Author Topic: Jenny's China Trip - Updated with Pictures  (Read 10354 times)

Offline JennyC

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Jenny's China Trip - Updated with Pictures
« on: August 15, 2006, 06:20:36 pm »
Just want to put a note up to let you know that I will be on vacation for a month.  Yep, you got that right, a whole month (who cares if my vacation balance goes negative ::)) starting this Thursday Aug 17th to Sep 17th, back to China to visit families, friends, and some sight-seeing.  I will be traveling to Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai, Chengdu, Jiuzhaigou, etc., hence I won’t be able to access internet sometimes.  I will try to check in here from time to time when I can, and post some pictures of the trip.

Nobody miss me while I am gone, Ok? ;)
« Last Edit: October 25, 2006, 03:16:41 pm by JennyC »

Offline delalluvia

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Re: Jenny's China Trip
« Reply #1 on: August 15, 2006, 06:54:52 pm »
WATCH WATCH WATCH for people slipping you counterfeit money.

My brother just came back from China in June and said a little old lady slipped him a fake $50.  They had agreed on a price for a china set, then when he handed her a $50, she instantly changed her price to a higher amount that he didn't want to pay.  When he then decided against buying the tea set, that's when she did the old switcheroo.

He also said he was unable to give blood when he came back as some of the places he went to - the area where the terra cotta warriors were - were on the list for bird flu contamination.

He also said the pollution in Beijing was terrible and both he and his wife had coughs by the end of the week and pedestrians do NOT have the right of way.

But other than that, have a great time.  :)   Love ya!!  MWAH!!  :-*

Offline opinionista

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Re: Jenny's China Trip
« Reply #2 on: August 16, 2006, 07:31:34 am »
Have a nice trip Jenny. I'm sure everything will be fine. Just enjoy your vacations! :)
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement. -Mark Twain.

Offline Impish

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Re: Jenny's China Trip
« Reply #3 on: August 16, 2006, 10:30:17 am »
I'd love to read future posts about your adventures there...  have a great trip!   ;D
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Offline Impish

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Re: Jenny's China Trip
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2006, 10:31:27 am »
Have a nice trip Jenny. I'm sure everything will be fine. Just enjoy your vacations! :)

Who is that in your avatar?  Is that you, Opinionista? 

If so, will you marry me?   :-*
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Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: Jenny's China Trip
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2006, 11:08:35 am »
Bill, that's Hugh Jackman, scuze me, Ellegy, um Ellery, the current flame of Ennis. And, get in line!
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Offline Pipedream

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Re: Jenny's China Trip
« Reply #6 on: August 16, 2006, 11:16:01 am »
Have a great time Jenny and get back well!   :-*

Offline opinionista

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Re: Jenny's China Trip
« Reply #7 on: August 16, 2006, 12:27:33 pm »
Who is that in your avatar?  Is that you, Opinionista? 

If so, will you marry me?   :-*

LOL. NO! Sorry to dissapoint you. That's Hugh Jackman. I'm a woman. Oh impish you just made me laugh.
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement. -Mark Twain.

Offline JennyC

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Re: Jenny's China Trip
« Reply #8 on: August 16, 2006, 01:22:28 pm »
Since I started the thread, I thought maybe I should be first in line to ask for Natali's Hugh Jackman's hand in marriage.  ;D

Offline JennyC

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Re: Jenny's China Trip
« Reply #9 on: August 16, 2006, 01:34:19 pm »
Thanks for your well wishes!  Thank Del for your fair "warning". :)

Interesting enough, "the area where the terra cotta warriors were" is my hometown - Xi'an.  I have not heard anything regarding bird flu contamination from my family or friends.  May be it was earlier this year.  In general, air pollution is pretty bad in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an etc. compared with 10 years ago.  It's just something that you have to deal with and get used to.  Everyone realize it's a big problem and complain about it.  But if I go home and complain about it, people will think I am being snobbish.  Go figure, so I just keep my mouth shut.  :)

I will do my best to have updates for my trip.  I even thought ambitiously that I want to have a photo diary of the trip, but knowing myself that probably won't happen.  :P

Offline ednbarby

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Re: Jenny's China Trip
« Reply #10 on: August 16, 2006, 03:19:26 pm »
Hope you have a *wonderful* trip, Jenny.  We'll look forward to seeing your photos.  :)
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Offline Lumière

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Re: Jenny's China Trip
« Reply #11 on: August 18, 2006, 06:59:57 pm »
Jenny!

