Some questions and answers from the comments…

25. April 2008 by ilanamong.

Evan wants to know how the birthday cake was and the rest of the class says HELLO!!!
–Ms. Shaiman and the class
Ms. Shamian the cake looked great and the icing tasted good, but I didn’t like the cake part so much. It was a double decker cake and before they put the second layer on they put a pineapple cut into pieces on it. I didn’t like it, but my parents did.
–Ilana

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Who would win in a dumpling-eating contest: your Dad or your Mom? China is the place to find out!
–Dave Dunkle
My dad, he is a faster eater.
–Ilana

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It’s good you like Chinese food. Any Italian food available?
–Ed Mong Sr.
We haven’t really looked, but there is Pizza Hut, Domino’s, KFC, McDonalds, and a few Italian food restaurants. We won’t go to any of those because there’s too much exciting Chinese food to explore.
–Ilana

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Sasha would like to hear about any animals you’ve seen. Does Beijing have squirrels? And Michael wants to know if you are all eating with chopsticks.
–Andrea
There aren’t any squirrels, but there are some cool looking birds and I saw a butterfly. Do bugs count? There’s not so many at all. Only gnats.We also saw a bunch of animals at the zoo. Yes, we all are eating with chopsticks.
–Ilana

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I imagine it will take you some time to adjust to the time change. So, what do the Chinese serve for breakfast?
–Andrea
I searched for “chinese breakfast” on the internet. Apparently, a bowl of “congee” is just the thing to have on cold, rainy mornings. I would let your Dad try it first.
–Dave Dunkle
I refused to try the congee because it looked really gross. It’s mashed up rice with some mixtures in it. Who knows maybe I will try it and like it.
–Ilana

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Zoo

25. April 2008 by ilanamong.

Yesterday I really wanted to go to the zoo, but my mom didn’t want to–we ended up going anyway, yay! First we went to the panda exhibit. The pandas were so cute, it looked like I could just go up and cuddle with one. One walked around, going this way and that, one slept in a really cute way on top of a jungle gym with its arms hanging down, and one ate in the corner of his cage. The pandas had nice big cages with large play areas including jungle gyms, slides, and platforms that go up and up.

Next we went to the big cat exhibit. The cats like lions, tigers, jaguars, black leopards, and more were so cute, but the enclosures they were in were so small that the cats could just barely move. Those were their indoor enclosures, but the outdoor enclosures that only had three or four animals in them had huge beautiful outdoor enclosures that actually looked like habitats. We also saw fox and wolves, birds of all kinds, elephants, hippos, and rhinos. I even got to ride an elephant (a statue of one that is). There was an aquarium that we didn’t go in and we also couldn’t find the monkeys, giraffs, or bears. Construction was probably blocking the entrance. Then my mom decided it was time to go.

We went to meet my dad at a park called Beihei and it was beautiful. They had food stands just opening because it was 5:00 and boat rentals just closing. We only had time to walk through it because my feet were getting tired from walking all day and I was getting hungry too. We will definitely go back and explore all the different houses and temples there. We also saw a woman taking her wedding pictures in a red dress.

We walked out of the park and started looking for a restaurant my dad read about in his guide book. Oh no! My parents never find anything from their guide book. But, for the first time we found the restaurant. We ordered a pork casserole called bairou because that’s what the restaurant is famous for. The restaurant has been there since 1741 and they have been serving bairou the whole time. We also got a small, whole, roasted chicken, and seasonal vegetables like tomatoes, yuck. The chicken was good and the pork and broth of the soup was good, but there was something green in the soup that didn’t taste so good. Once we finished dinner we got a cab home and ate some more of the birthday cake (icing for me). We went for a quick dip in the hotel pool and then we were all ready for sleep.

Today, we are thinking about going to the Summer Palace. It’s already getting late, so I have to go get ready to go out.

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