The Blithe Traveler

Pandas!!!! Part 2

The cuteness overload continues with adolescents at play:

The bigger fellows, still under the age of 5, but over the age of around 2, played a little rougher, and in bigger groups. They were like a seething mass of rolling fur and fat. They chased (in Panda Slo-Mo), they climbed, they mauled and in general had a pretty terrific morning. And so did we, watching them. Until about 10:00, when as expected, they collapsed in various heaps, snoring, exhausted, and busy digesting all of the bamboo they had scarfed down when not engaged in mauling activities.

What is kind of interesting about the whole panda phenomena, is that left to their own devices, they'd be extinct pretty soon. There are only about 1,000 pandas left in the wild. They live exclusively on bamboo, which is a pretty poor source of nutrition. This means they spend a huge amount of time ingesting vast quantities of the stuff, but their energy levels never rise much above that of a sloth. The grown-ups eat, then sleep, eat, then sleep, eat, then sleep. Also, they are basically solitary creatures, so in the wild, they live life pretty much in isolation. "Exploring," and "getting out and meeting other pandas" doesn't make it high on the average Panda To-Do List.

Grown-up Pandas. Maybe eating and sleeping?

Add that all together, only a few left, they spend all of their time eating and sleeping, they don't get out to the local bars much, and you have a dearth of wild baby pandas happening. The breeding facilities around the world are about the only chance future generations have of seeing the pandas. It would be a shame to see them wiped out, but there are certainly a lot of resources going against making sure that they survive, if not in the wild, at least in settings like the Chengdu Panda Reserve.

Even the grow-ups are unbearably cuddly looking

All of this is leading up to our little contribution to the continuation of the Panda. For a non-negotiable fee which ostensibly goes toward the Panda Perpetuation Fund, one can hug a panda. "Hug" is a relative term, of course, since the Panda In Question is kept occupied with a tasty treat, while small children are encouraged to get close, and touch, but not actually wrap themselves around. I mean, we just saw the photos of pandas at play. I'm not so sure I'd like to see my child at the bottom of a Heap 'O Panda. Anyway, our non-negotiable fee netted these:

They really got a kick out of it. Although at the end of the session, Hope complained just a tiny bit that she didn't get a "real hug." I showed her some photos of Panda's in the act of hugging each other and she agreed that perhaps the pseudo hug was in fact sufficient.

Pandas!!!! Part 1

Yea, gods, I had no idea. No. Idea. I mean, c'mon. We all know that people get all ga-ga over pandas, right? But I am pretty immune to that sort of thing. I generally find "cute" kind of cloying and, maybe even annoying. So, the whole panda thing was all about The Children. Those cute tykes of mine who never really mentioned pandas in any way prior to our arrival in China. Or post-, now that I think about it. But, how could you come to China and not meet some pandas? Particularly when it's not like you can pay a few dinero and actually hug them in the U.S., like you can here.

So the whole trip to Chengdu was all about seeing, meeting, and ultimately hugging the pandas. We were fairly clever, in that I checked ahead of time with some people who had already done the Panda Hugging Bit, and the recommendation was two, or maybe even three thumbs, up on the whole adventure. With the caveat that one should arrive at the Panda Facility at opening time (8:00am), watch panda play until feeding time (around 9:30am) and then watch the panda's gradually enter the coma state that they pretty much stay in from that point until the following morning. Which turned out to be spectacular advice.

The Panda Facility, despite being the premier one in the world, is "hard to get to." This would be one of those bits of things that westerners read in the guide book, believe, and then end up paying too much money to arrive at the facility in a timely fashion. We hit up the hotel when we arrived for their "tour rates" to the Panda Shrine. They didn't have any. Being that it was mid-week, and not during the typical tourist season, our rather nice hotel (four star!) did not have any option except a private car. For which they wanted us to pay a rate that I will not mention. Other than to say that it was probably about four times the rate of a taxi.

Their position was that we were paying for a car to drive us there, and then be ready to drive us back when we were done because taxis are not available at the facility. Our guide book backed them up on this, and when traveling with small children discretion is the better part of insuring that they live to see the Social Security system go bankrupt, so Jeff negotiated a rate half that of the original asking price (Them: "200 RMB," Jeff, "No, too much. 100 RMB." Them: "OK." Hello! How exactly does this system work???)

