Our Excursion in Vietnam

It's been way too long since I blogged and, well, for good reason. I was on vacation!

For 12 days, my parents, Scott and I toured Vietnam. We started in Hanoi, where we stayed at a quaint hotel in the old Quarter on a small street near Hanoi's Hoan Kiem lake. The streets of Hanoi are always buzzing and somehow it all works. The old ladies balancing baskets full of fresh fruit on their shoulders don't get run over by the thousands of mopeds, which artfully dodge pedestrians crossing the street. Everyone likes to pop a squat on the sidewalk, sitting in little pre-school chairs to enjoy a fresh bowl of Pho or play cards.

The bustling streets of Hanoi.

My Parents, the Mules -- I Mean, Our First Visitors!

In about two weeks, my mom and dad will be coming to Beijing, where we'll spend a few days before heading off for a vacation in Vietnam. Scott will then return to China and I'll get some much-needed one on one time with my parents as we head to Nepal for a conference my dad is attending.

Our expat friends have told us their visiting relatives and friends become "mules", bringing as much stuff as possible that they miss so dearly. This is our first experience with it, and bless my parents' hearts, we're asking for a ton of stuff. Below, a list of the random things we've asked for. Fingers crossed all of it gets through customs!

Natural peanut butter. My sister bought us two giant jars, which we can't wait to devour. Skippy gets really old, really quickly.

20 Signs You're an Expat in Beijing

It's hard to believe we've been here for about six months already! So in the spirit of BuzzFeed and the website's wildly popular lists, I came up with my own.

1. You begin to like drinking hot water

Because you're probably not going to get anything else except tea. And ensuring it's boiled means you won't get sick. 

Harbin's Winter Wonderland

Last weekend, Scott and I went with some expat friends to the city of Harbin, which is northeast of Beijing. The city, which was originally part of Manchu and then under Russian influence for awhile, boasts an ice festival that's literally unlike anything else: replicas of famous city structures (like Rome's Colosseum and New York's Empire State Building) and giant sculptures made out of ice and snow. Each structure is sponsored by a company (go figure) and has lights inside them to bring this winter wonderland to life.

Ice, ice baby. 

"Oh That's Different" No. 5

I've been delinquent with blogging lately! With the Year of the Horse, here's plenty more to observe.

1. No kitchen drawers. I've seen a fair number of homes now, from luxury places to hutong apartments and none of them has kitchen drawers for silverware! My silverware organizer sits on top of a wire rack in our kitchen and it drives me insane because it gets dusty and it looks ugly. I blame chopsticks; you can arrange chopsticks neatly in a cup and tuck it away in a cupboard. It's not as easy with forks, spoons and knives.

Perhaps I should invest in one of these and let guests choose their wares.

A New Year Temple Fair

So this is where all the people are during Chun Jie.

After those first few days during a long holiday, most people get stir-crazy and we hit that moment after three days. So on Sunday, we decided to do as the locals do and visit a temple fair, which is something many Chinese do during the spring festival.

Scott entering Ditan Park's temple fair.

The Year of the Horse (Xin Nian Kuai Le!)

On Thursday evening, Beijing started to shut down for the week-long national holiday of Chun Jie, or spring festival, the Chinese Lunar New Year. Millions of people trek back to their hometowns and there's a slew of gift giving, big meals and spending time with family.

The Year of the Horse!