Sunday, August 27, 2006

Yesterday and today

Yesterday, we went to the Six Bayan trees Temple and then to a procelain and Jade store. The temple was pretty cool with some really neat Buddas in it. For fun, we got blessed by a buddist monk. Lots of incense and very interesting to see people praying and offering up ritz cracker, peanuts and hard candies as gifts.

The porcelain and Jade store were uneventful and were basically just stores, but we did see some of the beautiful paper thin porcelain that they made -- amazing.

For dinner we at in a train box car restaurant. Just had fried rice with bacon and scallops -- pretty good. It was Amy's last night with us. I think Alice definitely recognizes that her jungle gym has left the building!!!!

So today, we went to the Yuntai Garden -- no historical significance, but a magnificant garden built on a hillside with beautiful tree sculptures as different objects and animals. We spent about an hour there and it was really nice.

Then we went to an outdoor mall area apparently typical of china. It was very crowded and full of the tiny shops again. They had what they call department stores and then just rows of the little kiosk type/size stores, but set in the wall -- not out in the aisles. I didn't really shop, just looked around.

I took Alice to eat at her first Mc Donald's -- I'm sure her brothers will be happy to know that she like chicken nuggets.

After Mc D's, we were headed back to the bus and I stopped to take a picture and my wallet got stolen out of my back pack. Fortunately, I had relatively very little in it, but it was just a little unnerving. I'm back on track now with that little bump behind me and very glad that it was only my wallet I lost and not this wonderful little girl named Alice!!!

Later this afternoon after that adventure, 6 of us went down for a foot massage. This was a 70 minute massage that started as a 15 minute upper back and neck massage while your feet soaked in some Chinese medicinal water to help you relax. Then they massaged your feet for the remainder of the time. They served some sort of sweet tea and pears. We were all sitting in a room together in comfy recliner chairs. All of this cost us $6 each with a $1 tip. Definitely, made my day better--and I'm sure we will head back there again. We are going to also try the 2 hour massage for $22 sometime soon!

P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures -- the blog isn't uploading my pics right now -- trying to figure out why!! Hopefully, more soon!!! :=)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We are so happy for the whole Spindler family!! Baby Alice is beautiful and we love her sweet smile!We've enjoyed reading your updates, Cheryl. You are doing a great job keeping us informed. What a fun and exciting time! We are so proud of you!
We love you,
Rick,Kelly,Shannon,&Jacqueline

Chengdus & Don'ts said...

That is a bummer about your wallet! I actually had mine stolen in Shanghai when I was trying to get Gemma and Angus into a cab. I couldn't believe they would take advantage of a mother with her kids!