Happy Easter

Unfortunately, Easter Sunday didn't really feel like it since we were unable to attend a worship service. One of the disadvantages of traveling in communist country with small Christian population.

We enjoyed our anniversary (12 years!) the best we could, however, its not the same without having our entire family together.

We woke up both feeling a little better. Mainly just dealing with queasy stomachs. Our group took a trip to a local folk museum that is housed in the Chen family Ancestral Hall. On our way in Sarah proceeded to throw up all over herself and me. We cleaned up the best we could and walked through the museum. It was an interesting collection of Chinese art in an open air building. Spring has been beautiful in China and we were reminded again by our guide how lucky we are to be here this time of year.

Our next stop was a Chinese tea house. We sampled several different types of tea including jasmine, ginseng, oolong, Bilou Chun (green tea), and Long jing tea. The Chinese tradition includes making tea in very small batches, using only loose leaves that are very fresh, and pouring the boiling water over the leaves in a jar, let stand for 30 seconds, then pour into a teapot. You use the first tea out of the teapot to wash the teacups, which are very small.

Chinese tea is very much about relationship and the time spent together making and sharing tea. They take their tea very seriously and it is considered for its many health qualities. Our guide said to never buy tea in a bag as it is considered bad for your health. I would never qualify to serve Chinese tea.

We also learned about Chinese teapots. They consider clay pots superior to porcelain, the smaller the better, and they just wash them by rinsing with hot water. Their should be a vent hole in the top of the lid, the lid should seal to the pot well, and the pot should resist dribbling when pouring.

After tea, we headed back to the hotel. Sarah crashed for a good nap, I cleaned up, and John went for McDonald's. We then quickly fed Sarah before heading to a large park across the street from the hotel with another family. The park was very nice with a flower garden, lake with row and paddle boats, sculpture garden, lawn bowling, playground, amusement park, and table tennis area. We didn't see the whole park, but walked for about 2 hours. It was a beautiful sunny day in the upper 60's. Sarah didn't like the stroller but gave in after about 10 minutes of crying. She was fine for about 90 minutes, then decided enough was enough and we ended up carrying her at the end.

We returned back to the hotel, ordered room service, played with Sarah (see photos), and then crashed. Sarah was very restless for the first 4 hours of the night then finally slept well.

We both are still dealing with uneasy stomachs this morning, but are doing OK. We think it probably won't get much better until we get home.

We just got a call from our guides. The appointment at the consulate went well and we should get all the needed documents and her visa tomorrow. This afternoon, the entire group goes shopping once last time (for souvenirs).

FYI - We will probably only have one more entry before we leave for home.