Friday, December 13, 2013

First Full day in China

What a wonderful day!

First, the breakfast buffet at our hotel is the best we have ever had!  The selection was an amazing array of Chinese, French and American foods, but we all got hooked on the eggs, fresh fruit, yogurt and fruit shots and dumplings.

Our guide said that the air is 'clear' only about 3 days out of the month, and today was one of them.  We saw blue skies and have had the most amazing positive experience so far in China!  Our tour group traveled to the Great Wall of China.  We walked up and up and up the wall. I never knew there were so many steps!  We climbed to many towers along the wall before climbing on very wobbly legs all the way back down.  The kids were more popular to the Chinese than the great wall!  Our kiddos had many many pictures taken of just them or with their new found friends.  Everyone was so friendly and helpful and couldn't believe we had one, two, three, four kids!  We had the most fun with the natives and their excitement over the boys.  They especially liked Ethan and Jonny.  Overall, the Great Wall was anti-climatic and was more climbing up and down than walking around on it.  The history around Beijing is incredible as so much dates back to dynasties from hundreds of years ago.






Washington Strong from the Great Wall!




One of our new friends in China!

After the Great Wall, we had a 7 course (or more, I lost track) meal at a traditional Chinese restaurant, with the large turning platter in the middle of the table to spin the food to each person seated around the large table.  The food was good.

We saw a demonstration at a Jade factory and learned a bit about Jade carving and how to identify a real and imitation jade.  We saw many small and giant jade carvings and also saw men carving statutes and jade balls that were all one piece but had moving layers of balls within.  Simply beautiful and amazing to watch the intricacies and details of such work.

Our jade guide

Amazing carved jade ball, all one piece with many balls inside each other.

Squealing pigs made of red jade

$66,000 jade ship with a buddha in front


After the jade tour we drove through the Olympic Village from 2008.  We did not get our of the bus, but did get close to the water cube, where the swimming events were held, and the bird's nest where the opening and closing ceremonies were held.  We saw all of the athlete's housing, stadiums, and media center.
Water Cube


Bird's Nest



Next we went on a hutong tour.  We all rode in bicycle powered rickshaws, entered into a tradition hutong home, from the Ming Dynasty, and walked through a market.  Hutong is Mongolian for water well, but now means small alley.  The hutong are basically a large neighborhood or section of Beijing (population roughly 20,000 people), that live in connected courtyards (some private, some shared).  The homes are several hundred years old and are about the only places within China that the individuals own that property, the government owns everybody else's property.  It is a upper middle class area, although the homes would not be considered such in the US.  The Chinese are very modern with plumbing, TV's, cell phones, etc. Many still believe western toilets are 'dirty' and prefer the squatty potty.
The kids and Chris at a market.  We saw chicken feet and pigs feet, large and obscure fruits and vegetables and many trinkets.

Sean, Jonny & Bri rode in a rickshaw together

Mom, Ethan and Dad rode in a rickshaw together.

We went for a walk tonight around the hotel and ate at a traditional dumpling restaurant, which was very delicious.  We purchased some bottled water at a local supermarket, and enjoyed looking through all the food and its' packaging at the store.

One of the funniest signs translated today read, "God saves the Streaking".  You have to look close to read it, as we were traveling by bus.  

1 comment:

  1. So glad to hear you had a great day! You really packed a lot in to one day! We are thinking of you and praying for you! Thanks for the update.

    ReplyDelete