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Playing YMCA

Playing Ballade

OMG. My friends and I had sooooo much fun at the school dance 2009. It was faboulous. An 80’s nite clup theme.

Today we arrvied in Cozumel Mexico!!! At the airport we saw our neighbors, they were going to Cancun. The Cancun flight was right before ours. We had almost the whole plane to ourselves. Since there were so many people, (Grandparents, Mom, Dad, The three Cousins, Aunt and Uncle, PLUS myself) it’s really hard to find seats together. Most people were going to Cancun so there weren’t many people on our flight to Cozumel. The last 10 to 15 rows had literaly NOBODY in them and since we were all in the last rows of people, we had tons of room and areas to play and sleep!

When we got there we had to wait in a long line. After that we took a van/taxi to El Cozumeleño. The big fancy hotel we stayed at. There were FOUR big rooms with a balcony that overlooked the beach. My parents and the grandparents and my Aunt and Uncle each got there own rooms. All of the girls got a room! (AWESOME!!!) We unpacked and headed downstairs to the outside buffet for a late dinner. Then we hung out at the hammocks/beach for a few minutes and then headed upstairs to throw on our bathing suits for a quick swim. Now we’re heading up for bed hoping to get a good night’s sleep. We plan to wake up at Sunrise to go to the beach and search for shells. Bye!

 If you raed hte same resarech as me, you wuodln’t wrory eihter!!

Today we drove to see the Pandas! On our way coming in we saw many Panda stuffed animals at the street vendors.  When we walked in we had to wait a few minutes to get a tram. Then we went to go see the Pandas. There was construction around there because they are building a hotel, and they’re making the Panda park bigger.

The first Giant Panda I saw was eating lots of bamboo and was sitting at the bottom of the exhibit it was in. They live in big natural areas with wooden forts, piles of bamboo and some shading trees. He was fat, and eating like crazy. There were a bunch of people there, and we took lots of pictures.  One man looked like he was old and western, and had a really nice camera and was taking lots of pictures too.

The second and third panda’s I saw in the same exhibit and were laying down. One was rubbing it’s belly, it must have eaten a lot.

We saw another one just a little while later. He was alone. Most of the Panda’s like to be alone, after they are a year and half old. We only got a couple of pictures of him before they called him in for a meal.

We then walked over to where the youngest Panda was. There are no babies there right now. The smallest one is only about 8 or 9 months old. You can take a picture with him, but they charge a LOT of money. There was only one other group taking pictures with him. They had three kids posing with the Panda. They only do pictures for a very short time each day. The guide said early in the morning was the best time, and he was right. They stopped taking pictures with the panda right after us.

I sat on a bench and they brought the Panda over. I had to wear a doctors robe and plastic gloves. They don’t want the Panda’s to get sick. The Panda was called Lingling and he was eating apples and different types of fruit. He was also eating some bamboo. The fur was really soft but he smelled. He smelled like a dog that just had gotten wet. He touched my face with his paw. When the guy carried him in, it looked like he was carrying a very heavy teddy bear. It was surprising how did I end up holding a Panda? Almost nobody else get’s to. I felt lucky.

We saw the red panda’s after that. They are not endangered, there are lots of them. They look like a mix of a fox, panda and raccoon. They are much smaller, smaller than Sunny.

Visiting the Panda’s was one of the best things I ever did. Wow!! I think I’m a Pandaphile now.

After the Panda’s we had hotpot lunch. You sit around a big pot of hot water, some spicy, some not. This kind is called YingYang hot pot. You take your food, and cook it in the hot water. I ate “mi fan”, white rice. Then we went to a typical tea house for rest. We were the only western people there.
        
Then we went to the silk brocade factory and I got to see how they made silk designs. We bought a couple. I got a really great panda one.

This was such a busy day. We went to the hotel and rested for about an hour, and then we went to dinner. I got chicken at Dico’s which is like a Chinese KFC. We took the chicken to our dinner. It was more Si-chuan food which is really hot. Dad likes it a lot. We ate it in a typical local restaurant, and had a lot of food before our Chinese opera show.

The Sichuan Opera is lots of different shows. There is singing, acrobats, Chinese yo-yo, balancing, and the famous ‘changing faces’ act where the actors change their face masks really fast. You can’t even tell how they do it, but one guy did mess up right at the end. One man played a Chinese violin, which only has 2 strings. They did a shadow puppet show, and some fire breathing. They also did some big puppet dancing. It was all so different and fun!

