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!

Terracotta Warriors - China Part II

The next day we drove out to see the Terracotta Warriors. Our first stop however, was a factory where they make replicas. I think souvenir shopping must be the main economic base in China - everyday we had to make stop in a government sponsored shop that guaranteed to be the only place you could get the "real" thing. First they showed us the kiln outside the shop. Then we spent about half an hour getting pictures of everyone in the group as Warriors. It was really cool to see the people working on each of the pieces by hand. If you want to pay the big bucks, you can even have yourself made into a Terracotta statue, just like Barack Obama and David Beckham! Finally, we made it to the real Terracotta Warrior museum. What an incredible sight. You walk into the main building and there in front of you is thousand of warriors and horses. One interesting thing that we learned at the factory is that there are five different types of warriors, from foot soldiers to captains, to archers, it wasn't all the same mold. I also never knew that after the warriors were built and buried, another army came through and found the pits and knocked over and burned them. So, all of the thousands of warriors have been painstakingly pieced back together - which is still happening today. It was really interesting to see the areas they have set up to put the warriors back together. It was also fun to see the areas where they are still excavating and finding different pieces. This was definitely a highlight of my trip. I can see why this is considered one of the wonders of the world.

After lunch we went to the Xi'an City wall. This is one of the only completely intact city walls in China. You can rent a bike and ride around the entire ancient city on top of the wall. Unfortunately we were short on time, so we couldn't get all the way around the wall, but I did ride along about 1/4 of the wall. Again, it was so sad to look down and see the poverty that some of the people are living in. This area looked like a garbage dump with demolished homes, but these were inhabited homes with clothes lines and umbrellas up for shade! It actually reminded me a lot of Russia. After spending some time on the wall we went to the Muslim market for more shopping. It was so interesting to see what the different vendors were selling. This woman had little tiny eggs that she was cracking into this mold, to make some kind of eggs on a stick.

Cam did some research before we left and discovered that Xi'an is well known for their Persimmon pancakes - so we asked our guide to help us get some pancakes to try while we were at the market. They were really good, they were almost like a little scone with different fillings in the middle like dates, roses, and walnuts. Almost everyone in our group had to try a few and Cam was very excited that she started a trend. After the market we raced to the train station to catch our train to Beijing. OH. MY. GOODNESS. The train station!! What a madhouse!! This was on September 30. October 1st is a MAJOR national holiday - so EVERYONE was going to the train station to start their holiday trips. There was a massive line just to get in the train station because you had to go through a metal detector and send your bags through an x-ray. Like Russians, Chinese people don't wait patiently in line for their turn, they push and shove to the front. My bottle of water fell out of my backpack as I was retrieving it from the x-ray machine, and I honestly thought I was going to be trampled when I bent over to pick it up! I felt so bad for the ladies in our group that had their little kids with them - once we got in the train station it wasn't any better - more pushing and shoving and chances for little kids to get trampled or lost! It was SO stressful for me - and I was only worried about not getting lost myself! We were all so relieved to get to the waiting room for the first class ticket holders where things were a little more calm. And we were especially glad to get our entire group on the train and settled in our cabins ready for our long overnight trip to Beijing.