A Relaxing Day

What a great day today was…We didn’t have to get up at any certain time, so we had a leisurely morning. We all slept pretty well last night. MeiMei fell out of bed, but she was still sleeping. Brian brought her into our bed – which, by the way in China, happens to be a double bed! We couldn’t sleep with so many people in a double bed, so Brian put her back in her bed and we slept until after 7am. We enjoyed a breakfast that wasn’t rushed this morning.

After breakfast we decided to explore the hotel a little. We went back out to the garden and watched the fish. We walked all the way around and found a little pagoda and a cat that didn’t want to be petted. We also decided to check out the pool area. It was so beautiful around the pool. It’s not really very hot here, so I’m not wanting to get in the water. The pool water felt really cold to me, but Lydia and MeiMei took their shoes off and waded on the steps. Lydia said that it was starting to feel warm, but I’m pretty sure it was just numbness setting in. 😊

We had to be back in the room between 11am and 12pm for the results of the TB test. I’m not really sure what was going on, since no one came to look at MeiMei’s arm. Maybe it was some other kind of TB test, but our guide said that if we didn’t hear from her, everything was good. “No news is good news”, she told us about a dozen times yesterday.

I discovered that one of my friends from elementary/middle school lives not too far from here because her husband owns a translation business in China. She found out we were close by and took a bus to meet us here at our hotel. It had been over 20 years since we had seen each other! It was so fun to catch up.

We hung out in the hotel room for a while, and then decided to go get something to eat. I have really been craving some Chinese food like sweet and sour, rice, etc. We weren’t sure where to get that around here. My friend said that kind of food is more common in Beijing, so since she knows Mandarin, she started asking around where we might be able to get something like that. We found a restaurant and ate sweet and sour pork, spicy green beans, eggplant, and shredded pork with Chinese tortillas. It was so yummy! It hit the spot. I didn’t want to leave China without having the kind of Chinese food I really enjoy.

After lunch, we walked around a bit and found a bubble tea shop. She and her husband LOVE the bubble milk tea. She helped us order. Brian got bubble milk tea, I got a passionfruit bubble tea with coconut, and Lydia got kumquat lemonade. Everything was delicious. MeiMei really liked the bubble milk tea. I’m definitely going back to get more. It was soooooo good.

We came back and enjoyed that in the Garden’s garden. She took some pictures of all four of us in front of the waterfall and other picturesque places. It’s not quite the “red couch” of the White Swan days, but the picture in front of the Garden’s waterfall might take its place. (If you’re not a China family, you probably don’t understand the last reference, but it’s kind of a long story. If you’re really interested, ask me and I’ll tell you sometime.)

Back in our room, we discovered that MeiMei is quite fond of taking pictures. She had my phone and kept snapping pictures of me, Brian, and Lydia. She counted and had over 70 pictures that she took. By the way, she’s really good at counting, writing numbers, and she could even read a few characters that my friend pointed out to her. Pretty impressive for five years old!

We decided to try out a place called the Happy Monk for dinner. They have American food. Lydia had mac and cheese, Brian had a burger, and I had a quesadilla. MeiMei just kept pointing to the French fries pictured on the menu, so we ordered her fish and chips. She ate all the fries, but she wasn’t so sure about the fish. It was actually pretty good fish fry. I’m not sure what she’s going to do back in Wisconsin on Friday nights! I guess maybe she’ll just eat mac and cheese like her big sister! 😊

By the time we got done with dinner it was pretty late, so we headed home for a bath and a little snuggle time. Baba and MeiMei are in bed already and Lydia is listening to an audio book. I’m not so tired yet, but I’m sure I will be soon. It was a fun, but tiring day.

Tomorrow we don’t have any appointments, but our guide is going to take us shopping. It’s going to be nice having another day where we can relax. Until tomorrow…

Lydia enjoying her noodles and cocoa krispies for breakfast. Only in China!

V for something Chinese! It's popular to do this when getting your picture taken in China. :)

On the bridge in the garden.