The Parent's Visit

Nothing like a visit from Mom and Dad (and Sis) to use as an excuse for a vacation. I'm fresh of a week long holiday (courtesy of Mom and Dad) to all important sights in Shanghai and Xi'an. After 4 days of playing tour guide in Shanghai, I was afforded the chance to relax myself on a 3 day guided tour of Xi'an. Most importantly, however, was getting to see my family whom I haven't seen in nearly 6 months.

In Shanghai I was charged with showing them all the sights, without allowing anyone to drop dead from exhaustion. Though our days were long and full of sightseeing, the ubiquitous $3 cab ride to anywhere in the city eased our minds and feet. We zigged to Chinese Gardens, zagged back to towering skyscrapers, then zigged again to buy tailor made jackets at the fabric market. In between all this, I took my family to as many 'authentic' restaurants as I could, a fact that became more obvious when we had 'tourist' dinners arranged for us in Xi'an. Between the Hot Pot King, steamed dumplings, fancy Cantonese restaurants and a trip to the sacred Noodles, my family feasted and conversed, catching up without the use of the Internet for a change.

In Xi'an our lives were made simple by the wise decision to pre-hire a tour. Our guide met us at the airport, drove us to our hotel, then picked us up for dinner and all the sight seeing every day. Rather wonderful really, as many of the sights were outside of town and separated from each other. Clearly the highlight of the city was the terracotta warrior sight: football fields filled with statues (or rather pieces of statues, all were broken and most still need to be reassembled). Yet every silver lining has a dark cloud, and our dark cloud was a dearth of authentic food provided in the restaurants we were taken too. Having feasted in back-alley cafes in Shanghai, the shock of blander than boiled celery, middle-American, pseudo-Chinese food was a bit of a disappointment. However I wouldn't have traded the guided tour for anything; I could only stretch the illusion that I can speak Chinese so far before its apparent (A) we're eating the same thing at every meal, or (B) we get some really funky part of the body nobody wants to eat. Thankfully it never came to that, so the illusion remains intact. Nothing like parents marveling at an underdeveloped skill to boost your self confidence. Thanks for coming Mom and Dad.