My parents came to visit again and of course we had a great time. Highlights included, the wonderful autumn colours of the gardens, shabu shabu beef, the Tokyo-Edo museum, the earthquake simulator, our wedding and most excitingly this amazing sign in the toilets of the Ikebukuro fire-station:



It's Engrish Gold!

Actually the wedding was the highlight:



Husband and Wife



Mother-in-law and Sister-in-law



With Father and Father-in-law



Wife and Mother

It all went very well. At the shrine we got into our trad-garb and then processed quite slowly through the shrine grounds which looked great with all the autumn colours. Then we went into a side room where three guys played strange music and a priest said a lot of things and we did a lot of bowing. It was all quite serious actually and when I cam to recite my vows, which I had spent the last few weeks learning, I got quite nervous but I think I got them all in. Then H and I drunk three lots of sake out of different sized cups and then we all drank more sake and did some more bowing and that was it - married!

Afterwards there was a big lunch here where our family's joined together and photographed each other. I made another speech and there was crying followed by introductions and questions. Everyone seemed really excited about us and were asking us about how we met etc. Language and cultural barriers came crashing down and we all got on really well. It ended up with some traditional synchronised clapping which only I couldn't get the hang of and then we went back to my in-laws and carried on the drinking/family thingy.

Beijing is trying to eradicate Chinglish signs before the Olympics in 2008.

Then, they'll have to find somewhere else to chuck away their organisms.

GordonWentToChina. We visited Andy and family in Yunnan. Highlights are broken down into four categories:

1) The Culinary category: We were so blown away by Yunnan cuisine that at one point H was considering being Chinese. They like it hot, mind you. Oh mammy, they like it hot.

If you look carefully you can see a fish covered with chillies, Kunming's famous "cross bridge noodle", a mushroom hotpot made with half a dozen special wild mushrooms and a fish stew that had a profound effect on all of us, for, such was it's fiery depths, that we came to speak of it in only the most respectful terms.

2) The shopping category:
I tried on every shoe in western Yunnan eventually coming up with a bargain pair both trendy and comfortable. We also picked up fitted suits at Raja's in HK and a sparkler for H's engagement ring.

3) The tourism category:
The lights of HK, the bustle of Kunming, the friendly Bai people of Dali, the old town of Lijiang.... cue the montage:


3) The warm feeling category:
Andy, Rong Fen and Laura. Thanks for everything.


All in all an excellent trip. China was almost unrecognisable from seventeen years ago when I first went there. Only when we went on an train or saw a horse and cart in the road was I transported back to the place that thrilled me when I was 18. Still, as in Japan, progress is not necessarily Westernisation and the lights of Kunming, the rebuilt streets of Dali and Lijiang and the new hotels and restaurants in old buildings seemed new and confident in a Chinesey way.

One of the best bits was to see H get used to and then come to like China. People often thought that she was Chinese and would start talking to her. I would reply with my broken Chinese but they'd just look at her again as if to say - couldn't you do the talking? We then realised that if Andy squatted down behind H we could get something that looked and sounded like a Chinese person.

Looking forward to returning in another 17 years when, if statistics are anything to go by, we'll all be Chinese.