What are the main themes to share, after traveling for a year around the world and visiting 32 countries? The most obvious point is that travel is one of life’s most important and pleasurable activities. This year we experienced and shared amazing sights, delicious tastes, new stories, the growth and broadening of our perspectives in […]
Are we entering the Chinese century? During the eighteen days in China, we tried to decide. Today’s China is a winner because it joins two things that should not go together: a government of absolute power and a fast-paced market economy. China’s march to economic success started with a commitment to low-cost manufacturing. China imported […]
There is so much history in China… let’s take up the challenge to cover it briefly and discover how modern China got to where it is today. There is evidence of prehistoric man in China going back well past 50,000 years. Pottery, stonework and other signs of village life start roughly 8,000 years ago. Some […]
Our last stop in China was Shanghai. We had just two days of touring here, leaving several much-needed free days available to catch our breath. Aside from cooking classes and fan/sword-dancing, we watched an acrobat show, visited an old garden, strolled the riverside Bund and toured the well-stocked Shanghai Museum. (Luckily we had added three […]
We walked through the park watching all the couples dance by. Saturday mornings were when everyone local got together to dance at the park. You could see people of every age dancing in the main square, and more selected groups with private instructors. I watched as a group of old ladies did the most ridiculous […]
We took two cooking classes in China: the first was in Beijing (see Dumpling Daze post) and the second was in Shanghai. The cuisine in Shanghai is characterized as less sweet and slightly spicier, but is nowhere near as spicy as that found in Szechuan province. Our lesson at The Kitchen Studio focused on home […]
Well, almost. The high-speed train we took from Nanjing to Shanghai is as sleek and shiny as a silver bullet and, at 300 km/hr, goes almost as fast. Everything in China seems to be new and improved, or at least improving. Transportation is no exception. This particular train is less than a year old and […]
Our feet stuck to the giant sticky pads as powerful jets blew air all over us. Reaching the other end of the chamber, one of the accompanying employees opened the air lock. We stepped into the clean room where people in full body suits were all working at their designated stations. Most of them wore […]
Our guide Lily said, “Here it is!” We gazed up at the memorial of Sun-yat-sen, the first official president of China. It was Sun-yat-sen who helped organize the revolution to overthrow Puyi, the last emperor. The walkway was lined with trees instead of the usual sculptures of soldiers. For Sun had not wanted armed men […]
After Beijing, we entered a hectic stretch that covered three cities in six days. The first stop Xi’an was the original capital of China and is the home of the Terracotta Warriors, a variety of tasty local restaurants and a superb calligraphy school, all described elsewhere. Here we visited the Xi’an Museum to see excellent […]
During our travels we’ve shopped many a tourist stand and we hereby award a prize to the merchants of Yongshuo in the Guilin region. They are the most rapacious we have met so far! Another prize goes to the curio dealers of Xi’an. As our guide Gerard explained, they have a wide range of yesterday’s […]
We got out of the car and were immediately mobbed by old ladies waving guns around, shouting at us. My mom’s face went stony, and we tried to get away! They chased us until we were forced to stop and take out some money. Then we bought two of the first lady’s water guns and proceeded […]
We sailed up the river just as the sun dropped over the horizon. Our destination? A secluded stretch of water. Our goal? To fish with Cormorants. A Cormorant is a duck-like bird that excels at finding and catching fish. The fisherman ties a rope around their neck so they can’t swallow the fish though. It […]
Eating in China has been one of our best culinary adventures yet. This caught me by surprise because I didn’t think I really liked Chinese food. With the exception of dim sum in Chinatown, most of what I had sampled at home came slathered in a goopy brown sauce laden with soggy vegetables and tiny […]
“Hold your arms out in a big ball. Feel that you are holding the heavens and the universe. Now, breath in as you raise your arms and the universe expands. “ We listened carefully to the Tai Chi master. The family was secluded deep within the gardens of the Emperor’s Heavenly Palace, standing in a […]
We stepped in to a long glass and metal building, built around one of China’s treasures. Before us lay deep trenches running in a vertical direction. Inside these trenches there were hundreds of soldiers. These soldiers stared straight ahead, not giving us a second glance. There had clearly been some sort of attack, as smashed […]
Did you know Chinese opera singers paint their faces so they look like characters? They learn to paint theri face by practicing on paper masks. We took a class with an opera master from the Beijing Opera to learn about this and then he taught us to sing a bit of Chinese Opera. Here are […]
The Great Wall loomed large in my pantheon of must-see destinations. More than 2,000 years old, it is the single biggest man-made structure on the planet. Someone once told me you could even see it from the moon. While I believe that this assertion has been scientifically dispelled, having now visited, it remains larger than […]
Piggy had a long trek today! Where was she? Extra bonus: what do the Chinese letters on the hill mean? Send your guess to me by email! katherine@365saturdays.org
We started China in the capital city of Beijing, and started Beijing in its iconic heart – Tiananmen Square. This is famous in the West as the place where Chinses students protested for democracy in 1989, and we have read in the Western press that there are some still seeking change in China inspired by the […]
