Oma und Opa sind da !

I know I have been lazy lazy lazy... and haven't written for a long time. However, today is a special day and I have to tell you about it. Why? .... because Oma und Opa sind da !

Yes, I am very happy because, even though I see them very often on Skype, we hadn't been together since last August before we came to Shanghai. I have to confess that when I saw them coming into the house I was a bit shy but... after a short while, I really enjoyed throwing myself into Opas' arms and laughing when Oma started pulling funny faces. Of course, needless to say, I have also enjoyed all the toys and presents they have brought from Germany !

Oma and Opa are going to stay here in Shanghai for 3 weeks so we are going to have plenty of time to do many exciting things together. Now I am going to go to bed because is late and I am a bit tired after a day so full of emotions. I need to load some energy to ask them so many things ! about uncle Klaus, auntie Jessica and my cousin Marcel... uncle Herbert and the snow in Pirk.... the little duckies at the See Cafe in Neumarkt....

Off to bed now but I just wanted to tell you how happy I am. It has been a long time but, in a way, I feel is as if we had been always together. Oma & Opa, I love you very much.

Temples

It is not the first time I visit Chinese temples but I have never seen them as beautiful as in Taipei. There are a lot of interesting things going on in Chinese temples...

First: you can find them everywhere. I mean... some of them are really really big but you can also find small temples in every corner.

However, both big and small ones have several things in common: they are beautiful, there are a lot of people praying and... there is a funny smell all over the place (mom & dad said it is incense!... well,... I can't know it all, right?).

It is funny because in Spain and in Germany when people go to church everybody is very quiet but here it seems to be a totally different experience (except for the incense). People move around all the time and they gather in groups to talk all the time. I kind of like it because, as lately I am pretty much into screaming, I was not that loud after all.

People run around with those incense sticks between their hands while they pray, they buy beautiful papers with nice golden pictures and (take this) they burn them !!!!

Another interesting thing is that temples are the houses of many different Gods so, in a way, is as if there were many temples withing the same temple. That's probably why people run around with those sticks from one place to the next.... because they have to go and say "Ni Hao" to all the Gods, otherwise... they could get upset.

Here you can see me with papa in one of the corridors of the Baoan temple. I really liked this one because it looked very old. You can see the different rooms for each of the Gods and some of the people with the incense I told you about.

Very close to the Baoan temple is the Confucius Temple. It is not as busy as the other one but I also liked it very much because it was very simple and nice.

Papa told me later that this Confucius guy was a very spiritual guy who liked to live with little. I couldn't help think of what face would this Confucius have if he opened mom's wardrobe !!! He would certainly agree with dad's comments about the 5000 handbags :-)


Here you have another nice picture of dad & I at the Confucius temple. Isn't the bell cool? not that they let me play it but I think that, considering how big it is, its sound must be nearly as loud as my screams !

So, what do you think about our temple tour?

This is one if the things I have enjoyed most during this trip but... don't you think this is all we have seen ! there is much more to come and I will continue writing tomorrow.

Good night !

Taiwan, capital: Taipei

Papa has to work on Monday & Tuesday from Taipei so mama and I joined him on Friday or the trip and we are spending the weekend in Taiwan.

The first thing that surprised me is how hot it is... like in the middle of summer ! 25 degrees and a bit humid too... how is it possible? after all we are not that far from Shanghai and at home I am still wearing my warm winter clothes!

We arrived to the hotel very quickly and then I was ready to go to bed and load energy for the next day. Guess what... we had a full agenda!

On Saturday we started the day with a very nice breakfast at the hotel. I was a bit confused in the begining because as everybody was saying "Ni Hao" to me and people were having soup & nuddles for breakfast I thought we were still in China. But as it looks like... it is not the case.

Well, some people think it is... and some other think is not.... quite confusing but the important thing is that I think I am going to have a very nice weekend and that I am going to like Taipei a lot !

First stop: National Palace Museum. It is one of the biggest museums in the world and has many nice Chinese things: furniture, paintings, ceramic,...

We joined the morning english tour and a very nice lady explained to us that most of it is the personal collection of ancient Chinese emperors. Actually, looks like a guy called Chiang Kai-shek took the things out of China and brought them to Taiwan. You see? I told you it was a touchy topic :-)

In any case, we had a lot of fun at the musem and really enjoyed the visit, specially the jade cabbage (even if I dont understand why someone would want to have a cabbage in his living room).

Ah ! and the visit to the children part of the museum was also very cool... guess who managed to get a picture taken posing like a little emperor? well.. after all.. I am el "Rey de la casa"!

After that we went for a stroll around Taipei East, the modern part of the city. Is a very nice area with many new buildings and shops. The nicest one is Taipei 101, the tallest building in the worls till 2007.

Just in the entrance of the building we found this nice "Love" sculpture (think I had seen it before in New York?) so I asked my parents if we could take a family picture there. After all... I "Love" them so much !!!!

Tomorrow I will tell you more about the trip we did today around the old city. But now I am going to bed because tomorrow we are flying back to Shanghai in the morning and I am really tired. Buenas noches !

