Month: September 2019

Some of you have already heard this story in embarrassing detail…. for those that haven’t, sit back and enjoy a very Caitlin experience.

We were trying to figure out where we wanted to go this summer, and we were waiting to hear from the University if our trip to the US would be approved, so we waited until the last minute to book anything. We talked about Singapore, but the flights were really expensive, and talked about going back to Japan, but we wanted some where new. Finally we settled on Malaysia – but since our time was limited we would spend one week in Kuala Lampur, and save visiting different parts of Malaysia for a different trip. While we were deciding this, we got the approval and trip plans for the US had to be made too.

Now that the scene is set… I’m working on my first journal article, trying to find flights and hotels in KL and in the US and keep my soon to be home for the summer son on track for the last couple of days of school. I found decently priced tickets, go to buy them and they have sold out, go back and pick new tickets, ok crisis averted. I book a great airbnb, set up one of our excursions to pick us up there, and move on to planning the US trip before it gets any more expensive. I’ve never booked travel two weeks out, I’m more of an eight week planner, so this whole process was extremely stressful for me while I was trying to revise my paper.

Fast forward and it’s 4 days before we are set to leave for Malaysia, and I’m starting to pull things together that need to get packed (but in a very lazy and relaxed way), when an email pops up on my computer… saying that we can check in for our flight to Guangzhou tomorrow. I looked at it and thought, Mark just got back from Guangzhou, and why are they sending this to me anyway?? So I ignored it and went back to working. After about 30 minutes of it rattling around in my brain, I decided I should go back and read that more carefully. And yes, in fact, our flight to KL was the next morning really early in the morning, so we needed to get to the airport area that night to get to the airport on time.

I did not handle this with grace, I called Mark up freaking out because we couldn’t change the tickets, and the air bnb is now for the wrong days, and she won’t let us change them, so I cancelled it because she was so rude, and now we don’t have anywhere to stay plus we still had to pay the rude airbnb lady because you can’t cancel it for free. He came home from his meeting, ready to go, and like the amazing husband he is, telling me that at least I had caught the email and saved the trip.

I threw all our stuff together into suitcases and we decided that at least if we’re going to be in Shanghai overnight we could go get some good food before we take off. So we hop in a Didi and ride out to our favorite sesame noodle place in the city. From there we had another 45 minutes in another Didi to get to the hotel with an airport shuttle we could take early in the morning. It’s now about 9:45 and the plan is that we will watch a nova together and then go to bed, and we’re all pretty tired from an emotional day. As we check into the hotel, I ask about the shuttle, and the front desk lady asks me which terminal we need… I can’t remember and pull out my phone to check (have you guessed where this is going?) OH THAT’S RIGHT, TERMINAL 2 AT THE OTHER AIRPORT, TWO AND A HALF HOURS AWAY… THE ONE THAT IS CLOSER TO OUR APARTMENT IN HAINING!

It’s now so late, but we can’t wait until the morning to go because our flight left too early. So we try to get a cab to take us to Hangzhou, and we get one and he just keeps questioning “Hangzhou?!?” over and over. Turns out he can’t actually take us to Hangzhou because the license on his cab isn’t allowed, but he has a friend who can take us. While we’re driving, I try to book a hotel in Hangzhou for the night, but given that it’s now 10:30, rooms are limited, and I book the first one that is available and not too far from the airport.

We arrived at the Hangzhou Marriott at 12:45 in the morning, and it was such a nice room…. that we got to sleep in for 4 hours before getting up to head to the airport. I was such a nervous wreck that I couldn’t sleep because I was so afraid that the alarm wouldn’t go off and we’d miss the flight after all this. Again, despite being mad, my amazing husband told me that at least I caught it when I did instead of in the morning when it would be too late to fix. (Unsolicited advice– find a partner who can still find the best when things are so awful you just want to curl up and quit)

At least there is a happy ending, we got on the plane in the morning, flights were uneventful and we got to Kuala Lumpur. Our flight came in around 5, so we got to the new airbnb and dropped our things off and headed to our first food destination.

I don’t know how Mark found this place, but it was the first we went to and we all loved it. Alex has never been a big fan of Indian food, but with this place he finally tried some. His favorite was lamb Masala with double cheese naan and a pineapple lassi. The tandoori chicken was great, the nescafe was cold, and the dal was to die for!

As happens with me,I forgot to take pictures of the food until we were almost done

WE actually liked it so much here we went another time later in the trip. Some of these pictures are from the second trip.

It was a thrilling beginning to what ended up being a very relaxing trip.

For the second time this year, we were so lucky to have family come and visit us here in China. Mark’s parents made their 2nd trip to China, and his sister Sharon and her two girls made their first trip. They all stayed at the hotel on campus and Mark got them from the airport this time.

We wanted to give them a bigger sample of China (last time his parents stayed in Haining the whole visit) so we took them into Shanghai and Mark took Sharon and the girls to Wuzhen.