The we had to negotiate the time for pickup. First, they said, "10:30."  We said, "No, 7:30." They said, "Pandas not open until 8:30." We said, "No, opens at 8:00, and we want to be there." They said, "10:00." We said, "No, 7:30." They said, "8:00." We said, "No, 7:30." At which point they gave up and agreed to a 7:30am pick up time. Which turned out to be perfect.

The morning was beautifully sunny and warm, and we arrived just as the park opened, paid our admission and started strolling up to the Baby Panda exhibit. The pandas are segregated by age, and the "babies" are really  more like toddlers now, around 8 months old. Cute does not even begin to describe these little buggers. In fact, no word or photo is going to accurately describe what it was like to see the roly poly little twee beggars romping and frolicing in the early morning. Ai!  I am smiling like a fiend and my teeth ache just thinking about their buttery, fluffy, tottering cute selves!

Here are some Baby Panda photos. Remember, the sun was shining, it was a warm and very quiet, as we arrived before the crowds, and the Panda Play Area was enveloped in a quiet hush as the few early morning visitors watched the little guys frolic right up close.

Keeee-uttttte! I can barely stand it.

Playing. They play like overgrown, fuzzy, fizzy puppies; puppies that can climb! They bumble along like fluffy Weebles, seemingly always about to topple over. Gack! Cuteness overload!!!

They would climb for a bit, then topple, and bounce. It was so unbelievably cute, we could barely stand it.

Tom could barely stand it. The children were just about on the ground laughing from the overwhelming cuteness of it all. And that was just the baby pandas.

Since it is taking me forever to get this post up - I'll leave this at the babies. Adolescents, adults and our final day in Chengdu tomorrow.

All Quiet On The Western Front - Part 1

We arrived in Chengdu, no fuss no muss. It is a medium sized city of 10-13 million people (depending on source). It's a tourist-y kind of town, as it is the Chinese gateway for T*bet, the home of the largest Panda Breeding Station in the world, and there is a whole of of gorgeous stuff scenery to see in the northern and southern areas of Sichuan Province.

It was quiet in town, not unexpectedly. From our reading, it seems that the roads outside of town that lead west have been blocked (no tourists or journalists allowed to cross the border), but that things inside the city are quiet. And so it was our experience while we were there.

We spent the day wandering around the arts and "antiques market." I am scouting for minority embroidery items. The low down is that there are something like forty or fifty minority groups in China, many of whom have enclaves, as such, in more remote sections of the country. "Minority embroidery" covers a lot of territory, but in general what I am looking for are hand embroidered items. Some of the embroidery that I have seen is quite amazing: the colors are brilliant and the handwork is exquisite. The items women are selling are generally fairly used, and would have been discarded anyway. There is a recognition of the value of the items, so pricing does tend to be higher end.

The interesting problem with the stuff is that like so many things in China, once the market has been identified, the fakes market immediately kicks in.   The people I know who have purchased embroidery have done so in minority villages. Since we were in a major city, the odds of insuring that anyone who had anything to do with the origins of the item profited in any way were not good. I did find a few vendors at the "antique market" who were selling things that were ostensibly "minority embroidery," but another thing I realized looking at the stuff was that I just wasn't educated enough to find the "real thing." There were some pieces that obviously were real. Because they were in terrible condition. And some that were obviously fake. And some that I just wasn't sure about, which made think it highly likely they were fake. So, I just poked around, studied the stuff, and didn't actually purchase anything.

Checking out embroidery, while Hope watches and learns

We ate lunch at a rather poor choice restaurant (the problem with arriving at a place in the early afternoon, lunch-less, is that one is more inclined to jump at the first thing that comes along, rather than using your brain and finding a better option). But, considering that we were in place that is known world wide for amazing cuisine, it was a rather sad lunch. Luckily, we were able to make up for it over dinner.

Sichuan is, of course, well known through-out the world for its hot, hot, hot cuisine. I was looking forward to trying some relatively mild stuff, and we were lucky enough to find a really terrific local restaurant right outside of our hotel. They had a little handwritten English menu/notepad that we happily ordered from for the next couple of days and the food was good, good, good and cheap, cheap, cheap. The meal we had the first night included two main dishes and all the rice we could eat for around 4 U.S. dollars. The Great Wall wine, which I always think after we have ordered that we would be better off without was something like 8 U.S.

