural phenomenon. The water flowing down a mountain deposits sediment that makes beautiful pools. Chinese people pray there for fertility. It was another amazing sight. We all decided that it was worth the major detour.

After another two and a half hours of driving, we finally drove into the Shangri-La area. There were many large, empty appearing, buildings. I asked Nate why there were so many empty buildings. He explained that they weren’t empty. The Tibetans built large homes to hold their entire families when they came for weddings or other major family events – but they mostly lived in small houses to the side of their big houses. Most of the houses had a large atrium that is completely glass enclosed. I want a house like that! – like having a large central part of your home as a green house!

A few minutes later we drove up a hill and arrived at Nate’s B&B in ShangriLa called Red Hill B&B. It was an old Tibetan House nestled into red clay, snow capped, mountains. Nate had built an indoor rock climbing wall into what looked like a rectangular glass silo. Not fancy – but so beautiful!

Nate and his wife, both midwestern Americans, live there with their four children they home school.

Our room felt like a log cabin bunk room: a large wooden room under the eave with a loft – where Morton slept. We ate dinner there that evening, sat in front of the wood burning stove feeding wood in and playing Spades.

The next morning we woke to a freshly snow covered view. Hard to believe we had left the warm early summer weather of Beijing to snow! Before heading into Shangri-La friends of Nate’s family arrived from Lijiang and mentioned their friends, the Brocks were on their way up to stay at the B &B – they were stopping at River Leaping Gorge on the way. Ends up the Brocks are our neighbors in Beijing. We had no idea they were also coming to this tiny B& B. So funny!

We spent the next few days exploring the area – from the Tibetan monastery in Shangri-La, to mountain biking on Red Hill’s pedal assist bikes, to hiking in the mountains, to eating the best bou-zi we had ever eaten – Celia’s and mine full of pickled vegetables and the boys with meat,- to just chilling at Red Hill – climbing the rock wall, enjoying the amazing view and feeding wood into the wood burning stove – and mostly breathing the clean air.

Heading up to the main Shangri-La Tibetan monestary

Biking the dirt course at Red Hill B & B

And around some villages not far from B & B

We definitely hope to get back to Yunnan and Red Hill B& B soon. It was a great trip!

Beijing to Xiamen, Quanzhou and hui jia (back home)

March 16th, 2023

Volleyball season officially ended and Morton was asked to practice and play a friendly tournament on the highschool varsity ping-pong team. The competition was pretty tough, but Morton held his own – pretty good for an 8th grader playing mostly among seniors!

I was invited on a tour of the American Embassy art collection. The first tour they’ve given in over three years. The work was a beautiful collection of mostly contemporary art with some old photographs of foreign diplomates – some from well over a century ago.

Two weeks ago the kids had off from school Thursday and Friday. Trying to squeeze in as much traveling as possibly while Celia’s in China, I planned a trip. I warned the kids that we would have to carry our bags all day – so carry very little. Dan could bring other things the next day. Of course, at 5:30 in the morning, with departure in 30 minutes, I’m still talking Morton down from his three bags. In addition, to be consistent in the way I plan trips – I was still making reservations and decisions as we were heading to the airport. We flew off early Thursday morning (Celia had a party Wednesday evening) to Xiamen. Xiamen is a coastal town in the south east of China with about 3.5 million people. A lot of foreign ocean trade went through Xiamen. Downtown Xiamen is an island and another smaller island off of Xiamen, Gulangyu, is where the foreigners set up their headquarters. The kids and I flew in and jumped into a taxi to the old downtown area which has a walking street with the curvey hutong streets surrounding it. We wandered around, bought our obligatory refrigerator magnet, found a hole in the wall restaurant to buy a pretty good lunch, and then caught the ferry to Gulangyu.

Lunch restaurant – you can pick out what you want to eat. Celia’s being a fisch – not eatting one.

Two blocks away from the ferry we lost the tours which were following their flag holding guides and found lovely quiet hutong streets and an ocean side promenade.

Morton under octopus sculpture along waterfront

Large banyan trees grew along the roads and over old walls. Large old European estates in various states of repair and disrepair lined many of the interior streets.

