Yunnan

Another Chinese holiday, another adventure.  This time we decided to stay in China and venture to the southwest corner of the country to the Yunnan province.  The Yunnan province boarders Tibet, so the more west you go, the more you experience the Tibetan culture.  Given how difficult it is to get to Tibet and how far it is, we decided this would have to do for now.  And wow...what a great trip.  So different than anything we have experienced thus far in China.  

Yunnan is made up of many minority populations and their different religions.  As a result, the culture is much different than what we have experienced in the big cities.  Shangri-la (or Zhongdian prior to the government renaming it Shangri-la 10 years ago), had a population of only 50,000!  A big difference from Shanghai's 30 million!  Both Lijiang and Shangri-la (and the 5 hour drive in between) were mostly farming communities, still using mostly animals and manual labor vs. tractors and heavy farm equipment.  It was like stepping back in time 50 years.  And the landscape is so different, being in the middle of some magnificent and tall mountains.  It was beautiful and fascinating.  Even the kids thought so (or maybe that was just the lack of oxygen due to the altitude!)

Enjoy the pictures!

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Girls Weekend

I have always wanted to go to Harbin, a second-tier city in the far northeast corner of China.  This "Ice City" is known for its Russian influence and its annual Snow and Ice Festival (one of four in the entire world) held each year.  But it is bitterly cold, with highs during the festival of less than 0 degrees Fahrenheit.  So instead of hauling the family and all of our cold gear up to Harbin, a group of us ladies decided to do a short one-night trip to check this China must-see off the list.


It was worth the trip, but was indeed close to the coldest weather I have ever been in, with the nighttime temps around -15F.  And we were lucky enough to also experience some of the worst pollution on record, with the levels on Saturday exceeding what could be even be measured. But it only takes a few good friends and a few bottles of beer to make it a memorable one.  

Kristin through a single ice block

Walking across the frozen Songhua River

The Great Wall made out of Snow

More snow sculptures

The Ladies

Xi'an - Our new favorite place in China

Click here to see more pictures from our trip!

Last weekend we took a quick trip with the Lohses up to Xi'an to see the famous terracotta warriors (bingmayong).  Xi'an is northwest from Shanghai, between here and Beijing.  We hired a tour guide for the weekend, which turned out to be a great investment.  Raphael quickly made friends with the kids with his gifts of chocolate and muslin sweet cakes.  He took us to incredible local restaurants, where we ate the best food we have had in China thus far.  And of course he took us around the city to see the city walls, temples, and the famous terracotta warriors.

The warriors are amazing.  They literally take your breath away when you first see them.  To think that they built this tomb over 2000 years ago with these life size, individually unique warriors was amazing.  But when we learned that they have only unearthed about 5% of the actual tomb, we were just in awe.  An emperor with a vision, no doubt.

This small city in China, with only 11 million people, was so different from Shanghai and other places we have been.  It felt small and real.  It might have been because we were some of the only tourists there, as opposed to the peak months where there are over 80,000 visitors a day.  Either way, we had a blast exploring the Muslim quarter, trying the street food (only the safe stuff of course) and shopping in the back alleys.  And because it was the weekend before Chinese New Year, the whole city was decorated with red lanterns and dragons.  It truly was beautiful.

A highlight of our time in China, no doubt.  My vote to add this back on to the list of the 7 wonders of the world!!

Now it's back to the drawing board planning our next adventure...

Off Again

 

 

The Lohses have been in town for the last month and we have spent a great deal of the time traveling around Asia.  After spending Christmas day celebrating, we headed off for Siem Reap, Cambodia and then went to Ho Chi Mihn City (Saigon).

Angkor Wat

Cambodia was simply amazing, one of my top 5 places.  We spent 4 days there and toured the famous temples, spent a day on ATVs, and really tried to get to know the people and local culture.  It was truly fantastic.  Click on the picture above to see more pictures from our trip.

We then headed next store to Vietnam, where Darwin returned to Saigon after his first visit during the war 42 years ago.  We spent 3 days touring the city, the museums, and went to the tunnels used by the North Vietnamese during the American/Vietnam war.  We saw saw some very graphic pictures, read some very unfair recollections of the war, but also spent some time reflecting on our history as a country. I can only imagine how impactful the experience was for a returning veteran.  Click on the picture above to see more pictures from our trip.

Overall, it was a very memorable vacation and another successful Asian adventure for the Lohses!  

Up next...Xi'an and the Terracotta Warriors!

Sanya

We took advantage of Tomb Sweeping Day to leave Shanghai and head out of the city for a much needed vacation. Sanya is the southernmost city in China on the Chinese island of Hainan, near Vietnam. We went with another family whose kids are in school with ours. We had a blast and the enjoyed the sunshine, the clean air, and a little R&R.

Click on the picture above to see more pictures from our trip.

Our Trip to Beijing

All in all, our first China trip was a success. Minus a few minor mishaps (like me getting a pretty bad bout of food poisoning), we had a really great trip. And the Great Wall is truly amazing.

We can't wait to take more visitors back (hint, hint!)

Click on the picture to see more pictures of our trip. Enjoy!