Trip to Beijing!

Following a very busy weekend, we all headed to Beijing for a mini Holiday. Allen is very overloaded with work and wanted a "head" break. I can't imagine living in China and NOT seeing the Great Wall and Forbidden City at least once. So, I thought it would be such a great memory if my mom could join us for a visit to these places. My mom is usually flying to visit us or we are flying to visit her...but we never go anywhere together. This was special!

We headed to Bejing on Monday night on an overnight sleeper train. The beds were VERY firm, even though it was termed a 'soft sleeper.' But, most of the beds in China, even in 5 star hotels, have very firm Chinese style beds. All in all, my mom and I could have used more rest, but the overnight sleeper is something I MAY consider doing again in the future. It wasn't horrible. We got our own room, although it was a small space. But, we could lock the door and there was a tiny table in the compartment and four beds (2 bunk beds). Next time, we will travel during a season that doesn't require so much extra clothing...which will also free up some space with less luggage. The bathrooms were horrendous! Each train car had several sleeper compartments and only one area for the toilets. They had a choice of two... a sit down toilet and a squat toilet. BOTH of which were absolutely disgusting!!!! But, this shouldn't be any huge surprise by now. I, personally, don't think it's possible for any chinese person to aim correctly over a big gaping hole of a toilet. My 2 and 5 year old have better aim! Ick! That was by far, the biggest complaint among our small group...the disgusting toilets. Next time, we will bring Ryan's little potty for ALL our use! ;)

Beijing! Wow! Nothing like what I expected based on other expats' descriptions...both those who have visited AND those who currently live there! Beijing was fantastic! Clean! Buses and taxi cabs were NEW! McDonald's on every corner...instead of icky KFC! Huge walls up around the city to cover up the shanty parts of town. Trees! Lots of them! Beautiful spaces around the city that had natural as well as beautifully manicured vegatation! The achitecture! OMG! What beautiful acrhitecture on every single building we saw around town! All of them! The people spoke so much English...I actually felt awkward using what little Chinese I know with them.

We ended up at the Great Wall Sheraton...a beautiful hotel! And SO comfortable after the sleeper train. It was niiiice! The Hard Rock Cafe was located right next door. So, of course, we ate there for Allen's official birth DAY (Tues.).

Allen had the opportunity to climb the Great Wall ON his official birth DAY. How cool is THAT!? He climbed it so fast...we were all very impressed! The rest of us took the tram up. Just as we reached the top to wait for Allen, the batteries in our camera died. You can imagine how BUMMED I was! To go all the way to the Great Wall of China, and have your batteries die! I'm not kidding. There was a nice couple who offered to email us some pics of us on the wall...if they don't send them, we have hardly anything to show for us being there except a few souveneirs. My heart absolutely ACHES with that knowledge...

Wow! The GREAT WALL OF CHINA!! I can hardly describe it! The great wall is the only man made structure you can see from space. It stretches over 4,000 miles across China! Can you even imagine the kind of man power that took way back when!? You can see pictures of it...but the structure itself is SO impressive! It was so incredible to see the ingenuity and engineering behind every stone that was placed along the wall...or even lack thereof, in some places. The top of the rampart had a slight tilt to drain rainwater, but the steps leading to the different various parts of the wall had completely asymmetrical stones in some places. Some of the stones were normal sized while others were HUGE and would have taken a very tall man to ascend/descend them easily. Many of the workers who helped build it, carved their names in various parts of the wall. The wall runs along the top of the ridgeline in the mountains. They didn't carve out the mountain like today's engineering practices, but just placed the wall right on top of the ridgeline. So, every dip and sway in the natural topography can be seen reflected in the huge structure on top of it. Incredible!! It really was a truly incredible sight and one I would recommend anyone to see at least once in their lifetime. And Allen...to be able to say he was ON (and climbed) the Great Wall of China on his XX birthday...wow! What an experience and memory for him! :)

We visited the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, which is less touristy than other sections. We had hired a driver for the day and it took us about 1.5 hours to get there. The countryside on the way to this section of the great Wall was absolutely beautiful! Just what I needed! Something beautiful...for a change. When we arrived, there was hardly a soul there. During the warmer months, I could imagine MANY people visit that section since it is set up for an immense amount of visitors. But, not the day we went! It was sooooo great! In China, it is hard to get ANYWHERE where there isn't a huge amount of people. So, we felt incredibly lucky. While it was colder, it wasn't bitter and the sun was shining brightly. It was a beautiful day! :)


