More pictures from mom!

The melons here are superb..but overly handled!

We couldn't get a good picture of the live frogs, but notice the snails in the left lower pan (alive)

These fish are ready to fry!

Sun dried tomatoes will never taste the same

It is SO crowded everywhere in China!

The Silk Road Trip- More pictures!

This baby was eating spaghetti for breakfast!


The signs here (and their English translations) are quite humorous! Can you figure out what it is supposed to say?


This is one of the markets where we shopped. Wynn got in an argument with a vendor about the price of pomegranate juice he had already consumed--I got the police (all over) and he settled it.


At the Buddha caves Wynn sat by this man and got the whole group to take their picture with him for 5 yuan each and he made a months earnings in just a half hour!!

Yes, Wynn rode in the caravan, too. He was the last camel and took the pictures!

I am still perfecting my blog skills, so here goes. I just got a hair cut for $4.50 and I believe it is the best most precise haircut I have ever gotten. He measured and trimmed every hair on my head. After a marvelous shampoo, it took 50 minutes. I gave him a 5 yuan tip because in China you are not supposed to tip, but hey, 80 cents for 50 minutes!! I plan to post a few interesting pictures every day that I can, now that Tyler has walked me through how to do it--we'll see!

Haircut and more photos.

Silk Road Trip

Is it any wonder I got an upset stomach? The food tasted good, but my system didn't seem to like it and I had a great trip but ate very little of the food. I was even afraid to eat the raisins at the grape factory for fear they would make me sick--they looked sooooo good!
The camel caravan took us to the top of the Gobi desert sand dunes where we got off and could see for thousands of miles. We then road back down--only 4 from our group went and it was my favorite thing by far.
Here we are passing the one oasis on the way to the top. The blond is from our group. I am in front in the white shirt.
We are at a grape farm with literally 100's of varieties being grown and dried into raisins. I did drink a glass of grape juice they were squeezing in front of us from green grapes. It was delicious and didn't hurt my tummy!

Here we are buying our Terra Cotta warrior.

Bargaining for Warriors- Dad

Dear Family: I hope you are all doing well. I am told that everything is all right. Everyone in Arizona has said how fun it has been to have Emily and children there. I am so happy that you are having a good time. Last week while on our trip we went to several markets. One of the most exciting places we visited was the Terracota Warriiors. The soldiers had been unearthed and left in the original spot they were found. While there, many street vendors wanted to sell us there goods. One young fellow came up to me and wanted to sell me some miniture Terricota Warriors. They were about three inches tall and there were five warriors to a set. The guy said he would make me a good deal. He said 200 Yuan. ($33.00) I said no, and offered him ten. ($1.60) He reduced his price to 150 yuan. I offered 12. I didn't really want the thing, but I thought 'oh well, it would be nice to give them to the grand children for a gift.' He followed me for another block or so. Finially we agreed on 25 yuan. ($4.00) Here comes another guy selling the same thing. This time I know I can get it for 25 yuan. He says 200. Now I say to my self, I will have a little fun. I offer 5. He comes down a little and follows me for a block. Finially, just to get rid of him, I say I will give you 50 yuan for 4. I know he won't take it. He say's OK. Crud, now I have 5 to cart around. Well I know they can't make them that cheap, so I figure they must be stolen. Here comes another guy with a whole bag full of them. He says 200 yuan. I don't want any more, but now it is a game. I now know that I paid double to much for the first one, and I don't know how much over I paid for the next four. I know that I can get them for 12 1/2 yuan. I tell the guy 5 yuan. He looks at me like I'm nuts. I say, 'look, the