But the best bit was that the trip solved the mystery of a spice I bought at my local restaurant a few months back. The stuff was sold in the produce section of the supermarket. I sniffed it in the supermarket and it smelled, I don't know, kind of exotic. In a really good way. I brought it home and tossed it into dinner. Unfortunately, it didn't go over all that well. Jeff thought it was interesting, but that maybe I hadn't used it exactly the way it was meant to be used. I did, of course, try it, and the flavor was hot and penetrating. Mouth numbing is how I would describe it. All in a really good way. However, I put it in the back of the cupboard and didn't do anything with it again.

And then, lo and behold, here it is! In Sichuan! Mystery solved, it's called Huajiao, also known as a Sichuan peppercorn. And here's the best bit: it's mildly narcotic and has previously been banned in the U.S.! Cool! It creates a peppery, tangy mouth numbing taste/feeling and it really makes the food in the area taste unique. And I have it in my kitchen! I have been pouring over recipes in my spare time, thinking that I might actually try and make a few real Chinese recipes, as I am accumulating "real" Chinese ingredients!

Yum! We ate another couple of lunches and dinners here - the people were lovely (and importantly, more or less left poor Hope alone) and the food was really yummy.

Tomorrow: The Panda Station! Prepare yourself for teeth-aching cuteness!

The Xi'an Cave Dwellers

In one of those interesting cultural  bits where you are never quite sure if you are being totally had, or if what you are experiencing is so real you should weep, Rapheal took us to visit the Xi'an Cave Dwellers. Rapheal will tell you (should you ever be luck enough to spend a few days in Xi'an with Rapheal) that you are meeting Rapheal's grandfather. Whether or not you are actually meeting someone who is biologically Rapheal's grandfather is not relevant.

You are meeting someone who is somewhere in the neighborhood of 98 years old who lives in a dwelling that is based on a cave. The cave has been enhanced somewhat since it was originally carved out of the side of a mountain and this  particular cave has electricity (although Rapheal's grandfather's cave's electricity was not working the morning we were by) and a flush (western!) potty, the housing elements, as it were, are far, far, far more primitive than what most westerner's are used to.

Rapheal and his grandfather

Rapheal repeated several times that by taking us to meet the Cave Dwellers, we were coming to see the Real China. He is quite serious in imparting to westerners that the life you see in cities and the lives most ex-pats experience in compounds is not the Real China. A sentiment to which I also subscribe. I am not quite sure, however, what exactly, the Real China is. Given how immense the population is (1.5 billion people) and how large the cities are (there are more people living in Shanghai and surrounds, for example, than either the entire country of Canada or Australia), I have no idea what the Real China is. How can one country include Hong Kong, and T*bet, and Beijing? And is the Real China the Han people? And how do the multitudes of minority populations fit in? Or is the Real China parts of the country that are so far distant from my day to day life that I cannot imagine them? I don't know, but the visit to caves was certainly sobering.

Anyway you look at it, seeing the Cave Dwellers, who are clearly 20th century human beings (I wouldn't go so far as to say 21st century, as there wasn't any evidence of Broadband), who are still living bits of their lives in the 19th, or maybe the 18th, or who knows, the 15th century.

Rapheal's nephew's wife, his nephew's son, and grandfather (background). You can see the house/cave entrance in the far background.

Hope got along well with everyone, and even Tom was able to buck up for the experience. Jeff and I did grow a day wiser in our management of the children during "Cultural Tour Days," and provided them with a rewards/punishment system (1)that worked flawlessly, and resulted in a happy day all around for everyone.

Inside the cave dwelling

We returned to the city for the remainder of our last day in Xi'an, had lunch in the Muslim Quarter, wandered around the art district for a while, and finally climbed up on the city wall for a good scout around before dinner.

A few lollipops make the Cultural Tour a breeze!

Hope practices Panda Hugging before we leave for Chengdu

And just for giggles. I'm not quite sure what I find so amusing about this sign, but I wonder if the people who were eating in the restaurant had any idea that we were meant to witness their profoundness??

