Three weeks and counting...

This week we're going on a trip to Yangshuo with our friends Brian and Bethany. Yangshuo is where they filmed the movie The Painted Veil (with Edward Norton and Naomi Watts - good flick!). From what we've heard it's one of the most beautiful places in China and Brian and Bethany have been there a couple times already, so they know their way around pretty well. Should be a fun trip. For our final weekend, we're going to Hainan - an island off of the southern coast of China often referred to as "The Hawaii of China". Sounds good to us! After that, we'll be back in the States headed for beautiful Hugo, Minnesota!

How to deal with kids...

Go Sharks!

Last weekend the Sharks 7th and 8th grade girl's basketball team participated in a season-ending tournament at nearby Dulwich College in Pudong. Mandy and I helped coach one of the two teams. During the season we would have one practice and one game per week. We took our lumps during the regular season, but finished a respectable 2-2 at the tournament. We were proud of our players - they really improved in this short season. Go Sharks!

Lost in Translation

Here are some bad translations and interesting signs from our travels.

Adventures From the Jin Mao Tower

On my Uncle Bernie and Cousin Mark's last day in Shanghai, I took them to the top of the Jin Mao Building - the fourth tallest building in the world. The Shanghai Financial Tower, the future tallest building in the world, is under construction directly across the street and is almost as tall as the Jin Mao Tower. It was a clear day (which is hard to come by in Shanghai because of the smog), so we got some great pictures. We also went to a driving range which is across the street - they didn't have clubs for us though, so we weren't able to hit any.

The last picture is the Shanghai Grand Theater. The Radisson Hotel is the one that says Radisson on it. I never know who's reading this, so I never really know how much explanation is necessary.

Beijing Trip

This past Monday I headed to Beijing with my Uncle Bernie and Cousin Mark - Spring Break '07! Mandy went to Taiwan to collect the rest of her things and to visit some friends from last year - she met us on Tuesday. We stayed at a hotel about a ten minute walk from Tienanmen Square - it was tucked in a little back alley. A great location because it seemed more real than your typical hotel. We had a blast and got to see a lot of the city. We made it to: Tienanmen Square, The Forbidden City, The Beijing Zoo, The Summer Palace, The Ming Tombs, and the Great Wall. It was an action-packed trip and went by really quickly. Here are some of the hundreds of pictures that we took - enjoy!

We went to Tienanmen Square on our first day, which turned out to be a mistake - half of the country had the same plans. We still managed to get some pretty good pictures of this historic spot. It's incredible how spacious the square is - I remember seeing video of the military rallies that they used to have there.