After much wandering we found the large old estate we were staying at. Entering into the estate walls we walked into a blissfully calm environment, set up for tea service in front and a lovely garden in back. A small room next to where we checked in held the most beautiful traditional Chinese dresses I’d ever seen. There were no tags, and I assumed they were out of my price range, but I asked if they were for sale. They were for rent. Visitor rent the dresses and have themselves photographed in the gardens and in the beautiful old buildings of the estate. I have found this is a very common thing to do in China. Many of the famous sites (the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, for example) are surrounded by stores that rent time period costumes and photographers who will photograph you as you tour the sites.

That evening we headed to lovely seafood restaurant and ordered all their vegetarian dishes ( and one delicious bing (pancake) dish that included a tiny bit of seafood – sorry Celia!).

Around five years ago we were sailing up the Spanish coast and one of the towns we stopped in had these places were tourists were putting their feet into water and tiny fish were nibbling on them. We thought it was very strange, but Celia and I have discussed it a number of times since then, so when we saw the same type of place across the street from the restaurant, we figured we had to try it – so after dinner we went in. No amount of coaxing could get Morton even in the door. First they gave a painful foot/lower leg massage. Then they cupped the souls of our feet – putting a flame in the rubber cup and then getting it to suction to our feet. For whatever reason the cups wouldn’t stick to Celia’s feet. Finally we put our feet into the fish filled water. We laughed hysterically. It was so strange. I’m not sure if it did anything for our feet – but it was definitely an experience.

We forced Morton to come in off the street to photograph us

Once our feet were lovely from being nibbled on, we went looking for desert. We got these cute treats that are basically batter poured into egg shapes and then cute faces burned onto them to look at us while we ate them.

The next morning we had a lovely Chinese breakfast at the hotel before wandering back to the ferry to meet Dan at the airport.

After picking Dan up at the airport, we headed to see some Tulous. Tulous are beautiful old family compounds that were built as fortresses out of clay- the most lovely were built as circles. Each family with in the extended family would have their kitchen on the ground flood, storage directly above and sleeping room above that. The middle of the compound is outdoor space and sometimes as the extended family grew an additional circle or two were built inside the original circular building. Traditionally the bathroom was outside the compound, but more recently families have been adding bathroom facilities. Pretty crazy and amazing! Unfortunately most of the younger generations are leaving their family tulous for more convenient locations and/or more modern facilities and they just return to see family for the Chinese New Year holiday. Apparently during, I believe the 1970s, the U.S satellites saw these buildings and thought they were Nuclear reactors!

Posing on hillside above most famous Tulou village

By the roof of a Tulou with vegetables out to dry

This region in Nanjing is famous for tea. In one of the Tulous we did a tasting, and buying, of tea that this woman’s husband grows

Late that afternoon we did a hike up the hills behind the tiny town of Zhangzhou. The air and the view were so lovely – and as a tea drinker – a little embarrassing how little I knew about how tea is grown. At least here, they are grown on bushes cut short into low rectangles.

Not the best picture to illustrate, but the bushes are tea

That night we stayed in a beautiful smaller rectangular Tulou. As most of the family had moved out of the Tulou, one remaining couple, whose kids are grown, was running it as an inn.

Another view of Tulou we stayed at with Celia on swing

The next day, Dan and I woke early to take a pathetic but also glorious (air and scenery were fantastic!) run up the hill the town was nestled in. The door to the Tulou was impressive and more of a feat to open than we are used to.

After a run and a quick shower we had a lovely simple breakfast and then headed out to see a few more Tulous and tiny towns. We saw what is apparently the largest Tulou (sadly I forget the number of people it houses).

Then we walked to a beautiful Tulou which sadly now only houses animals. I’m thinking it would be a fantastic artists’ retreat!

Celia and Morton outside the Tulou housing the animals

We stopped in the same town with the largest Tulou and the animal housing tulou at a tiny hotel and had a coffee.

Before leaving the Tulou area we visited a few more Tulous – including one that had two circles inside the outer circle. It was a shame to loose the yard in the middle, but it was a pretty amazing structure.

