Winter is almost here.

I'm certainly not a very good blogger. I don't often post. The sailing season ended the Sunday before Thanksgiving with the last frostbite for PCRC and as I look at my blog there is little on it. I didn't share the experience of racing but certainly enjoyed it despite riding on a non competitive boat. I have no great pictures to share although many were taken by the crew. The finale of the year will be the boat light parade on the West River this Saturday night. I don't believe there has been one for many years. The boat I crew on has chosen Carribean Christmas for their theme. The parade will be followed with a party at the sailing club for big boat menbers. It shoud be fun.

I'm looking to get a small - 22 to 25 foot boat - to race next season on Wednesday nights. I'm convinced that is what I need to improve as a sailor. I didn't succeed with the larger boat as I needed a reliable number of crew and they were hard to come by. With a smaller boat I can get by with one or two others. Any suggestions?

October 14th
Fall has been slow in coming but today was a beautiful fall day. Only last Sunday we were hot and complaining about having to wear life jackets during frostbite. Today was cooler with a crispness to the air and there were no complaints.
The third race in the frostbite series took us down the Rhode River, back over to Parish Creek, and then around one more mark before we had a straight line back to Pirates Cove. We even managed to come in 8th ahead of three other boats. Mind you we are known for our last place finishes.
A gabby crabby at Pirates Cove topped off a great day on the bay.

Back to Sailing

So much for my China trip. I'll finish that up later.
I've been doing the Wednesday night races on Panache, a Ranger 37. The boat routinely comes in last place but first place in fun. The crew is a mixed bag of old and young - more newbies than seasoned sailors. Some nights it has looked like a Chinese fire drill when trying to put the spinnaker up.
Last Wednesday was a different story. We were winners. Well we beat one boat anyway. The course took us down the Rhode River and was a bit over 5 miles. The wind was coming straight at as, 7 to 8 knots, as we tacked out of the West River. Our competition came from behind, passed us, but tacked a bit too early as we were approaching the Rhode River and had to do an extra tack. That gave us an edge. We stayed in front down the Rhode and back but they passed us up again as we headed back down the West River flying spinnakers. With superb teamwork we managed to jibe the spinnaker and pass our competition. We held our breath as we approached the finish, hoping to cross the line 15 seconds ahead to win. Well at least we weren't in last place this week.
Always first in fun.

The Pandas, Sichuan Food, Tea House and Opera

Thursday, June 14th, we were off to Chengdu. Chengdu is the home of the Panda Breeding and Research Center which was our first stop Friday morning.

I was amazed at the number of pandas and their proximity. In the US it is difficult to get a glimpse of the pandas at the zoo. At the panda research and breeding center there were many of all ages playing, sleeping, and eating.

Chengdu is a large city with a population of over 11 million people. The city was huge and the air polluted. But it offers a wonderful variety of experiences.

Chengdu is located in Sichuan Province and a must do is sampling the wonderful cuisine. We had a hot pot dinner Friday evening. The food was excellent. Saturday lunch was at Ma Pa Dofu - true Sichuan food, nothing comparable in the US. Ma Po's Dofu (Bean curd with mince and chili oil): one of the most influential flavors of Sichuan cuisine is served in every Sichuan restaurant. Gong Bao Ji Ding (Spicy diced chicken with peanuts): a specialty of Sichuan cuisine, diced chicken, hot pepper and peanuts was the other dish we tried along with vegetables.

Saturday morning we started on Jinli Street, a cultural street that is located near the center of the city. Wuhou Memorial Temple is nearby. The temple and Three Kingdoms museum had beautiful gardens. It was a rainy day so few people were there and we were able to wander the museum and gardens undisturbed.

Chengdu is famous for its tea houses. We went to one Saturday evening suggested by the hotel which included a Sichuan opera performance. The Sichuan opera had many charming, witty and varied performances, such as Bianlian (Changing faces), Gundeng (Rolling lamps) and Tuhuo (Spitting fire). Bianlian (Changing faces) is famous even overseas for its mysterious techniques. I don't know how they did it.

Sunday, June 17th - Off to Xian.

The River Li

Guilin, located in south west China, was the next stop on my China travels. Guilin is one of the most picturesque cities in China. It isn't a large city, with a population of only about 670,000. The Lijiang River ( Li River) runs through the city and is a popular tourist attraction. We stayed at the Sheraton Hotel and could look out our hotel window and watch the river directly across the street. After checking in we walked along the river. Young men were swimming but the current was so fast they made little progress. Guilin is a tourist city with a night market and walking streets. It was fun to explore.

