2015 Feb our 5th Chinese New Year celebration in China and what a difference a year makes!

23 Feb 2015

Greetings all in the Year of the Goat/Sheep/Ram..it's all the same in Chinese.. Yang 羊 (if you use your imagination, in the character, you can imagine looking eye to eye with a goat...the pointy parts on top are the ears, the top line is the eyes, the 2nd line is the nose and the 3rd (bottom) line is the mouth and the straight line is the neck to the rest of the body...not sure if that's correct, but that's how I see it!) So it's out with the Horse and in with the Goat.  My year is the mouse/rat and Rod's is the Pig..neither one have been celebrated in the 5 years we've been here.

Our 5th Chinese New year..wow, hard to believe!  We arrived in late March 2010, so we're just now coming up on our 5 year anniversary...we've lived here about as long as we've lived anywhere in our life..that is amazing too!  And it is true..the older we get, the faster time seems to go by...and the more grey hairs that seem to arrive.

Grey hairs or not, we're both grateful for the healing Rod has experienced in the past year.  What a difference a year has made. This time last year he was really sick with the cancer growing, he couldn't pee without pain, had the urge to go all the time and couldn't..just miserable.  I've written about it before and if you've read that in this blog, you know we took an alternative path to the traditional US healthcare system.  Today, 1 year later, I am proud to say that today with the help of Dr Dong and Dr Brown in Myrtle Beach to get him on a healthy lifestyle and diet, Dr Yu in Beijing to get the cancer stopped , Dr David here in Shenyang to get him the hormone therapy medicine and the decision and Actions made by Rod, he has had great success.  He just had a full lab work done and his results are very good!   Thank you Lord!  Of course we never know if it will come back...he's doing everything he can to increase his own immune system to make his body not a place for cancer to grow.  Like many other things, we take it one day at a time and do the next right thing and ask God to continue to keep him healthy.  We take the good news when we have it! 


Now, back to Chinese New year!  We started this New Year with my work annual meeting where we show the accomplishments of the past year and give the new year a kickoff.  It's unlike anything I've ever experienced anywhere in the Michelin world.  There are videos and simple powerpoint presentations and as I mentioned in last year's blog..a type of talent show at the end.  Here are a few pictures of this year's meeting...

Sarah on the big stage for the 2015 Annual Plan meeting

Sarah talking to a coworker at the meeting

After the business part of the meeting, there was the annual 'show'...this is where the union (not at all like unions in the US) put together a show from employee ('volunteers').  Since I sang last year, I was requested to sing again...this time as part of another group.  So, this year, I took an opportunity to get a new chinese dress and lay it on thick!

Sarah singing in the big show at Annual Plan meeting in Feb 2015

 It's too big to upload to the blog...so if you want to see it check it out on my facebook page or go on Youtube to see it:
Link to Youtube Sarah's Channel


After the business meeting,  I went home in the dress and got a picture with Rod. 

Rod and Sarah Feb 2015 ready for Chinese new year!

  The hotel where we live had a dumpling making class and display..we've both made dumplings before, but it was fun to play in the dough again and wear chef hats!

Out of the dress and into a flannel shirt and jeans, Rod and I played chef here at the hotel, making dumplings ready for Chinese New Years!

For the actual Chinese new year, we started with a small celebration at our Chinese friend/family doing the traditional feast and dumpling eating and gift exchange.

Rod and Sarah at the table with the appetizers

Mama Rod, Daisy, Sarah, Baba with the 5 gord (good luck) fountain they gave us

Mama bringing out the shrimp

Rod setting up the fountain

All of us together drinking tea after the meal

We've been here almost 5 years and this is the first time we've actually traveled anywhere in China during this time of year.  We've been to Korea, Hawaii, Taiwan and stayed in Shenyang but never anywhere else in China (to stay away from the 1.2 billion people who are traveling!)...it actually hasn't been too bad.... we traveled on the equivalent of Christmas day.  We didn't want to go far, and some friends of ours had visited a small old city in the Shanxi province and really liked it, so we decided on Pingyao.   We took an additional risk by arranging this travel by ourselves...no tour guide, just Rod, me, our limited chinese and some recommendations.  To get to Pingyao, we flew into Taiyuan, then spent the night in a Wanda Vista hotel.  These are big hotels, very nice...coming to a big international city near you in the future!  Very nice, over the top decor and pretty much had the place to ourselves!

