Archive for December, 2015

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Eating Xianese if You Please

December 24, 2015

Posted by Kanga. Please do not reblog.

four story Chinese tower

Bell Tower, Xian China

We traveled by overnight train from Shanghai to Xian. I recommend this form of travel. A private sleeper with a private toilet cost less than the cheapest airfare. Worth it. Not the easiest sleep, but overall it is low stress.

We checked into our hotel. Hunted up some soup and dumplings. Then took a long nap.

two bowls of soup

Won ton soup – noodles, cilantro, seaweed, and tiny tiny shrimp

In the evening, we went on a food tour provided by Lost Plate Tours, which we highly recommend. There were two other couples with us on the evening tour and it was a lot of fun. We squeezed into two tuktuks and bounced all over town to eat some really fantastic foods off the tourist track. We ate like locals.

steaming basket of dumplings

After a good night’s sleep, we got up and did it again, going on the morning food tour. This time it was just DaddyBird and I with the guide. More fantastically delicious food.

round flaky pastry

We spent the afternoon walking back to the hotel. We happened upon a Daoist temple on the way.

Daoist temple

To see all the pictures:

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Posted in China, food, travel adventures, vacation | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments »

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Catching Up – Lazy Blogger

December 19, 2015

Posted by Kanga. Please do not reblog.

I have been terribly lazy about posting our adventures. So, I will try to catch you up on the last 2 1/2 months.

ballroom set with formal dining tables

We went to a fancy dinner held during the World Congress on Art Deco at the Fairmont Peace Hotel. Everything was lovely. The food was based on a menu from the 1920’s. Everyone was dressed up.

blue Nanjing metro token

We took a quick weekend trip to Nanjing.

two cats, one white, one tabby & white

Where we met Oliver’s and Bert’s doppelgängers.

statue of Sun Yat Sen

Sun Yat Sen

We spent the day trying to see as much as we could of the Presidential Palace grounds. It is amazing as it contains structures from hundreds of years exemplifying the different styles from the Ming Dynasty to the Republic.

small lake surrounded by Ming dynasty buildings

Ming Dynasty

yellow building with a colonade

Republic – Provisional Presidential Office

This brings us to December. We went on an Historic Shanghai tour of religious buildings, including Daoist temple, Buddhist temple, Islamic mosque, Jewish synagogue, Catholic cathedral, Anglican church, and Protestant church. You may be surprised that these buildings still exist after the Cultural Revolution. Worship was disallowed during that time, but the buildings were kept and repurposed (as storage facilities or factories). Now, the five major religions are allowed to worship (although proselytizing is not allowed). So, the churches have been refurbished and are currently in use.

front of a Jesuit Catholic church

Cathedral of Tungkadoo

inside of the Grace Church

Grace Church

At Grace Church the choir was practicing. They were singing the Hallelujah Chorus in Chinese. No matter what the language, this song brings tears to my eyes.

8 large Christmas trees in the hotel lobby

The tour ended with walking down the Bund to see the Christmas decorations. The Astoria Waldorf had 8 huge trees in their lobby. (Real evergreens, not artificial.)

So, this brings you up to date. We are about to embark on a nine day trip to Xian, the home of the Terracotta Army and the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

To see all the pictures from Nanjing – click here.

To see all the pictures from the tour of religious buildings – click here. The pictures are a bit out of order because I was using multiple cameras.

 

Posted in China, historical site, Nanjing, Shanghai | 1 Comment »