Day 6 & 7: We enjoyed Xian the most- the city is so interesting- surrounded by a city wall with 13 gates. You can ride a bike all the way around the city- (we took a pedicab with the boys). In Xian, we also saw: The Bell and Drum tower (14th century) (not much to see, but it was right across the street from our hotel with great views from up top.) The Wild Goose Pagoda (houses ancient scriptures from India from the 7th century), the forest of stone tablets (literally large stone tablets with ancient writings carved in it- world's first dictionary--you can actually touch- amazing!) They'll even sell you rubbing from it. We also visited the Great Mosque- while not unique to us living in a Muslim country (KL), it was the most interesting part of town- it's surrounded by market streets with food stalls and other bargains. (City's total population is 6-8 million, compared with Beijing which is over 13 million, depending on who you ask.)
Days 6 & 7: One of the wonders of the world-- really it is incredible to see. They weren't discovered until 1974 when farmers were digging a well. There are more than 8000 soldiers buried in Qin's tomb (this emperor made these life size warriors to protect himself "in his next life"). He also buried all the workers alive in the tomb to protect the secrets of the grave and prevent grave robbers. There are still much left to be excavated, but they've stopped because they're trying to figure out how to preserve their color. In 1974- the painted warriors were very colorful- now all the color is completely faded.
The Great Wall at Mutianyu, supposed to be one of the best places to view the wall, since it's 90KM outside of the city, fewer tourists go here. The souvenir stands are a bit touristy- but the wall itself - is amazing with beautiful views of the mountains. We took the cable car up (forgoing the one hour climb!) First built in the 6th century- it's the longest grave site in the world. We did take turns carrying Drew in our backpack-- did I mention he's 34lbs now!? Nathan loved climbing up- he was ready to go further but...
By this point in the summer, the boys were pretty wiped out with traveling all summer-- but we still managed to keep them busy- Nathan went to a day camp where he took a few golf & tennis lessons and got to play, play, play all day-- his favorite thing!
More adventures to come next year!
), Tory (at North JR High and also cheerleading & gymnastics), Holly (absent from the photos this time, but so adorable- and excels in all she does), & Blake (soon to be 4 and super cute!) We got to have a great visit with them all, including Mom.
The boys loved it-- no TV, no toys-- just rocks, sticks, hills to climb and water to swim in. It's tiring with 2 kids (did I mention the stomach virus we all got and passed on to the Smith family?!) - but we love it! Plus, we get to catch up with our friends from our home church in Katy, Texas.
After months of not posting photos, I'm back on track... Here's the latest of Nathan ("ninja-pirate") and Drew (cowboy) in their Halloween costumes. Drew "helped" me pass out candy to the trick or treaters and Nathan went around with his friend Christopher and Liam in our gated community. There were not very many homes that participated but still too much candy! Nathan decided himself, that he should have one piece a day. (I was going to be more generous!) One more Halloween event to go at school tonight- all of the classrooms will be handing out candy with games for the kids. Nathan cannot wait!
Photos of our frequent neighborhood visitors. Monkeys are a big issue here with more and more of their habitat (i.e. jungle) disappearing around us to build more and more condos. They were on our roof. The photos show our neighbor's balcony. The basketball hoop in the top left photo is the front of our home. We never thought that we'd be giving Nathan a talk on how to behave around monkeys.
We live just a few blocks from Mont Kiara International School. We walk every morning. We pass a hawker stall on our way- they sell Nasi Lemak for breakfast & sometimes lunch (rice cooked in coconut milk and wrapped in banana leaf with either spicy fish, beef curry or chicken inside), served with a side of cucumbers and boiled egg. Yum. (Well, Malaysians think it's yummy-- it's the unofficial national dish here.) Andrew rides in my backpack to take Nathan to school. Here we're heading off to take Andrew to his first day of preschool. : )
