Train to MDJ

This morning, everything went like clock-work as we headed for Beijing Train Station. Even a massive traffic jam in front of Guomao and Jiangguo hotels, and a 30-minute lunch at Mcdonalds did not deter us from reaching the gate 20 minutes early.

As we filed through the gate to our train, the lady conductor said our tickets were for 'yesterday'.

Back to square 1. Will know our luck with new tickets tomorrow. Chances are we will in Beijing for a few more days.

I dont have to miss out of watching Australian Open Mens Fianl afterall! That is a big positive.

Entertainment on frozen MDJ River

attached some photos of Audis doing stunts on frozen MuDanJiang river to 200 private audience, among whom were 4 of my MDJ in-laws.

The stunts were captured better on video but each file is over 300mb. Not for this email. The car stunts, ice castles, and an enclosed heated pavillion to house guests for dinner and entertainmenet by a famous actress (伊能静）were built on top of 60cm of ice above the river. Some sections showed visible crack lines but I was assured it was safe!

Temperature was -15degC. I brought the warm weather, I was told (it was -25 the evening before). Didnt take long before my bare hand shooting a video was frozen numb. Soon after, my face started freezing numb!

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After the Snow Fell

Cleaning up began after the once in 51 years heavy snow fall last week. All shovels and muscles. Though manual, the efforts are all green.

Beijing Snow

Beijing was greeted by the heaviest snowfall since 1951, accoding to official report. 33cm of snow fell over a two day period starting New Year day. This pales by New England stadard but Beijing is not used to such 'heavy' precipitation. Schools were closed on Monday due to the snow.

Kids had great fun playing in the snow. Attached some photos of Kristine and Kimberley playing with Mirabelle and Inez. Their sledges were improvised with a cardboard covered with a big plastic shopping bag. Crude but did the job well sliding down a slope for fun.

It was also freezing cold. Forecast to drop to -18degC tomorrow.

Roads were covered with snow but that did not deter Uncle Tom from taking us out to a hotpot restaurant for dinner in his Buick, which travelled no more than 40kph all the way. Crazy but impressive!

Xia An Antiquities

The Terracotta Worriers were colourfully painted upon excavation, but the layers of paint soon peeled off, within an hour of exposing to the elements. Apparently a new technique jointly developed by China and Japan will preserve the antique in original colours. Tour guide explained the effort to excavate the rest of Pit#1 may take another 50-100 years.

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