We contacted a tour company and arranged to have a tour guide and driver take us to Chen Lu, an ancient pottery village which is not a common tourist destination. We were told our tour guide had knowledge of ancient ceramics, the village, history, everything we wanted to know. The village was on top of a mountain and the road up the hill was windy ( Read more... )

It's a little difficult writing about the terra cotta warriors because the view and the concept is so overwhelming. There were three pits, but this one was the best. The third pit was an excavation site with only dirt showing, but it did have about 5 of the best complete, most interesting warriors ( Read more... )

Next stop is Xian. My son and I will see the terra cotta warriors. Wednesday night we are going by sleeper train, we will have two strangers in our sleeper with us, which is a little disconcerting for me. There is also a nearby pottery village and an ancient dragon kiln ( Read more... )

We went to the kids' favorite market yesterday. It was similar to Pike Place only with motorcycles zooming down the aisles of stalls. And durian *choke*.
The chicken is solid black, the slightly pinkish tint is the fault of my camera.

Me dressed in my Beijing finery:

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Jenny said that a Chinese National who is her colleague told her that every child in China is told "You are the most important person in the world, you are number 1, but you have to fight to get what you deserve." (This may be a result of the One Child policy). This is probably very hard to deal with when a child starts school, and they start early ( Read more... )

China is such a place of dichotomies ( Read more... )

Computer is strange, but I got another pic at least ( Read more... )

Pollution levels are dangerous today and last night it was very dangerous. *cough ( Read more... )

I am back in Beijing. I don't have all my photos posted on Facebook yet. We haven't been able to get through the government controls. I also can't get Blogspot or Tumblr, but I am able to read and post on Live Journal, go figure ( Read more... )

All my thoughts and energies now are on my trip to China. My son found us several side trips to take, so it looks like I will be going weeks earlier than originally planned. Sept. 28th is what we are talking now. I am anxiously waiting for my “letter of invitation” to China. I am really rushing trying to get some of the chores done with a total ( Read more... )