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Our second day in Beijing (Thursday) was rainy and colder, but that didn't stop us from packing it full of stuff to see. Our guide Chandler said it had not rained in Beijing for over 100 days, so this steady, light rain was much needed. We started our day with a trip to the Summer Palace, a summer residence of the imperial family (and an entourage of servants, of course) who spent the summer months here escaping the heat of the city. The Summer Palace and grounds sit on Kunming Lake and are remarkably sprawling... and remarkably beautiful. Much restoration was done to the ornate paint job in preparation for the Olympics, and the vibrancy of the colors were only enhanced by the overcast day. The water calligraphers were such an awesome sight here, working along on the stone walkways next to the lake. The way the water took to the dark, matte stone reminded me a bit of those "Zen Boards"...only cooler times a billion. It was really amazing. (And yes, I took about a million photos of it.)
After the Palace, Chandler took our group to the Beijing Zoo to see the giant panda exhibit. Ummmm, have I mentioned how much I love the giant panda? I mean, as far as adorable animals go, this guy takes the bamboo. There were 4 of them and they were so much fun to watch. We spent a while there trying to capture that perfect (i.e. in focus) picture...and I think you'll agree that the one of me with Mr. Panda #3 (below) is priceless. Tee hee.After the zoo, Chandler returned us to our hotel. But we're not hang-at-the-hotel kind of folks, so our group headed out again down the street to the Drum Tower, where the drums were once sounded to mark the hours of the day. We climbed the very steep 69 steps to the top to take in a drum beating performance. I was amazed at the top to learn that our travelmates' adorable 5 year old climbed these steps herself, though each step was nearly half her height! She is an awesome kid; so go-with-the-flow and really enjoys being out and about seeing the sights with her parents and grandparents, who also came along on this trip.
After the harrowing descent from the Drum Tower, we made our way out to the street and caught a cab to Wangfujing Dajie and walked over to the Oriental Plaza, a very high-end shopping mall. (Yes, we went to Starbucks. Yes, I announced, "Hello baby, I'm back" upon view of the sign. And yes, I thoroughly enjoyed my venti mocha.) Afterward, we went to a music store and stocked up on a variety of children's music CDs and a few Chinese Pop CDs, chosen by way of "cool cover" and inquiry via charade about what music was playing overhead.
By this time, our travelmates' little girl was spent after a loooong day, so she, Grandma and Grandpa went back to the hotel while Jill, Thomas, Dan and I continued on down Wangfujing Dajie in search of children's clothing for the orphanage. We found a large kid store and had a great time picking out some outfits and learning the system for making purchases. (Each brand department is separate, so clerks write up purchase tags from each area and then you take all purchase tags to a central place to pay and then return to each separate department with a stamped receipt to pick up purchases. Did you catch all that?) As we were leaving, Lego Dan couldn't help but spot a Blocko set--very suspiciously Lego-like, I might add--that included Lego people..errr, Blocko people...that were Asian. So, another departmental transaction and we are now the proud owners of...Blockos. Dan couldn't be more pleased.
Just down the street we found the Wangfujing Snack Street, described in the guide book as a "jumble of atmosphere and flavor." And that it was. Cicadas, seahorses and scorpions on sticks for your eating (or in our case, viewing) pleasure. Well, with options like that who wouldn't work up an appetite, so we made our way to a Peking duck restaurant that Thomas and Jill remembered from their last trip to Beijing 4 years ago. Jill is amazing. She walked right to this obscurely-located restaurant without so much as a glance at a map. I have no idea what this restaurant was called, so I'm referring to it as The Duck Place. Clever, eh? (Oh, Dan is now telling me that The Duck Place is actually called Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant. Exactly, The Duck Place.) The Peking duck was brought out whole and dissected table-side with such tremendous speed and precision. After a quick tutorial by the host about proper assembly technique with the thin pancakes, sauce and onions, Jill, Thomas and Dan were on their way to Peking duck heaven. Me, not so much a duck fan normally, but I tried it and have to say, it was FANTASTIC. I tried a mushroom and garlic dish that was delicious, too.
