Touring the Bond ( ShangHai) with Mom and Dad

Year 2008-09

今年回家，不知道为什么，在机场临别去桂林的时候，抱着我妈哭得一塌糊涂。这下老妈马上受不了了。立刻派我爸买了机票要到上海来配我。我计划在游完桂林，就从上海回旧金山。会在上海停两个晚上。哪怕仅仅是两个晚上，我妈也一定要来配着我她才能放心。这种心态我不能理解。不过这正是老一代常常说的，不养儿不知父母心了。

那就顺便带老爸老妈去外滩，城隍庙转一圈。下面是外滩的夜景。

说点我家三人的家常。老妈嘛，按照我家马老者(我对我爸的昵称)，95%的时候可以用三个词语概括 - 嘻嘻哈哈， 马马虎虎， 糊里糊涂。但是我家老妈偶尔冒出一两句颇具哲理的批语，常常把我惊得一呆一呆的。

今天我同她打电话。我妈:“看你做的那些西点，好看是好看，好不好吃了？”
我(也不脸红):“那当然是好吃了。这叫色香味俱全。”
我妈:“看来你也是勤劳的人啊。“
我(看我妈这么夸奖我，我也来劲了):“就是，就是。昨天烤的蛋糕，今天做个煲仔饭。一会儿回到家，我还想把厨房的柜子清理一下。”
我妈:“我看你， 又要忙工作，又要做好吃的，还要把你的房子打扫干净，辛苦啊。”
难得我妈今天这么理解我， 我感动呀。马上说:"妈，你也很勤劳嘛。”
我妈说:“我的勤劳没有你的复杂。你那种和咖啡的杯子不能用来喝茶的习惯让你有点累。”
还没等我张口向我妈倾诉倾诉, 我妈继续:“不过呢，你这样身体上虽累一点，但心不累呀。身体累点没关系，不劳心就行。“
我无语。天啊，至理名言啊！马上对我妈肃然起敬。

敬仰的心情还没有正式出门，就给我妈接下来稀里糊涂的发言给打道回府了。
我:"妈，我这个勤劳，爱收拾的个性，都是爸的遗传。”话一出口，我就知道讲错了。
我妈马上反驳:" 怎么是你爸的功劳？我才是家里勤劳的那一位。再说了，女儿是我生的，能让你爸沾个光就不错了。“
我赶紧弥补错误，争取把损失降低到最低点:"对， 对。。我爸没有功劳，功劳都是你的。”
我爸对我妈这种把所有功劳画归己有的言行也是见怪不怪了。

According to my dad, at least 95% of the time mom is funny, happy, a great-companion but a little bit clueless. Occasionally, my mom does pull some suede comments out from no where, which often surprises both my dad and me a great deal.
Here is our conversation over the phone today.
Mom:” Hey, all those cakes and western food you made these days look pretty nice. Do they actually taste good?”
Me (always ready to brag):” Of course, they do. They are both tasty and highly presentable.”
Mom (with a sigh):” You are a pretty hard-working girl.”
Me (surprised. wow, how come my mom appreciates me this much today?!):”Yeah, I made cake yesterday. Today, I am going to make some traditional Chinese food for Chris to try. When I get home, I am also going to tidy up the panty.”
Mom:” Hmm…you must feel pretty busy everyday. You need to work, cook and clean the house.”
Me (continue to feel surprised…):” Mom, you are very busy everyday too.”
Mom:” But, I don’t have the wacky habits you do. I don’t think I can deal with your rules of flat sheets, no mix-matching tea-cups and coffee-mugs. Don’t you think your habits may tire you out unnecessarily?”
Me (about to explain to her my thoughts):”….”
Mom:” You know what, if you don’t stick with your wacky stuff, you might feel more tired. It’s OK to feel tied physically, better than feeling tired mentally.”
Me (deal God, my mom can be wise sometimes!)

