A Wild Week

I'm afraid this week won't get the narrative it so rightly deserves. After a short visit to Xiamen with Uncle H--, we shoved our portion of the hotel into bags and moved into our new apartment. We've spent the last few days buying and assembling furniture (still not nearly done), slowly unpacking bags and boxes, eating out a lot, exploring our new neighborhood bit by bit, and trying to plan our holiday in Bali - apparently most of the country is already booked over Christmas.

Xiamen

As far as testing our girls' ability to jump onto a plane Saturday morning, enjoy a bit of foreign land, and jump back on a return flight Sunday evening - we failed miserably. The girls were troopers, and Dave's child-loving young co-workers helped considerably. We hardly saw S-- the entire weekend, as people fought to hold her. But waking early one day, going to bed late the next, and needing to skip naps both days is just not something two babies can physically manage. In the future, our short trips will be roadtrips, and we'll save the flights for extended weekends.

Xiamen itself is rather nondescript and not worth much time. Upon arrival, our crew of about 23 people (L-- and S-- were joined by only one other child) climbed aboard a tour bus and were shuttled about town for the rest of the weekend.

First stop was a 1,300 year old Buddhist temple climbing the wooded hills of this oceanfront town.

The main pagodas rest on level ground, and were filled with smoking red sticks of incense and people bowing quickly to the many golden idols.

Past these first few buildings, the rest of the complex consisted of small pagodas and caves along stairways and paths winding their way up the hill. They went up much further than our 2-year-old's legs could climb, but the farther away from the McDonalds eating masses bowing to the golden Buddhas on the ground, the more serene and beautiful each temple felt.

The tour progressed to various Chinese banquets, an island with Colonial architecture, a boat ride and the university campus. Each was lovely, but rather unremarkable and probably not worth the tired infants we forced through the trip. But for the opportunity to get to know Dave's co-workers in a new setting and be introduced to plenty of Chinese food in an informal banquet style, the trip was well worth it. And since L-- and S-- were surrounded by so many friends in Dave's coworkers, they may have even agreed.

Our New Home

We now have a permanent address and no more housekeeping. But don't worry about that - we're on the prowl for an ayi to cook, clean and shop for us. My understanding is that a part-time ayi will cost us around $50 a month - and never scrubbing the toilet, mopping the floor or doing my own laundry is well worth the cost, I've decided. Still, we're currently dealing with mess ourselves. Our shipment was delivered as a mass of boxes, and our things came from the hotel in suitcases and bags. But the furnished apartment came with beds, couches and televisions but only a shopping allowance for shelves, dressers and other storage. So we made an immediate run to IKEA and handed over a ridiculous amount of cash for a desk, two dressers, a set of shelves, a file cabinet, 1 rug, 1 set of sheets, 1 blanket and various other household needs. We're living amongst piles of toys, blankets of books and overflowing suitcases until we finish assembling IKEA's DIY furniture. The goal is to be finished and unpacked by the end of the weekend. With no other plans - except to make a nice pot of chili - I think we can do it.

A few photos of our old home. This is Hong Kong Plaza, our hotel (serviced apartment), viewed from the park across the street:

And this is People's Square and the Shanghai Museum, the view out of our former Living Room window:

Booking in Bali

Rather than spend a sad Christmas alone in our highrise apartment, we're shipping ourselves to Bali for a tropical holiday. After two nights and one day in Singapore, we'll spend seven nights in Bali. We arranged the flights without realizing just how booked these two countries would be at this time. Singapore, land of the outrageously priced hotels, was looking like it might cost around $450 a night until we stumbled upon the Robertson Quay Hotel, where we're booked for 2 nights and a late check-out to cover naptime - all for under $300, total. On to Bali, where we were becoming quite concerned that we'd be stuck paying thousands of dollars to stay at Club Med rather than our preference, the more affordable boutique hotels in smaller communities. After a lot of searching and talking to people, we've booked the first four nights in Ubud and are working on the last 3 nights on the beach. It seems we won't spend Christmas homeless, although we will be spending midnight on New Year's Eve with our children at the Singapore airport - our connecting flight won't leave for Shanghai until 2:00 in the morning!

With all of these plans made, and you all caught up, we can put all of our energy into the weekend's task of making this place feel like home.