I only have a few minutes today to tell you that I’ll be offline until next week.  We will be traveling to Xi’an, China, home to the famous terra cotta warriors, for a short two-day weekend trip.  While weekend trips in Korea feel like brief outings, our trip to Xi’an–about two hours away by plane from Shanghai–feels like a major undertaking.  I hope to have stories to share when I return.  I should be back online on Monday.

Last night my wife’s sister, her husband, my wife, son, and I went for Thai food at Banana Leaf, a trendy Shanghai restaurant.  The restaurant is very popular.  The food tasted undeniably like Chinese-style Thai food–save the peanut sauce.  I was appalled to discover that the restaurant could not serve Pad Thai because they ran out of key ingredients.  What?  You’ve got to be kidding.  A Thai restaurant isn’t Thai without Pad Thai, the national dish of Thailand.  We settled for Pad Siew instead.  I think my Chinese family members enjoyed the meal more than I did.  Afterwards, my brother-in-law and I went for a massage.  Not surprisingly, I am really sore today.  It’s been said that the best massages are the painful ones.  However, I think this one was a bit too painful.  My back is feeling the dull pain today.  It was more expensive than I thought it would be.  Oh well, I guess reality never lives up to your expectations.

Have a great weekend.  I’ll be back on Monday.