The lobby of the Wanda Vista hotel in Taiyuan

Rod and Sarah in the lobby of the Wanda Plaza hotel in Taiyuan

Rod in the "His Majesty the Baby" chair in the lobby of the hotel!

We took a taxi from the hotel and the driver asked me (in Chinese, which I understood!) what we were going to do and I told him we wanted to go to Pingyao the next day.  He asked me if I wanted to take his taxi.  After some negotiations and discussion with  the concierge, we decided we could take this driver and his old beatup VW Santana taxi.   In hindsight, this was both good and bad...the good news was we had a taxi to take us on Friday and bring us back on Sunday...the bad news was, he was slow..at least going there!  But, we had a deal, so off we went...part of the adventure!

When we awoke the next day and had a really good breakfast (you learn to load up in the 5 star hotel when you're not sure what the next meal will be!) our Taxi guy was waiting and off we went to our first stop on the way to Pingyao.  We had a dusting of snow and the driving was slow...I'm pretty sure he had may-pop tires and the heater was not working...so we sat bundled up in the backseat of the taxi getting to the winter wonderland of the Jinci Temple.  This temple is about 25 km from the Taiyuan and is a big complex (more than 100 structures)  of buildings, ponds, bridges, old trees, a pagoda and of course several temples.  It was started to be built a long time ago (Song Dynasty 960-1279 AD) and has been rebuilt and preserved over the years.  Some trees there are said to be 3000 years old!
Here are some pictures of the snowy Jinci temple.

Sarah and Rod at the entrace to Jinci temple area

One of the streams (fed by a natural hot spring) in the temple area

Sarah and one of the 4 iron guards (these guards are 900 years old...still in very good shape!)  (The metal working was much better in ancient China than modern China!)

Rod up against one of the iron guards standing in front of the main temple

One of the beautiful trees in the temple area of Jinci temple

Another tree in the temple area

Some of the clay sculptures in the temple.  I didn't get close up pictures (because you couldn't get close and I only had my phone camera!).  They are magnificent..beautiful expressions and are actual sculptures from the Song Dynasty.  Just stunning

The offering table at the temple.  At the center is the "Holy Mother" Yijiang. 

A picture of a picture...one of the eunuch's in the hall

Another picture of a picture...I just love the expressions on the faces of these sculptures

Another picture of a picture...Not all of the maid servants were skinny...love this one

Another picture of a picture of one of the maid servants of the Song Dynasty in the temple. There are 43 of these sculptures lining the 'Holy Mother Hall"  She looks a little sassy to me!

One the guards outside the Mother Hall

Some interesting roof lines in this structure highlighted by the snow

One of the bridges over the spring-fed koi fish pond

The stream feeding the pond curved stream facing up to a curved pond..architecturally an interesting problem to solve!

Sara in the snow at Jinci temple

The pagoda at Jinci temple

He stood in the doorway..Rod looks like an integral part to a keyhole doesn't he?

You've heard of a snafu...well, this is a happy snowfu!

After spending a couple of hours walking around in the snow, we found our waiting taxi and got on our way to Pingyao.  According to the distance, it should be about 60km...well, at 45 miles/hour, I can tell you it took about 2 hours to get there!  We're not sure the driver was worried about his tires or his engine, or both...but he never made it over 45 miles/hour.  Just about drove Rod nuts!
We finally arrived, then of course the driver didn't know the city of Pingyao well, and our hotel was in the middle of the old town..so we had to circle the wall until we found the right entrance to have someone from the hotel meet us.  We finally got there and established when and where the driver would pick us up on Sunday morning..so far so good!

