Trip to China
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Thursday,
September 4, 2008
TOUR OF WEST LAKE AND
SHOPPING IN CHINA
At one glance
I love you
With a thousand hearts
~Mihri Hatun
Our day started early with a guided boat tour of the beautiful
West Lake . Before coming to China , Ian and I had read quite a
bit and seen many pictures of Hangzhou and the lake that it is
famous for. However, it is difficult to appreciate just how
serene and peaceful this area really is just by looking at
pictures. The lake is surrounded by very green rolling hills. It
is often very hazy around the lake. Pagodas can be seen perched
on the tops of the hillside. In the middle of the lake, there
are three pillars which are used each year during Moon Festival.
During this festival, a light is placed inside each pillar which
produces a reflection giving the appearance of thirty two moons
on the water. Our guide, Rebecca, explained to us that Moon
Festival is based on the lunar calendar. It is a time for
families to come together and remember each other. She said that
it is common for family members to give one another gifts. They
spend time together and eat something special called a moon
cake. We have seen many of these moon cakes for sale at the
local grocery stores as Moon Festival this year is on September
14th. I think we’ll bring some moon cakes home and celebrate
this special Chinese holiday with Sophie this year : )
After our boat ride, Rebecca took us to the older part of
Hangzhou which has a very long walking street lined with many
small family owned shops. It really was authentic Chinatown : )
We attracted a lot of attention once again and were asked by
many people if they could take our picture. One girl was pretty
surprised when I then took a picture of her! Rebecca told us
that many of the people say, “lucky baby”. Some even want to
touch Sophie for good luck. One woman we passed pointed to
Sophie and said, “ China ?”. When I nodded my head, she just
gave me a big thumbs up. Parents with small babies and children
will always approach us and want their child to say hello to
Sophie in English. The people have been so friendly and
gracious. We actually have really enjoyed interacting with them.
We had so much fun walking through all the shops and found some
special things to give to Sophie when she is older. Ian even had
a chance to practice his bargaining skills : ) The shop owners
would show Ian their calculator with a price on it and then he
would show them his calculator with a lower price. They would go
back and forth until they agreed on a selling price. I’m not
sure if we really got any good deals or not, but it sure was fun
trying!
Sophie is doing wonderfully! I think she just might be the
easiest baby I have ever had. She is so content and easy going.
She is happy to play with us but can also easily entertain
herself with a few toys for quite a long period of time. She
loves to be out and about in the stroller but is also happy to
be in the hotel room. She is starting to open up to us more and
more each day. Today, we have noticed that she is more
comfortable making sounds and even blew us a few raspberries. We
are learning more about her every day and have discovered that
she really doesn’t mind taking a bath. The problem is taking off
her clothes for the bath. It is really upsetting for her to have
to take off her shoes, take off her bracelet, take the bow out
of her hair, etc. She is easily distracted if we hand her a toy,
but she really doesn’t like us to take anything away from
her…even if it is just for a bath. Overall, she is doing
amazingly well! I really can’t believe how easily she has
transitioned to us. She is just an absolute joy! She has the
funniest expressions and her eyes just twinkle when she smiles.
Each time we look at her, she smiles the biggest, cheesiest
smile you have ever seen…you know, the kind that makes your eyes
completely disappear : ) It makes us laugh every single time! In
just four days, we can’t imagine our lives without her!
“Would you like
to stay forever?”
~Granny Fa (from Mulan) |





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