Talk'n The Talk & Wok'n The Wok: January 2008

1/24/08: The Mitchells Discuss the Mitchell Report

Just another typical Thursday night in Beijing...with Joe Torre and Dave Winfield!

Derek sends his wife over to do the introductions:

One of these people is not like the others, one of these people is not a Golden Gopher (hint: his name starts with a "G" and ends with an "abe"):

Just a couple of hometown boys:

10/30/07: 3 Libra Eldest Children v. The Middle Child

I apologize for this delayed post: once again, no access to Blogger.

Derek and I had the pleasure of hosting our dear friends Josh & Haley (aka--The Curiosos) over the last week of October thru the first half of November. Our travels took us from Beijing to Shenzhen to Hong Kong to Kunming to Lijiang to Tiger Leaping Gorge back to Lijiang and Kunming and then Beijing. We were fortunate enough to have them as our guests for 2 weeks, which results in a boatload of pictures. So consider this Adventuras de Curiosos Part I. I will post Part II next week.

Why the name Curiosos? For those of you who know Josh and Haley, you know they are certainly well-read and inquisitive. In fact, Derek and I were a little intimidated to have them out here and contemplated pretending to know the answer to all their China questions in order to impress them. But then we figured they probably liked us for who we are. But major props to Roxanne and Bonnie...I can't even imagine Haley and Josh as curious toddlers.

And why the title "3 Libra Eldest Children v. The Middle Child"? For much of the trip, poor Haley felt out numbered by Derek, Josh and I--who all happen to be libras/eldest children. So she blamed much of the so-called ostracizing on birth order and astrological sign. The three of us blamed it on the fact that she likes to talk about poop. All in all, we really had a blast! Thanks for coming out guys. We vote, get off the bus and move to China.

Day 1: Temple of Heaven

The best part about this park is the people watching: a group singing folk songs and dancing.

Buttless chaps:

Josh and the Gentle Giant playing a local Chinese game/dance to music. Notice the following sequence of events.

BOOOOOOOOO! Josh, you suck.

Then we took a treacherous bike ride through downtown Beijing. Call us crazy.

But it was such a great way to see the back alleys of Beijing:

10/30/07: A little workout and then let's eat

Along our bike ride through downtown Beijing, we stopped at an exercise park in HoHai.

Stretching out the back after a 13 hour flight to Beijing.

Showoff! We tried to get Josh to try this stretch, but he wasn't interested.

Ping Pong in the park. Shaun D., challenge extended.

Night food market:

11/1/07: This ain't the Minnesota Opera...MENDEZ (Heldy)!!!

A colleague of Derek, Roger, invited us to Peking Opera. Beautiful to watch, somewhat different to listen to.

Thank you, Roger, for the tickets! We really enjoyed it.

Even more so, it was great to talk with Roger, a local Beijinger, over delicious hot pot. Finally, someone else to field all of Josh's questions.

Deep thinker:

11/3/07: Curiosos take on Hong Kong via Shenzhen

From Beijing we flew into Shenzhen and then took a train and then a ferry into Hong Kong. We could have flown directly into Hong Kong, but Derek likes to be adventurous. Highlight: On the flight from Beijing to Shenzhen the flight attendants led the entire cabin in group exercises. Yi, er, san, si. Yi, er, san, si. Josh was in heaven--an aircraft full of public stretching. The workout was then followed by a dance/song/slideshow presented, again, by the lovely flight attendants about how much they care about their customers. Now that is service!

The Curiosos ready to take on Hong Kong.

Ferry ride over to Hong Kong island.

"Two Finance Geeks by Two International Finance Center":

It was time to hit the town, first stop--drinks at Peak Cafe:

We were lucky enough to whoop it up with two of Derek's co-workers who also happened to be in town on a business trip. Derek, Josh, Stacey, Haley and Cathy.