      
This was one of the busiest and funnest days ever!!!

Today we left Tibet and flew to Chengdu. Then we met our tour guide David. David is his english name. I don’t know what his Chinese name is. We had a driver too. As soon as we got to the hotel we had a roomservice meal, for a late lunch because we were starving. Mom said it was the best burger she had in China. But it still can’t compare to Grandpa Dales burgers on the grill from Costco. After a rest, we explored and went down stairs to swim.

We walked down the downtown streets and ate at a 5 star fancy Pizza Hut. It is expensive for China, it costs about the same as at home. I also got some popcorn chicken at KFC and mom got a Starbucks. The downtown doesn’t look Chinese. It’s clean and looks like New York. Big bright lights and signs. Fancy stores and restaurants. Lots of people dressing nice and in shorts. Very Western Mom says.

It was already late when we went back to the hotel. We had Tea in the tearoom. We met the Assistant Manager Charles who talked with us for a very long time. He told us all about Chengdu, and guides, and drivers, and other stuff. The Tea was a fancy show. They call it Gong-po tea. I fell asleep in the Tea room and didn’t get to bed until really late. We go to the Panda house in the Morning!!!!!

Bye

We had breakfast in the Hotel again, but I wasn’t really hungry. I always feel bad in the morning here.

Today we went up to go shopping for a dining room carpet at the
Tibet carpet factory. Mom picked out a big carpet after a lot of bargaining, and I saw how they made them. They’re reallllly complicated. I saw two women making the yarn. Then we went inside. There were about 10 people making carpets, some men, some women. They were all singing and working. One person can make a skinny carpet. Two people next to each other make a medium carpet, and a big one like ours needs 3 people. They only make about 18 inches a day. They fold it up into the shape of a suit case with, string, plastic, yarn, cloth, tape, etc. Then we can carry it on the plane. If we don’t carry it, it costs $250 dollars to mail to our house.

      
Then we went to our tour guides house. I had four cups of sweet tea. They also drink Tibet tea. It has Yak butter and salt in it. Mom and Dad drank some, and Mom drank a whole cup. I saw the wife, daughter, dog, and I played a little on their electric piano. Their house is very nice for Tibet. They have 4 rooms, and lots of nice rugs and blankets. One of the rooms is just for storage. They have many pictures, but they have to hide the Dalai Lama picture because you can go to jail if you have one. The guide Dop Jor showed us some pictures of his trips, and gave me a picture of Everest base camp.

Then we out and shopped a little for hats, jewelry, jade turtles, etc. Shopping is like Beijing, lots of negotiating but mostly junk for sale!

We went to a nice resteraunt for dinner called Dunya. It is the best restaurant in Tibet!!! It is owned by Foreigners, including an American woman, and some people from Holland. I had Penne. Dad had the Yak Sizzler-a big Yak steak. Mom had Lentil soup she said was really good. She also had a baked potato she said was good but couldn’t compare to a “good ole” Idaho baked potato. Then we went upstairs for dessert, ice-cream, Apple Pie, chocolate mousse cake, and coffee. Dad smoked a little smelly Tibet cigar.

Then we went picture shopping and bought some really nice paintings. I picked out a really pretty painting of snowy, white mountains.
  
Today was long. Bye! Zai Jian.

Tashidelek! (Hello in Tibetan!) 

We ate breakfast at the hotel-Western style buffet.  Our driver and guide picked us up at 9:00 a.m. and we were off to visit and tour the Jhokang Monastery.  It is 1300 years old and is a pilgrimage center-very many pilgrims waiting for hours in line to see many interesting things, including the oldest Buddah in Tibet.  The Buddah was brought to Tibet 1300 years ago and it was already 1000 years old! (No pictures allowed!)

The Pilgrims have prayer mats and gloves on their hands and they put their hands together, bow, lay flat on the ground, rolling forward and back continuously.  They have little wheels with bells on them and prayers on the inside that they spin and they are called prayer wheels.  There were many monks in different colors, like orange and red, etc.  The colors they wear represent where they are from. 

Almost everywhere you went, they had some type of prayer candles and incense.  The candles sat in big pots with lots of YAK butter in them.  In Tibet, a very popular animal is the Yak.  They have Yak stuffed animals, Yak bone jewelry, Yak meat, Yak fur, Yak butter, Yak milk, Yak cheese and Yak statues.  We are getting a little yak’d away!  They had many very old people but not many young people. I was the only kid tourist I saw. They might like to talk to me and touch me even more in Tibet than in Beijing!

