Last Day in China

Today is the last day in China. Yesterday was lots of traveling. We began the day with a cruise around a lake followed by a visit to where tea is made. After tasting some delicious tea, we toured several temples where people pray. We finished the day with a night cruise of the skyline.

(Fountain at the tea shop; right statue at the temples)

Today was a light day. We began touring the walkway near the river. We then took the bus to where they Chinese make silk carpets. After the carpet factory, we toured the downtown market place followed by dinner. Overall, the trip was exciting and gave us a new experience coupled with some much needed vacation time. Mommy and I look forward in seeing you tomorrow!

(worker making one of the hand made silk rugs; right three goats at the entrance of the rug shop)

Until then, God Bless,

Ottster!

China - Day 6

Hey All: Today we toured the city of Suzhou in the morning. You can see in the bottom two pictures a place called the Lingering Gardens, This is a beautiful garden that has some beautiful flowers and trees. But the coolest thing is all the fish (orange specks) in the second picture. These are Coy Fish and they look like big gold fish. There is also a lady in the picture that is playing traditional Chinese music. It was very nice and calming. We then got to see some beautiful silk dresses being made, visited a middle school, and finally toured an embroidery shop where ladies sew pictures into pieces of cloth. They had a really pretty Hudson picture.

We then traveled 2 1/2 hours by bus to the city of Hangzhou. This is a large city of about 3 1/2 million people. We had dinner and outside our hotel we saw this cute Golden Retriever. She was very sweet.

We miss you Regan & Jordan. Remember be nice to Grandma and Papa silly. We will be home in a few days and we have some neat stuff for you!!!

Love you
Mommy (Daddy is asleep)

China - Day 5

Today we flew to Shanghai and then boarded a bus to travel to Tiger Hill Pagoda in Suzhou. The Tiger Hill Pagoda is used for Buddha monks to pray. (The picture with mommy in front shows the Pagoda in the background). Throughout this garden area, several statues of dragons are carved. It is a very beautiful place.

After a tour of the garden, we toured the city by bus and finished the day having dinner at a place that serves fish, pork, beef, rice and several other yummy treats! One of the pictures shows a couple of fish that are swimming around in their tanks at the restaurant.

I hope you are having fun with Grandma Trish and Papa Silly.

God Bless,

Ottster!

China - Day 3

Today was a very packed day. We started with a tour to Tiananmen Square. This is one of the largest open government areas in the world. Thousands of people come here to read about their government. Next we went to the Forbidden City, which is where the Emperor of China use to live. This City is very big and has gold and handcraft carvings throughout the Palace.

We then went for a ride on bicycles or rickshaws where we had a real Chinese prepared lunch with a family. They prepared several dishes that included: beef, potatoes, broccoli, rice and watermelon. It was very good.

After lunch we traveled to a jewelry shop where we saw how pearls are made. Did you know that pearls come from oysters?

We then walked to the Heavenly Temple where the Emperor of China used to pray for a good harvest. This temple is very tall and has beautiful decorations throughout the temple.

We finished the day with dinner at a famous duck restaurant. We ate duck four different ways. We even had duck in tortillas. The food was very good!

Tomorrow we leave travel to a different city called Shanghais. This city is where a lot of trading occurs. We will take a plane tomorrow at lunch and stay the night. This is the halfway point of our trip. We leave for the U.S. in four days. Keep being good and we will talk to you soon.

1) Fist picture is of the guard dog at lunch. 2) Second Picture is of a golden pearl. It is very expensive. 3) This is the duck that stands outside of where we had dinner.

God Bless,

Ottster

China - Day 2

Day Two was a blast! We started the day with a big breakfast and then took a bus to the Emperor's Summer Palace. This is a 700-acre property that includes a man-made lake. Following the Summer Palace, we went to a jade factory. Jade is a very beautiful and precious stone. It is the second hardest mineral just behind a diamond. We were able to see how they hand carve these beautiful gems.

After the Jade factory, Mom and I got our exercise by climbing the Great Wall of China. The great wall was built over 2,000 years ago and stretches to nearly 4,000 miles. It is so large; you can see the structure from space.

Following the Great Wall, we had lunch and learned how China makes the beautiful copper vases. These are also, hand crafted and painted. These beautiful pieces take lots of time and patience. Next we traveled to the Dragon Valley, where we took a boat ride through the gorges. The sight was incredible!

After a long day of walking, we finished by eating a Chinese buffet and watched several Chinese acrobats perform tricks on stage. They spun plates on sticks, roller-skated, jumped through hoops and performed lots of jumps and spins!

Hope everything is going well. Be good to grandma and papa.

God Bless,

Ottster

Pic 1 - Flowers at the Palace; Pic 2 - Mom at the Great Wall; Pic 3 - The Dragon at Dragon Valley; Pic 4 - Chinese dancers

Ending DAY 1

Greetings Everyone! We have arrived in China! The three pics are 1) Me Blogging, 2) The arrows painted on the ground telling us where to go and the 3) Our airplane (or home for 12 hours).

Overall the flight went well. Lots of time to catch-up on reading and sleeping. The later being my favorite. We are currently in Shanghai and are waiting to board our next airplane that will take us to Beijing.

We should be in our hotel by 11:00 pm our time (8:00 am your time - Friday morning). Once we get some sleep, our first stop will be at the Great Wall of China! Until then!

God Bless,

Ottster

China - Day 1

Well, Day one has begun. Mom and I have made it to LAX (Los Angeles) and we are getting ready to board the airplane. It is going to take us 14 hours to travel from California to China. Once we arrive, we have another two hour flight into China's capitol city.

This is a picture of the Airline check in. We are flying on China Eastern. We met a very nice person named Angela that has assisted us in getting the group through the check-in process.

Next Stop...China!

Until then, God Bless,

Ottster