I forgot to tell you about last weekend. It was absolutely BRILLIANT!!!!! We went camping up North in Qinhuangdao, which is about 20 minutes South of where the Great Wall goes into the ocean. Evidently they've "rebuilt" part of it, so it looks more like a tourist attraction. Seems a shame somehow. We never made it that far, but stayed at "the beach house". :) The boys actually rented a house for a year in this town that takes 4 hours by slow train to get to. It was pretty cold, but we had the best time. Continuing the fierce card game from the previous
weekend took up most of Friday night, that is after we left "Golden Age", a bar that would have to come straight out of a cheesy 80s movie if I hadn't seen it myself. There was a big 360 stage and different girls singing Karaoke to the "audience". Finally a guy singer came on- evidently some "hot commodity" around town...red shirt, open at the collar, gold necklace...awesome. And, he sang the last half of the song directly to me. I think I was as red as his oh-so-cool shirt by the end of it. The next morning we had a wonderful lunch from the landlady and while we were out of the front landing some of the local kids came peeking by the front gate. They were so cute! Tommy went down and hid behind the door and they
squealed in delight when he scared them. so great. Then they darted away, only to return a few minutes later with dandelions for the three of us sitting outside. I went outside to play with them and tried to teach them "little bunny foo foo", but not very successfully, then they disappeared again, returning this time with stickers for all of us. What a great way to spend a Saturday morning! We walked out to the beach then, and it was really a glorious day. There was a killer campfire that night and one of the guys' friend, Victor brought firewood and food and we all ended up sleeping on the beach under the full moon. Very good times!!!!
I forgot to tell you about last weekend. It was absolutely BRILLIANT!!!!! We went camping up North in Qinhuangdao, which is about 20 minutes South of where the Great Wall goes into the ocean. Evidently they've "rebuilt" part of it, so it looks more like a tourist attraction. Seems a shame somehow. We never made it that far, but stayed at "the beach house". :) The boys actually rented a house for a year in this town that takes 4 hours by slow train to get to. It was pretty cold, but we had the best time. Continuing the fierce card game from the previous 
weekend took up most of Friday night, that is after we left "Golden Age", a bar that would have to come straight out of a cheesy 80s movie if I hadn't seen it myself. There was a big 360 stage and different girls singing Karaoke to the "audience". Finally a guy singer came on- evidently some "hot commodity" around town...red shirt, open at the collar, gold necklace...awesome. And, he sang the last half of the song directly to me. I think I was as red as his oh-so-cool shirt by the end of it. The next morning we had a wonderful lunch from the landlady and while we were out of the front landing some of the local kids came peeking by the front gate. They were so cute! Tommy went down and hid behind the door and they 
squealed in delight when he scared them. so great. Then they darted away, only to return a few minutes later with dandelions for the three of us sitting outside. I went outside to play with them and tried to teach them "little bunny foo foo", but not very successfully, then they disappeared again, returning this time with stickers for all of us. What a great way to spend a Saturday morning! We walked out to the beach then, and it was really a glorious day. There was a killer campfire that night and one of the guys' friend, Victor brought firewood and food and we all ended up sleeping on the beach under the full moon. Very good times!!!!
Comments
Gabrielle from NZ here - fantastic to see you are in China - will be in Beijing the last week of May on a trade delegation - specifically 28 - 30th May - would love to connect - send me an email....