Narrative of Beijing vacation

April 26th to April 30, 2009 Beijing, China

What an exciting, tiring, and fun filled adventure in Beijing. We traveled with 2 teachers from QSI. When we arrived in Beijing we met up with 2 other QSI teachers.

We arrived at the Shenzhen International Airport at 8:00am and checked in. Fairly nice airport but small for International. The flight to Beijing was 3 hrs. and we were fed a decent lunch. No in flight movies but....... the stewardess led the passengers in chair aerobics. It was funny to listen and watch. They counted (very loud) in Chinese as they circled their wrists and arms. It woke me up from a little nap.

After disembarking from the plane, we got our bags and hopped into the van that was sent by our hostel. The hostel we stayed at was called Downtown Backpackers Accomadations which had a manager named Apple. She is Chinese but speaks excellent english and helped us find buses, taxis, etc. Great location right in the middle of the Hutongs which is a place many people tour while on vacation.
http://enwikipedia.org/wiki/Hutung for more information.

Our room was like going to summer camp. We had 3 sets of bunkbeds and a private bathroom with shower. The bathroom was a toilet/shower combo which means the toilet got wet and the floor flooded when someone showered. We paid $10 a person but got breakfast included. GREAT DEAL! Every morning we got 2 eggs, 1/2 banana, glass of tang, 3 pieces of toast, 1 saugauge, and slice of apple. Our room had 2 windows one with no curtain so we arose with the sun around 6am - no wake up calls needed for us. After we checked in we found out no towels were provided so we had to rent them for $8.00 RMB per person.($1.24) The best part was the location..... we were smack dab in the middle of cute little streets with quaint shops, pubs, coffee shops with couches etc. Very modern yuppie Chinese.... Great places to eat and relax!!

The first night we went to see a Chinese acrobatic show at the Tiandi Heaven and Earth Theatre. It was arranged through our hostel and they took us in a van so we didn't have to figure out transportation. We were in the fourth row right in the middle. We were surrounded by other Western people. We decided it was reverse discrimination. The white faces were all in the middle and upfront. Nonetheless the show was great! The performers looked very young and it hurt just watching them put their foot around their neck while standing on one leg. They were simply amazing. It was like going to the circus but no animals.

Next morning 6:40am we boarded buses and headed to the "Great Wall". There are several locations you can go to visit the "WALL"! We chose Jinshanling/Simatai which was a 2hr drive away. Once outside of the city we saw houses and farms and countryside that reminded us of Cle Elum, WA. Now supposedly this area of the wall is not very popular with the tourists because of the distance and the fact that it hasn't been refurbished. Also, no food vendors and shops. When we pulled up in Jinshanling to get off the bus to begin our hike much to our surprize was 2 big buses full of chinese students on a field trip. The all wore matching red/white sweatsuits and looked to be in high school. So much for no crowds on the wall.

We hiked/crawled 8 kilometers and it took about 4 hrs. We walked over crumbling stones and up and down loose stairs. Several tower locations (there were 30 total on our climb) were a little tricky with loose rocks and steps that with all the people it was quite a log jam. We were even diverted off the wall in 2 spots where there really wasn't any safe place to walk. Along the way little Chinese women and men showed up with there wares to sell. I managed to bargain for a few Great Wall t-shirts. The kids were laughing because this lady was running after me trying to get me to buy her shirts. The only english she could say was -"you buy ok" and "thank you very much" which she rattled off continuously while chasing us. Finally, we got to the end of our hike and had the option of riding a zip-line off the wall down over a lake. Which the kids and I did while Rick took pictures and eventually walked down. When we got off the zip-drive a little boat came and picked us up and took us to place to meet up with our tour group. Oh, did I mention no bathrooms on the wall.(use your imagination) McCall says she left her DNA on the GREAT WALL of China. It was pretty amazing to think we walked where so much history has taken place. http://enwikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wall_of_China for more information.
Finally, we got back to hostel and headed for dinner. The boys were very excited that we found a Sizzler in a mall. It was a great dinner. We eat chinese food all the time so to find a good western salad bar/buffet for a good price is rare. That night we all slept well.

Tuesday was a jammed pack day. We went to the Forbidden City, Tiannamen Square, Silk road, and the Olympic Venues. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen for more information.
We walked through Tiannamen to get to the Forbidden City. Lots of vendors trying to sell hats, watches with Mao, and postcards. Lots of people just hanging around.
The Forbidden city was very large and interesting. Some facts that I remember is that there are always 2 (two) Lions at each entry. One is a male with his paw on a ball and the other is female with her paw on a cub. We saw their drainage system with gargoyles that had the holes in their mouths. Large black vats were everywhere throught the city and they were used (years ago) to collect water in case of a fire. "The City" was damaged by fire by the French allied forces but rebuilt. A lot of the grounds and areas looked to be still untouched and in its orginal state. The path ways are crumbling and have weeds growing around them. http://enwikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_City
Next stop was Silk road for a little snack and shopping. We were told the best deals were at Silk Road. It was fun to barter. After that we hopped on the subway and headed out to the Olympic venues. It costs 2rmb ($.26) to ride the subway anywhere. The Bird's Nest(track staduim), Ice Cube(swimming pool) and surroundings were very clean and new looking. It was nice to see that they are still taking care of the Olympic venues. When we left we were mobbed by vendors with Olympic souvenirs to sell. They followed us and swarmed us and didn't take NO for an answer. I think our mistake was we bought one thing then they kept offering us more and more and more (junk).

Wednesday we decided to go to the Summer Palace (Imperial Palace) http://en.wikipedia.org/?wiki/Summer_Palace It seems the Emperor hung out in the Forbidden City (central Bejing) and the Emperoress preferred the Summer Palace (northwest Bejing). The Summer Palace was huge and beautiful - lots of park like areas. The grounds are kept up and it is much prettier than the Forbidden City. Of course, like everything else much had been destroyed by fire from the Allied Forces (French) so it was rebuilt. There is a huge (KunmingLake) man made lake that offers boat rides and pedal boats. We chose to get 2 boats and pedaled around for 2 hrs. since yesterday was full of walking. We saw a hugh marble boat that the Emperoress had made - I don't think it ever floated - just set on the edge of the lake. Later, when we were walking around, we found a shop with a calligrapher. He could paint with his elbow. We had our last name painted in Chinese on scroll with other Chinese sayings. The most fun was the Chinese paparazzi that showing up everywhere we stopped! They had their cameras and would want pictures of and with McCall. The boys were absolutely amazed!!

Finally, on our last day (morning) we went to a market called Yao Xiu (pronounced Ya Show). It is like an indoor flea market. We told the kids it was time for them to try to barter. Brad was excited that he got a NBA Jersey with shorts for 80rmb. The lady's starting price was 480rmb. Derek bought 4 Chinese flutes for 50rmb. At first the man wanted 50rmb for 1 flute. He chased us down and just kept adding flutes to the deal. Jacob wasn't into bargaining or shopping. McCall gave her unwanted opinion on everything. She always suggested more than I wanted to pay so I had to ask her to be quiet. She did pick out many Chinese shirts to give as gifts.

At last we headed back to Shenzhen around 3pm. We were exhausted but glad we saw all the famous Beijing historical sights!