Away We Go...to China for 5 days

During our 5-day stunning and unforgettable visit to Beijing, China we visited the following landmarks:

 Tiananmen Square

 Forbidden City

  Really cold in Tiananmen Square

 About to enter the Forbidden City

 In the Forbidden City

 Trying to stay warm

 It's too heavy

 Amazing

 People dancing behind me in a park near Temple of Heaven

 Temple of Heaven

 A neighborhood in Beijing

 SO pumped

 Neil's ready to go

 Now we're cold, but excited

 Great picture Neil!

 Ming Tombs

 A little Rock n' Roll in China

 He's a champ!

 Some more rockin' out!!!!

 World famous Peking Duck at

Beijing Wangfujing Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant

 Neil loved it!!! Me....not so much:(

 Oh well:) More for Neil!!!!

Subsequently, I decided to share my experiences, reflections and memories in detail of the following two endeavors:

As we stepped out of our amazing hotel (Capital Hotel), the clear blue skies hinted to a day of amazing weather. Neil and I were extremely proud for having dressed appropriately for the upcoming day’s events. Still somewhat exhausted from the midnight bus ride and flight delays, our second wind approached as the freezing wind quickly touched our faces.  As coordinated as a Chinese acrobat show, the ice chilling wind crept up as we entered Tiananmen Square.  Although, I was quite disappointed at my lack of research and preparation prior to this trip, the indescribable feeling of walking through this enormous place helped me to forget my oversight.   The experience of standing in the center of communism while somewhat omniscient, was paralleled with a feeling of awe as I thought about that moment, that moment when you know that this is something that you truly will not forget. 

The Great Wall

With an early start, this day was in one word, “astounding.”  While Neil and I tried to stay away from booking “tours”, since we undoubtedly preferred to explore on our own terms, we knew that the “Great Wall” tour package would in all probability be worth the equivalent of $40 for transportation, lunch, the “Great Wall” tour, “Ming Tomb” tour, “Jade Factory” tour, “Silk Factory” tour, and a visit to a “Tea House”. (In hindsight I would have paid triple the cost).

The lovely and kindhearted tour guide shared a firsthand look at the history of Beijing from a local perspective.  As we sleepily listened during the initial part of the tour, our tour guide Tina shared many interesting historical facts about Beijing.  After around 45 minutes, we arrived to our destination.  As we stepped out of our 1989 “Mercedes” tour bus, once again the bone chilling wind came for a visit and attempted to intimidate our upcoming hike.  Once we looked up and took in a wonder of the world, the horrible ice wind became an afterthought.  Tina gave a brief introduction of the portion of the Great Wall that we would explore, explaining that we were going to hike the first part of the wall that was built.  Slightly to the left, my eye caught a section of the wall that lacked the 2,000 uneven steps that the more historical portion that we were going to conquer had.  Then Tina bid us farewell and said she was going to stay warm in the bus. 

After a quick glance at each other, Neil and I were off.  Literally, I felt as if I was “stepping” on history and I began to reminisce about teaching my 6^th graders last year about this very place, and came to the insight that I had not done the Great Wall justice.   After about 100 or 200 steps (counting was really impossible), I saw the first “stopping point” or tower where I could only imagine what people saw historically from that point and what the Chinese soldiers did in reaction to what was coming from that very point where I stood.  I couldn’t help but smile when I saw grandmothers and grandfathers hiking these very steps with grace and ease, while someone such as myself struggled with each step.(time to start working out)

At around the 2^nd stopping point, I heard something quite familiar and comforting, Oma (the word for mom in Korean), I then realized that Korea was really starting to feel like home.  After an exchange of our broken Korean with an adorable Korean family, pictures and smiles were enthusiastically exchanged.  While exhausted and freezing, I sincerely loved every minute of this.  But, then came the part of the wall where everyone else deemed too far, windy, or high to trek that specific day. 

Neil’s old boy scout hiking days immediately came to fruition as he encouraged me to “keep on going”, “it’s not that much further”, and “Christine, you are doing really good.” What felt like 100 glorious hours later (in reality 10 minutes) we reached the highest point of the wall with our water bottles and Carmex frozen.  After about 10 pictures, Neil’s fingers were officially numb and it was time to head back to our tour bus.