Dan and Morton between two of the three circular structures in the three ringed Tulou

We then had our driver take us to a town an hour north up the coast from Xiamen called Quanzhou, home to around 7 million people. It is considered the start of the Sea Silk Road. Quanzhou is considered a third tier city – so foreign tourists don’t really go there but a friend, Dong, was taking her daughter, Autumn, there to check it out for the weekend and encouraged us to meet her there. Dong had heard that being a third tier city, Quanzhou was able to avoid having much of their old neighborhoods knocked down for high-rises that most of the big cities have experienced. I spent a lot of time trying to book ourselves into the hotel Dong and Autumn were staying at and was told that they don’t take foreigners but eventually I was able to get Dan’s assistant to get us two rooms. The hotel was in the old hutong area – so excessable only by foot – getting there through a maze of walking streets. It was lovely.

Funny sculpture in the courtyard of our hotel.

The main attraction in Quanzhou is Kaiyuan temple. After settling into the hotel we headed out to see it. Walking there we walked through what must be the most major tourist street. It was crazy crowded!

We stopped along the root to get a roof top view from a building that had a fancy bake shop inside.

Here is a woman dressed up and posing with her fancy pastry

View from above not looking at lady with her fancy baked good.

Kaiyuan Temple has twin tours. They are are made out of stone and are incredibly beautiful (one can be seen behind the lady with her pastry). I had never seen one that looked like this.

We then ran back to the hotel and met up with Dong and Autumn to have dinner. Walking to dinner Celia and Dan stumbled upon this dog that was dyed to look like a panda. Pretty crazy!

The next day after breakfast at the hotel, we head out with Dong and Autumn to see some old beautiful temples.

The first temple was Confucian where we have been told people come to pray for good grades. Dong showed us how to do it, we lit incense and then made our wishes. I’m not sure my kids cared very much.

It was very interesting seeing how the walls of the temple were built, between the bricks were areas of mud based, or sand based cement. Any architects out there can explain why?

Celia standing in front of the wall that’s structure was so interesting.

We then went to an old mosque. There were the old walls and then a newer mosque sitting next to it.

My family is seeing no evil, saying no evil and …. Seeing no evil again?

Outside the mosque we decided to try a cup of sugar cane juice that this woman was making. It was good – though a little too sweet to finish.

Then we headed to one last temple. I believe it was buddhist (I need Dong to confirm). The building was over the top ornate but it was so crazy crowded we couldn’t bear it.

After lunch we wandered the hutong streets some more and went back to see the towers again as the girls had missed it the first time around. The boys took a Morton detour and apparently found a place to shoot a bow and arrow.

Then we said, “Goodbye” to Dong and Autumn before heading to the airport back to Beijing.

When we got back to Beijing Celia was very excited to see Milo.

Since we got back:

I went on a lovely tour of this art area in Beijing that was designed and built by Aiweiwei and now houses very high end art businesses. A friend of a friend, Hugh, has a business making rugs. He gave a few friend and I a tour of his business, served us lovely tea and then showed us an art gallery and two incredibly upscale furniture businesses. It was pretty amazing.

In addition, Celia has started playing soccer on her highschool team – a gutsy thing to start senior year. We are proud of her – though I have not accomplished taking a decent picture of her playing.

Last weekend we celebrated Purim. Morton – by going away camping with the Boyscouts all weekend. Celia, Dan, and I went to Ted and Roberta, who are long time Beijing weiguaren (foreigners). Ted is a writer and rewrote the Purim story as a Western and then we read and acted out the story. It was a riot. Celia played the mayor of the town (who replaced the king in the original story). She was fantastic. I had my etch-a-sketch in case I needed a quick draw. (Anita and I made it years ago).

And one last picture special for Celia that she just came home and had me shoot:

We hope to hear from you all! Although we are having great adventures, we miss you!

Xo

Fashion, Food, Spirit, and Sports

February 23rd, 2023

Bizarre cage outfit with half dressed man inside

Dan went to Shanghai for a long weekend for the APAC conference – an inter-school competition – the first in three years. That Friday night a friend invited me to a fashion show and after party of the designer Hu She Guang. The previous show, two years ago – due to Covid – looked pretty crazy so I signed up. There ended up being a group going and they hired a photographer to photograph us! The show was held at the InterContinental Hotel in Sanliton – a fancy neighborhood downtown. Evening was super fun but the business model was nothing I have ever heard of before. I didn’t realize it until someone pointed it out to me, but most of the models were seniors – not as in highschool but as in older adults. Apparently there were about 60 runway models. Maybe 7 of them were professionals. The others were seniors. The seniors were women who like the designer’s clothes and they buy a membership – which gets them pieces of clothing and then they become the models for the show. The Huang Rui doesn’t sell to stores – it is all by membership.