We had a quick lunch and I liked my pasta.  Dad ate a YAK burger.  Mom had grilled cheese and egg noodle vegetable thingy.  This was my best meal yet in Tibet! 

After lunch we went to the Potala Palace.  It is very near the monastery and right in downtown Lhasa.  I thought it would be far away.  It was the home of many Dalai Lamas.  It is a very loooong walk up a hill, and up many steps. I saw lots of fancy Buddahs, lots of candles, many monks, Buddhist scriptures, silk hangings, thrones and gold, silver and brass everywhere.  The main thing at the palace are the Stupas-these are the Funerary containers for all but one of the past Dalai lamas.  They are large and made of gold and gems and many people make offerings to them.  The biggest one has more than 3,000 Kilos of gold. It is for the 5th Dalai Lama, who unified Tibet. No pictures, none allowed in most of the Potala palace.

Our guide knows everybody.  He went to school with many of the monks and calls them all his brothers-he is joking.  We would let me go behind walls and railings that no one else could go to.  All the monks were very friendly to me. At one of them, I got to sit with a monk and a cat with 4 kittens.  I got to pet them.

Dinner was yucky!

We went shopping after dinner.  The street vendors are all over.  They sell from blankets on the sidewalk.  We got a lot of great treasures. They all bargain a lot like the ones in China. I did some good bargaining!!

After shopping, we took the pedicab back to our hotel. We are all feeling much better but we are really tired. That’s all from Tibet. Good Night!  Zai Jian!

Dad again. We’re in Lhasa at the Tibet hotel. The girls have been in bed awhile. The altitude hit Tricia pretty hard, and she had to crash as soon as we got in. She tried to go to dinner with us, but felt so bad she went back to the room.

We flew out on Air China. It was a nicer, more organized airline than the other two we flew. We were seated together on a large plane 2-4-2 seating configuration. The flight left on time, but had a stop in Chengdu. It was raining hard there and we were a little late getting out. It took about 2 hours for each leg of the flight. Didn’t do much but read and relax, try to nap a bit. Jensen got some more mileage out of her PSP.

Flying into Tibet was pretty neat. We didn’t have a window seat but we still peaked out the windows to see the huge mountains we passed over. Then you approach Lhasa airport down this valley with tall mountains on both sides of you, kind of neat.

We got our bags and our guide met us there. His name is “Dop Je” (sp?) and he is Tibetan. Our driver is Chinese. Dop Je’s english is pretty good and on the hour long drive from the airport to our hotel he told us a lot about the area, some history, and some ideas of how to handle the beggars and street sellers. He’s been doing this for 11 years and seem to be really good. I think we lucked out again. Jensen was worn out from the trip and the effect of the altitude, and fell asleep in the car.

I saw two really weird stoplights here and had to take pictures of them.

The hotel is pretty nice. It’s a 4 star for Tibet - maybe a two star at home. But we have a nice enough room, with our own bathroom. It’s in decent shape but it’s undergoing renovations. Jensen and I went to the Tibet style restaurant on the complex. There are 3 restaurants, Western, Chinese, and Tibet. We’ll have Western food in the morning.

The altitude doesn’t seem to effect me at all, but the girls are both down for the count. Tricia is really feeling under the weather, and I hope she adapts quickly. Jensen is up and down, and I think she’ll probably be fine by tomorrow.

I hope so since we start with the highlight of the trip, the Potala Palace, tomorrow! Until then - Zai Jian!

(Please forgive any spelling or shortness of these entries, I’m using a local PC that is all in Chinese, and it’s very slow on top of that! But I wanted to make sure everyone knew we got here in one piece and were doing OK, if not perfect.)

Mom and Dad and Aunt Carolyn loaded up four big boxes in the van and went to the embassy to mail them. I had to help with some more packing, taping the boxes. While they were gone we did a whole Nancy Drew mystery game from beginning to end. It was mostly me and Melissa, but everyone helped.

When Mom got home we had to pack our suitcases for Tibet. We can’t bring much. We leave early tomorrow. Then for our last night we went to Pomegranate for dinner.

At first we had our own room, but it was hot and the mosquitos were really bad. So we moved to the big room. We got couches near a TV. We all had fries and popcorn. I had baked chicken and ate almost all of it. Maddy had spicey wings. Mia and Melissa had Quesadillas. It was all good

We had to go home early and go to bed because an early flight tomorrow. Wan An! - Good night!