Halloween 2009

I started the day trying to track down a place that still had some pumpkins left.  The night before apparently we were too late for 2 crates at Kroger's that arrived that evening!  So, after about 7 calls, I found someplace that said they had some.  So while Amy & Maddie were at tumbling, Sam and I went for the pumpkin.  They literally had 4 left.  I grabbed the best one and after Maddie drew up a face, we carved it up.

Got Maddie this Princess Jasmine outfit for her birthday and she just loved it.  Slight freak out just before we visited the family when there was a tear in the tulle in the middle of the outfit and Amy's stitching job didn't work.  Dad came to the rescue with super glue & scotch tape!

Sam used one of Maddie's old costumes...the lady bug.  She enjoyed getting into it and everything, so that made it easier, cause when she doesn't want to do something, believe me, she lets you know.

So, we went & saw some grand-parents & great-grandmas and then hit the trick-or-treating on our block.  It was a warm day, but when the sun went down, it got rather cool.  Sam kept saying that she was tired, but wouldn't take me up on my offer to go home with her right then! :)
They had a blast, and we ended up with a big bag full of candy. 

Japanese Dinner

So, Andy suggested we should go find some Japanese restaurant that does teppanyaki cooking. 

We headed down the street, to the Holiday Plaza that we had gone to last week.  We ate Korean then.  I wasn't looking too forward to it based on that.

Bob went up to the second level of the plaza, but since it was rather new, we didn't expect much to be open up there, but he found this Japanese place.  Based on the number of shoes he could see through the window, he decided it must be good, so we decided to give it a shot.

It was traditional Japanese, in where you sit on the floor, and you have your own closed off room, but under the table was a pit, so it wasn't too uncomfortable to sit on the floor.   Here we are ordering food, after ordering beer & sake!

The manager came in a few times to hang out with us and talk, even though she could only speak a few words of English.  Rick translated for us.  She thought we were from a German company.  We told her we were setting up a new site here, and she asked us for a job! :)

Oh, the places you don't expect to find dainty spoons, and yet, here they are!  The food was actually really good.  I didnt' like or try everything, but I think just being there and trying some stuff was good for me.  Bob said it was the best he's eaten in the 5 weeks he's been in China.

Eating our ice cream daintily with our dainty spoons!

More from the hotel courtyard

A small shallow pond & waterfall...

This view is towards the back of the hotel.  The residence buildings were to the right, but can't be seen from here.  The fountains were not operating when we arrived, but are now.

This from the back of the hotel looking out.  A waterfall to the next level.

Some random shots on the way back from the Lingshan Buddha

Caught some homes & buildings on the hillside on our way back.

Here's a bamboo set of scaffolding that was used to set up some high-tension power lines between to poles...strong stuff!

Ah, a nice neighborhood from the road...wait, what the?!?  Please keep working!

I can't get enough of this vehicle!

I had a blurry shot of this in a previous post.   This is the front end of this 'vehicle'.  Notice the open belt drive...Love it!

I kept trying to get shots of this type of vehicle in passing, so I was lucky to get sections at a time.  Notice the dual handle steering mechanism?  Reminds me of a snowblower.

Here's another front end of a closed cab one.

And finally!  A clear shot of a full one!  Whew!  It's like the original Gator...minus a hood.

Lingshan Buddha Statue

Sunday we hopped in a taxi for about a 45 minute ride...total cost...125 RMB...or about $18.  Some guys in the office, including Bob, suggested we go see the Lingshan Buddha.  I think I heard it was about 100 meters tall...or about 330 feet.  It was definitely worth the trip.

Here's a shot of the statue from the main parking lot...it looks big, but it really doesn't seem that big now...

There's me in the middle...lots of temples & sections along the way up to the base of the statue.

Here I am a little closer to that same wall.  Just behind me is a fountain with a lotus flower at the top.  It's huge, and the Buddha statue is even further away.