last guy gave them to me for 12 yuan.' He says, ok ten. Now, I know the last two guys got me for to much. Now I own 6. So, I think I have got a pretty good deal at ten. I start talking to a man in our group and was bragging about only paying ten yuan for my warriors. I asked him how much he paid. He said, 'you can buy them for 5 all over.' Boy did I get took. I paid $4.00 for a tie, I found out later I could have bought is for one dollar. But, I finially did get a good deal. I bought my McGreggor coat for thirty bucks. I know that was a good deal, because I watched several people argue with him. I saw him turn down 31.00 several times, and he wouldn't take it. The coat in the states sells for about $250.00. Our branch president buys calloway and ping golf clubs for $125.00 per set, including the bag. He has purchased about 8 or ten sets so for and sent them to the states. It costs about one hundred dollars for shipping. Anyone wants a set of clubs sent home to hem, let me know. They are well over $1000.00 dollars in the states. Yesterday as I was getting out of the cab (again) I neary wiped out another bike rider. Just as I opened the door a little, the thought came to me,'you better look, somebody might come thru the cab door. I looked, and here somes some guy flat getting with it. Had I opened my door, the cab driver would have had another passenger, and his bike. I've said before, I can manuver through the speeding cars, but the bicycles have a way of sneeking up on you. A few days ago, I was coming home in a cab,and we got to the guard gate. I pulled out my card and showed him. I don't think he could read, he told the cab driver to turn around and get out of there. I saluted him, he saluted me and I showed him the card again. Again he told me take a hike. Now I know that he doesn't know who I am, but he doesn't think that I am the base General. I shove the card in has face again. He could care less. Well, if I get out of the cab, I have to walk about a mile. I pull out my wallet and offer him 1 1/2 yuan. (24 cents) He insinuates he wants more. At least now I know that he can be bought. I notice a guy behind me in his car waiting to come through the gate. I see him get out of his car and walk up to mine. The way the guard looks at him and gets nervous, I know that he must be someone important. He looks at me and my card, and just yells at the guard, grabs my 1 1/2 yuan from his hand, and pushes the guard backwards. He walks over to me and smiles, hands me my 1 1/2 yuan, opens the gate and I go through. I look at the guard, smile and salute him. He doesn;'t salute me. He turns aroung and walks off. I sure hope that he is not on duty the next time I try to come through the gate. I don't know who the guy was that rescued me, but I think he must have been someone important. (or he thought that I was the base commander) Maybe it was my guardian angel, I don't know. But here in China you sure do need guys like that around.. This afternoon, I taught my adult ed class. The one where I receive $5.33 an hour. During the class period, some lady comes in and says the government needs a copy of my passport. I say,'what for?' She says, 'we need to have a copy of your passport so we can pay you for teaching this class. I say, 'why do you need my passport?' She says, 'we have to have it so we can take the taxes out before we pay you. I ask her how much the taxes are, she says 60 percent. Wow! what a deal. My $5.33 an hour just got reduced to $2.13 an hour. Further I am advised that the Chinese government will notify the United States Governemnt of my earnings, and now I know that they are going to ge me for another 40%. What a deal, my $2.13 per hour, just got further reduced to zero. Subtract my tithing form that (10% of $5.33 =fifthy three cents) so now I am in the hole fifth three cents per hour. Boy, life is good here in China! When I get home, mother wants to go out to dinner. I know the dinner will cost about $4.00. I say, 'not a chance, the more I work, the deeper in the hole I get. . Well, like I said, life is good here in China. I love you all. Have a wonderful day. Dad