Tuesday we took a river cruise down the Li to Yangshou. The river is surrounded by sharply rising limestone towers that are rounded on top. They are often portrayed in Chinese artworks. We saw water buffalo wandering alongside the river near the many villages as well as men fishing on narrow bamboo rafts. There had been recent flooding and we could see the debris left by the high water.

Yangshuo lies in the northeast of Guangxi Province and to the southeast of Guilin. It seems that all the river boats end up there so it was packed with tourists and shops. The diverse ethnic minority groups were represented there including Hui, Zhuang, and Yao. We were glad to get out of town.

Wednesday was rainy but we explored Guilin on foot. I managed to find a lovely white silk brocade jacket with a mandarin color, typical chinese style, that I planned to wear at the Nanjing festivities.

Next stop - Chengdu.

Paradise on earth

The ancient saying is "There is a paradise in the heaven, and down on earth there are Suzhou and Hangzhou."
Hangzhou was the first stop in my China visit. My husband works there so it was the logical place to start. After arriving and depositing my suitcase in Tim's studio apartment, we walked to a nearby restaurant and I had my first of many Chinese meals - steamed fish, vegetables and noodles. The area is new and the streets are wide, tree lined, clean with few people around. We stopped at the company Tim's working for. The building is only two years old and rivals any of our office buildings, with a large welcoming lobby, efficient work stations, a beautiful cafeteria and attention paid to ergonomics. It is representative of the new China. Hangzhou was named the number one business city in China by Forbes Magazine.
Tim's apartment is part of a hotel so after dinner we enjoyed a foot massage offered in the hotel area. What a treat!

Sunday was a full day devoted to touring the city and surrounding areas. The Li'en Temple was the first stop. Zhifeng, a Buddhist, tamed a tiger that was attacking the people in the area. He earned the name, Abbot Tiger Tamer. A king from the Wuyue Kingdom built the temple for Zhifeng. The area was beautiful with many hiking trails and creeks. We hiked up the hillside after visiting the temple and found a well traveled road. We waited for the bus and then decided it wasn't going where we wanted to go. Even the Chinese were having trouble figuring out which bus to take. A taxi was the safer way to go provided you can speak Chinese.

Our next stop was the tea fields for tea and lunch. I had never seen tea growing before.
Camellia sinensis is an evergreen plant. Only the top 1-2 inches of the mature plant are picked. These buds and leaves are called flushes, and a plant will grow a new flush every seven to ten days during the growing season. Tea plants will grow into a tree if left undisturbed but cultivated plants are pruned to waist height for ease of plucking. The tea is picked one leaf at a time. Green tea is the most common tea in China. For green tea the oxidation process is stopped after a minimal amount of oxidation by application of heat, either with steam or by dry cooking in hot pans, the traditional Chinese method.

The tea house was a small house amidst a cluster of other tea houses surrounded by tea fields. We picked our lunch out by pointing at some fresh vegetables and a chicken. It was a pleasant lunch.

The remainder of the day was spent touring the city. We drove through Zhejiang University, a larger modern campus. Dinner was at a restaurant on beautiful West Lake.

I was ready for bed after a full day.
Tomorrow we are off to Guilin.

The Road to China

June 8th - What a time for the car to act up---on my way to Dulles to catch my flight to China. I called my daughter halfway around the beltway to warn her. She put her husband on alert, he may have to come get me if the car quit. But the gods were with me and I made it with plenty of time to spare. The 13 1/2 hour flight from Dulles to Beijing is a new one, but the plane was the old 747 without the amenities that the newer planes offer. There were no individual screens to watch your own movie. I wouldn't recommend it to others unless you fly business or first class.
My two seat mates appeared to be minority chinese from their dress. Neither spoke English but they shared their gum with me. They also asked me to fill out their entry forms for them.

Upon arriving in Beijing I exchanged some money and bought a grande skim latte from the Starbucks. Throughout my trip I was always glad to see a Starbucks.

My next task was to figure out how to catch my domestic flight to Hangzhou. The Beijing airport lists your flight on a screen with the area such as F or G where you can check in. My flight was up there so I queued up. Upon reaching the counter, the young lady told me I had to go to the Air China desk to confirm my ticket. They looked at it and sent me back to check in. I returned to the same young lady who informed me my ticket was cancelled! I said "no way." I kept envisioning myself stuck in Beijing with no way to notify my husband who was waiting in Hangzhou. With the help of a supervisor my reservation was found and a boarding pass handed over.

After a short wait I was on my way to Hangzhou. The flight was only a couple of hours and Tim was wiaiting at the gate. I had arrived.