Family Dinner

The VP of our partner bank invited BF, RW, WL, and me to dinner with his family. He and his family are from Henan province and moved to Beijing in 2006 like we did. He hosted us at the Henan provincial headquarter restaurant (Yu Fu Shen Chu in the Shang Du Hotel) in Beijing. The food and company was fantastic. We even had some local Henan musical entertainment (pictured above with entertainers) which was a very nice surprise.

Special Packages Arrive on Same Day

AF and her friend from university arrived at Beijing International Airport on Monday at the old Terminal 2 on KLM. They arrived the same day as the Olympic Torch which traveled from Greece to Beijing. The picture above is the plane that was specially outfitted to carry the torch and dignitaries. A ceremony is scheduled for Monday at Tiananmen Square. BF noticed the highway from the airport into the city was closed for the torch delivery as she went in the opposite direction to pick up our special package.

AF could not wait to have two of her favorite meals in Beijing..........a club sandwich at the apartment bistro and dumplings/mango ice at Ding Tai Fung. We are really looking forward to visiting with them for the next 11 days.

Birthday in China

BF surprised me with my last birthday dinner in PRC with some great friends at our favorite restaurant. The two couples are long-term expats in Beijing from the US and have been such a great help and friends to us here.

After dinner we walked to a night club which was a very pleasant surprise. It turned out to be a Jazz club with a very nice band from Detroit. We even ran into a waiter that we knew from our Friday night Beligian restaurant. He has left that restaurnat to work at the this new dinner and Jazz club.

Harbin 2008 Ice-Lantern Snow Festival

BF and TF went to Harbin China on January 25th with a work collegue and his wife for a weekend trip to visit the world famous ice and snow sculptures. We traveled from Beijing to Harbin in around two hours by plane.

Harbin is another one of those populous Chinese cities I had never heard of before living in China. The population is anywhere from 5MM to 10MM people depending on the definition. Harbin is the capital of the Heilongjiang province near the Russian border in northeast China. The city has some Russian influences which make it quite unique.

We stayed at the Milky Way Hotel (not the hotel we were hoping for but again we had logistic issues). It was a decent 4 star Chinese hotel. The suite was very nice and included an automatic shuffling mahjong table. I had never heard of such a thing. If you are interested check this video out: mahjong.

First on our itinerary was the 2oth annual Harbin Snow Sculpture Expo on Sun Island Park. The theme of the expo was France and China. The entrance began with a replica of the Arc de Triomphe. There were many huge snow sculptures along this theme. There was also a competition between international college students. There was a nice ice ice house complete with bed. There were all sorts of recreational activities at this exhibit including dog sled rides, tubing, ice sleds, 4-wheelers, etc. BF and CC took a snow tube ride on the steps of a replica of the Forbidden City. BF and TF took a ride inside a large ball down a snow chute.

We then went to the Polar Land (which was inside, nice relief from the cold) to see polar bears, whales, penguins, artic fox, etc.

Next we visited St. Sophia Church built in 1907. It is the largest eastern orthodox church in the far east. It no longer has services and is now a museum. St Sophia

Then it was off to the Siberian Tiger Park to see hundreds of tigers. On the way to the park we saw hundreds of army soldiers clearning the road of snow and ice. Once at the park you pay to ride a bus through the gated preserve. You can also buy chickens, goats, and/or a cow to feed to the tigers. We met up with a group who bought 3 chickens. On the bus we watched as a 4x4 came up to us, the driver opened the window slightly and through a live chicken up on the roof of the truck. The next thing you knew there was a tiger leaping on top of the truck to snatch the chicken.Then it was off to see the 9th Annual Harbin Ice and Snow World Festival. The theme was olympics. It was really too incredible to describe all of these extremely large ice models of different building and monuments from Olympic cities (Beijing, Athens, London to name a few). The lights turned on around 4:30pm and we stayed for about 2 hours. It was quite an experience.The third ice sculpture exhibit we visited was a classic one that dates back to 1968. It is called the Ice Lantern Festival and is held in Zhaolin Park in the city. It was the 34th (the math does not work because it was terminated during the Cultural Revolution and then restarted). This exhibit had ice buildings as well as classic ice sculptures. Countries competed at this exhibit as well.

On Sunday we took a quick tour of the city on a van, went to the Harbin Winter Swim Club for a bizarre swim show in the icy water. We visited the Russian section of town for shopping. Harbin is known for furs, ginseng tea, dried mushrooms for soup, Russian cholocate, etc. Oh and we went into an ice bar for some vodka in an ice shot glass.

I never mentioned all the great meals we had like dumplings and Russian cuisine.

We were delayed returning back to Beijing for a couple hours and got home after midnight. After watching all the winter storms in the south of China it is amazing that we were only delayed 2 hours given the choas in all the closed airports. Getting equipment around the country is a big challenge right now.

Laba Festival

Today is laba festival (8th day of the 12th month of the lunar calendar). My colleague from work brought this to my attention and gave me an education. This day in the lunar calendar is considered the coldest, which is why they eat special congee to warm the body. I think they are right, it was very cold yesterday in the teens and has been like this since my return to Beijing.

On this day it is a custom to make congee (porridge) out of 8 ingredients (there is that number 8 'ba', again) and eat with the family. The laba contains glutinous rice, red beans, millet, sorghum, peas, dried lotus seeds, and maybe some other ingredients like dried dates or nuts. Another word used for the congee is babao (eight treasures). This is a Buddhist tradition and they were serving free congee at the Yonghegong Lama Temple in Beijing.

Here is more information on the festival if interested: laba festival

Wedding Anniversary

This year was our 26th wedding anniversary with no big celebration. We went to Morel's Belgium Restaurant in Beijing. We are looking forward to celebrating our anniversary next year in our usual tradition of Thanksgiving in Corning, NY and dinner at Pierce's 1894. Maybe we will visit Pierce's at Christmas time in 3-4 weeks.

http://www.pierces1894restaurant.com/

Visit from Kennett Square

Good friends from back home in the US visited with us in Beijing, November 15th to 26th. The visit included shopping (of course); good meals; good historical sites; and of course good companionship. BF showed them our Beijing favorites during the weekday.

It was nice to share with our friends what life is like here in Beijing. Below is a sampling of the things that were experienced.

The guys also went to Xi'an for a Saturday trip to the Terracotta Warriors (like going to Chicago for the day).

Gan en jie

Happy Thanksgiving. It was a work day in Beijing but a few of us celebrated Thanksgiving lunch by having chicken wings at the Beijing Hooters.

BF and our US friends who are visiting......... we had take-away pizza and a quiet night for Thanksgiving dinner.

Can't wait to celebrate Thanksgiving with tradition back in the US next year.

Embassy House 5 Year Anniversary

On Saturday the tenants of Embassy House Apartments in Beijing were treated to a 5 year anniversary celebration. It was a very nice social affair outside on the lawn of the property with bands, dancing, entertainment from the Tahiti Islands, a whiskey draw which is my favorite (I selected a lucky number that equated to a shot of a 1968 vintage drink...very smooth), various vodka bottles encased in an ice sculpture, warm Saki and of course wonderful food and friends.