Ni Hao China!

The Beijing Train Station where we caught a night train straight to Jinan a few hours after touching down in the country.  We unfortunately could only get tickets in the seated section (rather than sleeper cars) and we were separated by a few cars so it was a long night of head bobbing and making new friends.

A little chinese golfing – our warm up before going to play at a large 18 hole next weekend was a little driving practice and a 9 hole ‘par 3′ that was more of a ‘par 2′, you could almost spit from the tee to the green.

The first of thousands of buddha’s

Some delicious lamb skewers from a street vendor

We spent our first afternoon with my dad’s driver and his family taking a tour of Jinan.  We listened to chinese language tapes in the car and all practiced our respective new languages.

Ah, the lazy susan.  She will provide hours of entertainment I am sure.

The view from our restaurant, lots of families come for fun here, swimming in the summer and boats in the winter. 

The most respected at the table eat the meat from the head of the fish…of course that was us.  We were also honored with eating the head of the chicken and Greg expressed interest in eating the ‘landing gear’ of the chicken but regretfully there were no feet left!

Well I guess we’ll see if profiling still exists in SeaTacwhen Greg tries to go through customs with that beard.

But by far we have been enjoying the ‘Sofitel Sanctuary’, coined by Greg – Delicious breakfast buffets on the 49thfloor, which happens to revolve; happy hours everyday in the Executive Lounge with imported wines and cheese; late night karaoke; a thick soft robe that has become a staple in my wardrobe; and an easterdisplay with live bunnies and baby chickens and ducks - Who could ask for more? Oh and the popular english phrase to learn is ‘you’re very beautiful’ so it’s an ego booster too!

 

Next up on the agenda is visiting the many parks surrounding the city, golfing a full 18, visiting Confucius’s home town, a trip to Xian to see the terracotta warriors, and of course Beijing and the Great Wall. 

~ by kmdingman on April 7, 2009.