KTV in Shanghai

Last weekend we were invited to join our amazing ayi Rose and her family for some karaoke on Sunday afternoon.  It wasa blast!  It's a very popular form of entertainment for Chinese people, and the place was packed with a long waiting list to reserve a room. Everyone gets a private room and drinks and food are served.  Songs are available in Chinese or English. We had the chance to meet Rose's husband, her adorable two year old daughter and her mother and father.  They all live together and her father takes care of the baby when Rose comes to work.  Such nice people.  Despite the fact that our communication was very limited, we all had a lot of fun and music really is the international language. Not too many shy people in this bunch....a GREAT day!

Here's Rose:

Rose's little daugher with the perfect face.  I wish she was mine.

That's Rose's husband on the right.  He is a bus mechanic.

Goings on About Town....

5/6th grade talent show....here's Jeb and his friend Kevin as Justin Bieber and Ludacris:

Madeline as Dorothy in her school choir "Wizard of Oz" medley:

Hope and her new friend Anna in our neighborhood:

Busy night surfing the web at home!

A visit from Granny

Following quickly on the heels of our trip to Vietnam for Spring vacation, Anne arrived in Shanghai....welcome Granny! Fresh off her 12 day China odyssey with her friend Nancy Snyder as part of a tour group, she stayed with us for four days of sightseeing, restaurants and catching her breath.  It was fun to be able to show her the sights we have come to know.

She even got to watch a game of soccer in Shanghai...

Thanks for visiting, Granny/Anne

Catching up...and Vietnam, April 2012

Since my last post at the end of March, time has flown by over here and much has happened.  I've learned the hard way that if you let up on the blogging for even just a little while, you can quickly lose your momentum and fall horribly behind (kudos to anyone who is really persistent at this!).  And then the task seems to grow bigger every day and so, of course, you put it off some more. And then you find yourself where I am...about two months backlogged and with a big job on my hands to get myself current and make sure I close out this spectacular year with a woefully incomplete picture of our experiences over here.....
After our awesome guests left in March leaving us feeling gloomy and homesick, we perked up considerably with a trip to Vietnam.  Ever since meeting Van Nguyen at Harvard, I've dreamed of seeing this beautiful country, and it definitely didn't disappoint.

Hanoi is surely the most chaotic city I have ever been to.  You cannot overstate the mania of the mopeds and bikers on the streets - which totally overwhelm the cars and pedestrians.  At a given stoplight, there might be 400 mopeds waiting patiently for a green light, while various other trucks and vehicles brazenly flout the traffic laws and drive literally any which way they choose. It's quite a seen and one we will not forget soon.  Crossing the street felt like jumping into the unknown and we all clutched each other as we dashed across.

Various unusual foods and sights on the streets...

We saw Ho Chi Minh's tomb

And the very modest home where he lived and work, refusing to reside in the palace of the former French Governor (photo below)

And we had the eye opening experience of a visit to the famed "Hanoi Hilton" where John McCain was held prisoner.  I think it's fair to say that the kids will have a far greater appreciation for the complexity and devastation of the Vietnam War (or the "American War" as they call it in Vietnam) than I ever did.  Here's a plaque hanging on the wall inside the museum -not the version we learned in 11th grade:

Here's the flight suit McCain was wearing when he was shot down and captured.

Hanoi was crowded, chaotic and amazing.  We loved every minute.

From Hanoi we flew south to Hue, formerly the capital city of the Nguyen Dynasty from 1802 to 1945.  We had drizzly gray weather during our time there, but mostly used it as a base of operations for our full day tour of the DMZ along the famous National Way 1A highway.  We visited Hien Luong Bridge, the 17th parallel  Khe Sanh and the Vinh Moc Tunnels. It was a long day of driving and learning about the various battle sites, but worth it to give us all a much deeper appreciation for the trauma caused on all sides.

In Vinh Moc, we were able to go down into the underground compound and try to imagine whole families living underground for months and months at a time.  It was dark, damp and very claustrophobic.  John had to hunch over the entire time because of the low height of the tunnels, and it was spooky to be so surrounded by darkness.  This from Wikipedia about this fascinating place:

(Vịnh Mốc) is a tunnel complex in Quang Tri, Vietnam. During the Vietnam War it was strategically located on the border of North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The tunnels were built to shelter people from bombing raids.  The American forces believed the villagers of Vinh Moc were supplying food and armaments to the North Vietnemese garrison on the island of Con Co which was in turn hindering the American bombers on their way to bomb Hanoi. The idea was to force the villagers of Vinh Moc to leave the area but as is typical in Vietnam there was nowhere else to go. The villagers initially dug the tunnels to move their village 10 metres underground but the American forces designed bombs that burrowed down 10 metres. Eventually against these odds, the villagers moved the village to a depth of 30 metres. It was constructed in several stages beginning in 1966 and used until early 1972. The complex grew to include wells, kitchens, rooms for each family and spaces for healthcare. Around 60 families lived in the tunnels; as many as 17 children were born inside the tunnels.

From Hue, we drove via the famous Cloudy Pass- the traditional physical boundary between North and South Vietnam -   to Da Nang and finally to Hoi An..Hoi An is recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.  Hoi An's ancient town is a beautiful fishing town that has grown along with the recent boom in Vietnamese development.  From Dan Nang to Hoi An the coastal drive is totally under development -- with one 5 star hotel going up next to the other.  Beautiful scenery everywhere -- some feels untouched, but that is becoming a thing of the past....

We feel lucky to have seen this beautiful area before it is totally overrun.  We had three days to play in the sun and explore Hoi An -- well known for it's many local tailors and its picturesque ambiance.

A highlight was cooking school with our new friend Van -- the owner of Green Bamboo Cooking School.  Our day included a shopping trip to the local market.  Van grew up in Hoi An and knows everyone she sees...then back to the hotel to pick up John and the kids and an afternoon at her home making a humongous and delicious Vietnamese lunch. To cap it off, rides for everyone on her motorbike.

Hope to see you again soon, Vietnam!