Tag: China

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Food and family

As I mentioned in the previous post, we stayed with Yanmei’s niece, Chingching. Sunday night Chingching and her husband took us out for Beijing style hotpot.

I should have taken a picture when all the meat was on the table but I forgot. I could tell the restaurant was good because the place was huge, but it was still crowded. Very good meal.

On Monday, first we visited Yanmei’s parents and they served us a feast for lunch.

You can see where I fumbled with my chopsticks and dropped some zucchini on the table.

After that nice visit we went to Yanmei’s big sister’s (Chingching’s Mom) place. They were also looking after Chingching’s son while she was at work. That makes Yanmei a great aunt, and me a great uncle I guess.

Yanmei’s big sister with her grandson. We had another feast for dinner.

After that we went to visit Yanmei’s younger sister. Since China ended the one child policy in 2016, she decided to have another baby, and they had boy. We only stayed a short time because they were about to have dinner and they had guests.

David

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Beijing, China

We made it to Beijing successfully, although Yanmei now has a cold that started in Kunming. Strangely, it is different than what I had. I thought she would catch what I had, but she resisted that and somehow caught something else. She has a cough and sore throat, whereas I had sneezing and sinus congestion. We are staying at her niece’s apartment.

Yanmei was reluctant to come to Beijing because it is “too cold.” But I’ve been checking the Beijing weather on my phone and most days it has been 55-60F (13-15C), not hot or warm like most places on this trip, but also not winter weather. I convinced her it wouldn’t be too bad, and as a compromise on the last day in Kunming we went shopping for a winter jacket for her.

We arrived late Friday afternoon and it was pretty chilly, about 45F. Then Saturday morning I got up and looked out the window and it was snowing, heavily. Good thing she has that winter jacket! Although at least it was warm enough that the snow didn’t accumulate, it just became slush that melted to water later when the snow turned to sleet. Lovely day.

The good news is Yanmei saw her son and he is doing well and looks tall and handsome.

David

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Kunming, China

We’ve mostly been resting since we arrived in China. Physically I feel much better, mostly recovered from my recent problems. Kunming is in Yunnan province in southern China and is known as the City of Eternal Spring for its nice climate. It is literal spring right now though, the trees are blossoming.

Our AirBnb is near Green Lake Park which is a nice park and lake in the center of the city. Although there are over 5 million people in Kunming, it doesn’t seem very crowded, especially compared to the last few places we’ve been, the density must be lower.

Nice to be able to walk around without a face mask for pollution.

People dancing in the park, enjoying life.

Yanmei has been to Kunming before. That’s why it is funny that she is now experiencing some culture shocks in her native country. For example we went to eat at a hotpot restaurant and she couldn’t figure out how the ordering system worked or what the prices were. Speaking of restaurants, one of the bad things about this region is many people here smoke, and they do it in restaurants. My tolerance for smoke is way down and I find it very off putting.

We had an amusing coincidence yesterday. While browsing a tea shop, Yanmei found out the shopkeeper’s name is also Yanmei Li.

The two Yanmei Lis.

David