Goodbye to all that

Leaving Shanghai after four years of living there was hard for many reasons.  Although there were aspects of life in China that really grated at times it is a fab place to live and we have all enjoyed it immensely.  

It is the only home William and Oliver can really remember.  Indeed they are more Shanghainese than anything else having lived there longer than in the UK!  They started school there and have had some wonderful teachers and made some excellent friends.  It was pretty sad on the last day at school.

       

   

       

       

Sam and I have really enjoyed making the most of living in such a vibrant city with lots to see and do and lots of 'happy hours' to take advantage of.

We also feel that we have made the most of being in China with trips to various parts of the country, other Asian countries and even New Zealand. 

As a family we will miss lots and we attempted many 'lasts'.  We squeezed in a few sherpas takeaways, a few happy hours (not so enjoyable when on soft drinks!), a few visits to Din Tai Fung, a trip to Lost Heavan, jidan bings and an afternoon tea.  

       

       

Along with the food we will even miss the cultural differences such as the spitting, the driving, people interfering with our shopping and queue rage! 

However, we all agreed that what we will miss most is the friends we have made.  Some friendships have been cemented over four years and others in as little as a few months but they all feel like they have been and will be friends for life.  Saying goodbye was so hard and tears were shed, but we know we will all meet again somewhere in the world.

The day Dallaglio came to Dulwich

      

  

A few weeks ago William's teacher Mr Perry, who is Head of Rugby at Dulwich, mentioned that the World Cup was passing through Shanghai and he was hoping to get it in to Dulwich.  I though that sounded interesting but having seen it before at Twickenham, wasn't particularly excited by the idea. However, whilst at a party a couple of weeks ago a friend mention that Lawrence Dallaglio was escorting the World Cup in its current tour of Asia.  Suddenly my interest was heightened and I thought I ought to have a more in depth conversation with Mr Perry. 

I was pleased to find out that Lawrence Dallaglio and the World Cup were coming in to school and that the plan was to have all children who play rugby, which included Oliver and William, to meet him, have photos taken and receive a signed 2015 rugby ball.  I spent the next week or so making sure Mr Perry knew everything he needed to about Dallaglio and eventually he suggested I might like to be in school that day too!

Fortunately, the day of the visit coincided with our packing day so Sam was home from work.  We both went to school and watched the children have an interesting audience with Dallaglio, although some of the banter went over their heads but was appreciated by the adults there.  

      

Mr Perry, who is a Kiwi, advised the children not to touch the cup but to look closely at who the current holders were. Dallaglio's response was to point out that although New Zealand have won it twice they only ever manage to win in their own country!  

       

William and Oliver were then presented with a signed rugby ball and had their photo with the cup and Dallaglio. 

                                       

                                       

 I then pointed out to him that it was unfair that two of my children had had a photo with him and that my unborn child was missing out.  

     

     

He was very obliging and also signed our 2003 World Cup Final programme.

       

                                      

"He Who Has Not Been To The Great Wall Is Not A True Man" - Chairman Mao

Every November Dulwich has two teacher training days which are a great time to head off around China as not many others are on holiday.  Last year we headed to Xian and this year we decided to go to Beijing and the Great Wall.

We set off on the Wednesday night on the overnight train, William and Oliver's preferred method of travel.  On arrival in Beijing early on the Thursday morning, we grabbed breakfast at the station and found our taxi to take us out to the Wall.   It was a lovely drive out through the countryside to our hotel which was an old ceramics factory that has been converted in to an eco resort.

While checking in we rifled through our cases for extra layers as it was a lot colder in Beijing than Shanghai.  Our room was lovely and even boasted a view of the Great Wall.

After getting sorted we headed straight to the cable car to go up the Wall.  We bought a picnic lunch from the  handily placed Subway right by the cable car!  It was an impressive journey to the top and when we got there the views were fantastic.

Luckily for us, Beijing was hosting the APEC and was expecting Obama to fly in later in the week.   Therefore all local factories and producers of Beijing's pollution had been turned off!  This meant that we had clear blue sky and lovely clean air.  In fact it was so clean that one day it registered -1!

The benefit of heading to the Wall on a Thursday was immediately clear by the lack of crowds. Some sections were solely ours.

 After hiking halfway to our destination we stopped for a picnic lunch and bumped in to some friends from Shanghai!