After dinner and an interesting time trying to get a taxi, we made our way back to the hotel around 10:30pm. Busy day! It is so much fun getting to know the people we are traveling with for this important journey--and we feel already as though we've known them a long time. Our daughters share a history--and now, so do we.
Today we're headed to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Below are a few images from Thursday, February 12th:
We're here! Our flights were GREAT--Asiana deserves its great ratings! We left Chicago at 1:00am Tuesday and at 2:00am they served us the most delicious steak--I don't mean delicious by airline standards, I mean DELICIOUS. And free wine. And we were assigned the bulkhead seat, so we had tons of leg room. And did I mention the steak and free wine? And there were toothbrushes and toothpaste in the bathroom. Magic.
We arrived in Seoul at 5:00am Wednesday and wandered around for a few hours. "Flat Josiah" (pictured below) had a really good time at the Incheon International Airport. He was all over that place.
Our leg from Seoul to Beijing was a quick hour and a half. We arrived around 11:00am and met up with our guide, Chandler. He drove us to the Oriental Culture Hotel where we checked in, secured acrobat tickets after a 20 minute charade match (yes, I was charading acrobats), exchanged some money, and then hit the town.First stop? WuMart for some bottled water, beer (good for cleansing the system, after all), and Natural and Cool Cucumber potato chips. (Okay, a brief aside in these crazy chips--they actually make your throat cold. Like you just had an Altoid. Freaky.) I love grocery stores in other places. I am always amazed by the variety of smells, flavors, and the collection of unidentifiable stuff. WuMart is apparently not frequented by foreigners much, as we were pretty interesting to the people shopping there. One lady hopped from aisle to aisle, peering around corners to see what we were doing. Hilarious. So, for reference, a bottle of water in our minibar at the hotel is 25 RMB. At WuMart, we got 10 bottles of water, 3 beers (yes, they are sold as individual cans--and have pop tops, at that), our large bag of crazy cold cucumber chips, and some chocolate mushrooms for 26 RMB. (There are approximately 6 RMB to a USD right now.)
After loading Dan's backpack with our goods, we headed out down a busy street toward the Bell Tower. Along the way, we got a fast feel for this place. Cars and bicycles everywhere, laundry hanging out to dry between the trees, bicycle repair men working every few feet, piles of stuff on bikes and the sidewalk waiting for delivery to shops, chattering all around, LAUGHTER, groups of men playing checkers in the most unusual of places--like the seat of a moped--and hutongs (skinny little alleyways formed by collection of traditional courtyard homes) spoking off the main street every which way. It all hums together so vibrantly. This place is really awesome.
We made it down to the Bell Tower and climbed what seemed like a gazillion steep-as-heck steps to get to the top for viewing. The city is HUGE, but the smog impacted the view significantly. I did find myself bothered by the pollution--thankfully not in a respiratory sense--but my eyes burned like crazy and watered for hours. But I adjusted as the day went on and by late afternoon I didn't notice it at all.
After the Bell Tower, we wandered the hutong area surrounding it for hours. These alleyways are a sea of old courtyard houses, most of which are in pretty rough shape. People were all over on these tiny streets--some playing checkers, one getting a haircut while holding a stick of live parakeets, some just shootin' the breeze, some sweeping, some hanging laundry, and some watching us with great interest and discussing us with neighbors. Dan and I both felt a bit like we were invading this private space--like our NorthFace-wearin', camera-totin' selves were like martians who just landed here. (I guess that's not so far from true.) So as much as we wanted to take a million people photos, most of the time we just walked right on past--with a smile, head nod, and 'ni hao'--trying for a second to just be part of their world. (Now I understand why our guide books say a trip to Beijing is not complete without this experience.)
Hutongs have been threatened for years as Beijing's faster-than-the-speed-of-light development plows through these old traditional places in favor of large-scale modern development. Recently, several of these areas have been protected for cultural preservation--HOORAY!
After having been out and about for several hours (and Dan, of course, has 10 bottles of water, 3 beers, crazy cool cucumber chips, and chocolate mushrooms on his back the whole time...note to self, grocery store AFTER sightseeing...) we decided to head back to the hotel to get ready for the acrobat show at Tiandi Theater. (This involved showering without opening our mouths. We succeeded, just in case you were wondering. We also have gotten good at brushing our teeth with bottled water. I have to say, I appreciate good, clean water so much more overtly right now. The things we take for granted...)
