Getting left behind

Amber of (Inner) Mongolia 

24. That's the number of countries and territories (not including Taiwan and the U.S., the two countries of which constitute her dual nationality) my daughter has visiteed. I'm at 25, not counting (of course) 'Merica. However, as a result of the schools she's attended, Amber has had the opportunity to visit a few places that I have yet to set foot in. In the 6th grade (while we were posted in Vilnius) she and her school swim team traveled to Bratislava to take part in a meet. As an 8th grader in Addis Ababa (before COVID-19 disrupted all of our lives), she traveled to Lusaka with her school band, and then followed that up soon after with a swimming meet that was held in Maputo. You can see from the flags on the right side of this page that I've yet to travel to Slovakia, Zambia or Mozambique. Score three for my offspring.

This past week she was on the road with almost her entire 11th-grade cohorts. This school-related trip (part of their China Studies program) did not cross the Chinese border, but the students did spend 4 days/3 nights in the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia 内蒙古, an exotic-sounding locale my wife and I have yet to venture. On Monday they traveled from Beijing 北京 via high-speed train to Baotou 包头, then took a bus to their hotel in Dalateqi 达拉特旗, near the sand dunes. Tuesday was spent engaging in various activities in said dunes. Wednesday saw the group ride a bus to the Erdos Grassland, where they were kept busy throughout the day, followed in the evening with a party featuring a bonfire and Mongolian dancing. That night they slept in yurts (though of the contemporary variety, with most mod cons). On Thursday morning they participated in more cultural activities, followed by an afternoon visit to the Mausoleum of Genghis Khan 成吉思汗陵园. The trip began wrapping up that evening, when they returned to Baotou Station 包头站, and traveled for twelve hours on a sleeper train, arriving in Beijing before 0900 on Friday. All in all, it sounded like quite a trip, during a week of ups and downs for me, ranging from inexplicably passing my Mandarin final assessment on the first attempt, to having long, sharp needles inserted into my leg muscles to see if ALS or Parkinson's lay in my future. All things considered, I would rather have been in Nèiménggǔ.

The following are some photos and videos Amber took during her trip, plus a few from chaperones that provided glimpses of our daughter. 你们看看！

Sand dunes:

Apparently there's a water park among the dunes:

At the Supohan Grassland 苏珀罕大草原. Our daughter is somewhere in the group photo:

Amber can be identified by the Ethiopian bag I gave her as a present when we were living in Addis Ababa:

Our dancing queen in the front row:

At the mausoleum:

The ceiling of the yurt:

Amber didn't care much for traveling by sleeper train, complaining that she didn't have much space to move around on the top bunk. She also said the sleeping conditions drove some of the students to tears, a reminder that even though our daughter attends expensive international schools when we're overseas, we still live within a different social class than the families of the non-embassy children:

Something she bought for herself (not the cat):

I should also point out that in addition to these aforementioned international school trips, Amber has also been to Florida (a state I haven't visited) with classmates on two public school-organized excursions while in Falls Church, VA: to Key West when she was in the 7th grade (during which she got to swim with dolphins); and then to Disney World while in the 10th grade. Resentful jealously aside (with the exception of spring training, Key West would be the only reason for me to travel to the Sunshine State), I'm delighted she's been able to take advantage of these travel opportunities, chances to see different parts of the world without Mom and Dad in tow. It'll be interesting to see where the 12th grade students visit next year. 

Hu are you, Hu Hu, Hu Hu: 

Almost as soon as the girl had returned from Inner Mongolia, she and her mother were off to Qingliang Valley 清凉谷 outside of Beijing for a day of fun activities on a residential community-organized outing. You may be asking yourself why I didn't take part. Good question. The answer is that while Amber and Shu-E spent Saturday going down a waterslide, hiking, riding in a cable car and walking across a glass bridge (which seems to be a thing these days in China), your humble scribe had a morning appointment with his neurologist. At least the ultrasound indicated that my arteries are unclogged for now. 

Some pictures from the valley that the girls took in order to torment me:

Walking across the glass bridge:

Of course, there have been other activities of late in which I was a part of, even if sometimes it was only on the periphery. In another sign that my daughter's school is flush with cash, a banquet was held for athletes (swimming) and musicians (flute) at a luxury hotel. Amber borrowed one of her mother's dresses for the occasion. My involvement was walking her there and back:

Fun with Timi, our Siamese:

Timi is generally a mellow feline, but once or twice a day he lets loose:

A Sunday lunch at a Japanese izakaya 居酒屋, located in the basement of a nearby hotel:

Among the dishes ordered were korokke コロッケ and karaage から揚げ:

And beer:

Emerging from the nearest Metro station one afternoon while on my home, I encountered an outdoor art exhibit called Meet the Prado Museum in the Beijing Design Week. Arrayed outdoors along the Liangmaqiao River were realistic-looking reproductions of 29 of the Prado Museum's masterpieces. Some of my favorites are given below:

Emperor Charles V at Mühlberg (1548), Titian:  

Judith at the Banquet of Holofernes (1634), Rembrandt: 

The Painter's Family (1621-22), Jacob Jordaens: 