Before the earthquake of March 11th, we had 72 hours to savor Tokyo. During that time, we spent an afternoon learning classic Japanese home cooking with the kind and talented team of Chef Takamitsu Aihara. Chef Aihara has received a Michelin star for his beautiful cuisine and we were slightly star-struck to be in […]
As you know, Piggy was in a big earthquake and has been watching the news carefully to see what has been happening ever since. Exactly how big was it and where was the epicenter of the quake that made Piggy leave Japan? Send your guess to katherine@365saturdays.org by email
The line at Haneda Airport at 5:15am. Safety first. Although we were having a great time in Japan and managed to get through the earthquake without any injuries, we decided to move the family out of Tokyo today. We just arrived in Seoul where we plan to catch our breath and get some sleep. More […]
By 6am on Saturday, there was limited train service restored and we could come back to Tokyo city via a series of zigzag rides with six different legs (shuttle, 4 trains, taxi). Somehow we made it back to Akasaka without getting lost. We finally reached our rooms at the Intercontinental around 9am, where we discovered it […]
We had spent the past two hours quivering inside the Guest Relations building. Packed together with 100 other people, tight as sardines in a can. It was a dreary routine. Wait for endless amounts of time inside, then when the tremor alarm goes off, run outside and wait, then come back in when everything is […]
What do you think about in middle of an earthquake? Put yourself in our shoes at Disney, walking under a ten-story tall volcano, when the ground starts to sway. What you would see is Carter and me grinning like idiots – Disney has the most realistic special effects! Then the staff all run to their […]
Okay, before I start this blog I want to get to the point: WE ARE OKAY! “Bye!” Mom and I said. We were going to the mermaid section of Disney Sea Tokyo park, while Carter and Dad waited in line for Journey to the Center of the Earth. “We’ll meet you back here in 90 […]
We stepped off the flight from Vietnam and giggled with excitement: we were in Tokyo! We had only flown for four hours but it felt like we had landed in a different world. Everything was so sleek, high-tech, and almost unnaturally clean. There is simply no comparison between a public bathroom in Tokyo and anywhere […]
On Friday March 11, our family went to Disney Sea Tokyo. A detailed design for the park was developed by Disney so the company could extend its existing properties with an ocean-themed attraction, but it proved too costly to actually build in Orlando. A group of Japanese businessmen realized it could still succeed if they […]
Our wonderful Japan guide Mimi came over on Wednesday morning and we stepped out into the streets of Tokyo. Brrr. First stop, Ginza for jackets. Then we saw the Imperial Palace and Asukasa with its many tourist stands and great Buddhist temple and Shinto shrine. We were so impressed with Mimi. She was impeccably dressed, […]
One of our touring highlights in Central Vietnam was a day of traditional farming and fishing in Hoi An. Russ took a vacation from the itinerary and opted to stay home with an economics book (?!) while the kids and I took off on a special eco-tour. We drove to the outskirts of the Farming […]
From Halong Bay we hopped a short flight south to the middle of Vietnam. Here the village of Hoi An has been preserved and restored using old-style Vietnamese architecture. We stayed nearby at the exquisite Nam Hai resort that is one of the jewel properties for the year. A “villa” at the Nam Hai includes […]
Why do so many Hanoi tourists suffer a jarring three hour drive through Vietnam’s endless rice paddies, just to spend an evening on the waters of Halong Bay? We boarded an (extremely well-appointed) old-style wooden junk to find out. The boat set sail at lunch and a few hours later we were gliding past startling rock formations jutting […]
Who doesn’t love a good love story? Every country seems to have one. Here in Vietnam, one of the most poignant is widely known but officially unrecognized by the Vietnamese government: it is the true story of Ho Chi Minh and his Chinese wife and it goes something like this. Ho Chi Minh was born […]
Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam, a government center that is home to the country’s largest concentration of intellectuals and artists. Dusty construction confronts us in every direction. The city population just passed the 9 million mark and the streets are buzzing. This is the perfect place for cultural adventures. So much is foreign here […]
Which famous person’s tomb is Piggy visiting today? Send your guesses to me at katherine@365saturdays.org!
We were speeding down the river towards the floating village. The wind felt cool on my face but it didn’t smell very good. The water looked like my mom’s coffee drink she used to get from Starbucks. I saw lots of people in the river bathing and washing their laundry but I didn’t really think […]
We exit the van and are hit by a wave of aggravating smells and surprisingly dry heat. We smell animal and human sweat, among other indistinguishable odors. We all wrinkle our noses. Then we turn our attention to the people. Women who chew the betel nuts have red teeth, thanks to the red minerals that accumulate […]
Could one tourist site account for nearly 10% of a nation’s economy? If the nation is Cambodia and the site is the extraordinary Angkor Wat, then by our admittedly rough calculations the answer is yes. Cambodia only has a national GDP of $11 billion, ranking 124th in the world. Some 2.5 million people per year […]
Can you guess the name of the famous temple that Piggy is visiting today? Send your answer to katherine@365saturdays.org. Answers from February: In Thailand, Piggy was at the Temple of the Reclining Buddha (called Wat Pho) in Bangkok. In Southeast Asia, Piggy was in Singapore, about to cross the Malaysian border to board the Eastern […]
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