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(1) If you have the slightest interest, there were essentially two separate systems. The first was strictly reward: you got a "point" for any good act or behavior. Get to five points, you got a lollipop, ten points, two lollies, etc. The punishment system was that each child was meant to chose one item from the market at the end of the day that we would buy for them. If they misbehaved, they were awarded the equivalent of a strike. Three strikes, and they lost the privilege of picking something out. Given that "somethings" generally cost less than a buck, this system is something we are planning to leverage for the rest of the trip. They both (surprise!) got two lollipops on Day 1, and although Tom turned into a star, Hope did not get her "something" on Day 1. She was resolutely was well behaved on Day 2, and got it. I am thinking of writing a book, something along the lines of, "How to Sucker Your Children Into Good Cultural Conduct."

Terra Cotta Warriors

I can safely say that my head feels a bit like it is going to explode. The Terra Cotta warriors are unbelievable. And, this happens to me when ever I view real antiquities, I aways feel my little self shrinking to microscopic size as I try to put the Entire World History into perspective. Ai.

For reasons that we have not worked out, I don't have access to my VPN, so I can't use Wiki to back me up. So forgive me if I get bits of this not quite right - I'm going from memory. Here's the basic gist: Over two thousand years ago, in 221 BC, the Emperor Qin Shin Huang united the mass of land that we now refer to as "China." He survived to reign for something like fifty years. At the age of 13, when he ascended the throne, he began building his tomb. It took 39 years and 700,000 laborers to complete. Apparently, the emperor believed that to be successful in the afterlife, he would need to be well equipped: the warriors were meant to be his fighting force. In addition, he packed, silks, food, animals, and, wives. When he died, his wives were put to death and buried with him. Something like 3,000. Only two of which had actually ever had the pleasure of meeting him. Such was life 2000 years ago.

The grandeur: this is Pit 1, the largest pit, containing the Infantry

I'd like to pause a minute, to let all of that sink in. First, here's a guy who thinks he's going to storm the after-life, probably to whatever the Qin Dynasty equivalent to Bohemian Rhapsody would have been. In some ways, you have to admire thinking like that. I wish I were a bit more academically inclined, as I would love to do research on various megalomaniac royalty who believed such things: the Egyptians and the Mayans, come to mind as fairly obvious. But I am sure there are lots of cultural pods where people are buried with "stuff" because they think they need it in the afterlife. But, really. The resources this guy put behind "insuring" that he would be successful after he died are just astonishing. I do wish him luck - wouldn't it be an interesting novel idea to create a world where this megalomaniacs all met up and had to duke it out??? Alas, for someone more research inclined than myself.

I did mention to our tour guide, the famous Rapheal, what he thought of the whole idea of someone who thought they need silks and grain and meat and and three thousand dead and decaying wives, plus an entire army of brightly painted clay warriors to prepare themselves for the afterlife. He shook his head, and said very seriously to me, "Rapheal(1) have to ask you a very personal question. In your country, where you come from, do people believe that there is some part of the body that lives on after death?"

I replied that indeed many, many people do believe in the concept of a "heaven." Not everyone, of course, but many people believe in a spiritual afterlife.

He shook his head in amazement, and said, "Rapheal cannot imagine such a thing. People really believe this??" Which I can totally understand. Life in China is very practical. Rapheal's early years occurred during the Cultural Revolution - his childhood memories are not exactly what you would call pleasant. And if one is not exposed to the concept of religion, well, why would you believe in an afterlife?

But, back to the Warriors. Each individual, and there are at least 7,000, is modeled on a real human. So each individual face is different. This is an amazing concept to think about, and even more astonishing to see. Row after row after row of clay statues, each formed by hand, fired in a kiln to astonishing temperatures - 2,000 years ago, each representing a real life human being who has been gone from this planet for 2,000 years. This is what gives me a headache about antiquities. My flimsy little brain gets all caught up in imaging not only the soldier that the clay warrior was modeled on, but his wife, his children, his dog, and then I start thinking about the people who made the clay figure of the real life warrior. All gone from this planet for 2,000 years. Ai! I could never have been an archaeologist - I would have ended up curled in a ball whimpering years ago.

These were all modeled on people who lived and breathed, and had wives and children, and ate and slept, and had the flu occasionally. And probably worried about how to best deal with their crazy in-laws. All dead for 2,000 years. Mind blowing.

