Brad and I had a quiet little celebration for his birthday last night. (The real celebration was our trip to China!) He had to work late, but when he got home I had waiting for him his favorite meal for dinner: spaghetti and meatballs. For dessert I served brownies ala mode. Brad came to my rescue last night. The partition of my hard drive where my Internet applications reside crashed yesterday. I tried a couple of things to fix it, but to no avail. Brad got on the computer for about half an hour and fixed the problem! Thank God. Losing my connection to the Internet felt as if someone had chopped off my right hand!

I can hardly believe it, but I'm getting ready to travel overseas again. I'll be taking off for Maryland this evening. Staying for a week during which I'll attend an "early Thanksgiving" celebration at my sister Vickie's. All the Genovese siblings will be there, plus our cousin Mary Lou and niece and nephew (the twin terrors) Shawn and Dawn. I'll get to meet Shawn's fiancee as well.

I've been so busy since we got back from China. And I'll be just as busy once I return back from the States. I'll begin my duties as website coordinator for CWAJ, plus there are big doings ahead for DigitalEve Japan. One of the main things I accomplished these past few days is the completion of a project for DE-J: I've designed a promotional t-shirt for us. I picked up a sample on Monday afternoon and I'm really pleased with it. We'll be unveiling the t-shirts at our Annual Meeting on Nov. 9.

We're baaaa-aack! We returned from China on Wed. p.m. I really regret the big gap in my web log about our trip. After we left Xian I had a lot of trouble hooking up to my weblog while we were on the road. Then when we got back, I got so busy catching up with my email, laundry -- plus recuperating from a cold I caught during the second week of our trip. At any rate, we had a great time -- though the trip was not without its frustrating moments. There is so much to relate about our experiences during this trip I'll try to hit upon some of the highlights:

On Wed. Oct 16, we flew from Xian to Chongqing where we stayed one night. We didn't do much sightseeing there, just wandered about the center of town near our hotel and had a fabulous spicy meal (Chongqing is in Sichuan province). Chongqing (prounounced by our guide as "Tzchongching") is very hilly and as a result there are not many bicycles there, as in most Chinese cities. We saw many men carrying loads simply with the aid of a bamboo pole about 4 feet long and two inches thick. More evidence of the lack of modern conveniences: workers toiling in the streets with pick axes.

We got up bright and early on Thursday morning for a 45-minute drive to board our cruise ship, The Princess Jeannie. We would spend the next 3 days cruising the Yangtze River enroute to the Three Gorges Dam Project. The Dam must be the largest public works project in history. It began in 1999 and will be completed in 2009. When it is complete, the water level will rise some 160 meters through the areas we cruised past, submerging many of the existing towns. The residents have been busy tearing down the towns that are on low ground (without the aid of machinery) and relocating and rebuilding on higher ground. We passed through some stunningly gorgeous scenery on our cruise. One excursion found us in "pea pod boats" -- narrow wooden boats that hold up to 20 people and are hauled up a shallow stream by four "trackers" -- men who walk on the shore and haul the boat by ropes. Again, beautiful scenery and Brad spotted a kingfisher! We had wonderful lunch and dinner companions on the cruise: Piet and Ingrid from Belgium. Piet had been a pilot with Sabena and Ingrid, his wife, a flight
attendant. Then there was an older couple from Rochester, NY, Alene and Jim. They were kinda hip for their age and have traveled extensively -- to the Antarctic, a month in Australia, East Africa. Our meal times were enlivened with engaging conversations. I celebrated my birthday on the last day of our cruise, which happened to be a cold rainy day. I was presented with a birthday cake at dinner time after the crew turned out the lights and everyone in the entire dining room sang Happy Birthday.

The cruise ship pulled into Wuhan on Sunday morning. We spent another cold rainy day seeing a few of the sights in Wuhan (a buddhist temple and a museum with a fantastic display of artifacts from a 2,000-year-old tomb). That evening we boarded a flight to Shanghai. Nothing had prepared us for the fantastical skyline of Shanghai as we arrived worn and weary that evening. Shanghai was the most modern city on our itinerary -- and is filled with many western-style buildings, some of them traditional and others quite fanciful. One of the best things about our stay in Shanghai was our hotel. We stayed in the Peace Hotel, which proudly claims to be one of the most famous hotels in the world. It was built in the 1920s, originally named the Cathay Hotel, by Victor Sassoon, a wealthy Brit who made his millions in the Opium trade. It is a beautiful specimen of Art Deco design, down to every detail. In the fifties it was taken over by the Chinese govt. (the sketchy customer service is evidence of that) and renamed the Peace Hotel. We were delighted to find out that we had been upgraded from a superior room to a suite! How nice it was to spread out after the cramped quarters on the cruise ship.

