Moganshan- Part 1

We're back! What an adventure. What fun!

So, as I said in the previous post, the kids had school off on Thursday and Friday last week so 5 other families and us decided to head out to the mountains of China and have a little getaway for 4 days. The moms went up with the kids on Thursday morning and the guys joined us after work Friday night (they got there around 930p). We rented a large old mansion that had 9 bedrooms, 3 floors, a cute wood fireplace and several rooms for hanging out.

The history of why Moganshan is even there is quite interesting. Back around 1900 several really wealthy families decided they wanted a place to vacation in the summer that was close to Shanghai but didn't have the unbearable heat to deal with. So they headed west for 2 hours, went up, up, up and built a small community of huge mansions out of stone in the mountainside.

Getting there was, at times, scary because you are driving up this super narrow, one-lane road in the mountain that literally takes 90-degree turns and you only have a little mirror to look into so you can see if anyone is barreling towards you from the other direction. Now, I know I've already explained the psychotic driving here so now imagine that same driving on a narrow, winding, steep road. *gulp* A few kids vomited from motion sickness, a few adults almost did. Cooper was really struggling- I think he was car sick because he was gulping air and screaming. It was super fun (note sarcasm). BUT, that part only last about 15 minutes and was near the end- THANK GOODNESS. For the most part, the drive was highway smooth and took right about 2 hours.

Oh yeah, the drive. Confused maybe?? Yes, I know in my last post I said my friend Liz and I were taking the train halfway then having a car bring us the rest of the way but we backed out (at the request of our husbands) and rented a car and driver for the day. It was SO much easier- picked us up at our place, drove us there door to door. The driver even spoke english and was telling us the history of the countryside we drove through. So, even though it was more money, it was money well spent!!

Sophie "reading" to Mia and Isaac-

Pics of the countryside-

All 3 vans got there by around 1 so we threw our stuff in our repective rooms and headed to lunch. Oh, one thing that was never mentioned on the lodge's website was that we had to climb 84 steps to get from the parking lot to the house. We had brought almost all our food plus beer, wine, games, etc. And, the day we arrived it was pouring snow/rain. Yeah, that was super fun unloading after the super fun windy, scary car ride... :) Anywho, so we go to this lodge called The Lodge (mm-hmm) and walked in with our motly crew. 6 adult women, 12 children all between the ages of 2 and 5. HAHAHAHAHAHAAA!! I bet we scared the dickens out of the owner. :) Needless to say this sleepy little place was not prepared for such a gathering and it took us over an hour to get our lunches of spaggetti, grilled cheese and hamburgers. But, I think the kids were so thrilled to have so many playmates that they all did quite well...

I finally got a good pic of what it's like for the poor blond-haired children who come to China. This dude was fascinated with Cooper- I had to give him a good "booyow" (Chinese for "don't want"). ;)

After lunch we headed back up to the house and settled in to unpack and let the kids play. There was a significant problem with the house, however. No heat! The other issue was that the bed linens were damp and freezing. Turns out we were the first visitors to stay there since Chinese New Year. They had just turned the heat on that morning and hadn't pulled back the linens to let them air out. It was a real disapointment!!

Needless to say that first night was quite miserable. Sophie and I slept huddled together and Coop had an entire duvet in his little tent with him. The next morning it was slightly warmer- 12c in the house (that's 53 degrees). Sooo cold... during breakfast Cooper was freaking out and wouldn't eat and I couldn't figure out the problem. Suddenly I saw his left hand- he had burned two fingers on the cast iron wood fireplace. One was already blistering. Of couse he had not cried when it happened- only now. My poor baby. :( We got it bandaged up and he was doing better.

Here is a pic from out the front door of where we stayed-

Inside the house-

Our bedroom- I had the drapes shut to try and trap heat in. So cold!!!

The glorious tv room that gave all parents a break, one movie per day. :)

View from the terrace-

View of the front of the house at the top of the 84 steps- terrace to the left.

Coop hanging out on the terrace-

We hiked with the kids for an hour and a half the first day, repeated lunch at The Lodge (took over an hour and a half to get fed! Long story about the owner bailing the chef out of jail bc he went to buy more food and forgot his wallet, blah blah blah). Coop actually slept quite well for nap, some more play time, dinner was chicken fried rice, then off to bed- slightly warmer that night... :) The guys came up after work- got there around 930. Of course by then it was decently warm and they tried to say we had made it all up. :)

Here are some pics of the hikes we did Friday and Saturday-

This was a consistent theme- steps!!!

Looking down onto someone's property. Crazy that someone lives here!!!

Mia, Sophie, Lily, Floortje, Genna, Harry and Anabelle

Halfway up to the tippy top- a random shack where someone lived. We heard cats meowing like crazy- hopefully they weren't dinner! Ha!!

Almost to the top- a gorgeous, huge, perfectly manicured mansion. In the middle of nowhere.

This is the sweetest boy you will ever meet. He was such a trooper all weekend!

Ok, end of the first part. I have so much more to show so I'll throw that on tomorrow.
Good night!