About Sunday picnics

One of the advantages of living so close to Century Park is that we go there often for walks. Shelly takes me there during the week and I play with a lot of other children and, then, on the weekends, mom, dad and I go for long walks around the lake.

Yesterday we did something different: a picnic!

And not any kind of picnic.... a picnic with my new friends Alba & Adriana !

So mom and Chupi (Alba & Adriana's mom) prepared some yummy food and off we went to enjoy a beautiful and sunny Sunday at the park. And we also made some local friends !


Here you have a picture of us with the traditional blanket. We are already having dessert but let me make you all a bit jealous and tell you about the tortilla de patata, the esparragos con jamon and the ensalada de pasta.... mmmmm !

My friend Alba also had a lot of fun trying her new roller blades. I think they are a bit big for me right now (and pink) so I will wait till next summer and then maybe we can go and roller blade together !

And now, I can also take the chance and introduce you to Adriana, Alba's sister.

Isn't she cute? she is still a baby so couldn't play all that much with Alba and I but I love hugging her and giving her kisses.

And I think mom likes her too a lot ! Mmmm, have to confess that I was a bit jealous when mom was holding her but then I realized that not for that she likes me less so I went ahead and gave them both a BIG hug :-)

Ohhh.... vacation is over !

I know my report comes a bit delayed but, even if I am already an experienced traveler, I needed a couple of days to recover from the trip back home.

Last Friday was our last day in Malaysia so we started the day early with a nice walk on the beach. We have been doing that every morning so I wanted to take the chance and say bye to the sea, to the palm trees, to the shells, to the little crabs,...

Then we took a plane to Kuala Lumpur and, as our flight back to Shanghai didn't leave until very late, we took a train and spent the day in the city.

First we went to do some shopping. My parents bought a very nice traditional Malay cloth to hang on the wall and then mom sneaked out to buy some trousers. Dad said something like "but you already have 500 trousers !!! (or were handbags? probably both....)" but I have to say that I think she is going to look very pretty in those :-)

And then we met some friends of us: Nita and her lovely family. It was the first time I met them and then mom explained that they are very good friends of auntie Farisha and uncle Michael... and that they got to know Nita during their wedding.

I am very happy that we could meet because I liked them very much, specially Ines, the daughter. She is very pretty and even though she was a bit shy I think she liked me too.

In the afternoon we went to the KLCC park and stopped over to make some pictures of the Petronas Towers and also to have some merienda. I didn't want to eat much though because my teeth were hurting a lot and I was a bit cranky (well, maybe more than a bit).

After that we went for dinner to a very nice and traditional Malay restaurant. I was not allowed to try the curries (maybe next time) but I had a lot of fun when they played some traditional music and danced with local costumes. Actually, I had so much fun that I totally forgot about my teeth and danced a lot.

Then we got to the airport and had to stay there for a looooong time till we got on the plane. It was OK because I slept like a baby in my stroller but, still, I was very tired and needed some rest and extra cuddles to recover.

Now that we are in Shanghai, I will miss my walks on the beach and the nice weather but I am happy to be back home and... show off my lovely tan !

Queridos abuelitos

... este blog os lo dedico a vosotros.

Estos dias lo estoy pasando muy bien en la playa con mama y papa. Estamos descansando mucho y todos los dias damos largos paseos por la playa. Tambien disfruto mucho jugando en la arena con mis palas y el cubo ... ademas, despues de la sesion de juego se que me espera un buen chapuzon en el mar porque, segun mama,... me pongo como una croqueta !!!

Otra cosa que me gusta mucho la hora de la merienda porque, ahora que ya soy un chico grande, ya me dejan comer cosas ricas. Veis? ayer me comi un croisant yo solo !!! mami solo queria darme un trocito pero como soy muy rapido yo me cogi todo el croisant y me lo meti a la boca entero. Ahora que ya tengo dientecitos... a ver quien es el guapo que intenta quitarmelo je je je

Monkey business

I already mentioned that when you get to Langkawi you feel as if you were in the middle of the jungle but.... you can't imagine how true that is !

The guy at the reception had already warned us about the monkeys, saying that we should be careful to close all windows but I think we didn't take him too serious and, actually, I think I even heard mom say... "oh, monkeys, isn't that cute?"

Next morning, when we went for our daily early walk at the beach we saw several of them walking next to us. They looked so nice and even got real close so that we could take some pictures!

Now.... what would be our suprise when we got back from our walk and saw that... we had been MONKEY-ATTACKED !!! Looks like we had closed the balcony but not fully locked it so the little buggers made a total mess of the room...

They had opened the fridge, eaten our food, played with our clothes and even s**** on the floor !!!

It really looked as if a tornado had passed through our room.... and then mom & dad complain and say that I make a mess !!! they should really have a word with those monkeys :-) I hope they now realize that I am quite an angel.

So, as it looks like, the guy at the reception was quite right about the monkey business... and.... maybe after all the monkeys at the beach weren't really trying to be cute but just checking that we were clearing the way!

Later that day we went for another walk and, of course, guess what we found... more monkeys!

Look at this beautiful family,... don't you even think that they look a bit like us? maybe they were the same guys who stormed into our room and were just trying to make up by posing for us but, looking at them, they look so cute that I think I even don't mind if they ate all my Cheerios !