While in Shanghai, we attended a jaw-dropping performance by Chinese acrobats, shopped in a Chinese-style bazaar, visited the mazelike Yuyuan Garden, strolled along the stylish Bund (the embankment along the Huapong River), rode the Shanghai subway, and visited the extensive and impressive collection of antiquities of the Shanghai Museum. Some of the notable things about Shanghai have nothing to do with the those sights, however. The traffic was horrendous! It was a life-threatening act just to cross the street. There were cyclists everywhere, none of whom pay attention to traffic signals -- they just edge their way through intersections whereever they see an opening. Cars do not yield to pedestrians, who must also be forced to wend their way across the street, dodging vehicles and cyclists in the act. Street hawkers, present in every city we visited, were extremely persistent in Shanghai. We would step out of our hotel and hear "Hello. Rolex watch. $10" "Postcards. $1." A little girl followed us for blocks, trying to sell roses. We even saw a guy trying to hawk a tiger pelt. For some reason, the Shanghainese wanted to take pictures of themselves with Westereners and Brad was once roped into the middle of a group of Chinese people for a photo op.

We went to see the terra cotta warriors today. As much as I've read about them and seen pictures of them and seen replicas of them in the souvenir shops in Xian, they were still incredibly impressive. At the museum where you go to view them, three buildings have been built on top of the sites where the warriors have been unearthed. Regrettably, you can't get too close to them -- you stand on a platform looking down on them from a distance. I'll fill in more details on this later. Don't have enough time on this computer to fill in the details. I bought a book on the terra cotta warriors and it was signed by one of the farmers who first discovered the pottery remains while digging a well.

We pulled into Xian early this morning to find we are once again surrounded by a milky haze. We think it's caused by the dust blown over from the Gobi Desert (not kidding!). The overnight train trip was a great experience. We were in a compartment with four beds: two lower bunks and two upper bunks. Lucky for us we had great bunk mates: two women, Sue and Sheryn, from NewZealand traveling through china and then heading off to Vietnam. We had lots of fun sharing stories of our experiences in Beijing. Sue will be staying in china, hopes to find work in Beijing and study Mandarin. Sheryn will head home to hubby in New Zealand and very generously offered to show us around if we ever make it to New Zealand. We also shared the food we had all packed for the trip: cheese, bread, crackers, fruit and some wonderful baked twisty sesame sticks (a Chinese specialty). The beds were quite firm and the pillows hard as a rock. We had a nice soft comforter, however it was quite warm in the cabin. Luckily there was a halfway decent western-style toilet down the hall and each car had a communal washroom with three sinks. I took a walk through the train to see what the other cars were like. The car just past ours was anaother soft sleeper inhabited mainly by a lively tour group from France. Beyond their car the hard sleepers began: six beds to a compartment and no doors on the compartment for privacy! In the other direction was the dining car and beyond that cars with regular non-sleeper seats. I never fell into a deep sleep but kind of dozed off and on all night. Surprisingly enough I was full of energy when we pulled into Xian, though Brad was dragging a bit. It was chaos outside the train station. We were met by our guide, a friendly Chinese woman named Lynn. She had a bit of a time locating our driver, but finally did and we were whisked away to our hotel where we showered, had breakfast and hit the streets.

Xian has a totally different feel from Beijing. It's a lot more laid back and we were not accosted every 5 minutes by street hawkers like we were in Beijing. It is extremely dusty in Xian. Our hotel is on the main drag inside the still city wall that still surrounds the city. We were surprised at all the shops and huge shopping centers lining the streets. The historical sites are all kinda drab and dull looking as they are covered with inches and inches of Gobi Desert dust. We walked to one of the main gates along the wall, climbed to the top and had a look around from that vantage point. Then we strolled down "Calligraphy Lane" a shopping street with many stores selling calligraphy supplies. We encountered lots of interesting wares for sale and many caged singing birds. We had lunch at a place highly recommended by our travel guide: Lao Sun. It is a Muslim restaurant that specializes in an odd dish. You are given a big bowl with two hard pancakes in it. Then you shred the pancakes up into very small pieces into yuor bowl. The waiter takes your bowl away and then returns it to you filled with a mutton stew with noodles. condiments on the side were a plate filled with roasted garlic cloves, chopped cilantro and hot chili past. I was really leery about eating mutton, but it was not half bad. Tonihgt we are going to a Tang Dynasty show and supper.

