About a year ago my husband and I decided to take a babymoon to Hangzhou and Shanghai. Yes, babymoon is a real thing where expecting couples take one last vacation together before the baby comes. Genius idea that I wish I could take credit for. I was bummed because I was too pregnant to fly back to the US like I had planned but figured a 3 hour flight to Shanghai was safer than an 18 hour flight the DC! Surprisingly, after 7 years living in China I had still never been to 2 of the major tourist attractions, West Lake or the Shanghai Bund. We decided to spend a few days in each city and take a bus between the two. West Lake was beautiful but the main attraction of walking around the beautiful scenery in the heat and rain was not a good match for my wobbling state; especially with my pregnant bladder and distance and numerous stairs between each public bathroom. We arrived in Shanghai after what seemed like forever on the bumpy bus and I was so glad to be back in a major city....
I came to China for a 1 year break from my American routine. A husband, daughter and 7 years later I think I'm a lifer! The LaoWei life is not always easy, but it's never dull.