Little Pear

One of the books that we read this past year was Little Pear. We enjoyed the book so much we read the sequel, Little Pear and his Friends. One thing that J did remember from reading the books was Little Pear's favorite treat - tangular. He has been looking for some so he could try one.

Where we used to live, during strawberry season they would make these with strawberries and I love those. No strawberries here so I passed and got my Starbuck's coffee. It had been a long time since I had a Starbucks coffee so I enjoyed that.

Tour - Day 1

Our first day of the tour started at 7:00 am. We got on a nice new tour bus and loaded all our luggage underneath. Our first stop was a hotel parking lot where we had to switch buses and take the luggage out. The new bus was not licensed to drive. We got on another bus and headed out. We got to the bus terminal and had to switch to a van that would take us to the bus and the tour group so that meant moving the luggage again. That was vehicle 4 that our luggage was on that day.

Our first stop was Couple's Retreat. I am sure there is more history to the location. We had our kids so I can't really say it was a couple's retreat. We left that area in a boat. The lady sang as she rowed.

The next event was a boat ride up the river to a silk factory. It seems that every tour needs to take to you a place where you can buy something. The silk factory was interesting we saw the cocoons, silk worms and the process of making silk. We had read about that and so seeing it really made it real. We didn't buy anything.

Lunch, a temple and the last stop of a pagoda. It was 2 stories high. Miss K and I went up one story but Daddy and J went all the way to the top.

Our day in Suzhou ended and we boarded a bus to the next city. We had to take the bus because we had too much luggage. We arrived in the next city and had to walk from the bus terminal to the hotel across major travel intersections.

I really don't think our luggage survived that day. Anyone have recommendations for luggage that will survive?

"I did it"

I will come back and fill in the things we did the other days but I thought I would post pictures of morning at the Great Wall.

Three years ago we were here and our day was perfect. We knew we would not be able to repeat that and we didn't. It was a bit gray and hazy. We went to Mutianyu.

We rode the cable cars up to the wall. Last time we did the enclosed nice first class cable car. This time we did the ski lift which is open. I love heights when I am enclosed but open forget it. I had Miss K and so it took all I could to stay calm and hold on tight to her and to the bar in front. I was glad to get to the top.



We had fun walking around.



It was fun to watch J enjoy the Great Wall. I am glad that we had spent some time studying this before our trip.

We took the toboggans down. I like that better because you are on the ground and I got to control the speed.

I wasn't sure what Miss K would think of this. As we went down I kept talking to her. She did want "K's turn" to hold the brake. We got to the bottom and I am told that the look on her face showed she loved it and her words were excited as she said "I did it."

Catching up a bit

I am going to try to catch up a bit on what has happened the past few days. We were in 5 cities in 6 days. Now we are settled for a bit and that feels good.

So we took a train from one city to another. It was the kids and I as S had some work to do. I was traveling with friends but they missed the train so it was just the kids and I. We made it to our hotel. Sunday night S came on the train and we spent Monday walking around West Lake. It was overcast but that seems to be the weather in every city and every day.

We have come to enjoy the local breakfast -- cheap and good. On Monday morning we headed out looking for some place for breakfast. Finally we asked somebody where you could get breakfast and she basically told us that the best place was KFC. The kids and I had eaten there the day before and we did not want to go back. We did not agree that it was the best place. Finally, we saw someone eating somethings they had bought from a breakfast place and asked them where we could buy it.



I thought it was interesting what this stand was selling at the lake.

Snacks -- water, gum, popcorn and pearls. Yes, you can buy some water and add a strand of pearls.

Roadside Repair

The other day I noticed that my sweater which I bought a few years ago at the market was coming apart at the sleeve. I guess that is why it was rejected by Gap's quality control. I was wondering how I would make it the next few weeks. I had forgotten to pack a sewing kit. That was solved today as we were walking to breakfast. We dropped it off on the way to breakfast and picked it up when we were done. The roadside sewing repair lady was able to do it for less than 50 cents. It is better than new.

Please, pass the chips.

Oh, I think I will pass on the chips. With flavors like blueberry, cucumber, kiwi, Italian meat sauce and Mexican tomato, I will pass.

Ancient River Town

I think we read a page or two about ancient river towns when we were studying but neither of us remember very much. I think that is some of what happens when you travel you learn things along the way and then go home and study a bit more what you have seen.

Yesterday we had some time and needed to do something that would keep us awake. We decided to head out of the city to Zhujiajiao an ancient river town which is not a bit of a tourist area but was still fun.

We took a boat ride which we thought was a reasonable price. 60Y for a short ride. We opted for the short ride as we were not sure what Miss K would think of a boat ride. When we went to the Nina and Santa Maria she did not want to go on the boats which were just docked. We are surprised she did not fuss.

It was a fun afternoon.

I have alot more pictures. So you will just have to come visit and I can show you pictures from our field trip aka vacation.