At the last minute, we got in touch with our travelmates and they came back to the hotel to get tickets, too. We all piled into 2 taxis and headed to the theater. The show was as amazing as the Chinese acrobatic shows always are--mind-boggling skill. But watching our travelmates' daughter watch the show was as good as the show itself. She leaned forward the whole time with her little head resting on the seatback in front of her, mouth dropped wide open in awe. We had 5th row seats! That is something I so look forward to--watching a child take in the wonders of the word around them.
After the show, we cabbed it back to the hotel. (Cabs are so affordable here; a 15 minute ride from the theater for 3 adults was less than $2 USD.) I wanted to update the blog last night before going to bed, but the 48 hours without uninterrupted sleep finally caught up with me and I crashed on the hard-as-plywood bed. (I had heard about the beds here, but man, these beds are HARD.)
Today we're heading to the Summer Palace and the Beijing Zoo. (I get to see panda bears today!) Enjoy a few images from today...just think, in another 3 days, these posts will be pictures of K! HOORAY!
So people want to know what packing for this trip--for 2+ weeks in China in 3 distinct climates with a little one we know pretty much nada about at this point--looks like. Well, here you have it.
BEFORE...the dining room table piles...and Dan ironing. :)
AFTER...yes, all that crap above (and then some) is crammed into 2 medium-sized suitcases.
(And I'd just like to say that we appear to have more than met the 44 pound inter-China flight weight limit, assuming our rickety 15 year old scale is telling the truth...)
We leave for the airport tomorrow at 8:30pm.
FINALLY. :)
I arrived home to a special package. It was a particularly special package when I saw who it was from.
Through my friend A, I met E. (Man, that's a lot of vowels.) E is AMAZING in so many ways. First and foremost, she is an incredible Mom, a fantastic chef, a phenomenal photographer, decorates cookies that Martha Stewart would be embarrassed to have her own compared to, blogs like no body's business, quilts, sews, etc., etc., etc. She is AMAZING. She is also unjustly modest and I'm sure is super annoyed with this particular blog post. But it's just TRUE. She can brush off my accolades all she wants, but that doesn't change the fact that her talents, kindness, and general amazingness are off the freakin' charts. Off the freakin' charts somethin' fierce, at that.
E, I am so glad to be getting to know you better and so look forward to your help and insight as we bring K home and adjust to parenthood. THANK YOU for such an awesome gift. I can't wait to see Kennedy get all messy with them. :)
And one of these days you need to share your secret for getting so much done with so little time. You are my hero. :)
Yes, everyone, she made those. All 14 of 'em. See what I mean?!? AMAZING.
Plane tickets and hotel reservations? CHECK!Small amounts of sink-washable clothing crammed into space-saving bags? CHECK!Every med known to man out of its box and organized neatly in Tupperware? CHECK!Beachball, stacking cups, HABA rattle, and Elmo puppet board book? CHECK!Tremendous excitement and lots of "holy crap!" thoughts? CHECK!Yep, we're gettin' ready. Our flight leaves Chicago at 1:00am on 2/10 and arrives in Beijing (after a short layover in Seoul--how cool is that, Josiah?!?) at about 11:00am on 2/11. From there we'll go to our hotel and hit the town! We have plans to see the Summer Palace and Panda Garden on 2/12, the Forbidden City on 2/13, the Great Wall on 2/14, and hopefully the opera and maybe an acrobat show in the evenings before boarding a plane headed for Nanchang on 2/15...and yes, according to our schedule she should be in our arms on 2/15 at 5:00pm! HOORAY!!! (I mean, 'HOORAY' is like the biggest understatement in the world, but I guess y'all understand that there just aren't words...)Our schedule from our agency's travel coordinator has us in Nanchang (Jiangxi province) until 2/21 when we fly to Guangzhou (Guangdong province) for the Consulate stuff (that's the official name for it--'Consulate stuff'.) We leave Guangzhou on 2/26 and arrive back in Chicago on 2/26 at 7:30pm. (And then the crazy east to west jetlag kicks in...) WOW. I can't believe in less than a week we'll be on a plane...HOORAY!!!
