Thursday - July 13th

Hello everybody today is Thursday, July 13th. Today was a very busy and HOT day! We started our day at the homestead of Chairman Mao. He grew up in a very modest home with water in front, mountain in back... Best Feng Shui!

We then went to his statue where you are able to buy wreaths of flowers to lay at his feet.


Next stop involved going to the "Caves" where he would have private meetings... I will get the official name... The landscape was beautiful... Here is a picture of Sarah, Rachel and Peter looking out the window of "Cave Number 1."

First Full Day in Hunan - July 12, 2006 - I ate a Goose Foot!

This is the carpet in our hotel elevator... They change it every day, make sense when on vacation I always forget the day!
It is obviously Wednesday!

Today we went to Xiangtan University - for a tour and then we meet with 2 administrators from the Middle/ High School that is attached to the University. Did you know that school starts for students at 8 am - they then have 4 classes, then they get a 3 HOUR lunch break (where they go home) and then they come back to school for 3 more classes and their day is over at 530pm! How crazy is that? Do you think our school should have a 3 hour break in the middle of the day?

Tonight we had dinner with the Vice President of the University - guess what we had? Goose Foot! Yup the pictures are below and yes I did take a nibble... The gravy was very good!
Proper etiquette says you are to put the plastic glove on and then eat the webbed foot! It had very little meat, it was all skin! We mixed rice into the gravy and ate it, that was really good!

We also had duck for lunch - it was really spicy - yes that is the roasted ducks head in the "duck basket!"

Travel to Changsha, Hunan

We left for the airport, excited about where we were going next. A little nervous about China air travel... We had an extremely easy trip through the airport in Jinan, Logan could take some hints! Our flight was about 11/2 hours, we even got lunch! (Stir fry)

We were picked up and went onto our 5 Start Hotel! The Paragon Hotel... www.paragon-hotel.com Very, very fancy! They even have a pool! Our room is beautiful, Sarah and I are sharing! Check it out...


This is the Pool! So Cool!

Qufu Day 2 - Visit to Confucius' Living Quarters!

Today I woke rested, don't know if it was the bug coil that helped me sleep??? Who knows, I dressed up because we were going to Confucius living quarters and temple and then going on to a nice lunch... I didn't notice the POURING rain out my window! I love these Chinese, they build incredible mansions but the majority of the house is outside... We never go in... They have lots of gates.

At the Confucius living quarters we were to see some children recite some of the Chinese classics... Due to the rain it was cancelled!
After the rain stopped we went to the Confucius Research Institute and the Confucius University. The University's physical plant needs a lot of work. I was amazed at the lack of funding they get to keep up the buildings. The Confucius Research Institute is like a museum that tells the life of Confucius. Very nice!

Oh yea - we had scorpions for lunch today - I wimped out!

Our Visit to Qufu - 2 days - Not so Hot!

I think the group hit a low at this point... it took us about 2 hours by bus to travel to Qufu - home of Confucius. We started the day in Jinan visiting Baimai Fountain - this is an area with hot springs. Baimai Park is absolutely beautiful... It was a wonderful beginning to a not so hot day!



When we arrive in Qufu we check into the Mingyahuiguan Hotel - the lobby looks beautiful, we are given our keys and we head to our rooms... :( ... The My Hotel (that is what they call it) has never used bleach, I am amazed at the amount of mold in the bathroom. To my surprise I see the shower which is the circle in the picture, the shower curtain is hidden behind the door! So when you take a shower basically water goes everywhere! No need for a bath mat! You must use flip flops in the shower because it is not so clean and plus you are walking in about 2 inches of water! To keep the bugs out of your room they light a coil that burns all night by your bed... Let me say, it would not me USA standards... But we survived!

1st Night in Jinan

We are very pleased as we enter into the hotel... The lobby is beautiful, there are ATM machines and newspapers in English. There is even a lounge to hang out in with a big screen T.V.

The rooms are not that bad, but the rugs could be replaced. This is a hotel that has a lot of traffic. But the internet works and dinner is very good. A bunch of us go to the lounge to watch the world cup, however some other guests are watching the "Chinese version" of American Idol! It is like I can't get away from it!

Here are some pictures of my room:

Beijing our Last Day!

Today is our last day in Beijing - we load our luggage into the luggage van - YES we have so much that we had to have a special van to bring our luggage to Jinan! We our totally tourists!

We go shopping in down town Beijing before we go to the Beijing train station to take the trip to Jinan! This is the huge department store - we have lunch at McDonald's!

We travel by bus to the train station - I have never seen so many people in my entire life! The throngs of people are amazing, I guess travel by train is very popular and affordable for the Chinese - we put our carry on luggage through the detectors, but we walk around the metal detectors, no one stops us it is very weird! We have soft seats which is 1st class - very nice! We leave at 130 and arrive in Jinan at 600pm - it is raining!

We are off to the Shungeng Resort!