The next day I took the kids to check out the neighborhood and (most importantly) a bookstore I’d heard about near Tiannamen Square. The kids were so excited – it was a very large beautiful bookstore with many books in English! Afterwards we went out for a lovely Lunner (Celia was too hungry to wait until dinner time) – that had an amazing view of the surrounding hutong neighborhood (the traditional one story with winding pathways neighborhood). After Lunner we wandered around the neighborhood for a while before heading back home.

View in front of bookstore (One Page)’s window

Other than those events, Morton has been playing a lot of volleyball. His season ended last weekend with a big tournament. The team didn’t do their best for the final horrah – but their playing has gotten better and better.

Celia has been doing lots of senior spirit events:

Seniors dress like a teacher day – this is Celia’s favorite film teacher Mr Rinka

Dan and I had a nice night out with a couple friends going to an art opening of Huang Rui – a historically important Chinese artist – followed by dinner at a yummy Chinese restaurant.

Standing in front of one of the new pieces

Not the most flattering photo but the food was delicious!

I have been playing more and more tennis as things have opened back up. Yesterday was the first time I got bumped off the courts at school. We couldn’t believe it. The woman in charge of organizing the tennis afterschool lessons came over to kick us off for a lesson and when we introduced ourselves to each other she said to me, “Oh – Ganish (the coach here) said you have big balls”. I was a little surprised/ confused. I think somewhere between the Indian teacher, the Chinese organizer, and the English being spoken to me there was a translation malfunction – but it definitely gave me a good laugh.

Amazing indoor tennis facility at kids’ school

Chinese New Year

February 10th, 2023

School got out for Chinese New Year. Everything got very quiet in Beijing. Restaurants shut down as Chinese people went to their hometowns for Chinese New year. Morton had volleyball practice Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Sunday afternoon we went downtown to check out a market I had read about. We got there just as it was closing early for the day due to the holiday. We didn’t have a back-up plan so we decided to check out a fancy shopping area we had never explored. Kids found some good snacks and I tried on these sunglasses (in the picture), and then Celia took us to the area where she and her friends go out at night. We went to a Mexican restaurant and played a game of pool.

The next day I came down with what I assume was Covid. My home test said negative but I was so terribly sick I can’t imagine I didn’t have Covid. Tuesday and Wednesday I continued to be sick – but not as bad. Kids were spending a lot of time doing nothing (other than Morton’s morning Volleyball practice). I figured we needed to get them out of town.

I booked a room in a nice hotel in Tianjin for Thursday and Friday nights. Tianjin is just over a two hour drive away. I figured even if I was still sick, worse thing was I’d get into a car, drive two hours and sit in a hotel. At the very least I’d have gotten the kids out of the house.

The next morning I woke and felt well enough to head out. We left early to have time to see some of the city. Once we dropped our stuff at the hotel, we walked to the old trading area. Tianjin is a city of just under 14 million people. Beginning around 1860 and going till a little after WWII, Tianjin was broken in to many foreign concessions (areas that were conceded to other nations) for them to live, work and most importantly trade. So walking around the old area of Tianjin was very different that other parts of China we have seen – lots of old European looking buildings – and even the many new buildings, most were made to look like old European buildings. A number of rivers and the Grand Canal come together in Tianjin so all through the city are interesting bridges. We walked, checking out the old European style buildings, and then checked out The Astor Hotel – which is a beautiful old European hotel – the first hotel for foreigners in China. Everywhere we walked there were almost no people. It was crazy cold and the streets were empty. We struggled to find a place to eat lunch and finally found one place open. They put us in a private room, sitting on couches – and they turned on the heat. We all struggled not to fall asleep.

First things first: Celia needed a coffee after going out half the night with her friends and then we woke her early to go to Tianjin

Celia and I being very fancy at The Astor Hotel in our layers of clothing to keep warm.

