Category — China

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This was the picture we took on our pre-kid visit to Beijing in 1999. It was such a trip for us. We went there on business trip. We spent a month in Tian-Jin working ourselves off and only got a chance to go to Beijing one of the weekend. It was a totally different experience between Tian-Jin which is a manufacturing town and Beijing – the capital city of China.

We took a train from Tian-Jin to Beijing. I would never forget the smell.. oh.. the smell at the restroom in the train station. Whatever my body wanted to do, it would have to wait. I came from Thailand so squat toilet wasn’t new to me. But half wall? Why half wall? How can one proceed to do their most private business with people walking by? I just don’t get it and I didn’t wait to find out.

Once we arrived to Beijing, it was better. :) We got to practice our bargaining skill at the silk street. Sometimes I thought to myself.. why did I bother with this 50 cents discount. But I think they enjoyed the process as much as we did. We came back with lot of stuffs. Mr. Rojo still has his jacket we got there.  The backpack we got didn’t make it home after the trip.

We enjoyed the comfort food like Starbucks and Popeye’s Chicken. We had the best time partying at Hard Rock Cafe. Our idea of conservative Chinese was thrown out the window in this bustling city. Ah.. I can’t wait to go back. I wonder how much progress it will be after 10 years.

Check out other travelers’ Photo Friday at Delicious Baby.

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

This photo could have been taken in anywhere in Europe. But the truth is this ruin is in Macau – The Asia Sin City. It’s amazing how history has different trace of how small our world is. This is part of the old ruin of St. Paul church in Macau. We visited here during our trip to Hong Kong and Macau in 2007. It was one of the fun and crazy trip for us. With 6 children and probably 15 adults, I felt like we just flew by this amazing city.

Macau has a lot of Portugal influence as we can see it throughout the city. The food, the architechture, the culture.. A small city but very big personality. It’s called ‘Las Vegas of Asia’ for a good reason. They have several big casinos throughout the city. One big difference I would say is the smoking. This is not by any mean a family-friendly city. The casinos are full of smokers. The restaurants mostly have no separate rooms for non-smoking. You pretty much have to walk pass the smoke-filled room to the corner of the restaurant.

However, the other aspect of the city is amazing. It’s a great city to walk around and learn about Macau history. So I will think a family with older kids would really appreciate learning how East culture meet West culture and co-exist nicely.

Check out other Photo Friday participants around the world at Delicious Baby.

With the Beijing 2008 Olympic fever that we have in our house right now, I want to post the picture we took almost 10 years ago. Starbucks have been in Beijing way before the Olympic. I’m very in awe with the opening ceremony but I’m not surprised. I know that the Chinese can do it and they have the determination and committment to make it big.

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