Things are going very well with Anna! We spent our first 5 days in Beijing. While there we visited the Lama Temple, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and some park that I can't remember the name of at the moment! I was pretty tired while in Beijing from jet lag, the excitment of finally being with Anna, my recent surgery, and all the walking we have done doing the touristy things. I really love it here. The people are very friendly and very curious about me. I seem to even stand out amoungst other foreigners... Anna thinks it is because of my size, bald head, my hat, and the earrings! Hehehe... We spent two nights in the Beijing Downtown Holiday Inn and then Anna went out and found us a nice hotel for half the price so we switched hotels for the next three nights. We also went one evening to a famous place that serves Peiking Roasted Duck. It was interesting but I find that duck is not my favorite dish... the meat is a bit oily. I was glad we tried it however. And I really enjoyed the corn and pine nuts in sauce that we ordered as a side dish. It is quite cold here... about 14 above zero. I am loving the huge variety of dishes here... thus far my favorites are all the different dumplings, beef over rice, little buns, Bean Curd Soup, and Beijing noodles. One highlight thus far... we took a ride from the Forbidden City inside a little enclosed motorized cart. The driver was very friendly and it was fun to move through the city this way. I thought that we were going to be crushed between larger vehicles a couple of times but the driver always knew just where to go, wether it was on the sidewalk or in the street! Hehehe... I have some pictures to share if I can figure out how to either upload them directly to the forum or find a hosting site I can use here in China. The add attachment function here does not seem to work. I found I did not have enough time or energy to write much or try to do my blog from Beijing. Anna and I left Beijing and travelled to her hometown of Hefei. We took the D train and had sleeper bunks. The train took about 11 hours to get to her town. I am really amazed how efficient the trains and subway systems are here... they really move alot of people!
Anna has a large flat in Hefei at the university. Most buildings here have no elevators if they are 6 stories or less. Anna lives on the sixth floor. It is quite amazing... people only heat the bedroom and leave the windows open in the main rooms even in winter! Everyone wears full clothing and coats while in their homes. Perishables like vegetables and sausages hang from the windows outdoors. Water for washing is heated by the sun from tanks on the roof so baths must be taken in the winter using a wash tub or basin and water heated on the stove. Today Anna and I took a train and went to have my first visit with her family. Her parents live about 40 minutes from Hefei in a small university city named Looann. This spelling is not correct but that is how the name sounds. Anna has had to leave for the night to go back to her parents (also no kissing while with the parents) so I can't ask for the proper spelling of the city. The parents went all out and cooked quite a spread for our dinner. They served grilled shrimp, sweet and sour pork in a black sauce, sausage, chicken with carrots and radish, fried egg and tomato, duck, and a sea food soup. All this is served in dishes and each person has a bowl of sticky rice. Everything is tossed on top of the rice and the flavor of the dishes soaks into the rice... very delicious! Edward gave me a pair of chopsticks and I practiced using them before leaving for China... everyone was impressed with my skill using the chopsticks! Thank you Edward! Also Edward gave me some good advice about bringing my slippers... I didn't forget Edward! Slippers are placed on the feet as soon as you are indoors. Your feet never touch the floor! Whenever I forget and start to put my feet on the floor Anna makes a noise and points to my slippers... hehehe it is very cute! My gifts to Anna's family seem to have gone over very well. I gave her father a nice bottle of white port and a mint US dollar coin. (Thanks for that advice Edward). Her little neice got a stuffed Panda. Her neice is just cute as a button! Anna's sister received a nice box of sweets and her mother a nice bottle of olive oil. The parents seemed to like me and we tooks pictures of the dinner and the family. They invited me to go meet her Aunt but she had already gone to bed so we will go visit her aunt in the morning. When we got to Hefei Anna wanted to wash all my clothing. She didn't realize that she should not wash my good leather coat and placed it in the washing machine. We had to take it to the dry cleaners and it took them almost 48 hours to get it dry so I couldnt go outside during that time so we spent most of it in bed! Snuggling in bed with Anna, with it cold outside, may be one of my favorite things in the world at the moment! Hehehe. Anna felt bad about my coat but I told her not to worry it is just a coat. She is so caring and attentive to me it is incredible. I am amazed at how well we get along... it already feels like we have been married for a long while. I feel very blessed to have met Anna and am so happy I could burst! The internet service is not so good from Anna's home but we will try and make it work. I am not sure how often I will be able to post but I am taking many photographs so I might have to post them when I return... I will still try to post some at the forum if I can. Talk to you all again in a few days!
Big Dave
