China Part VI

Our next day was finally the day we went to see the Great Wall of China.  I think this was what I was most excited for on this trip.  But before we could get there, we had to make a couple of stops.  First up, the jade factory, I love seeing how things are made -

- so it was fun to see how they turn this block of jade...

...into this ball, with three smaller balls inside - all from one large block. 

                                    

Our next stop was the Sacred Way, I'm not sure that we got to see all that we were supposed to on this trip because we spent about an hour sitting in traffic trying to get there.  Our driver finally just pulled into a smaller parking area - so I think we started in the middle of way - but it was still beautiful.  

                                     

The emperor who had this area constructed had each animal built once standing and one sitting, so that it looked like they were alive and moving.  

  

                                     

Finally, it was time for the Great Wall.  Again, traffic was kind-of a nightmare, I was so excited when I could finally see a part of the wall from the bus!

                                   

 The first set of stairs we had to climb were SO steep! For someone like me who hates heights - this was just a bit of a problem! I just kept telling myself this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I was going to make it up those stairs if it killed me!!

By the time we got off the wall my hands were a nice brownish red color from gripping the rusty handrails so tightly!

I loved the signs that they had up all over the wall - some of them didn't even make any sense.  You would think someone in China should know enough English to at least translate complete sentences. 

                                     

After climbing, and climbing and climbing some more, we finally made it to the top of the wall!

At this point the section we had been climbing ended and you could look out and see the ruins of the next section that hasn't been repaired.

On the way down I had to get a picture looking back up at where we had been!  I am still amazed at how high up the wall goes - I was not expecting to climb a mountain!

That night we decided we were in need of some real American food, so we took a taxi to the Hard Rock Cafe.

You haven't lived until you are in China, listening to a Filipino band play Beatles songs!  It was a great ending to our day!

China Part V

Sorry for the delay in the next installment, this is a video heavy post and I couldn't get blogger to upload my videos.

The next day we went to the Temple of Heaven. There is a park all around the temple where everyone goes to do their morning Tai Chi. We had a blast wandering around the park seeing the different exercises people were doing - and joining in some of the fun.

I have no idea who was leading this group - but everyone seemed to know what they were doing. They also had a whole area set up for gymnastics - it was so fun to watch all the men try to outdo one another on the bars.

One of the men stopped and helped one of the boys in our group - it was so fun to watch him try to teach without being able to speak.

Also note the sit-up equipment they have in the background - and the fabulous old man watching and clapping - he was having a blast watching us.

They also had a big group of people doing Tai Chi - each one had a paddle with a rubber ball and they would dance and spin and toss the paddle - all while keeping the ball on the paddle - it was a pretty incredible sight.

In another area of the park all of the parents and grandparents meet to try to find a spouse for their sons/daughters. The all come with a paper with information about their relative - age, height, job, where they live, etc. and then they put it on the ground and everyone wanders around looking for a good match.

They don't really like to have their picture taken - apparently this is more of a last resort activity (good thing my parents weren't there or they might have joined in) - so I only got one slightly blurry picture of this.

Finally we were off to see the actual temple.

I really loved this site - the architecture was amazing and it was at the top of this hill so it had a beautiful view of the city looking out from the square.

There are rings of pillars inside the temple, each ring has a different number - the first circle has 12 pillars for the 12 hours in a day, there is a ring of four for the four seasons of the year, one for the hours in the day, etc.

After the Temple of Heaven, we went to the Hutong Village for a rickshaw ride.

The Hutong Village is an older area in Beijing where they have kept everything the same from hundreds of year ago - they haven't allowed any new development or major renovations in this area.

Our rickshaw driver was so funny, we were laughing and joking with the other people in our group and he joined in yelling "beep beep" as we passed.

They had people out on bikes trying to sell us stuff, as we were riding, they would ride alongside and try to haggle and bargain and get you to buy stuff - it was crazy! After the ride we went to someone's home to visit and see how they live.

My favorite part was the creepy baby doll hanging out in the back alley to dry! That evening we went to the acrobatic show. It was AMAZING!! I couldn't believe some of the acts that they had (I think my favorite was the one that had about five women balancing on one pole - doing a back bend - while holding on to the pole with their teeth!)