We then trekked on, eventually reaching the point of descent.   There was a choice of chairlift or toboggan run, unsurprisingly the boys opted for the toboggan.  Sam and I were rather pleased as it was much more fun than a chair lift.

The following morning we had a walk around the small village where we were staying before heading back in to Beijing.

Upon arrival at our hotel in Beijing we had to go through a body and bag scan as we had inadvertently booked ourselves in to an APEC hotel.  It was in a great location right by a metro line and shopping centre.  We had lunch then jumped on the metro to Tianenmen Square.

Tianenmen Square was enormous and quite imposing.  There was nothing picturesque about it and you could really feel the hand of government with security everywhere.  To actually get in to the square we had to queue up to be scanned although when we actually got to the front of the queue we were waved through!  Everyone with a cigarette lighter had it confiscated and binned, however most people on the square still managed to be smoking and we even saw a woman selling lighters!  The sheer vastness of the square meant that we didn't fancy walking round it so we had a look and then headed over the road to the Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City was a complete contrast to the wall the day before in terms of numbers of people.  On an ordinary Friday afternoon the sheer number of visitors was staggering.  At one point the queue for tickets looked so horrendous that Sam and I debated whether it was worth going in.  We were swiftly rebuked by our sons who told us that of course we had to go in!

Once we were in the queue it moved pretty quickly and we were in.  Once again the sheer scale of the place was breathtaking.  The Forbidden City is the largest palace complex in the world.  It was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty.  For almost 500 years, it served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government. 

William and Oliver were quite taken with the place and insisted on being our tour guides, making up stories about the Emperors and parts of the building.  This meant that a walk through quite a repetitive and austere complex became quite entertaining.

After walking through the whole of the city we headed in to a park the otherside and climbed the hill to the pagoda on top.  The view down in to the city was very impressive and gave a good idea of the scale of the place.  We then took a quick tour through the Hutongs or old lanes on a rickshaw, before heading back to the metro station and our hotel. 

We were all pretty exhausted after all the walking and after a sandwich and a bowl of soup we were all in bed by 9pm!

The following day we had a lazy morning making use of the hotel swimming pool.  Oliver and William took much delight in jumping in the icy plunge pool followed by the jacuzzi!  We then headed to Da Dong, Beijing's famous crispy duck restaurant.  Having had crispy duck in Shanghai at a chain from Beijing we were not sure that it would be very different.  However, the meal exceeded all of our expectations and was the best duck we have ever eaten.  

We were all quite taken with the dessert of fresh dates which arrived in a bowl of dry ice!

The following day we headed back to the station and this time got the fast train back to Shanghai.  It was amazing that for nearly the whole duration of the five hour journey the countryside was shrouded in a haze of pollution.  Thankfully, although still by no means perfect, the air around Shanghai was noticeably better.

Anyone for dumplings?

Whilst living in China, dumplings have become a staple part of our diet.  In particular we all love xian long bao (little steamed bun) Shanghai's famous soup dumpling.  It is hard to describe them if you have never eaten them, but they are a delicious ball of pork with a little soup all held together in a dumpling skin.

These firm family favourites can be eaten anywhere from fine dining restaurants to street stalls and vary in price as much as £3 for five to 60p for six!  On the whole the quality is fairly consistent but Din Tai Feng is one of the best restaurants to eat them at and their chefs undergo extensive training and are famous worldwide.

Xian Long Bao originated in Nanxiang which is now a suburb of Shanghai, where copious amounts of the dumplings are still produced.  

A visit to Nanxiang has been on our to do list for a while and on a warm November day we headed out after a light breakfast to find some dumplings.  Upon arrival we discovered a lovely Chinese garden which we wandered around.  The boys were delighted with the numerous rock formations that they were allowed to climb.

Having worked up an appetite we headed to a cavernous canteen like restaurant and, having found a table outside, sent Sam in to get some dumplings.  Sam reappeared with a sheepish look on his face.  The woman had talked him in to buying three steamers of dumplings which amounted to sixty! Luckily they only cost £3 for twenty and I suggested we could always take home what we didn't eat.  My concerns about not finishing them were unfounded.  William put away ten, I managed 12, Sam ate 18 and Oliver managed 19.  He would have eaten 20 but lost one on the floor! 

After eating we wandered slowly up 'healthy street', named to reassure customers, watching hundreds of xian long bao being made.

 On our return home Oliver collapsed on the sofa while he digested his dumplings!