Back from our Trip- Dad

Dear Family: As you know we arrived back to Tianjin safely. We had an interesting trip. We have now seen much of China. We flew four and 1/2 hours to Urumce. Pronounced yer-room-chee. Stayed there for a couple of days, Saw poverty, pyramids, mountain lakes, Buddist Temples, etc. We ate native Chinese food. It's no wonder the Chinese people are so thin. After the first day, I decided that I would rather not eat, than eat their prepared food. We could usually buy water mellon or nuts or something to tie us over. The water mellon was great. Really sweet. We went to the Gobee desert to ride a camel. I don't know how to sell Gobee, so that's the best you're going to get. We each rode our own camel. Up and over the sand dunes. There were literally hundreds of camesl there. We took a train to Xi'an. There we say Terricata Warriors and where they were excavated. We went to several markets, I rode a bicycle on top of the wall on the city of Xi'an. It was very bumpy and was about ten miles around. Went to a beautiful production and then home. Along the way, I went to an evening market. There were hundreds of vendors, many of them preparing hot foods on their small carts. The food looked awful. There were lots of fish and lamb. I think. Anyway, there was this one guy who was preparing his fish. he told me that when he put his spices on it, it was the most delicious fish that I would ever taste. He took the fish, (whole, head and all) and nailed it to a thin piece of wood. He sliced some cuts across the fish to open the meat section up. I put lots of spices and sauce on it. He than layed the board and fish above a fire pit of charcoal. The fish was layed so that the oils and herbs would run down the fish, onto the board and eventually back into the fire. It smelled great. After he was finished, it looked good enough to eat. I bought the fish, board and all. I sat down to eat the fish. It was hard and tasted awful. However, the spices that he prepared it with was really good. The problem was, that the spices all ran into the board, and not the fish. So, not to be wasteful, I threw the fish in the garbage, and ate the board. One night, I was out walking, looking for something good to eat. I could find nothing. Finially I looked inside of a little hole in the wall restaurant. I saw someone eating some french fries. My mouth started watering, so I went inside and told the guy that I wanted some french fries. He couldn't understand, so I took him to the table where the lady was eating the french fries. i pointed to the french fries. When I pointed to the french fries, the waitrer picked up the ladies french fries and handed tham to me. I said no, I want my own. he said, no, pushed me down into the chair, put her french fries in front of me. I put the french fries back in front of her. She put them back in front of me. I put them back in front of her. All this time, the waiter was holding me down in my chair. I finially handed the french fries back to the waiter. He then had to take his hands off of my shoulder. As soon as his hands were gone, I was out of there. (without any french fries) I purchased a nice Mcgregor winter coat at one of the markets. We negotiated on the price for a few minutes, but finially got it for about $28.00 A friend of mine said they are about $250.00 in the states. Last evening, we held family home evening at our friends home. He is the first counselor in the Area Presidency. They are the Tams. They are both Chinese. She invited us for dinner and FHE. We have a great American dinner. For FHE, he told us some funny stories about the church in China. He said that he attended a Sacrament meeting several months ago, in a branch with only a few members. It was in Central China. The branch president had been a member about one year. Elder Tam noticed that the branch president did everything. He conducted the meetings, he prepared, blessed and passed the sacrament, etc. After Sacrament meeting, Elder Tam asked the branch president if there were any other priesthood holders who could help him. The branch president said there was one, but he had only been a member for about 10 months. Elder Tam said, 'why don't you use him and give his some experience?' The branch president said that he was working with him a lot and trying to prepare him to do those things, but he said that the man was not quite yet perfect. Another time, Elder Tam was in a Sacrament Meeting and a lady blessed the sacrament. After the meeting, Elder Tam spoke with the branch president and told him that a Priesthood holder should bless the sacrament. The branch president said that he would take care of it. A few weeks later, Elder Tam attends the same Sacrament meeting, and the same sister blesses the sacrament. After the meeting, Elder Tam reminded the branch president that the person who blesses the sacrament shoule be a priesthood holder. The branch president said he took care of it after the last time they spoke. The branch president said that after they spoke the last time, that he ordained the sister a priest. Elder Tam said another time, he was at a branch, and after the three hour block was over, he noticed that several primary children were all lined up outside of the kitchen. He said they were all very neat and orderly. Elder Tam asked the branch president what the primary children were doing. He said they were taking turns eating the left over bread from the sacrament. Elder Tam asked why they were lined up eating the left over sacrament bread. The branch president said,'well before this, that after the meeting, they all ran in a disorderly fashion to eat the left over sacrament bread. The branch president said, 'now I have taught them to stand in an order line and take one piece of the left over sacrametn bread at a time. That way everyone received an equal amount. Elder Tam said, 'why are they eating the left over sacrament bread in the first place?' The branch president said, 'it had been blessed and therefor it was very good for them to eat.' In the church, China is a very developing country, and American leadership turns over so fast, that many times the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. Elder Whitney Clayton is in charge of China. he will be here in a couple of weeks for training. We will meet with him then. We are very much looking forward to the daughter's/daughters's in laws coming to China in the spring. We will spend a couple of days in Tianjin, probable two days in Xi'an and probable three days in Beijing. There is so much to see and do. Please work on your passports now. If you already have one, please check the expiration date of the passport. I am told that you can't apply for a visa prior to about a couple of months before traveling. I think that we are looking at April. The weather should be pretty nice by then. W will work on a date in the next week or so. Please give us your input about the best times for each of you. I will do my best to accomodate everyone. I will need to purchase the airline tickets within a month or so, in order to get the best deals and the flights we want. You will fly out of either Los Angeles, or San Francisco. So, I suppose that each of you will meet at one of those airports and fly to China together. it is about a twelve hour flight. You will either fly to Korea and then to Tianjin, or fly directly to Beijing and then take the bullet train to Tianjin. If you fly to Beijing, I will meet you there and help you get to the train station to go to Tianjin. When Brit and family come out, it will be the same itenery. When everyone comes out, I am going through a travel agency and hireing a van to take us around, so we can all be together and not have to travel in seperate cabs. When each of you come to China, we will do our best to eat American food, so you won't get sick on the trip. Most places will serve some Chinese food, some is ok and some we just leave on our plates. I went to a restaurant one day and I found a BLT burger on the menu. I ordered it. When it arrived, it was a large piece of meatloaf, (such as it was) with a slice of ham on it, with a tomato and some lettuce. Well, they were right. It was a BLT meatloaf sandwich. It wasn't a hamburger, but it wasn't bad, Well, I've got to run to class. I teach juniors in about an hour. We will send some photos as soon as we can. I love you all. Dad