While everyone was together in Haining, we took them to our favorite restaurant and the surprise for me was that my favorite dish was one of everyone’s favorites, a spicy cucumber salad. They also enjoyed dumplings and eggplant stuffed with pork and then fried.

There was an excursion to the water town area of Haining, Nanguanxiang, so they could go to our tea shop and see some local culture. Unfortunately that was during the big remodel and moving, so the shop was closed and no tea was had, but Mark’s Mom and Dad got to watch Alex rocking his Chinese with the locals and what a regular day for him is like being a little famous in our town.

What trip to Haining would be complete without a trip to the mall? Our two teenage nieces loved UniQlo, a Japanese chain that is very popular here in China- I think they may have some in the US as well. The clothes are cute and well made.

This group just leaned into everything, my oldest niece Kimberly drove one of our ebikes, and so did Sharon (with Jillian the youngest as a passenger, that’s not easy for a new rider), and even Bob took a ride around campus on the ebike. Mark rode with Alex and he lead an expedition to the pagoda in town, which is a ebike ride and small hike away. I wasn’t there… but I’ve been told by two reliable sources (Alex and Jillian) that the coldest drink they’ve ever had was sold at the top of the hill next to the pagoda- which is a valuable thing to know on a hot and humid June afternoon.

We decided to split the group up as there were different interests, so Mark took Sharon and the girls to Wuzhen for a night while I stayed in Haining with Pat and Bob.

We took a bullet train into Shanghai because it was on Bob’s china bucket list, and quite frankly I think it’s the easiest way to move this many people across our area.

We had to break up into groups because those were the only tickets available. Alex’s, Jillian’s and my tickets didn’t have seat numbers on them, and we asked a guard what that meant, and he said just sit wherever, so we did. Those seats belonged to someone else, and we had to stand for the trip. Next time I will ask when we buy the tickets.

We took the Butala clan to our favorite Indian Restaurant (Lotus Land) in our favorite unique part of town- Tian zi Fang. Everyone enjoyed picking out souvenirs for themselves and friends back at home. And I think everyone really enjoyed the dinner. It wasn’t too much walking, but enough that you could get a feel for the neighborhood and market.

Our nieces had never been to Disney, so we planned a day to take them to Shanghai Disney. Mark is not a Disney person, so he hung out with his parents while Alex and I went to Disney again.

Without meaning to, we ended up going on the busiest day, they had just started some summer program and the announcers were saying if you hadn’t already bought a ticket you wouldn’t be allowed in. So everything was incredibly busy, slinky dog had an hour long wait, and it was extremely hot. But everyone was still smiling!

Waiting for the Tron ride. I don’t ride Tron, so I was down at the rave for children in Tomorrowland, eating a dole whip cone while they waited 2 hours for the ride.

The three cousins in front of the castle, I think a good time was had by all.

Mark took his parents to one of our favorite noodle places in Shanghai, and while they were a little dubious at first, I think they really enjoyed it.

The next day we had rain the whole day (at least it didn’t rain at Disney), so we took them to Yu Yuan Gardens, again there was more souvenir shopping, but also covered places to sit. We split off into different groups to explore in the time we had left before they closed. We actually ended up closing them down and getting gently kicked out.

Many of you have heard me talk about Mark and Alex (but mostly Mark) and their ability to find and befriend stray cats the world over. This is one of several cat friends that Mark made on this trip…. and he even got his pants all wet so he could sit and make friends with the cat.

Overall, we had a great visit with our family, and I genuinely hope they did too. They were adventurous, and despite being tired, just kept trucking along.

I think I may have more pictures to add, I will add them if I find them.

This is actually a couple different weekends in Hangzhou combined into one post.

Hangzhou is the bigish city neighbor that competes with Shanghai for local excitement. Now, I use bigish in Chinese terms, Haining is a small town of just under a million people, and Hangzhou is medium at 8 million people. By comparison, the small town in Illinois we lived in before this had roughly 130,000 people (if you count the neighboring town that is connected, and I think the student population too). So I always laugh a little to myself about the medium town with 8 million people.

While Hangzhou is nearby, we really hadn’t gone in for fun since our original visit to China before our move; we’ve been there for meetings at the main campus, or to turn in paperwork. We had a long weekend for tomb sweeping holiday, and decided to spend it in Hangzhou.

There are several professors at our university who live full time in Hangzhou and commute into Haining for teaching, so when we said we’d be in Hangzhou for the weekend we received several offers to hang out.

One of those offers was from our friends Simon and Lily, and while she wasn’t here this day, they also have an adorable little girl Electra. They met us in Hangzhou and took us to the local tea plantation, where the famous green tea Longjin is grown and produced. I will admit, I’m not a huge green tea person, but Mark loves this green tea- and it smelled lovely.

This was such a beautiful area, there was a walking path nearby- Alex and Lily took a walk and found fencing sticks for everyone while Mark, Simon and I stayed back to drink tea.