The Lances or the Surrender of Breda (circa 1635), Diego Velázquez:

The Clothed Maja (1800-08), Francisco de Goya:

The Snowstorm or Winter (1786), Francisco de Goya: 

The Mancorbo Canal in the Peaks of Europe (1876), Carlos de Haes:

The Spinners, or the Fable of Arachne (1655-1660), Diego Velázquez:

The Sense of Sight (1617), Jan Brueghel el Viejo Rubens: 

Table with a cloth, salt cellar, gilt tazza, pie, jug, porcelain dish with olives, and roast fowl (circa 1611), Clara Peeters:

Landscape with Charon crossing the Styx (1520-24), Joachim Patinir:

In another high falutin' outing, Shu-E and I attended our daughter's school band spring recital. They opened with their take on Monty Norman's classic "James Bond Theme":

Yúfúnán (Southern Fish) 渔夫南 is a Hunan-style restaurant. Located in one of Beijing's many hutong 胡同, the establishment nonetheless occupies a modernist dining space:

Just one of Beijing's many craft beers, a welcome development from the last time we were in China:

Mìzhì lŭdàn páigŭ 秘制卤蛋排骨 ("secret" pork ribs with quail eggs):

   

 

Following lunch we strolled over to the White Dagoba Temple 秒应寺白塔, originally built in 1271 during the reign of Kublai Khan:

A "poetry jar" 诗文罐 (Yuan dynasty 元朝):

The Hall of Seven Buddhas 七佛宝殿 only housed three Buddhas within:

Leishen 雷神, aka the God of Thunder, one of the 18 arhats 阿罗汉 inside the hall:

The eleven-faced, thousand-handed, thousand-eyed Guanyin Boddhisattva 十一面千手千眼观音菩萨:

The temple is home to the tallest dagoba in China at 51 meters/167 feet. It was built by a Nepali architect invited to Beijing (then called Dadu 大都) by the Khan as a symbol of Yuan-Tibet relations. Visitors aren't allowed to enter, but you can circumnavigate the base:

The Hall of Trikalea Buddhas 三世佛殿:

Gazing up at the dagoba:

Araniko 阿尼哥, the Nepalese architect who built the dagoba:

Of course there was a gift shop. It would appear Chinese marketers have been heavily influenced by Japan's culture of all things kawaii 可愛い:

Skanda 韦陀菩萨:

The sight of the dagoba appearing over the nearby hutong has to be one of Beijing's more evocative sights:

Popping into a nearby pharmacy, where you can purchase sea cucumbers (top) and swallow saliva (bottom):

I dragged forced took Amber to see the Prado Museum display:

The Maids of Honour (1656), Diego Velázquez:

Following the exercise in art appreciation, we took the subway to Beijing's last Itō-Yōkadō イトーヨーカ堂. The purpose of our visit there was to seek out a donut shop rumored to exist on the ground floor. Doughnuts (甜甜圈, lit. "sweet sweet circle") are not a popular snack food in China, with people I've asked believing it comes down to the Chinese palate not appreciating that level of sweetness. Being rare on the ground, we had to track down Joy Donuts to determine if it was the real deal. Amber was appreciative of the fact that the store was next to a Coco milk tea shop:

Being very similar in both appearance and taste to our favorite outlet, Mister Donut, we were most satisfied with our purchases:

After our sweetness splurge, we took a stroll through the department store. Amber eyed the cuteness that was The Son of Man, reminding her of a Belgian restaurant in Vilnius called Rene where we often dined:

Outlaw Dried Tangerine Peel Witbier, another fine craft beer offering:

A positive aspect about living in Beijing is that you can order Inner Mongolian-style Shumai 烧卖 and Beizi (a kind of pastry) 焙子 online, and have it delivered to your residence for lunch. Everything tasted great...with the exception of the lamb stomach, the flavor of which could best be described as "unclean" (evoking memories of an otherwise excellent traditional Taiwanese meal ruined by the last dish served - pig colon):

Suutei tsai - a tea that is difficult to enjoy due to it's salty taste, but I actually like it:

Remember folks...:

Probably due to the close proximity of the Japanese Embassy, there's no shortage of Japanese restaurants within reasonable walking distance of our residence. While our daughter was off galivanting in the grasslands and sand dunes of Inner Mongolia, Shu-E and I went out for dinner at Musashiya 武蔵家:

The centerpiece of the set meal that we tucked into was sukiyaki すき焼き. We also had eel ウナギ; udon noodles うどん; and goose liver topped with caviar:

Orion Beer オリオンビール  never fails to conjure up pleasant memories of my first trip to Okinawa 沖縄 way, way back in the summer of 1993, when I subsisted almost entirely on beer and ice cream:

Another benefit to life in China's capital - ordering delivery of a Peking Duck bentō 北京烤鸭便当:

Spring in Beijing - the sky is clear (for now), the temperatures are warm and people are enjoying themselves on the Liangma River. There were even a couple swimmers in the water (one of whom appeared to be a 外国人), but having walked along its banks many times now, I don't have much faith in the purity of the river:

Until next time. Oh, and did I write that I passed my Mandarin assessment on the first try?