I don't know how this guy slept through it all, but we had a snorer behind us! :)

A Trip to the Zoo - or - China Part IV

Our second day in Beijing was pretty busy. We started off at the Summer Palace. Our first order of business was a photo op with the Grandmas of our group with all the kids. The architecture at the Summer Palace was so amazing and beautiful. I wish we could have spent more time here exploring. We didn't get to go in any of the buildings. I was a little disappointed about that because they looked amazing. But, as with everywhere we would go on this trip - it was so crowded! It would have taken forever to get in any of the buildings. We did get to take a boat ride on a dragon boat across the man made lake, which was pretty fun. After our boat ride we went to a pearl "factory" for lunch. This was really just another glorified shopping opportunity - I didn't see anything that made this place look like a real factory. It really reminded me of Russia though, inside was this beautiful pearl shop, and outside it looked like an old dumpy office building. After our pearl buying lunch, we headed to the Beijing zoo to see the pandas. Again, I was just in awe of the crowds of people! We finally made it into the panda area, and actually saw a couple of pandas. It was kind-of sad to see though, the cages are so old and dirty and run down, I wish they could have been in a better environment. After the pandas we had some free time to wander and explore the rest of the zoo. I had a blast finding random things to take pictures of - would anyone like some fries with chocolate sauce or fried pork flakes? This was a sign at an ice cream stand. The Chinese apparently LOVE all things Disney, so I had to get a picture with the "Mickey Mouse" they had roaming around the zoo.

We also posed for a lot of pictures again, the paparazzi were out in full force. And we decided to return the favor by asking a couple of adorable kids to pose for us! (I love the frogs on his jeans)

There were so many kids that we would see just squatting in the street or the side of the road. At one point we saw a mom holding her child over a garbage can while he did his business. So, when I saw this, I had to take a sneaky shot. Apologies, random Chinese boy for posting a picture of you pooping at the zoo on my blog. After our adventure at the zoo we stopped at the Olympic park. Our tour guide was very proud to show us The Cube where Michael Phelps won all his gold medals! As we were wandering around Cam saw a bunch of people drinking from coconuts, so it became our mission to find where they were selling them so Cam could get one. We finally found a HUGE food tent with all sorts of ethnic foods inside. We were supposed to be back at the bus, so sadly we didn't get to try anything, but Cam was able to quickly get her coconut. Of course, I also had to get a picture of fake Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck - on the job... and off (on their smoking break I assume). Walt would be so proud! It was a crazy day, and we were SO glad to get back to the hotel and rest our sore feet!

Paparazzi! (Or China Part III)

For reasons that were never explained to us, our train was about two hours late getting into Beijing. After loosing and then finding a few members of our group (luckily none of them were children), we checked into our hotel and got cleaned up (yes, Chinese trains are just as gross as Russian trains) then headed to lunch - where we were served Turtle soup. Cam was brave and tried the a big bite with some of whatever was in the broth (real turtles?). I tried one little sip of the broth and decided to forgo soup that day. Then it was off to Tienanmen Square. Remember, this was October 1st - the first of seven days of a huge national holiday - the place was PACKED! But because it was a holiday, they also had big TV screens set up and new decorations out which was fun. Our first stop was a group picture with the Forbidden City in the background. This was also our introduction to the Chinese Paparazzi. Apparently people from all over China travel to Beijing for this holiday and most of them have never seen Americans before. The minute we stopped for picture we had 20 people pulling out their cameras to take pictures of us. The guy that took our picture (in the yellow and red jacket) started going around selling the picture to random people in the square! We would also have people come up and ask to get a picture with us! We felt like celebrities! The crowds were what amazed me though, it was just wall-to-wall people. We left Tienanmen Square through an underground crosswalk and there was a line of people extending through the entire crosswalk just waiting to get through security and on to the square. After Tienanmen Square we went to a park next to the Forbidden City where David O. McKay dedicated China. After wandering in the park for a bit (and posing for a lot more pictures) we headed back to our bus and to our hotel for an early night. A group of us decided to brave the "Pizza Hut" near our hotel for dinner. I was very excited to see that they had "Tuna & Mush potato with Vegetables Salad". But those who really know me, know I was ecstatic to see Banana Pizza on the menu! :) No, I didn't try either. We split a plain cheese pizza. The only exciting thing I had was a surprise soda - I thought I was getting Mirinda orange, but what they served me was green and non-carbonated. Welcome to China!