Enjoy your vac, safe travels and ..Have a wonderful time!  ;)

Milli


Offline silkncense

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Re: Jenny's China Trip
« Reply #12 on: August 18, 2006, 10:06:36 pm »
Jenny -

Also can't wait to hear about your trip & see your photos!  AND, see you again next year.  :)
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Re: Jenny's China Trip
« Reply #13 on: September 03, 2006, 02:08:45 pm »
Oh, my calm-in-the-storm, I am missing you big time!

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Offline Ellemeno

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Re: Jenny's China Trip
« Reply #14 on: September 04, 2006, 02:46:43 am »
Jenny, it's your trip's halfway point.  I'm thinking of you.  What a great experience for your daughter.  clarissa

Offline JennyC

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Re: Jenny's China Trip
« Reply #15 on: September 06, 2006, 11:15:33 am »
Sorry friends, I have not been actively checking the board while on vacation though I do have internet connection most of the times.  Just got busy with things and people. A few e-mails I have received today prompted me to check in here.  I was shocked and saddened with the news regarding Chris.  :'(

I am in Shanghai now and will stay here till the end of my vacation.  A short recap of the vacation so far is that we had a few bumps, but still thoroughly enjoy the time we spent with friends and family.  We forgot to apply for a visa to go to China for my daughter since she was born in US, therefore needs a visa to enter China(This is the dumbest thing that I have ever done).  So our vacation had been postponed by one day.  Then my daughter fell and bumped her head.  It was very scary; therefore I will not get into the details.  Anyway she got 3 stitches on her forehead and had 2 head CTs in one day just to make sure she didn't have any server head injuries.  She was up and running and being her old self after 2 days, and left us worrying what that scare will look like on her face.  Because of the accident, we had to scratch our plan to visit Jiuzhaigou and Chengdu, instead spend the time in Shanghai.  Though I regret that we can not go to visit Jiuzhaigou and Chengdu (of course, I mostly regret that my daughter is going to have a scare on her face), it was nice to have the extra time with friends and family. In the reminder time of my vacation, I still have a few friends that I will meet up, my father-in-law's 70th birthday party (banquet, for those who know how Chinese celebrate such occasions  ;)), and my college classmates' 10 years reunion party.

I did take some pictures, though not a lot.  I will organize and upload them probably when I am back in the states.

Wish you all enjoy your time and the storm shall pass.  It sucks to have things stirred up, but it won't take away what was heart felt by me.  My love to all of you who care and are truth to me and others here.

 :-*



« Last Edit: September 06, 2006, 11:42:01 am by JennyC »

Offline Lumière

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Re: Jenny's China Trip
« Reply #16 on: September 06, 2006, 12:29:24 pm »
Jenny ~  Have fun, be safe and take care!  :)

See ya when you get back!

M.


Offline JennyC

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Re: Jenny's China Trip
« Reply #17 on: September 19, 2006, 02:29:20 pm »
Hope this note finds everyone well!

Just want to let you know that I am back from my vacation.

I will post some pictures later.  It's going to take me a while to get them organized.

Offline opinionista

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Re: Jenny's China Trip
« Reply #18 on: September 19, 2006, 03:02:30 pm »
Hope this note finds everyone well!

Just want to let you know that I am back from my vacation.

I will post some pictures later.  It's going to take me a while to get them organized.


Hi Jenny,

Welcome back! I hope you had a great time and a well deserved rests. I'm defnintely looking forward to see the pictures!
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement. -Mark Twain.

Offline JennyC

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At last, Pictures of Jenny's China trip
« Reply #19 on: October 25, 2006, 03:13:07 pm »
Sorry I have been putting off this for too long since I got back from my vacation.  I have spent some time to organize the photos and wrote descriptions, but then dropped it when the project was halfway done.  Anyway a recent chat room discussion with Anke reminded me that I should really finish this project.  If not for anyone else, just for myself as a summary for my China trip.  So here we go.  I am going to post the pictures in multiple posts so that I don’t have too many cramped in one.   

