MODERN TOILET RESTAURANT

MODERN TOILET RESTAURANT

China has some crappy places to eat, butt, ironically, this is not one of them....

On Sunday we were going to stay home and get our blog all caught up. Well we went for a little stroll and before we knew it we had gotten on the subway and ended up at the market. We didn't buy anything but did find this interesting restaurant called the Modern Toilet. They had pictures of their western toilet on the wall and pictures of all of the foods they served and it looked yumm, butt... They were closed, only open in the evening hours, so we didn't get to go inside to check it out.

Hey, as you see, they even have their web address (www.m-toilet.com) on their ad, so you can get on line and order. Just ask for John Gong Wong. They may not deliver, but you can ask. They do have photos of their restaurant inside...Yes, you sit on toilets! And the tables are glass on top of elevated bathtubs.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

This was our hotel in Shenzhen. The people here were very helpful and went out of their way to make sure our stay was pleasant and very comfortable. We were on the 15th floor and could look out on the city every night. Though it was right in the main part of town it was not noisy in our room because we were so high up.


On Sunday we were going to stay home and get our blog all caught up. Well we went for a little stroll and before we knew it we had gotten on the subway and ended up at the market. We didn't buy anything but did find this interesting restaurant called the Modern Toilet. They had pictures of their western toilet on the wall and pictures of all of the foods they served and it looked yumm, butt... They were closed so we didn't get to go inside to check it out. Hey, they even have their web address (http://www.m-toilet.com/) on their ad, so you can get on line and order. Just ask for John. They may not deliver regularly, but you can ask.

After a brief walk through the market we got back on the subway and headed out to the China Culture Center.


On arriving their we bought tickets to the Chinese Rodeo, which was more of a production of Mongolian Warriors on horseback. It was really great to watch.


Then we walked around the Center for an hour before we attended an indoor show. Now this was once again a Spectacular. The best part was Jay was selected out of the audience and got to go on stage to perform with the cast. I got it all on the video. Jay did such a great job, But I will let him tell you about it.

After the performance we went home and packed to leave at 7:30 am the next morning for the famous tourist city of Guilin.

GUILIN: SAWTOOTH MOUNTAIN COUNTRY

Monday, January 26th, 2009
Arrival at Guilin.

We boarded this plane in Shenzhen for a 60 minute flight to Guilin. The weather was overcast with scattered showers, and when we arrived in Guilin it was cold. We went straight to our hotel and got settled in a cold room. We didn't feel like unpacking, which was strange because that is the first thing we usually do. We went for a walk and caught a number of buses around town, to see where to go in Guilin. We had this really good map that showed all the buses to take to the places we would want to see. When we finished exploring the city on the bus we went back to the hotel to unpack.

That night when we went down to eat Chinese, but the chef and staff were celebrating the New Year and so they didn't want to serve us. I think they were closed. It was really a good thing because we went for another walk and went just one block away to another hotel. It was quite nice and after we ate their buffet, we asked to look at their rooms. They showed us one and we said we would be back tomorrow to stay for the week.

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

This is us pulling our bags over to the new hotel. They let us check in at 10:00 am. After checking in we talked to the Assistant Manager, who speaks great English, and he spent the time telling us all the things we should go and see and helping us arrange our tour plans. He also suggested that we would enjoy spending some time in Sanya, a place like Hawaii - only Chinese style. We decided we didn't want to go back to the freezing cold of Jinan quite yet, and we were having such a great time being Gypsies, that we made plane reservations to stay there from February 2nd through the February 11th.

The first thing that Fun, (the assistant manager) thought we should see was the Red Flute Caves. We could get their by taking bus #11 right in front of our hotel. So with his reassurance that we could find it easily and having gone all over the city the day before on buses we set off that afternoon... This is Mr. Fun.

......while on the bus I asked, "Does anyone here speak English, and where on this map do we need to get off." A young couple (they were just good friends who had met and worked in Yellowstone last summer) said that they were going to the same place and we could follow them.

This was Bryan and Natasha and we would spend the whole day and evening with them. We went into this wonderful cave. There seems to be caves in every mountain in Guilin. I didn't know this, but Jay really loves to go into caves and any adventure really. You can never do justice in pictures of caves. The Mountians of Guilin really do look like this. After our cave experience we were talking about what they were going to do on Wednesday and the next thing we knew we were buying tickets for a tour on to Yangshuo and the Li River. After that we all went to a Buddha temple. I think it was at the temple that we somehow lost our video camera out of our bag, the camera that had the video tape of Jay dancing at the China Cultural Center Show. OUR FIRST BIG LOSS. A SET BACK. We think that Gypsies have these all the time. At least it was not out passports or wallets...

We went through these red doors and into another cave with lots of Buddha gods. I found out that I was born in the year of the monkey and Jay in the year of chicken. Now we worship them.

Along the way we sat and wrote our name in Chinese characters.