Celia taking in the wonderful aroma of a field of plastic flowers growing outside in the 12 degree weather

After our very late lunch, we headed back to the hotel, napped and swam at the pool before heading back out for dinner. I had read about a noodle shop. Luckily before heading out I asked the concierge to confirm the restaurant was open. It wasn’t. The owner had gone to his hometown for the New Year. The concierge called a number of other restaurants – the same thing. We ended up just walking across the street to a mall and going to a dumpling shop. But walking across the street was actually quite an experience. People were burning things and shooting off fireworks in the street. It was pretty scary! Chinese are crazy for shooting off fireworks for New Years to keep evil spirits away.

Our hotel room had a wall of floor to ceiling windows overlooking the city. All night fireworks were going off everywhere. For a week it continued – despite the fact that in most cities now it’s illegal to shoot them off. I’m sure there must be many injures every year during the New Years week celebration.

The next morning Dan woke to WeiXin messages about a serious school problem he had to deal with. We went downstairs for an over the top hotel Chinese breakfast. After that the kids and I headed out to the China House. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was but figured it would get us walking in a different areas. As we approached we saw a crowd of people outside the China House – the first crowd we’d seen. Tons of Chinese tourists taking pictures of themselves out front of the China House. The China House first reminded us of Gaudi’s buildings in Barcelona and then we thought of the Mosaic House in Philadelphia, and a similar house I visited with my parents in Cuba. The China House, also known as the Porcelin House, is mosaiced in Chinese vases and shards of Chinese pottery. We loved the over the top obsessiveness of it.

Crazy exterior of China House with crowds

The kids and I spent the rest of the morning walking in the bitter cold around the area, seeing the old colonial homes and agency buildings, and a beautiful old European style church – that felt weird to see in China.

Often as we’ve travelled we’ve seen Jewish stars in advertisements which have nothing to do Judaism. Walking around that morning we saw this one:

We’d love to hear what you think the Jewish star means in this advertisement.

After a few hours of walking around, we were iced to the bone. We stopped into the Four Seasons to use a lovely bathroom and then went across the street to a mall to find lunch. The Chinese food court was way too packed, so we put our names in at an upscale pizza restaurant and called Dan to meet us. Every table around us got what looked like a large piece of tira misu with their lunch food – not after, but they had it come with their pizza, pastas and salads – eating it at the same time.

Afterwards we headed to a Buddhist monastery I heard was worth checking out. When we got there there was a small entrance fee that could only be paid in cash. I have never been able to use cash in China, so we never carry it. I couldn’t believe they didn’t take Weixin payment. Struggling through my Mandarin, I explained this to the ticket seller. The monk who was standing next to him waved us through. The monastery was large and beautiful and had been restored not too long ago. We wandered around until someone started yelling and waving everyone out. It too was closing early for the holiday.

Dan, Celia and Morton in front of one of the temples at the monestery

We headed back to the hotel and spent a couple hours at the pool, the gym, one of us who will not be named – napping in the room.

That evening the concierge confirmed that the noodle shop was open and that they had vegetarian food. We headed to this neighborhood which we hadn’t yet seen, found the hole in the wall noodle shop that had been recommended. The chef/waiter/maitre d’ (it was a one man shop) quickly told us they were out of many of their dishes. After some failed attempts at communication I broke down and took out my phone. Typed in my translator app: “Is there anything you can make to eat with out meat? We are vegetarians.” He said, “No.” and we were back on the street -late on the Chinese New Year holiday- looking for some place that would serve something with out meat – often not an easy feat in China. We wandered around admiring the neighborhood but being concerned by the passing hour and our inability to find dinner. We walked into what was an old arena with a track that looked like it has been turned into a ring of closed restaurants. Ended up Eric Liddell – the Olympic runner that is a focus of the movie Chariots of Fire – built the sports arena. He had been born in Tianjin and after his running and rugby career, returned there and built the arena. We were starting to give up on finding a restaurant when I saw a painted slogan on a wall about eating vegetables. The next thing you know we were in a completely unChinese kitchy vegetarian restaurant. I wish I had pictures. The place was full of nut crackers and other silly dolls – and everything on the menu we could eat! Crazy in China!

The next day I made us wake early so we could enjoy the fancy ShangriLa brunch before setting out to see more of Tianjin and then before heading back to Beijing.

We then walked around the Drum Tower area – every town so far has a Drum Tower. I had read there were Peking Opera performances in the afternoon but the hotel concierge couldn’t get anyone on the phone. After wandering around, trying to figure out where we were supposed to see the opera, it seemed these performances were not happening – but we walked through the old shopping area – which was pretty quiet.