But, back to the Warriors: here's something you probably didn't know. After each figure, each infantry man, each General, each standing archer, each kneeling archer, each horse, was built, fired, and assembled, they were painted. When the tomb was first discovered in 1974 by a farmer digging a well, the Warriors were all different, bright colors. After a few months exposure to air and light, the colors all faded away. The assumption is that there are acres and acres more of these things under the ground, but that until the technology exists to unearth them in a way that leaves them as they were found, they should remain safely underground.

No photo can communicate the power of seeing this in real life. From the incredible vastness of the tomb to the individuality of each warrior, words and photos are inadequate.

The interesting sort of problem with a day like this, however, is that while Jeff and I were lapping it all up, the children slowly melted down. In their defense, they are kind of small, and I can easily see how this sort of thing might be boring for little people. Jeff and I didn't do great advance planning on keeping them occupied, so by the end of the day, they were toast. Actually, by lunch time, they were toast, but we drove them on, in hopes of soaking up as much as we possibly could before they threw themselves down and refused to get up.

Toast. Well done. With butter and jam.

They did buck up a bit in the afternoon when we got them outside for a bit. For the horse people, this is an interesting photo. Any guesses as to what we are looking at?? Two hints: (1) each item is around 800 years old and (2) they have all been gathered here artificially - you can't use these items in the configuration they are currently in. The answer is below, so guess before you read further.

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Mounting blocks (the steps!) and hitching posts!! Aren't they lovely?? They have been gathered here from all over the area for preservation. I love that the gargoyles and dragons and evil spirit catchers are meant to guard the horses. Like horses need any help in seeing evil spirits <giggle>.

And then, after a rest at the hotel, a little Retail Therapy. For the first time in my entire life, I understand what this phrase means. It was sheer delight to bury ourselves in row after row after aisle after aisle after booth after booth of people selling all kinds of silks and shirts and pens and wallets and jewelry and knick-nacs and all sorts of lovely, mostly useless things. I bought a few (more) pashminas (one can never have too many pashminas - I may pay too much for them, but I get them for around $6 U.S.) and a few, um, shirts. The horse ones if you must know (also for around $6 US). And Pam, I got a pink one for you. Size XL - should fit just fine. ;-)

The market went on forever. Not in terms of time, but in terms of space. It was narrow, but it went on and on and on and on. Amazing, and really fun.

And in the midst of my first ever Retail Therapy Experience, I ran into these!! NQR (Not Quite Ralph) - on steroids??? Please, someone tell me! Does Ralph approve of this sort of thing??? Or is this a creative Chinese enterprise, assuming that a small logo is good, a larger logo must be gooder??? Inquiring minds need to know - please, someone, do tell!!!!

And then, just because it is kind of surreal and I feel the need to share:
Some Notes: I am a few days ahead on the writing of this blog, so by the time this post shows up, we'll have been in Chengdu for a few days, hugging panda's and doing our darnedest to stay out of harm's way. For some reason that we aren't quite sure of, my VPN is not accessible, so I can't see my blog page. Which means I can't reply to the comments section - please, do keep comments coming, and I will get to them once I can access them. I can reply privately, and will try to do that as time allows.

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(1) Rapheal speaks of himself in the third person. Just the facts, ma'am.

Our Summer Vacation

It appears our timing is somewhat less then spectacular.

Xi'an is a marvel, we are having an amazing time, spending our Easter weekend in this astonishingly historical city. I have tons of interesting tidbits to share, not to mention lots of fun photos, but, internet access is spotty, so it's hard to do updates. And then there's this bit:

In China, a Show of Force

Source: Wall Street Journal, by SHAI OSTER, March 24, 2008
CHENGDU, China -- Heavily armed police have been patrolling in Chengdu, the leafy, usually calm capital of Sichuan province, in a significant show of force and concern by the Chinese government about the spread of unrest from neighboring T*bet.

Ten days after T*betan protests against Chinese rule turned violent in Lhasa, reverberations are being felt here, 1,250 miles away. Last week, Chinese authorities deployed troops to contain unrest that spread across mostly remote ethnic T*betan villages in neighboring provinces, including Sichuan.