My trip consisted of two parts: I spent around 10 days in Xi’an, which is my hometown; and about 2.5 weeks in Shanghai.  Due to my daughter’s accident (she is fine now), we had to cancel our scheduled trip to Jiuzhaiguo, one of the most picturesque place in China.  Well, have to save that one for next time then.

Pardon my camera skills, half of the time I didn’t do justice to what I wanted to capture.  :)
« Last Edit: October 25, 2006, 03:45:04 pm by JennyC »

Offline JennyC

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At last, Pictures of Jenny's China trip
« Reply #20 on: October 25, 2006, 03:15:59 pm »
Part One - Xi'an

Xi’an (used to be called Chang An) has been the capital of 13 dynasties, dated back to 1000 BC.  It’s known for Terra Cotta , and many other ancient architecture wonders. This is the place you want to be, if let’s say you were 1400 years younger, in Tang dynasty.  It was the most popular city in the world at the time, and true international city where you can find Persian merchants, Japanese monks etc. 

Big Wild Goose Pagoda
Well over 1000 years old and has mostly survived great earthquakes.  The pagoda was built to store sutras and figurines of Buddha that were brought to China by the Buddhist translator and traveler Xuanzang. The emperor built him the Pagoda for him to translate the Indian Buddhist texts to Chinese.  The fantasy novel “Journey to the West” (where it features the character of Monkey King) was very loosely based on this historic event. 


The spectacular music fountain next to the Pagoda (some say it’s the world’s largest, who knows).



Chang An around 700 – 800 A.D.  It was the first city in the world to introduce urban planning, with grid pattern, straight roads running north- south and east west. Compared with the Google satellite map of Xi’an today, you can see that the layout of the city has not been changed that much. 



Use Big Wild Goose Pagoda (or Dayan Pagoda) as reference, this is the area where I used to live and go to school.



Dell Tower and Drum Tower
The Bell Tower located at the city centre.  For a long time, this was a hinder to the downtown development as no building taller than the Bell tower was allowed within certain proximity.  I think they have loosened the rules (or the area) in the recent years.  The drum Towner is about 1000 ft from Bell Tower, where you can find the World’s largest drum.  In old days, the bell rings by dawn and drum by dust to mark the passage of time (They still do, but more like a show for tourist today).



« Last Edit: October 25, 2006, 04:39:06 pm by JennyC »

Offline JennyC

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Re: At last, Pictures of Jenny's China trip
« Reply #21 on: October 25, 2006, 03:19:36 pm »
Tang Paradise Theme Park (Xi’an)

The theme park features performance, arts, architecture, and literature of the 300-year-long Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), China's greatest and most sophisticated age, when Chinese culture reached its height.

Buildings and Statues






Parade in the Park



Water Film. The short movie was shown against a screen of water mist.


Park at night  (The buildings in the theme park were based on the architectural style of the Tang dynasty)






Offline JennyC

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Re: At last, Pictures of Jenny's China trip
« Reply #22 on: October 25, 2006, 03:22:36 pm »
Folk Art (Xi’an)

Farmer’s Painting: Done by folk artists.  Very colorful and decorative.  The paintings feature their daily lives and activities as farmers.  A few friends like the ones I have much very and wanted me to get some for them, so I bought around a dozen this time. 


Play Doug artist


Cute clothes and toys for kids and babies


Modern Side
Many people came to Xi’an to get a taste of China’s rich history.  But that’s not the whole picture of today’s Xi’an.  It’s still a pretty modernized city, with many universities, high tech centers, and Prada and Louis Vuitton stores. :D 




Offline opinionista

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Re: Jenny's China Trip - Updated with Pictures
« Reply #23 on: October 25, 2006, 03:30:27 pm »
Hey Jenny,

Thanks for the pics! Wow, I wish I could go some day. And your girl is so cute!
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement. -Mark Twain.

Offline JennyC

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Re: At last, Pictures of Jenny's China trip
« Reply #24 on: October 25, 2006, 03:31:36 pm »
Part Two: Shanghai

Well, need I say more?  The largest, the most modern, and dynamic city in China. 

Nanjing Road at night
It’s one of the most important commercial and tourist streets in Shanghai.  Part of the street became pedestrian only.



Buildings
Shanghai Oriental Art Center


Shanghai Museum


The Shanghai Urban Planning Center


The Grand Theatre



Shanghai Science and Technology Museum (SSTM)


Inside SSTM


Armillary Sphere


Lujiazui Finical Center from distance
Most of the high rises were not there 10 years ago.  The movie MI3 gives you a grant tour of the high rises in the area.