This is the lotus fountain.  We got there just in time for a big fountain & music show.  About halfway through, the lotus opened up to reveal a baby Buddha.  And the big statue is still a ways away in the background.

One of the many other things to see along the way...so much detail.

Anybody remember Eddie Murphy in The Golden Child?  "I..I..I...I...want the knife!"  These are some sort of prayer wheel that spins around.

A much smaller statue about halfway to the base of the big statue.  Figure this smaller one was about 20 feet tall...The other one still doesn't look that big from here.

At the base of the hill that the statue is on.  It's getting bigger now.

High five!  At the top of the hill just a bit further to go...

Ever see that commercial where that bug lifts up that toenail to infect it?  That could be me here! :)  Just call me Digger.  This is up as high as you can go.

The view from the top.  If you look towards the top, you can barely make out the fountain with the lotus flower at the top.

They had this full size hand back on the main ground, to give you some perspective...the thing was huge, and it was cool seeing all the stuff along the way.

Around the town & lake in Suzhou

This was completely made up of flowers.  Pretty amazing.  There were a number of things like this that were put up in honor of the 60th anniversary of National Day. 

You can see way off in the distance across the lake, a huge ferris wheel.  Bob said he thought it might be like the London Eye...which would make it massive.

Don't know exactly what kind of complex this is or what's it's used for, but it's pretty damn cool looking.

These low barge type boats sat so low in the water, and there were a bunch of them going by through the canals.

We just happened upon this wedding procession.  They were walking down the street, with the cars following. 

Stopped to quench our thirst from walking at the Hofbrau House Suzhou.  mmm...liter of beer.

Bob, Mark, Bill and I enjoying a cold one.  One was all we needed!

It was getting darker as we came back to where we started.  Everything started lighting up.  The very colorful one on the left was that complex from above.

And the ferris wheel was all lit up...it was all very pretty.

The Humble Administrator's Garden in Suzhou, China

On Saturday we went to Suzhou, China.  It's kind of halfway between Wuxi and Shanghai.  First thing we visited was the Humble Administrator's Garden, which was built in the early 1500's and I think took about 15 years to complete.  The level of detail was amazing.  We had paid a tour guide to give us a tour.  Her English was better than our Chinese, but there were still some things we didn't quite catch the first or second time.

There were a number of buildings throughout the Garden.  Each one had a purpose.  Some, depending on the direction you looked, were for looking out for a particular season.

Although I don't think this picture captures it well, just to the right of my head, between the trees was an old pagoda, way off in the distance.

I believe this was the building that was meant to represent a dragon.  The guide explained it all, but I just thought it was cool looking anyway!

The detail in the wooden, I guess you could call it lattice around the top of this entryway was amazing.

One of the many tea drinking building/rooms.  I don't think this was the one, but there was one for drinking tea while listening to the rain drops, because of the plants with big leaves just outside of it...

Our tour guide suggested we pose for a few pictures.  This was to capture the two buildings behind me as a sort of hat/crown.  The top central section was actually was the top of another building...something about the two building were representing the administrator and his wife, and how the two became one...or something. :)

Ronnie's and a couple of other night shots

While Andy went to Shanghai on Friday, Bob & I waited for a couple of guys from Peoria to get into Wuxi.  They were glad to be off the plane and out of the car, as it took them nearly twice as long to get to Wuxi from Shanghai as it took us.  We then went to Ronnie's, a pub that Bob had told me about.  An ex-pat from Australia put together this place...Western food, western music, and lots & lots of other ex-pats.  I'm not sure if the other guys appreciated it as much as I did, seeing as how I had a number of foreign meals, and they were just in.  It was a good place for a burger & fries, and some good beer.

After Ronnie's we went walking a bit, and Bob took us past this place that used to be some sort of royal park or palace/residence at some point.  It was lit up more than the East Peoria Festival of lights.  It really was something.  Not sure these pictures do it justice.  But that goes for a lot of pictures I've been taking...you almost have to see it for yourself to really get an understanding.