We had a fun two hour experience of taking family photos here in our city, we were able to get some really great photos of Blake just before he turns 2 and we welcome baby #2! The night before i had the brilliant idea to cut Blake's hair which i had done the month before, as i am not a professional i have the buzzer thing with the heads on it to cut his hair, since we are in China they are 3mm, 6mm, 9mm and 12mm. I think the first time, looking back, I used the 9mm, however this time i used the 6mm thinking that is what i used last time and basically shaved my little man's head. The poor kid didn't even look like himself! He has had hair on his head since the day he was born, and i just took it all off in one swoop! Next time start on the back or sides not the top! I was almost in tears and Brian wasn't impressed when he came home and saw Blake. Then to top it off, Brian tells me to go ahead and cut his too, so we used the 12mm, but you can also adjust the buzzer to add an extra 2mm, Brian was playing with the buzzer, and I admittedly didn't check it again before starting his cut and there it was, another short short short haired Hudson! At least they both looked clean cut for the photos :( I too still had my purple/red hair that i had been washing multiple times a day to make the color less vibrant. We decided to do the photos anyway, we are running out of time before baby arrives! The photographers were very nice but spoke little English so we communicated with them as best as we could and just went with many of the poses and props they wanted to use. In the end we have some beautiful photos and will share when we get the CD in another two weeks! I felt a bit like a model with all the wind they were blowing in my hair to get the shots they wanted of me individually, lol but in the end everything turned out, even with my purple/red hair!
One of the guys that works for Brian wanted to take us to see some Pandas, a car ride of about 45 minutes from our city turned into 1.5 hours due to gps, closed roads, and the driver really not knowing where he was going, but we made it! The location was beautiful with a lake at the bottom of hte mountain, a large log cabin on the water with smaller cabins to rent around it and bamboo flats you could take across the lake. It almost reminded us of Flagstaff with the bamboo sea instead of pine trees! As we walked up we weren't sure what we had just gotten ourselves into, it looked like a lot of walking and a long way up. Once we got tickets and spoke with the couple that had taken us hear we were happy to learn there was some uphill walking (not ideal at 8 months pregnant), then a train to take you half way and a cable car to the top! Not too bad. So we started our way up the mountain, Blake was thrilled to ride in the choo choo train and once you get to the next landing there are shops with handmade bamboo items, and museums of artifacts made from bamboo.
After walking through many of the shops and checking out the museums, Blake had managed to find steamed corn on the cob to eat and we tried some cooked bamboo....it was very salty! We found the cable car and ventured to the top of the mountain to see the pandas! There was also a Chinese Calligrapher in the museum at the top where he would write you names...I had him write Blake's name in Chinese characters and he wished him a lifetime of health and happiness as well in the writing. Once at the top of the steep cable car ride we found more shops and the pandas. Luckily for us one of the pandas was very active and decided to climb up his jungle gym while we were there watching! Once you ride the cable car and the train back down to the bottom there was a large status, the God of Longevity to see which was pretty impressive! We were then on our way back to Changzhou for the end of our Golden Week adventures!
Below are a few of the random things i have been finding in China to talk about or take photos of....you don't always see this is the US. Brian gets a kick out of some of the weird translations we find here in China, like the sign below from the Tianmu Mountain at the top of some steps....I find the bathroom instruction sign entertaining....then we had this Pink Rolls Royce pull up in front of our hotel in Shanghai for a wedding, apparently the groom picks the bride up in China to take her to the wedding.....Brian said he was so happy I didn't have him riding in a pink car the day of our wedding......then there is the sweet and sour fish at the Chinese restaurant, I assure you its delicious but they serve the entire fish......and finally the sanitary/vomit bag on the train where you have to rip open the top first before you actually vomit into the bad.....because you always have time to do that!
The other thing in China I don't understand, especially coming from Arizona where our summers are very hot and many people have outdoor jobs, all the men walking around with their shirts up to their nipples so their stomach can cool off in the heat of summer?!?!? It was maybe 75 yesterday and I saw at least 3 men in different parts of town walking around this way, first of all no one wants to see your tummy, second of all its not that hot outside, third this is no good fashion statement, just wear your shirt as it was meant to be worn, please :) (sorry no photos of this scene)
No comments:
Post a Comment