(Edited for brevity)

In Chengdu, police armed with machine guns, wearing helmets and bulletproof vests, patrolled the main pedestrian shopping center, where Häagen-Dazs vies for space with Japanese clothing boutiques. In the T*betan quarter, a street of shops selling ethnic jewelry and T*betan religious paintings near a temple known as Wu Hou Ci, police sealed off traffic and stationed dozens of police cars with flashing red lights. Most shops remained closed as the police presence deterred people from entering the street.

Rumors of suicide bombings and stabbings in Chengdu by T*betans against the majority Han Chinese bubbled across the streets and Internet forums.

Local police eventually called a news conference to quash the rumors. They denied there had been any bombs and said, in one instance, on March 18, a man from a T*betan region had attacked a bus, several vehicles and a bystander after the bus refused to stop outside its designated station. The police said people with "evil wills" were spreading rumors and insisted the city is safe for travel and work."

We leave for Chengdu tomorrow. We are hoping to do nothing more dangerous then hug us some pandas and head off to the north for some spectacular countryside viewing. And while we had planned to spend some time in the T*betian Quarter, I suspect we might take a pass.

But here's a quick bit about our first day in Xi'an - we spent the afternoon we arrived wandering around the Muslim Quarter, which is right outside our hotel. Fascinating, and lots of fun. Here's the view from our hotel: very citified, don't you think? The largish historical building is the Drum Tower. There is a sister Bell Tower just outside of view. The bell rings in the morning to let you know it's time to go to work, the drum throms at night to let you know it's time to go home:

Now, a five minute walk away, walking toward that red building and around the back, five minutes, you walk into the following scene:
The local slaughterhouse. These particular bovines (there are two, one hidden behind the tree) seemed quite unaware of their fate. Or perhaps just resigned to it? Whatever, life just happens right on the streets in China. We walked past the carcass of a hanging goat a few blocks later and Hope looked it up and down genuinely puzzled, "Dog, mum?" she asked. I explained that it was a goat, and she nodded.

And, then, just because there is always something new to learn:

Cute bunny! Hope loves rabbits, so we stopped to say hello. And I swear, it did not even cross my mind that this was anything but a pet. Look at how cute it is! And well fed! I was thinking, "Pet, pet, pet!" for sure. Wrong!
Fur. It's a tailor shop that specializes in furs! That white fluffy stuff by the sewing machine was formerly a rabbit. So, add another one to the list. Pets, meat, or attire.

These folks were very kind to us. The bread is apparently from the western most regions of China, so not local to Xi'an, but it was marvelous. Jeff took a bunch of photos, showed the photos around (love digital!), and then we bought some bread, the children and I scarfed it down, and we ended up going back every day we were in Xi'an for more. It's better if you put "stuff" on it, like oil, and then seasonings, vegetables, etc, but the children liked it just the way it was, and truthfully, so did I.

The food in the Muslim Quarter was really amazing to see and smell. For the most part we didn't partake, given our sensitive western tums, but there were a few things that were irresistible, the bread being one, and peanuts another. Although, truthfully, I post this most unflattering photo of myself more for those of you looking to check out my hair color than for any other reason. ;-)

Jeff is pretty convinced I got ripped off - around a US dollar for half a pound of salted, roasted peanuts. They were good, so I think they were worth a buck.

Wish us good travels!

Where In the World Are They?

The children have a week holiday from school - I was shocked to discover that it's Easter at the end of the week (!!!). This notion only penetrated my poor brain when one of the staff where we live mentioned that they were having a wester party on Sunday, and would we be by?

Wester?? Wester, I mulled quietly to myself, looking, I am sure quite puzzled. Then she mentioned rabbits and I got it. "Oh, EAST-er!" Easy mistake to make. Anyway, it suddenly dawned on me that that might be why the children were having a week holiday. The point of all of this is that we have known that the children were having a holiday and did extensive cultural China travel planning around the holiday, but somehow I failed to connect the timing with a major US holiday that has huge religious significance. I'm a little embarrassed. (And in hindsight, it's even worse: on the way to the airport, I mentioned to Jeff that it's Easter when we get back, and he informed me that I had it wrong by a week - we'd be celebrating Easter in Xi'an. In the Muslim Quarter, to be precise. Interesting life this is turning out to be).

