Missing my "Dean" friends: Jess & Amy

I know it has been a long time since we said good bye in Mount Kisco... nearly 10 months already! But I want you to know that I have not forgotten the nice time we spent together. I was very small at the time but I remember very well how you took care of me and "did my hair" even if I hardly had anything !

And I want you to know that I am still playing with all the toys and been wearing all the nice clothes you gave me! You see? do you remember the brown coat? Now the weather is getting better but you should know that all the warm Canadian cloth has been specially useful in the hard Chinese winter :-)

So, how is everything going? do you enjoy being back home? I don't really know where Ottawa is but... sounds pretty far away ! still, I hope that you will come by to China to visit me at one point. Ask your mom & dad to plan a trip! I would really love to see you again and show you around . So many nice things to see in Shanghai and China. I hope we have a chance to see them together soon. I miss you !

Suzhou

Today I want to tell you about another nice trip we did while Oma & Opa where here. Btw, don't we look cute in this picture?

Suzhou is just one hour away from Shanghai so we took a ride with our driver Mr. Guo and went there for the weekend. I was really looking forward to going there because the pictures of the city in the travel guide looked really amazing ! (pity I can't read yet :-)


With a population of more than 6 million people you would expect it to be a BIG industrial or modern city but all of us were surprised by how beautiful was the city center. The city has two big highlights: the traditional Chinese gardens and silk (mom was pretty excited about that one though I have to say that we didn't really give her a chance to buy much).

Right next to the hotel we had the Pan Men Gardens. As we went for a visit very early in the morning (my fault) we had a chance to enjoy first hand all the traditional activities: groups of people singing, dancing, doing tai chi... I have to say that Chinese people are very active in the mornings, even more than I am !

Suzhou gardens are really something amazing and each one of them has something special (and there are more than 20!). All of them have nice traditional houses, bridges and ponds with orange fishes, but... what I like the most about Chinese gardens are the names: Lingering Garden, Couples Retreat Garden, The retreat & reflection Garden... they all sound so delicate and peaceful...

That reminds me that I really have to start getting up to speed choosing a Chinese name ! mmm, that can be fun :-)

And,... don't you think that there were many foreigners running around ! most of the times we were surrounded by Chinese tourists who where really amused by us but.... this time.... who do you think was the star of the film? DADDYYYYYY !!!

Yes, several girls came by and asked if they could take a picture with us and... there I was all ready to pose when I realized that they were only interested in dad !

German as he is I though he wouldn't be very amused with the idea but, surprise, surprise... here you can see him with a million dollar smile :-) must be mom's influence !

The Three Gorges Dam... and much more !

One of the things I like most about living in China is everyone is curious and wants to talk to me ! That's one of the advantages of looking "different".

The only ones who think about it twice are other small kids. No hard feelings,... they probably think I look very funny with my blue eyes and light hair :-) But as soon as I say "Ni Hao" and throw them one of my big smiles... nobody can resist! specially the girls :-)
On the second day of the Yangtze cruise we made a great excursion to the Shibao pagoda. A 12 floor pagoda built leaning on the rock. Such a cool thing... well, at least it was cool till we had to climb all the stairs till the top of the pagoda !

The funniest thing is that the pagoda was constructed without using a single nail.

Can you imagine? was a good thing that the tourist guide told us once we were already at the top. I am no sissy but, otherwise....


And on the third day, we arrived to the Three Gorges Dam. Did you know that it is the biggest dam in the world and it covers today more than 10% of China's power needs? (between you and I, Chinese people seem to have something about beating world records :-)

The construction began in 1994 and it was completed in 2006. That's a long time, but it is not because the guys were lazy... at the boat the told us that during the project they had to relocate 1.3 million people because the level of the water would be more than 100 meters higher due to the dam!

That means that along the river there are many villages that have been fully covered by the water. Mmmm, tough to imagine my room looking like a swimming pool... I am sure many local people thought that the dam was actually a damn bad idea!

Yangtze adventure

Last weeks have been just GREAT. I have had a loft of fun with oma and opa and... we have done so many things that I haven't even had time to blog about it. But don't worry, in the coming days I am planning to make up for it and will tell you everything!

One of the nicest things we have done lately has been the cruise down the Yangtze River (长江).

Our trip started in Chonqing, and... guess what? is the biggest city in the world with 33 million people ! wow, that is indeed a lot of people :-) and, after spending the afternoon in the city (pizza included) we boarded on our wonderful ship: the Victoria Empress. My first cruise had just started !

The ship was not very big because we were going down the river but, still, there were 168 people onboard an I had a lot of fun getting to know many of them. I actually made many friends !

Look at me here with Rebecca & Funny. I just loved spending time with them... and not just because they let me borrow the calculator and literally let me play around with all the necklaces of the shop! they were very sweet and just loved hugging and kissing me. Not that I suffered much :-)

During the 3 days of the cruise we just went down the Yangtze river from Chonqing to Yichang and all the way through we just saw the most amazing landscape: the Three Gorges. With very high cliffs, huge rocks an emerald waters, this is one of the most famous spots here in China. Actually, you can see a picture of one of the gorges in the back of the paper 10 yuan note.

On the second day we took a very small local boat and went through the lesser gorges. I am really not sure why the call them "lesser" because, between you and I, they are even nicer than the big ones ! During the excursion they told us many great stories about the local people who used to live in the area. They had to hike for days just to get some food ! we are so lucky now...

Every day we got up very early, had a niceeeeeeee breakfast and then joined a couple of short excursions. We would always be back at the boat before dinner time and by 8pm I was ready to grab my bottle and go to bed to load my energies for the next day.

Mom & dad took shifts with oma & opa to stay with me because every night there was a small show on the boat. For example, here you can see a picture of the night were the crew showcased the most amazing traditional dresses I have ever seen. They belong to minorities from China (I think there are 53 of them in the whole country!). I would have loved to see the baby version for each one of them :-)

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 !