Girlfriends Reunion in Hainan I

Year 2006-12

觉得是该整理一下以前的照片了。10年前的好朋友前年圣诞节在海南相聚。

自诩为四个美女吧。乐滋滋，优哉游哉！

海南的喜来登跟夏威夷差不哩。风景优美，美女如云。花起钱来哗啦哗啦的响。

Girlfriends Reunion in SanYa Hainan II

Year 2006-12

laura在我们中间生活最有成就感，女儿可爱，老公听话，生活无忧无虑。还有什么别的需求呢？那年买了一个最新型号的佳能傻瓜相机。认为就我们几个胡弄一下足以。被laura恨恨嘲笑了一通。原来我的相机同她的专业相机一比，整个一小孩玩具。

美女太多。贴美女照把我的手都贴酸了。

八卦一下。LAURA去年接了两单广告代言 - GUCCI太阳眼镜和雀巢咖啡。

光闲逛八卦也不成。难得回海南一趟，海南美食也不能错过。椰子饭和海虾刺身。

GuiYang Street Eats

Year 2006-12

Guiyang, my hometown, is a medium-size city in the mountainous southwest of China. She offers one of the most genuinely pretty, unpretentious sceneries I have seen, filled with the most kind-hearted and down-to-earth people I have known, and the most delicious and unique local food I have had.

Guiyang is a rather small city compared to Beijing and New York, but much more approachable and friendly. Some streets would welcome you with the tasty street food on both sides and tempt you with the smell from many yards away. Here is the mean-looking dude who is making the BBQ lamb on the street.

贵阳甲秀楼旁边的烤臭豆腐。


Although the urban part of the city has big grocery stores, such as Walmart, people still go to the farmer’s market on the street in the suburban part of the city. Besides the vegetables freshly cut from the field 3 or 4 hours ago and the meat just butchered in the morning, the street also offers one of the unique street eats in Guiyang - BBQ spicy tofu (on the right). It is numbingly spicy and good!

贵阳名小吃 - 恋爱豆腐果。说实在的，现在好吃的东西太多，也不觉得这个有多好吃了。吃吃算是对往事的回忆罢了。


After snacking on breakfast in the street, my father and I decided to go visit my old high school area. My father is a excellent photographer, and I am a great model. But, we are not good at working with each other. Father wants to teach the daughter how to pose; and the daughter wants to teach the father how to position the subject. Here you go…


Here is end result, when we finally reached consensus.


A couple of more.


We were a little tired after walking so much. Mom, Dad and I retired to a local coffee house. While the Chinese skill at making cocktails in China still needs improvement, they have definitely mastered the technique of making coffee — especially, fancy coffee.


For dinner, my uncles took us to a local “spicy chicken house.” It is not the regular spicy chicken available in those Americanized Chinese restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s THE spicy chicken house. First of all, you can pick the chicken to eat first. Second, you can pretend to make your own BBQ chicken if you wish. Third, the spicy chicken is sooooooo good that you won’t be able to stop eating until all your lips, fingers, nose and head are all numb.


The whole family


The spicy, mouth-watering and delicious chicken and spicy tofu. EVERYTHING is spicy. That’s the uniqueness of GuiZhou local food.

一大锅土鸡做的农民辣子鸡和又香又辣的凉拌米豆腐。地道的贵阳风味。

成都武候伺 ChengDu Wu Hou Memorial Temple

Year 2006-12

Wu Hou Memorial Temple was was build in the honor of Zhu GeLiang, the famous military and political strategist of the Shu State in the Three Kongdoms period (221 - 589). The name of temple comes from the fact, that Zhu GeLiang,was conferred with the title of WuXiang Hou - the duke of QuXiang). The temple was first build in the sixth century. It was adjacent to the ZhaoYi Temple, the memorial temple of Liu Bei, emperor of the Shu Han state. In early Ming Dynasty both temples were integrated into one.

WuHou Si is a nice quite place with a lot of trees and flowers. In the beautiful garden you find a teahouse and a show of bonsai-trees.

Zhu GeLiang great personality, his dedicated service to others, and his outstanding intelligence place him above all emperors, generals, and ministers in history. A visit to the temple illuminates his status with the Chinese people. Yes, and when you learn Chinese at any university in China you’ll read some of the legends, which have developed around this famous person.The stone statue on the right is the famous black-face-ZhangFei. He is brave, courageous, warm-blooded and not as political as the other two brothers, my most favorite among the three.

留得残荷听雨声。It’s tranquil with beautiful gardens, lakes and buildings from Chinese traditional architecture. I have always liked this line from Hong Lou Meng.

At time of our visit, there was a show for natural stones in the Memorial. The one on the right is quite expensive, in $10,000 range.

Outside of the temple, there are a few small streets with shops on both sides, selling mostly traditional Chinese goodies. Interesting even to us Chinese people.

Travel Review China Travel Review ChengDu China 武候伺 Wu Hou Memorial Temple