This is a crappy kind of map, but we are not far from Shanghai (located on the middle east coast). We are heading to Xi'an, where the Terra Cotta Warriors reside (the blue bit, west of Shanghai, in the middle), then on to Chengdu, south west, in the brown bit under the word "Sichuan." Yes, as in Szechuan, the hottest cuisine imaginable.

That said, as you read this, we are probably in Xi'an, soaking up culture. Xi'an is where the "Soldiers" are - Terra Cotta Warriors for those of us who hail from western climes.  Details will be forthcoming, of course. We have hired a fabulous and rather famous tour guide, Rapheal  (that's how he spells it, don't look at me), to take us around. We are planning to see the Warriors, of course, and a few other historic sights. We are also planning to visit the Cave Dwellers, who are apparently people who live in caves. At least they live in caves when the tour guides take the tourists through. We shall see.

The warriors. Pirated photo, so it's a mini. I promise I'll have enough of my own to post in a few days.

Then from Xi'an, we're heading to Chengdu. The Main Attraction will be Wildlife Abuse, in the form of Panda Hugging. No kidding! There is a Panda breeding and research facility, in fact, the premier one in the world, in Chengdu. Supported mostly by people who come and pay money to have their children's photo's taken with a baby Panda.

Post panda love-in, we are planning to do some touring in the more scenic areas. One thing I will be looking for will be ethic minority embroidery. I know, you can't even imagine what this might be, but let's just say I am on a mission, and details (along with photos will follow). Jeff has his own ideas of things he would like to collect while here. Tom and Hope? C'mon! You know what they want! Stuffed pandas, of course.

Caio, bella! Oh, wait, I meant, zai jian! Details as internet availability and travel allow!

Stuff Happens

Somebody had a bad day.

These are available in the Metro (German company, like Costco). I failed to note the price, but I will pop by next time I am in to see if they are still available. I was short on both time and RMB this particular day, but I was lucky enough to have remembered my camera. And, yeah, they all say "Childern."

Hope Springs Eternal

Or maybe, Hope springs? Hope is an unbelievably darling child, a chubby little cherub. Who really doesn't like to wear pants. And I cannot blame her. She is shaped a bit like Winnie the Pooh; "stout," I think is how he refers to himself. Pants are not particularly comfortable on her, nor are they particularly flattering.

Her school "uniform" is a track suit, which has the huge benefit of being easy on/easy off for those who still find getting to the potty in time one of the top challenges of the day. And they have a comfy elastic waist band. So when we whip out the jeans on the weekends, she pouts, crosses her little arms and requests either a "dwess, please!" or her "horse pants," which are a pair of riding jodhpurs that for reasons I simply can't even imagine, we own and ended up here. I think someone gave them to me, she wore them once or twice and I packed them. And now she wears them all the time. I'll get a photo of that one of these days.

Anyway, with summer coming, and her summer wardrobe not surprisingly scarce, as she has gotten taller since we arrived in September, I decided to head to BuBuBu. I had a terrific morning browsing through the cotton fabrics, and buying small bits for around a US dollar. Then I handed the tailor one dress that fit her and asked for five copies. I spent around 30 quai a dress, or total tailoring costs of $21 US. The kid's entire summer wardrobe (okay I'm cheating a little - she has a few dresses left over from last summer) ran less than $30.

And now the Spring Fashion Show:

Sweet in Seersucker

Green is wonderful with her complexion. I really want to make a dress for myself out of this fabric. I vacillate between loving it and then thinking, what?? Who am I kidding!

This one I think is great for her, but no worries. I'm not coveting the fabric at all. I'd look like a couch.

Just cute. I know, this is boring, isn't it? But she's my kid and I think she's really great!

And then there's this one. It doesn't fit! Go figure. Four out of five are just fine. I could take it back and have it made a wee bit smaller. Or I can put it away and she can wear it next year. I think next year is soon enough.

Dollars and Sense

Currency conversion is a interesting topic. At least for those of us who have discovered that the trick to slowing the brain's tendency to turn squishy in our later years is Mental Maths. As we discussed some time ago, the Metric System has become my friend, and I'm pretty happy about it. The mental gymnastics around temperature, cloth length, and even time have slowed to an occasional desultory somersault when I am faced with shoe sizes (in millimeters!) or some other odd ball thing that is outside my everyday Metric Sphere.

The RMB - who is that fellow?

