Sanya - Haitang Bay / China's Beaches

Hey Ya'll! 

I wanted to share with you today one of Tractor Man and my favorite China getaways, Sanya - Haitang Bay! 

The pools are amazing! 

We have gone down south twice in our 2 years here and each time we have stayed at the Doubletree.  It was amazing! Blue skies, warm water and great food. The hotel was wonderful too, but I found that I took most of my pictures of the beautiful grounds. The rooms though were really clean and very roomy! We stayed in a suite and it was fabulous. Aiden slept in the living room so we all had our own space. The bathroom is huge! 

The Manager of this resort is Markus Kosch. 

markus.kosch@conradhotels.com

(He gave me his permission to pass along his email address and let you know to email him to make your reservations or to ask questions.)

Doubletree by Hilton

To get down to Sanya, we booked our tickets on www.ctrip.com. It is a 3 hour flight from Shanghai Hongqiao airport and then a 30 minute drive to the hotel. We booked the resort car to come pick us up and then take us back at the end of our trip. 

Pickle enjoying the big boy pool. 

The beach is nice, quiet and very clean. 

This was the view from our hotel room, needless to say, I never wanted to leave. 

All of the hotel's amenities are great as well. We have eaten at every restaurant the Double Tree has and let me say, YUM! My personal favorite is Pacifica. This is a wonderful seafood restaurant. We had Christmas Eve dinner there as well as my birthday dinner. They also have a noodle restaurant and one called Taste that has a little something for everyone. Everything that we have ever had is delicious. 

Caesar Salad

Our surf and turf spread we had on my birthday. Delicious! 

View of the hotel from the pool. 

Pickle's favorite part was the heated toddler pool. 

The staff at the hotel has always gone above and beyond for us. They are friendly, helpful and extremely polite. If you are looking for a wonderful getaway while in China I highly recommend the Doubletree Hotel in Sanya! 

Enjoy the Sun! 

Belle

Din Tai Fung - Taiwanese restaurant - A fabulous meal.

Hey Ya'll!

 Tractor Man, Pickle and I had lunch with some dear friends this weekend at a place that I want to share with you. Din Tai Fung. It was delicious.

It is located in the new Center 66 mall, Heng Long Guang Chang, on the 6th floor. This mall is brand new and wonderful. After your meal, you should walk around and explore.

Center 66 无锡恒隆广场

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051081807111
Renmin Rd and Jiangkang Rd
无锡市人民中路和健康路

This place specializes in Xiao Long Bao, steamed dumplings. Our friends, from Singapore, suggested this restaurant since they have it there and they really like it. So we went, and we loved it. Every dish we ordered was delicious, the place was very clean and they have baby chairs.

Instructions on how to properly eat Xiao Long Bao

Appetizers, green beans and chili cucumbers. 

Hairy Crab filled Xiao Long Bao - wasn't sure what I would think, but it was wonderful! 

Fried Rice

Pork 

Shrimp dumplings

A page from the menu. 

The entrance to the restaurant, you will want to call for a reservation as it is very popular. 

The prices were pretty good as well. We had 4 adults and 1 kid in our party and the total bill was 315rmb. Not cheap, but not expensive either. All in all it was a wonderful experience and I would highly recommend it for a good meal out. Go enjoy!

Thanks Ya'll,

Belle

Abendbrot Bakery

Hey all, Elle Lay again.

A few weeks ago BG learned about a Shanghai based German bakery that delivers to Wuxi on Saturdays, so we decided to place an order and I have to say--we're hooked.

Wuxi has many bakeries, and places to buy fresh bread, but many bakers use way too much sugar and the bread that we've been able to buy up until now was all pretty much white bread. It's okay for a while, but sometimes a girl just wants grilled cheese on sourdough.

Enter Abendbrot bakery.

I'm in Heaven. 

The prices are not cheap, but for a variety of hearty, lower sugar breads, the price of 27rmb for a loaf of sourdough(approx 10-12 slices) is totally worth it. As a comparison, I was buying a loaf of 8 slices of white bread at Xinya bakery (located in the promenade in front of Changjiang GuoJi ErQi) for 10rmb. 

They have delicious bretzel rolls and bretzels, baguettes, brown bread, rye bread and nut bread amongst others. 

They deliver to Venice garden complex first, and then around 1:45-2:00p they deliver to the Changjiang  GuoJi ErQi complex outside building 3. They accept payment online as well as cash on delivery. 

Check them out at www.abendbrot.com.cn