It's been about 3 days since we returned from our latest adventure - a 3 week trip to China and Taiwan! As always, I'll be spending the next several posts putting together the travelogue!
We took off early morning on a Tuesday, heading first to San Francisco.
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| Flying over a canyon |
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| Fifi and the Pilot! |
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| A320 flight deck family photo |
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| Grabbing some grub at the airport |
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| Looking at the planes! |
Twenty some hours after leaving home, we arrived in Shanghai, where Cherry's brother picked us up to take us back to Cherry's parents' house in Mashan near Wuxi.
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| Wai Gong (Maternal Grandpa) |
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| Wai Po (Maternal Grandma) |
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| Practicing Kung Fu together |
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| Watching Grandma clean fish near the village well |
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| Riding Wild |
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| Cousin Wenping |
Predictably, for the first few days, we were pretty jet-lagged. Fifi would sleep from about 9PM until 1AM, then once more from about 3AM until 5AM. We took the opportunity to take some early morning walks before the weather got too ridiculously hot and humid:
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| You can faintly see the Lingshan Big Buddha from this path near Cherry's parents' house |
At around noon, however, we were completely conked out and often slept all the way until dinnertime:
As usual, the neighbors were anxious to see the family from America!
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| The neighbors have a daughter who is about the same age as Fifi |
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| She didn't like Fifi touching her :P |
Interestingly, the neighbors are pregnant with a second child. Today, China's one-child policy is considered common knowledge, but China's government has recognized the strains this could have on the one-child generation when they have to start caring for their numerous elders. As a result, families where both the mother and father are single children are permitted to have a second child.
On Friday, my dad, who was working in Shanghai, came by to visit:
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| Taihu, or Lake Tai |
After my dad left, I unfortunately came down with a cold of some sort, so I was pretty out of commission for the rest of the week. However, we did get a chance to visit one of Cherry's dad's good friends who was once his understudy many years past. Since then, he's done quite well for himself, taking up a leadership position at the water works facility in Mashan. He also explained to us how, in a suburban/rural area like Mashan, many residents are able to make substantial secondary incomes by growing and selling fruit, such as their trademark
yang mei (sun berries) and
shui mi tao (super juicy peaches). Citing his own example, he told us that, on a good season, he's able to more than double his income by cultivating his crop! Of course, it takes a lot of work, and can even be quite dangerous - Cherry's grand aunt actually recently passed away last year falling from one of her trees preparing for this year's season...
Up next, we head to Taiwan!
