Chris' Engineer Blog

Table of content for all of the days. On the bottom of each are the links to a gallery of pics and videos. China Day 0: Flight to HK (12/18/17) Day 1: Arrival to Chengdu (12/19/17) Day 2: New Chengdu (12/20/17) Day 3: Old Chengdu (12/21/17) Day 4: Jiajiang County (12/22/17) Day 5: 1,000 Buddhas (12/23/17) Japan Day 6: Go to Tokyo (12/24/17) Day 7: Tsukiji Market and a Tokyo Christmas (12/25/17) Day 8: Osaka for Kobe Beef (12/26/17) Day 9: Back 2 Tokyo (12/27/17) Day 10: Akihabara and Asakusa (12/28/17) Day 11: Sayonara, Japan-san (12/29/17) China 2 Day 12: Day of Rest (12/30/17) Day 13: Return to Jiajiang (12/31/17) Day 14: Tian Fu Square (1/1/18) Day 15: 2 Old 2 New (1/2/18) Day 16: Pandas (1/3/18) Day 17: Chill and Eat (1/4/18) Day 18: Chinese Fried Chicken (1/5/18) Day 19: Baby Dumpling (1/6/18) Day 20: One Last Hot Pot (1/7/18) Day 21: Fly Home (1/8/1/8)

On our last morning, we work up early to finish packing and to help clean up the house. We had to borrow one of their suitcases because we got so much more to bring back. In addition to the souvenirs and gifts, we also got a lot of medicine and antibiotics, which were often less expensive than in the US. And as mothers do, Xuezhu's mother packed her as many supplies as she could. It ended up being 3 suitcases as checked baggage, and then 1 suitcase, 1 laptop bag, and 2 backpacks as carry-on.  Unfortunately, Xuezhu's mother needed to return to work, so only her father was there to drive us to the airport. I don't think there would have been space anyways, since all of our luggage filled up his Jeep.  He waited with us for the baggage check, until we had to go into the airport security. We had to do the standard bag checks, body search, and Visa inspections. I think this airport had several more luggage scanners than in other ones; we had to do it once when w...

On this afternoon, I opted to stay behind at the house again for the afternoon, since Xuezhu wanted to spend time with her family and I wanted to do some more writing while they were fresh in my mind. Some random details on China that I forgot to mention on the previous days. China and Japan both had differences between each other and the US, but they're all quite comparable. They're all well-developed countries with modern utilities and luxuries. We weren't visiting an underdeveloped country in extreme temperatures or poverty, which would have been a more difficult experience (not to mention living there). Trees in the city had their bottom 3 ft painted white for some reason The car traffic in China is quite orderly, however there are many pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcycles (mopeds?) that occupy both the sidewalk and the bicycle lane. Motorcycles don't strictly follow the rules of cars or pedestrians, and would often weave through either. Since it was co...

Xuezhu's mother prepared breakfast for us again this morning (she had prepared breakfasts the previous days too but I forgot to take photos). This spread looked especially impressive. There was smoked pork belly, which had a deep, smoky flavor. The parents of Xuezhu's Jiejie operated a restaurant that got a lot of fresh salmon. Her parents shipped a package of fresh salmon to Xuezhu's parents, and we were able to taste it. We served it sashimi style, with soy sauce and wasabi. Like in Japan, the fish had excellent texture and flavor, without being slimy or tough. There was also fresh pea shoots, which I ate plenty of. I think having a lot of vegetables is important to balance out eating too much oil. Lastly, there were baozi filled with pork and vegetables. The bun was fluffy, and the filling was savory. After the breakfast, we packed up the food to bring it to the hospital for Xuezhu's grandfather. On our way there, we made a couple of stops.  Our first st...

We returned to the massage parlor again to get another round of massages. Xuezhu was feeling some soreness in her traps and back, so she got a special massage. After the massage, they put a special carriage over her back. It held some smoldering logs, which heated up her back. There was a wooden lid covering them, but it could be opened or removed if it gets too hot.  We returned back to her parent's house for lunch. Her mother cooked for us vegetables with dried shrimp, and chicken with taro. The vegetables were very savory from the salty shrimp, and reminded me of a similar dish my mom makes. We then went to the mall area to get our haircut. Xuezhu usually waits until she visits China to get her haircut or colored, since its much cheaper than in US. We snacked at the KFC at the mall, because I wanted to try it out. Xuezhu told me that fast food restaurants like McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and KFC were considered to be really fancy when they were first in...

How do I taste, man? On this day, I spent the afternoon at her parent's house while Xuezhu went to hospital to spend time with her mother and her grandfather. On her usual trips to China, Xuezhu's parents would her take her all over the country to different provinces. However, this trip was different because of my presence, as well the preoccupations of her parents. Her father was also visiting a hospital to get a consultation on his hip joint, which is likely osteoarthritis. He was an athlete in college, and got a scholarship for high jumping. Her parents actually met at an international sports meet, where her mother was a heptathlon athlete. He had since remained active physically, but age always catches up.  So it was for the best that we were able to split up and do what we wanted to do. Xuezhu was able to spend more time with her family, and I was able to enjoy a quiet afternoon alone. I brought my laptop, which allowed to begin writing notes for these blogs. At...

  This morning, we went to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. We tried to go as early as we could, since later times would mean larger crowds and less panda activity after their lunch. We took the Chengdu metro to the area, which had many buses to take groups directly to the panda zoo. At the panda zoo, we needed to wait in another line to take carts tour carts to main panda exhibits. The entire research base was about 3 miles in length, so it was best to start at the top and work our way down. I was excited to see real pandas for the first time, but I was also feeling some stomach pain, likely caused by the hot pot the night before. After the tour bus dropped us off, I rushed to the bathroom, and relief washed over me in an awesome wave. The bathroom was actually very nice, probably because this was a large tourist attraction. There was an actual toilet, there was incense burning, and there was an open that looked out into the bamboo forest. In my rush, I went...