Offline JennyC

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Re: Jenny's China Trip - Updated with Pictures
« Reply #25 on: October 25, 2006, 03:32:15 pm »
Hey Jenny,

Thanks for the pics! Wow, I wish I could go some day. And your girl is so cute!

Thanks Natali!  More pictures are coming... :)

Offline JennyC

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Re: At last, Pictures of Jenny's China trip
« Reply #26 on: October 25, 2006, 03:36:25 pm »
Shanghai
LCD is everywhere.  You can find them in metro station, in the train, in bus, in elevator, and in Taxi. 







Free condoms!  This one cracks me up.  It’s one of the free condom distribution booths of a District Family Planning Center, located in the lobby of my sister-in-law’s apt building.  I have never seen this before anywhere else.  I noticed that the supply gradually went down through out the week and it was then replenished.  Someone obviously is taking them. (when no one is around :D)


Bike ride in the Century Park


Offline JennyC

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Re: At last, Pictures of Jenny's China trip
« Reply #27 on: October 25, 2006, 03:39:06 pm »
Old and New

Shanghai in Old Days


Housing
Shanghai has been a big construction site for over 15 years.  Many old neighborhood in the city have been demolished and replaced with high rise, fancy (and expensive) apartment buildings.  New money moves in and people who can not afford the new housing have to move to the suburbs where housing is relatively cheap.  They do get compensated pretty handsomely, but I still doubt that they can afford to buy a unit in the new building in the area where they used to live.  Still, I have heard many people who still live in the old, shabby apartment buildings saying they want their building to be demolished.  That way they can afford to improve their housing condition even if that means they have to move to the suburbs.


Concrete Forrest – Pretty much all the buildings in this view are apartment buildings


THE END

Offline Pipedream

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Re: Jenny's China Trip - Updated with Pictures
« Reply #28 on: October 26, 2006, 01:31:38 pm »
Wow! Thanks Jenny for those beautiful pictures! I agree with Natali: you and your girl look adorable!  :-*

I can't wait to visit Shanghai myself. As I said, in April, I'll be visiting an old friend and work colleague of mine who works there.
My (our) tickets have arrived today!! Yeehaw!
:D
« Last Edit: October 26, 2006, 05:20:56 pm by Pipedream »

Offline starboardlight

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Re: Jenny's China Trip - Updated with Pictures
« Reply #29 on: October 26, 2006, 05:20:04 pm »
wowie! gorgeous pic, Jenny. and your daughter is so adorable. thank you for sharing them with us.
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Offline JennyC

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Re: Jenny's China Trip - Updated with Pictures
« Reply #30 on: October 27, 2006, 01:40:31 am »
Wow! Thanks Jenny for those beautiful pictures! I agree with Natali: you and your girl look adorable!  :-*

I can't wait to visit Shanghai myself. As I said, in April, I'll be visiting an old friend and work colleague of mine who works there.
My (our) tickets have arrived today!! Yeehaw!
:D

Thanks Anke!  I am sure your family will enjoy the time in Shanghai.  April is a very good season to visit Shanghai.

Offline JennyC

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Re: Jenny's China Trip - Updated with Pictures
« Reply #31 on: October 27, 2006, 01:43:16 am »
wowie! gorgeous pic, Jenny. and your daughter is so adorable. thank you for sharing them with us.

Nipith,  I hope you get to visit China next time you plan a vacation back to Thailand.

And BTW, that's a great picture of you.  Did you take it at the art show?

Offline starboardlight

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Re: Jenny's China Trip - Updated with Pictures
« Reply #32 on: October 27, 2006, 02:40:38 am »
Nipith,  I hope you get to visit China next time you plan a vacation back to Thailand.

And BTW, that's a great picture of you.  Did you take it at the art show?

oh YES! I definitely want to visit Shang Hai on my next Asia trip. Especially after seeing your pictures.

and thank you for the compliment. yes, the pic was taken during my art show. you can see some of my work behind me in the pic.
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Offline Kelda

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Re: Jenny's China Trip - Updated with Pictures
« Reply #33 on: October 28, 2006, 12:05:39 pm »
I love the pics Jenny.. didn't know you were away and just seen the thread now!
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