Week 12 - Happy Easter, Jinqiao

Every Easter our friends host an Easter Egg Hunt and Pot-Luck Brunch at their house in Shanghai.  Each year the kids seem to get bigger and more capable at finding the hidden treasure.  It is fun to look back at all the photos and see how the kids have changed.  It is fun each year to catch up with all the mums and dads too and chat and share Easter cheer.

This year was happy Easter celebrations, but sad as well, because we knew it was the last one... our dear friends the Hollisters have moved back to the US, and so this Easter Party doubled as their final farewell!  Good luck guys settling in back 'home'... we can't wait to come and see you in San Francisco!!

Week 11 - Spy Camera, The Bund

It's no secret that my parents have been holidaying in China - as we all went to Xi'an together... but on this night we'd arranged to have Ayi look after Jie Jie and Didi for the evening, and after work Mike and I were meeting Mum and Dad for dinner at Lost Heaven.  It was only ever going to be an early night, being a school night and all, but we were meeting them at the restaurant, and our travel time was much quicker than anticipated and so we decided to have a sneaky cocktail at the Glamour Bar, and watch the world stroll by on the Bund Promenade.  We didn't expect to see Mum and Dad though, so through our fully zoomed out lens, managed to snap a couple of photos of them walking along.  Can you spot them in the above photo??

Week 10 - Bell Tower, Xi'an

On our second full day in Xi'an we did all the other 'tourist' things... visited the Bell and Drum Towers, went for a tour around the old city wall on a golf buggy, explored the Muslim Quarter and tasted lots of delicious street food.

This is taken at the Bell Tower, and guess what, this is the big bell!  These warriors come and ring the bell each hour until midday.  Then in the afternoon, a drum is banged (?) each hour until sunset.

Xi'an is a nice place to visit, but really it's the Terracotta Warrior Army that is the big attraction!

Week 9 - Terracotta Warriors, Xi'an

Mum and Dad are visiting, and after seeing a travelling exhibition of the Terracotta Warriors in Sydney last year, they have been desperate to see the real thing next time they came to see us in China!!  And of course the Warriors have been on our must-do Chinese checklist, so we were happy to accompany them.  This photo is the first view of Pit 1 - there are four known pits full of this lifesize Terracotta Army, and so far only three are open for inspection.  Pit 1 is about 280m long and 65m wide and is still being excavated.  There are supposedly more than 8000 individual warriors, and also horses and chariots.  As you can see lining the edge of the pit other visitors were there too, so we weren't the only tourists!!