Uncle Simon is the best, he bought Alex ice cream and a giant cotton candy! They also bought him a balloon (and one to take home to Electra).

That night, they took us to a fantastic restaurant, which has since become a favorite for our group. It’s an all you can eat sushi place, and at the one in Hangzhou Alex is free, at least for another 5 cm or so. There is a similar place close to our house that we have been going to, but he isn’t free there (which is kind of ok because this kid can eat his weight in salmon sushi). I didn’t take any pictures here because I was focused on good food and great company (and fighting Alex for salmon and tuna). Two of the really cool things we had never had before were a lobster sashimi and scallop sashimi. This has become Mark’s favorite thing now, and isn’t available at the one closer to our house, so we may have to head back into Hangzhou just for that.

The next day we were on our own, and we went to a famous place for Baozi,the breakfast bun. Baozi are one of Alex and my favorite foods in china, it’s a steamed bun that can be filled with lots of things, but our favorite is pork. While the pork cooks and the bun steams, a lovely gravy is created and it’s define. Another popular version of this that you may see in Chinese restaurants is one with barbeque pork inside, this is fantastic too if you ever have the option to try it.

At the place we went in Hangzhou, there are only two options, pork or black sesame- and each bun is 2RMB or roughly $0.28. We get two each, and head for a nice spot to sit.

You’ll notice in the picture above, Mark is leaning way over…. it’s because we’ve learned our lesson on the first buns. The baozi are so juicy, that they overflow and the juice is hot!! It was a bit of a wait for the baozi, but definitely worth it.

From the baozi place, it is a short walk to get to West Lake, one of Hangzhou’s most famous locations. Alex and I went there on our first visit to China (which I just realized was before the blog, so I will add some pictures from that first trip here too)

This trip to Hangzhou was during a national holiday, so West Lake was packed! We didn’t stay long because it was too hot and too crowded, but we did see some interesting things. The gold dragon boat above was a way to travel across the lake, but in style! I just really liked this boat, I feel like it just fits this area of China well.

West Lake has different people playing music, doing dance routines, working out, just enjoying the outside. As far as we can tell, this people don’t get paid for what they’re doing, they just genuinely enjoy and want to share that with other people. The people above were very nice, and Alex loved hearing them, I don’t know the name of the instrument that the man is playing, but it is a traditional Chinese instrument that is popular in the older generation. I don’t think we’ve seen anyone under 50 playing it.

This picture above was to show the crowds…. but also, every one is crowded around this tree because it has 3 squirrels in it. There aren’t really squirrels here, so everyone gets really excited to see them.

The lady statue is a famous spot in Hangzhou, at one of the oldest pharmacies.

At a famous West Lake restaurant, Grandma’s House. This was while we were waiting for our food to come out, when it did come, I was too excited to remember to take pictures- but we had a dish of beggar’s chicken, which was hands down one of the best chickens I’ve ever eaten. It’s braised for a long time with spices and cooking wine, wrapped in a lotus leaf and then presented. The chicken falls off the bone, it’s so juicy and lovely, and while all the dishes we got there were excellent, this one we enjoyed so much that Mark has been trying to perfect it at home. We’ve had two successes and one didn’t taste at all like beggar’s chicken but was still fantastic.

A big draw to West Lake in the late spring early summer are the lotuses, which while there is no scale here, the flowers are as big as dinner plates or larger. The leaves can be worn as hats, (a la Swiss Family Robinson) and it would cover your whole head and shoulders. The lotuses are such a beautiful motivation to make it all the way around the lake!

This is our friend Candice, she worked at the University in Mark’s institute and recently left to start a job at a different university in Hangzhou. While we were sad to see her go, we can absolutely understand because her home is in Hangzhou and she was commuting 3 hours everyday. We met up with her in Hangzhou and had a nice dinner and a lovely visit with her. This is her and Alex doing a picture app on her phone, and some of the highlights of the many that they took.

These pictures are from our visit 2 years ago. The day we went was very rainy, but it gave everything a beautiful atmosphere. It felt like China that you see in the movies.

June is a good time to see the lotuses on West Lake, these are relatively small, there are some as big as your head!

7 year old Alex, not amused with taking pictures, and the lovely grad student showing us around didn’t want him to get wet.

A view across the lake, this is really just one half of the lake as well, it’s much bigger than I thought it would be.

I can’t remember her name (although I’ve seen her since then too) but she was a wonderful host, and we rode the boat back across the lake because Alex wanted to (and I was developing a giant blister)

We were riding a boat just like this when I took the picture. While the gold dragon boat is cool, these are the more common way to get around the lake.

Alex was taking a mental picture because I wouldn’t let him use the camera– he wanted to hang it out the window.

Nothing really to do with Hangzhou in particular, but Alex thought the hotel robe was hysterical and that it was like tae kwan do clothes. So he was practicing in the hotel every time we were there.