China - thru our eyes!

CHINA

This had to truly be one of the top experiences of my life. Experiencing China in the way we did was just incredible and something that I will never forget.  Pretty much every day Bart and I would say,'This  has to be the best day in China." Each day was so different and yet so magical to share together.

 We really did it all from shopping, to foot massages, to visiting temples and gardens, eating crazy food, squatting in toilets {which I am clearly not meant for} and seeing the great Wall - very special experience....

So...here is China as we saw it...

 This was the first hotel we stayed in...it was like a palace!

 Our room!

 This is a typical room we would eat in for each meal. These meals lasted a good 2 hours and the food was crazy different from what we were used to...

 This is  just a sampling of what we ate at each meal...

 Here I am eating chicken feet soup....yum...

There are those chicken feet in a closer view...

 We saw soo many naked little bums as the Chinese don't use diapers for their little ones. They simply squat and go...

 There are so many vendors..everyone is trying to make a living...we loved this first vendor with the rabbits, baby chicks and ducks...

 A little kid enjoying his lunch of chicken foot....

 Typical housing are apartment buildings that are stacked 20-30 floors high....

 The rickshaw drivers

 The Chinese gardens are simply breathtaking - no photo can do it justice!

 The streets of China...

 We went to a Chinese temple where we bought fire sticks and set them off with three wishes to a buddha...

 Speaking of squatters - I learned to hold it until we got back to the hotel - very bad experience with the squatters - I still don't get how they do it...

 This little shopping spree was quite the experience...we were led down some sketchy back alleys of China into this little room that was fully air conditioned and we were overwhelmed with excitement at the purses they had...

 The majority of Chinese people drive mopeds and we could not believe the organized chaos as you drove past mopeds, bicycles and rickshaws. More times than I can count I was sure that we would die or kill someone..but they seem to know what they are doing and how to move in China.

 This is downtown Shanghai at night - so beautiful all lit up!

We took a cruise around the downtown area to enjoy the views..

 This was the craziest massage ever..while our feet were dunked in boiling hot water they massaged our shoulders and than went to town on our feet for a good hour...Bart was in Heaven!

 We went on a motorized rickshaw {for lack of a better word} to see the local animals - the elk, deer and monkeys.

 That little monkey loved holding our hands!

 The Forbidden City was beautiful...

 This rickshaw was quite an experience. He said he was taking us to Tianamen Square but instead we went into a corn maze of Chinese back streets and alleys. When we were finally done with the ride, he demanded crazy amounts of money from us...we laughed about it later, but we got taken!!!

We were so excited to shop in the local market and find familiar treats....no chicken feet for us!!!

 I was asked to be on Shanghai TV to host a show called You are the chef.....It was so much fun and I was given the script of what to say and my friend Benny here would answer me back in Mandarin... I had to pretend like I knew what in the heck he was talking about...such a fun day!

 The highlight of the whole trip hands down had to be visiting the Great Wall in Beijing....It was amazing to be in China and walking on this brick wall built over 700 years ago....

 An experience I will never forget...

Bart and I had the best time together and this is one trip we will always remember and be so grateful for! As we said over and over again in China "Hen Goshing" Very happy!!!!