Traveling in China

I haven't been able to blog for over a month....We have been on the go. This is a long one, so buckle down and enjoy:)


Hong Kong: "Where's Mia?"


Hong Kong: If only I could find where they sold some H2O.



Hong Kong Disneyland: It only took getting onto the Grand Marshal carriage in our Mickey Mouse hats to give the surprise away to the kids that we were actually going to lead the parade.





Benxi: Proof that we beat the raft of Chinese men. They were great sports though!

Benxi: I don't think Eli will have a problem of ...oh slipping out of his life SAVING jacket, if he falls out of the raft going over the little rapids.

Benxi: Everyone asks to see a squatty potty...here is a pretty decent stall. You don't flush the tp here, you throw it in the garbage, or on the floor, whatever...it's all pretty go with the flow, willy nilly here with things like that...no rules.

Benxi: I always knew elephants hid out in caves hugging each other...I just never had the evidence, until now. (I don't think they are in any danger of the tiger lurking behind them)

Benxi: Our fish being cooked behind our table at the restaurant by the Benxi Water Caves. My mom was wondering about health codes or cooking standards....that is just too much paper work and red tape...do what you want.

(notice the rusty tank behind him....I'm pretty sure that is okay, because I also see an up to date fire extinquisher under the table)

Benxi: Here the cook is slamming the fish on the ground, while Mia watches in horror. I think she thought he was going to put the fish back into the little pool...unfortunately the fish's life took a turn in another direction.

Benxi: The kids having a fun time fishing:) (before the little...killing of the fish incident)

Hong Kong

What a great trip that was. The first night we were able to stay down a dark alley in a condo with metal bars on the windows and a sliding metal door. After we hiked up 7 floors with our luggage and found a very small condo with the bathroom in the kitchen and very small rooms, we kind of decided it wasn't quite where we wanted to spend the next 5 nights. You could say it really wasn't a "family friendly" place. I guess with Craigslist you win some and you lose some. We chalked that one up as a loss.

So the next day we were off to a hotel. So we had a long walk to the MTR (train/subway) station, 5 million people bussling about and all we can hear is the clacking of feat. Three kids, luggage and grandma in tow, we make our way to the hotel. AFter a bad start to our experience in Hong Kong, it did in fact get better. You can really only go up after being in the first place.

The next day was Disney Land, where we were able to be Grand Marshals in the Disney parade. Our kids didn't know until it was actually happening. Even Mia thought it was pretty cool. She is kind of above "characters" now that she is in 3rd grade, but being part of the parade ranked on the coolness factor. You could kind of view it more as "Hey everyone, look at the Americans we found." That is okay though, we enjoyed it and everyone got Mickey Mouse ear hats with our names embroidered on the back, even grandma.

We also got some Hong Kong shopping in. Just a few ....million people...in one place. I just wish they had signs advertising what they sold.

On the WAY to Benxi

We took a Saturday day trip to the Benxi water caves. Matt couldn't join us, so after dropping him off at work at 730am, we hit the road for Benxi. A little confusion on how long it would take. I heard anywhere from 2.5 -5 hours. Maps are a little difficult to come across here, but after a long time googling and surfing the web I did come up with a main road express way route. Our driver hadn't been there before, so was a little unsure of exact directions. Since they don't really do maps or mapquest here, their way of handling it is pulling over and asking for directions, as many times as needed. This adds time the trip...so I'm guessing it is going to be more along 4-5 hours. Around 1 pm we are very close the caves, but still haven't eaten lunch. Not many fast food restaurants in rural China, so as we are driving through a little village part of outer Benxi we decide we should eat lunch before actually going to the caves. I tell my driver and he pulls over. Their way of advertising is having people stand outside and wave for you to come to their restaurant. We pull up and as soon as they see me, a foreigner in the front seat, they call for others to come out. Many people come out to greet us and I know as soon as I open the back door to 3 kids, they are going to go wild. Sure enough, they see Eden and one of the ladies grabs her and starts carrying her into the restaurant. Eli and Mia are not wanting to exit the van. After we coax them out we end up going around back of the restaurant to eat outside. To our delight there is a little pool with fish in it... and the kids can fish. Perfect distraction from a 5 hour car ride. There is a nice seating area and they set a table up for us.

The kids are having a blast fishing and catching fish. They are proudly displaying one of their fish when a man comes and takes it...and slams it on the ground to kill it. It still is flopping a tiny bit, so he slams it on the ground again. Mia and Eden kind of went from smiles to a little bit of a shocked look. Next thing, they bring it behind our table and grill it. A whole New meaning to "fresh fish".

Benxi Water Caves

We finally make it to the caves at 2pm. After getting tickets we head to the caves. Inside is cold and damp. Thankfully they supply warm long jackets to wear. As we near the jacket bin, we smell that, well... sweaty body odor smell. We reach the jacket bin and I can only think of sweaty, smelly locker rooms. It kind of seemed like that smell penetrated my skin and clung to me, even long after the coat was off. The caves were very amazing and well worth the 5 hour drive. It is so neat to see this natural phenomenon. I have even begun to appreciate the effort put into making it even more appealing and am getting used to the cute little animal statues that they like so much here. Two cute little elephants hugging each other, lions and tigers, a woolly mammoth...all living together harmoniously inside of a water cave. It is funny, because they put these statues there, and of course we have to get pictures in front of them. The natural cave itself is worth it, but the animal statues found inside are the stamp of China.

We also got to go rafting as part of the entrance ticket. We head to the river rafting area. We all put on our well fitted life jackets. I think, boy I really hope Eden doesn't fall out of the boat...that would really be a predicament. There is a man with an oar helping us get into the raft. I am thinking, it is a good thing this man is going to raft us down the river, because we wouldn't get far if me, my 3 kids, grandma and driver had to do it. Well, evidently, he was just helping us get into the raft and that is exactly what was going to happen, me, my 3 kids, grandma, and Mr. Xia, our driver, have to raft ourselves. At the same time another group of Chinese men are in another raft, and it is kind of turning into an unsaid "race". Who can get to the end first, this group of foreigners with little kids and a grandma, or all men. We didn't exactly raft in a straight line, and after running into their raft (and trying to grab onto the rope so they could pull us) we were laughing so hard my poor driver was doing all the work. It looked like they might be waiting for us at the end. It turns out they didn't really know how to raft and row either, and we passed them...and won!:) They were all good sports...although I almost told them they were too slow in Chinese, but didn't want to accidently say anything else.

Way home from Benxi

So after all of that, we decide we are going to head home and not stay the night. My driver is one of the best drivers out there and one of the hardest working and most honest people I have ever met. He tells me it won't be as long because now he knows the way. Unfortunately, there are no maps easily available (not sure if I mentioned that yet), and their signs are not always clear, even to the Chinese. So we end up on the wrong express way, and go the 6 hour route home (the way there was the 2.5-5 hour route....) I've always liked sitting extra hours in a van with three tired kids and no where to stop to grab a bite to eat, in the pitch dark on roads with no signs indicating that you indeed are heading the right direction, Especially when the express way ends because of construction and you get to take little side roads through small villages on roads with no names. We did make it back. Matt waited up for us and had dinner waiting. So around 11pm we finally had dinner. My mom and I walk in and all we could do is...well...laugh.

Such is traveling in China.

o