But money! Ai! That will keep me young. It changes every day! Okay, I exaggerate, but it does actually shift around a bit from day to day, and since we are here for a while, the daily shifts can (and in this case have) lead to some pretty dramatic changes. Quick reminder primer: the official currency here is the Reminbi. It is less formally known as the "yuan" and colloquially as the "quai."

Now, for Currency Conversion Mental Maths 101: when we arrived back in September, the RMB was running about 8:1 to the US dollar. Which meant that the 34 RMB bottle of cheap wine we were swilling (and loathing) cost about four bucks. Now, a mere six months later, with the RMB looking more like 7:1, that 34 RMB wine now costs about five bucks. We've given up on the Chinese wine, by the way, and now buy Australia at Metro. We spend about ten US dollars for a reasonably drinkable bottle of wine, which is pretty near our top price for a non-gift, non-company bottle of wine. We are basically cheap and consequently don't drink wine all that often.

Anyway, the other really tricky thing about the RMB is that since it started out at 8:1, I had a tendency to "round up" to 10. So I'd look at, say, a meter of silk fabric that cost 70 RMB and think, "Oh, around 7 US. Nuh-uh! 70 RMB then was really closer to 9 US dollars, and now it's 10. Which doesn't sound too dangerous, until you start looking at bigger numbers. Let's say you want to drop a little coin on a few kitschy antiques, and end up spending  4500 RMB (this is just an example, by the way, we haven't actually done this). If you follow the Lazy Man's Math rule and divided by ten, you just spent 450 US dollars. When what you actually spent was closer to 650. Insidious, and tricky, all of this Mental Maths conversion!

But, we are just a tip of the iceberg! Come slide down the slippery slope a little farther with me! Notice that when I say "dollar," I always qualify it with "US." That would be, of course as you are well aware, the US is not the only country in the world to use the term "dollar" to describe their currency. Coming here, I was well aware that Canada has a dollar, Australia has one and so does Hong Kong. And since I now count among my friends people who come from these places, I learned early on to qualify any Mental Maths Conversion:

Me: "Wow! Check out that wool! Lovely! How much is it?"

Australian Friend: "Let's see, 75 quai for ten balls, so that's about 12 Aussie dollars for the lot! What a deal!"

Me: (Mentally calculating along two paths: 75 RMB = almost 11 US, Aussie, and US are *pretty* close, so that checks out) "Wow, great price!"

Then there are those interesting, random conversations. I was in a car one day chatting about airfare to Singapore. Someone in the car said, "You won't believe how much a flight to Singapore is from here! It's $1200!!!"

I froze. Not having the slightest context for the question, I had no idea if 1200 was a lot or a little. $1200US would be pretty steep for a flight here. $1200HK would be incredibly cheap. Luckily, someone else in the car jumped in: "Is that US dollars??"

Hong Kong Dollars. The Ten dollar bill in particular is quite fun, all bright and purple-y.

"No, no," the guy said, "Sing dollars."

Singapore dollars!? Who knew?? Probably many of you who have actually been to Malaysia, but not I. And here's the really funny part. 1200 Sing dollars is around $850 US. I still had no idea if the flight was "cheap" or "expensive."

My currency calculator says that the US and Canada dollars are running neck and neck now (I *thought* Canada was further ahead, but my converter claims to be current ...). The Aussie dollar is worth more than the US by about 10%, and the Sing dollar is worth about 30% more than US. But the Hong Kong dollar exchanges at about the same rate as RMB (about 7:1)! So, if you are heading to Hong Kong, and you see room rates at $1200HK, don't panic, think RMB.

And then, because we're hanging out on this side of the world, we travel to other places. Thailand, for example. The Baht. There are 30-odd baht to the dollar. Quick! How many RMB is that! Sorry, I couldn't resist. But 30-odd is really hard to convert quickly in your head. I'd be staring at a Thai dress for Hope that was 200 Baht and what with the sand and the sun slowing my poor brain down, finally wander off in search of a calculator (the dress cost around six US dollars and I finally bought one).

Thai Baht. Also very bright and fun money. The fellow featured on this currency is the King.

And Jeff's in Vietnam all week: 1 US dollar is worth 15,730 Dong. And you wonder why I didn't go with him.

The Dong: please don't ask, I have no idea.