We then headed towards the Folk Art Museum, which I heard was worth a look. The directions led us to a historic shopping area. There we found all the Chinese tourists. Every single one was shopping: buying trinkets and eating tourist foods along this strip. After buying our obligatory magnet (Celia wants to buy one in every place we visit) we couldn’t bear the crowds and ditched out attempt to find the museum.

We decided to walk along the river to the Italian Concession. There had to be good food to be found there. The old Italian homes were beautiful – but again we had trouble finding a restaurant with appealing non meat dishes. We ended up finding a Thai restaurant that ended up being fantastic and a wax museum (we just took a picture outside) and then we headed back to the hotel to meet our driver to head back to Beijing.

One last thing note worthy from this trip is that on the drive back into Beijing, every car was stopped to check everyone’s ID’s. As we don’t have Chinese IDs, we had to pull over, go to the office and present our passports. Luckily we had them. We had no idea this was required of us. Apparently every time you drive into Beijing you need to present your official ID.

Dan and kids headed back to school on Monday. Tuesday I joined some friends to Jinan – a city of 9.2 million people. What takes over five hours by car, we do in 2.5 hours by the fast train. Our friend Michael has work in the Jinan Biennial art show, so he, his wife Dong, two other friends and I all head down there to check it out.

I was impressed when we got to the museum and there was a long line to get in. I love that there is so much interest in art! As we were with Michael, the museum curators met us out front and brought us into the museum via a side door – bypassing the crowds. The biennial’s opening celebration had been cancelled due to Covid, so a slew of museum staff and promotion people came to interview Michael on film. They then wanted to interview us as foreigners coming to see the show but we politely declined as we hadn’t even seen the show yet. The museum was very nice as was the show.

Us looking at Michael’s beautiful photographs

Before heading back to Beijing, Dong insisted on taking us out for a lovely local lunch.

Train ride home was packed but uneventful until we got to the Beijing station. My driver was picking three of us up. We had planned to meet him at the West Gate entrance where he’d dropped me off. After about 30 minutes of our wandering around – trying to get to that entrance and our attempts kept getting thwarted, we finally got there and there was no way to exit there – only enter as there were security gates and scanners there which were only one way. We spent another 20 minutes trying to find any exit. We ended up in the parking lot but it took us forever to figure out how to get outside without walking the parking lot ramp. We finally got outside and sent the driver a pin of our location. After waiting another 20 minutes watching his location dot on my map drive in slow circles, we realized there were no public cars near us – and the driver texted the roads were blocked. We eventually decided to meet up in the underground parking lot. Another 20 minutes later – trying to figure out where in the lot we were and where he was we finally got into the car – exhausted!

Quick updates since then: I can’t believe I don’t have any pictures but Morton is having a very short volleyball season (as they lost much of the season to Covid). It’s been super fun to see him play. His game has gotten much stronger and it’s nice to see him taking on a bit of a leadership role on the team. Dan is also helping coach the team. I’ll have to take some pictures next week.

Earlier this week my friend Sara had me over to try out some fancy tea she had been given for New Years. I had never seen a tea set like this. Apparently cold or bitter tea you can just pour out into the base. And also on a number of occasions people have served me tea in these tiny cups. Apparently then the tea you are drinking is always the correct temperature.

My friend Sunny gave us special tang yuan – sweet dessert dumplings eaten special for Chinese New Years. They were delicious!

And today with my friend Xin we caught the second of three parts of the Beijing Biennial (every where seems to be doing biennials!). This was located in this newer area of tall buildings that were apparently built with the intention of moving the art area out to this new area. It was odd walking amid this group of tall buildings with almost no one around. The show had some nice pieces and then we checked out some international galleries that have opened spaces in these buildings. We ran out afterwards to grab some warm noodle soup and then I went to Morton’s volleyball game at Dulwich (a British style school in the area) – Morton’s team won! It’s been such a great change in the last two weeks that parents can enter campus (first time in three years!) and students can compete and travel to other schools.

Dan flew off this evening to Shanghai where ISB, his school, is competing against a number of other schools in Table Tennis, Swimming and basketball. Go Dragons (our mascot)!