Afterwards we went to this wonderful American Food Restaurant (also, where I might have dropped or lost the video camera) and Jay had his first steak (really great) in 4 months and I had a stuffed chicken breast. On the way home we discovered that we didn't have the video camera and we went back to see if we could find it, but we couldn't.

We went home tired and ready to go to sleep. The next day tour was one that I had been looking forward to since I first found out we were going to China.

It follows below. The Mountains of Guilin.

LONGED FOR ADVENTURE IN GUILIN

Wednesday, January 29th, 2009
This is a day to remember. I have always hoped I could see this part of China. This tour was another special day for Jay and I. We got up at 7:00 am to catch our tour bus. At 8:15 we left. It was raining a little but we didn't care. This was going to be an adventure to remember and were going with these two special people, to a river trip and to see the marvelous mountains of Guilin. It was a long ride and we drove through small little villages and past wonderful little farms to the town of Yangshuo and then we were on the Li River to see some of the most spectacular scenery in the world.

Natasha was from Taiwan and Brian was from Hong Kong. Both were college students. Natasha was going to do graduate school in the United States and Bryan had just gotten back from an intership in the UK.

Our boats. Below, this is the view we had for 2 plus hours.

We didn't bring anything to eat and this wonderful lady gave me some chocolate. We became forever friends.

As we were traveling along this fisherman came out with these birds...Cormorants. They help him to catch little fish. Which were cooked on board and which I ate.
Pictures on the boat and the mountains around us.

Then the trip was over and we were back on the bus to see a few more wonders.

This was another wonderful cave. The Dragon Cave.

Coming out of the Cave. This was a big cave with lots of separate boat rides and steps to climb. When were finished Jay said he had had enough of caves.

We weren't finished yet, we would visit another Buddha temple and I would say I had had enough of Buddah temples. Then we would go to one of the largest trees in China. Notice the roots or vines that have grown down to start new trees and to support the huge Banyan tree.From here it was back to the hotel for a good night sleep, after one amazing day. We said goodbye to Natasha and Brian as they were going home and thanked them for letting us go with them.

Thursday, January 30, 2009

We were going to spend the day relaxing and getting ready for our trip on Friday. Instead , we found ourselves revisiting the places were we thought we last had the video camera, with BYU thinking that someone may have turned it in.... Then getting a new video camera at the electronics store, one that would work on Jay's laptop computer. Finally, we found ourselves just spending some time looking at Guilin and the Li River at night.

CCC -- CHINESE CULTURAL CENTER, SHENZHEN

(CHINA'S POLYNESIAN-LIKE CULTURAL CENTER) , IN SHENZHEN, CHINA.

January 29, 2009

Today we are in Guilin, it is overcast and so we are going to stay home and bring our blog all up to date, of course I said that last Sunday and we ended up seeing more of Shenzhen, but it is our desire to do it today. Jay is still sleeping so I will be doing a little of the writing. Dana

Saturday, January 24, 2009

This day started early. I wanted to go to this shopping center that Sharon Judd had tolled us about and so we got up and got a taxi and with the help of the front desk people we made it their. It cost 22.5 RBM. The next day we would take the subway and find that we could make it there for 1RBM. This marked was amazing.
The weather had turned cold and so we hunted for a coat that was not so heavy for Jay and a sweater for me. We were able to find a sweater for Jay and myself for 15RBM (about $2.50 each).

Jay wanted a picture of with a blond so we took one of the manikin and we took the picture.

After Jay had one of his famous "eating Chinese" moments, we went upstairs in one of the buildings to discover foot and face massage. I would have a face massage (40RBM) and Jay would have a foot massage (28RBM).

I am not sure that there was much of a change, but my face sure felt a lot better. They also have this really neat way to take the hair off your face with thread. It still hurt, but it did the trick. I am going to see if I can find a place like that in Jinan.

She used lots of cream on my face so my skin felt really soft. We got a taxi back to the hotel and he took us to the wrong place. Luckily we were able to find someone who spoke some English and they helped us get back to the hotel. Then it was back to the subway and

Now it was off to see the place I had wanted to go to really bad. The China Culture Center.

At one time the Premier of China daughter went to BYU Hawaii. When she graduated he came over and went to the Polynesian Culture Center. After seeing it he decided to go back to China and do a CHINA CULTURE CENTER. It ended up in Shenzhen and it was amazing. We had looked at the day before so we had an idea what we were going to do, but it was New Years Eve and everyone was eager to get home to their family and so we wander around and looked at some things.

The Entrance to the Center. Everything was decorated for the New Year celebration.

Jay really wanted to go to a rodeo but we got their 1/2 hour late because I wanted to eat at Pizza Hut, which was not very good at all.

Then we decided that if we wanted to the park at all we needed to take a ride around the park. We got the last one at 6:00 pm. The person who took us was so eager to go home for New Years Eve that she drove quite fast and all but one of the pictures we took were blurred.

After our ride we walked around and then waited for this show. It was cold, but with our new sweaters and we were fine.

This show was amazing I could go watch it again. There was so much to see and such amazing costumes.

In all it was another amazing day in China.