We had another full day today. Li picked us up at 7:30 a.m.and we drove out to the Summer Palace which is in the western part of the city. It is actually a huge park area with manmade lake and several halls and pavilions. It is where the Empress Dowager Cixi ruled during the final years of her reign. It was fun crawling around the hills and pathways and discovering the different halls and pavilions. There is also a huge temple there as well. I was a little disappointed in how commercialized the site was however. Many of the buildings had been converted into restaurants and shops -- I'd rather have been able to explore the buildings without having second rate tourist goods shoved down my throat. The bathrooms were the pits at the Summer Palace. (We've discovered how awful the public toilets are in Beijing. Smelly and dirty. NO toilet paper or soap. Very few if any western style toilets available. Yuck!!!) the Summer Palace was really crowded with tons of tourists. We had lunch at a little restaurant near the Palace grounds. It seemed like a place for locals rather than tourists, so that was nice. We wanted something light as we've really been feasting lately so we basically had a meal of steamed dumplings. They were delicious. Then Li dropped us off at the Temple of Heaven. Another huge complex with several buildings relating to the religious beliefs of the early emperors. They used to make sacrificial offerings to the gods to pray for bountiful harvests. The grounds surround the temple and other buildings were immaculately manicured and very tranquil. A welcome break from the throngs at the Summer Palace. Another plus -- clean bathrooms (still no soap or tp, tho)! The buildings were quite remarkable and we took tons of photos -- hope they turn out. A strong wind picked up in the afternoon and blew away the haze that has been choking the city since we arrived, so we finally got to see some blue sky. Tomorrow we head off for Xian via sleeper train. We're both very curious about what that experience will be like.

The flight into Beijing was uneventful, but we had to deal with huge crowds in the departing airport terminal and at customs upon arrival. I think they must schedule all the flights to Beijing from Tokyo around the same time. It has been hazy ever since we arrived in Beijing, sort of a disappointment as far as our photos go. Even so, we're having a fabulous time. Have toured the Forbidden City and climbed the Great Wall at Simitai. The main thing we notice about Beijing so far is t hat everything is just so BIG. The city blocks are really long, the sidewalks wider than most streets in Tokyo. The people are nice but not overly friendly. We notice alot of people will just stare at you outright. The food has been fantastic. Will update this report later.

At 2:30 p.m., about one hour from now, Brad and I will be leaving the house on our way to Beijing. First we'll catch a taxi to Tokyo Station. From there we take the Narita Express to the airport. Then fly via Northwest to Beijing. The flight leaves around 7 p.m. We're due in about 9:45 p.m. Beijing time. We'll be spending the night at Beijing Hotel, just a stone's throw away from the Forbidden City. Yowza, we're psyched.

Yesterday a package from Deruta, Italy, was delivered to our door. Funny, but right now, Deruta sounds even more exotic than Beijing or Shanghai. I suspected my family was behind it when I saw that it came from Deruta. Sure enough, it was, dare I say it, my 50th birthday present from my siblings. It is a stunningly gorgeous round platter hand-painted by a Deruta artisan. My jaw dropped when I saw it. It is so beautiful I'm in awe of it and almost afraid to handle it. I'm afraid I'll drop it or chip it or something. This gift is very precious to me.

We went to another great museum yesterday: the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum. The museum is located on a huge piece of parkland in Musashi-Koganei, about 45 min. outside of Tokyo. The museum collection consists of original houses and commercial properties, ranging in age from Edo period (1600-1868) up to the 1950's. These structures were disassembled from their original locations moved to the park at Musashi-Koganei and then reassembled. Some of the properties are furnished either with orginal furnishings or furnishings of the period. It was fascinating to wander around the properties and examine all the different architectural designs, most of which are so different from Western-style architecture. One of the grand old houses had been turned into a restaurant where we had lunch, sitting on the floor Japanese-style. The food was delicious! My favorite section of the museum was the Shitamachi exhibit. Shitamachi means downtown in Japanese; at the museum several properties from the Meiji period (1868-19??) were assembled as they would have appeared as a neighborhood in Tokyo.

Today, my Japanese friend Michiko took me on a tour of the skyscraper neighborhood in Shinjuku. I had never really had much desire to go there before, but I'm so glad Michiko introduced me to it. This is where some of the best of Tokyo architecture exists. I've decided my favorite contemporary building in Tokyo is the Metropolitan Government Building and I'm delighted that we can actually see that building from our kitchen window. We went to the top of the South Tower of the Govt. Building. (There are twin towers, each of which contains an observatory) and got a jaw-dropping-360-degree-panoramic view of Tokyo. Absolutely fascinating! The city just stretched on and on forever in all directions.