The hotel our friends recommended was closed for renovation, so we had to get another one..it was located in the heart of the ancient city (all pedestrian streets with electric golf carts and scooters allowed...and a bazillion people!)  The hotel itself used to be the 'Finacial club" and was built about 300 years ago.

Rod and Sarah Checking in at the hotel (Yun Jin Cheng)  in Pingyao

Rod getting the door open to the room at the hotel

Inside the room at the hotel...bed looks nice..typical Chinese bed..hard as a rock!

View from our room into the Courtyard of the hotel

 After getting settled into the hotel, we took a stroll around the city.  Pingyao is an old city with an 'ancient city' inside a wall. During the Qing dynasty (1644-1912) it was the financial center of China.  Similar to Wall Street. The Ancient city goes back about 2700 years and is a UNESCO site.

Walking in the city by the City tower...with a bazillion other Chinese people getting out to spend some of their 'Hong Bao' (Red enveloppe) money they got for Chinese New year

Having a drink of tea at a tea shop...good tea and warm!

Tea shops always have interesting tea pots..no I didn't buy one of these...tempting, but held off!

 After a long day, we got in for the night and even though the bed was hard, we slept well.  The next day, we got up and ate breakfast at the hotel and then checked out the city.  There are 19 different types of museums (not like a museum in the US..these are venues in the city that you walk through seeing and reading (in Chinese...not yet!)  about what was operating here back in the day).  We bought a ticket that gets you into all of these places, knowing we probably wouldn't see all of them.  Actually, you have to buy this ticket as you can't get it any of the places without it...good marketing on their part!

The entrance to one of the old banks in Pingyao ancient city

Rod playing with some old martial arts 'tools' in Pingyao

Sarah and Rod inside one of the museums (seen one seen them all!)

Rod in the entry way to a bank in Pingyao

Sarah with an old 'banker' in Pingyao

Rod standing beside 'big money'!

A view of Pingyao from the South Wall around Pingyao.  Still today there are about 50k people who live in this old city

Rod having fun on the Wall around the city of Pingyao

Sarah having fun too on the Wall in Pingyao

One of the many shops in Pingyao..I just loved the colors in this shop!

A view of the city wall around Pingyao.  The wall is a square about 8km around (I walked it!) and it has 6 gates.  Pingyao is called the turtle city and the gates of the city are positioned on the wall like the Head, tail and 4 legs of a turtle.  The turtle is also thought to bring safety and I'm sure good luck!

A view of Pingyao Confuscious temple in the background from the vantage point of the old wall.

Sarah and Rod at Erhang temple in Pingyao

Rod and Sarah at the Erlang temple around the north gate of Pingyao

Slicing and cooking noodles on the street in Pingyao

Getting ready to eat a full plate of dumplings (sharing with me!)  after a full day of exploring Pingyao

Sarah standing in the door at Erlang temple in Pingyao

After a full day walking around, we got back into the hotel and settled for the night...then the lights flickered and went out...we heard a generator sputtering and it came and went...and the electricity stayed off all night!  The good news is, we had steam heat that was circulating, and we had big feather comforters and stayed warm.  I'm pretty sure this has happened before!  All part of the adventure!  The next day, we had to get up early to take our taxi to Taiyuan.  We were not entirely sure he would be there, but sure enough at 6:00am, he came rattling along and was there to take us back to Taiyuan.  Glad we had arranged him ahead of time because there was no taxi anywhere at that hour in Pingyao!  He took us back a different way and we were at the airport with time to spare.  Always better to be early than late at an airport!

All in all, it was a good trip..good to see another old city, and good to return home again!

So, now we come to the end of our trip...we come to the beginning of another new year in China.
May God bless you all and give us all health, happiness and gratitude for all we have.  We are blessed to call you our friends and thanks so much for your kind support over the years!

Sarah & Rod