Chinese children

Pretty cute kids huh?!

Chinese men

Some of the men here in China.

Party with the Panther

Went to a local club and they were celbrating an international May day? No idea what it was, but they had tons of pink panthers all over, I even got my picture with him!

The party people!

Me and Mr. Pink

KTV

KTV is the local karaoke bars. They take karaoke very serious in Asian countries. Its not like in the states where its an open room and you and a bunch of friends/strangers all sing in front of each other and you have to wait and wait to sing. Nope here your rent out your own private room! You can have food and drinks and your own party, most of us sing so much our throats hurt the next day. So here is the entire crew back in March in our own KTV room. Its got couches and the works, its like hanging out at a nice house.

(there is a huge screen on the wall you can't see in this picture with the words for the songs)

We also bought a little Chinese girl to help us party, she helped with the machine to pick music and she could sing and dance with us. Total cost for the room/drinks/food/girl for all night-$100 total. And we drank plenty...had to, none of us sing well sober LOL.

Hot Pot

This has been my favorite place to eat in China. Its not sweet and sour chicken and spring rolls....I have not actually seen ANY since I got here. Nope this place is called Little Sheep restaurant and its the famous hot pot chain in China. Hot pot is a type of cookings, its very close to a fondue. There is a pot in the middle of the table with a gas stove top under it. The pot is full of whatever spices or flavor you like in a broth. Then you pick the ingredients you want to boil in the pot. So you cook it yourself at the table and everyone eats out of the same pot. You can also order different types of sauces to dip your food in. I get the peanut sauce or garlic sauce.

Here are some of our ingredients:
The menu is completely in Chinese so we just kept going and going to figure out what was what. They let us keep one right on menu and we write in English what is what, and then bring that back with us next time to order again.

Here is the hot pot itself in the middle of the table.

Chinese women

These are some faces with years of laughter and friendship.

And then ones with wisdom and heartache.

Mount Putuo (3/15/08 trip)

Again a China trip we took before the blog. A day trip to Mount Putuo, via ferry boat. Here are the main two sites to see.

Puji Temple
Guan Yin Statue