The next day, we visited the Forbidden City. Again, wow! Amazing! You see versions of this kind of city in movies, etc...but until you actually see the immensity of an ancient city like this one, firsthand...you really can't wrap your head around it. There were so many pathways with HUGE walls on either side...it was a labryinth of corridors! All of these corridors led to separate structures which had at least TWO courtyards surrounding them. The doors on each structure were massive...and you can't even imagine how massive the exterior walls and doors were to the city! HUGE! The door knockers on these doors could have only been reached by a very tall man on a very tall horse! haha The entire middle section of the city was used my the emperor/emperess to either hold court, recreate or sleep. The concubines lived in the side courtyards of the city. Now, many rooms are dedicated to showing off old relics, such as weaponry, jewelry, decorations, etc. Gold, silver and jade seemed to be the precious stones and metals of choice. The royal bedrooms could only be viewed through windows. So many of the doors and roofs and beams had ornate and intricate designs on them...you could look at the details for hours! Much of the wooden structures have stood up fairly well throughout the centuries. Although, who knows, the entire city could have had a huge makeover or been renovated 500 hundred years ago or something! The amount of time these structures have been standing is absolutely mind boggling. Also, there were orante gardens throught the city that were just beautiful. Surrounding the city, there was a rectangular moat. We ended up at Tian'enman Square on the other side. The whole place was just so impressive!

While we were scurrying from one courtyard to another through the central section of the city...it started to snow! The kids were so excited! :) It was colder in Beijing, but it was a drier cold...so it felt more "normal". If that makes any sense.

Allen flew back that night since he had to work. My mom, the kids and myself all decided to take the day train back to Shanghai the next day. We wanted to be able to see more of China's countryside. BIG MISTAKE! The D31 is supposed to be the best and newest train in the "fleet". Ha! I'd hate to see an old train then. It was also supposed to be an "express" train. Ha! Yeah...while it DID go about 250 km/hour or something like that...it did it BETWEEN stops. Every stop between Beijing and Shanghai. It took about 11 hours to get home. And the countryside? All. the. same. From Beijing to Shanghai, the countryside didn't change a bit. What a waste! The "countryside" consisted of field after field of crops or orchards, with little to moderately sized towns in between. That's it. While it was flat the entire time, there were a miniscule amount of tiny little hills scattered around. Nothing to write home about. Two interesting things were 1) we saw a HUGE Catholic temple with a HUGE statue of St. Mary out in the middle of nowhere and 2) my mom said there were headstones right next to the tracks, but no formal cemetery.

The HARDEST part of this last leg of the trip was my friend's "help" in getting our tickets. I know she meant well. Everything here can be negotiated. So, when my friend said she got us cheaper tickets and we wouldn't have to pay the 1/2 price for Brandon's seat...we thought she had just negotiated a better price. Ha! Because Chinese people hold their children everywhere and they definitely don't think to pay for an extra seat for their children...well, we found out why our seats were less expensive AFTER we boarded the train. She had negotiated Brandon to be another "lap" child even though he slightly exceeded the height amount, so we only paid for two tickets. Ugh! Trust me when I say I would have paid for TWO extra seats if I had known that! Since this train ended up stopping at many points along the way toward Shanghai, there were LOTS of people on it and every seat was taken. SO, Brandon and Ryan both ended up on me and my mom's lap the ENTIRE trip! Aaaghh! I can't even begin to describe how uncomfortable that was...and very long the trip was for us all. Because the Chinese people have such disgusting health habits, ie, peeing, pooping and spitting on the ground everywhere you go...both my mom and I were frantic to keep the kids OFF the floor or even the footrest of the seat in front of us. Ick! Just visiting the toilets on the train was reminder enough that we didn't want the kids to touch the floor - at ANY time! So, needless to say, everyone was more than cranky when we arrived. All the toys I had brought for them, couldn't be used because we didn't want them playing on the floor. What. a. very. long. day. I, without a doubt, won't be doing that kind of train trip again here in China. The landscape didn't even make it worth it! Crummy Chinese trains! >:(

All in all, Beijing was a lovely trip and I'm so glad we could see those things with my mom. Unfortunately, on the train ride back, my mom started to get very ill. By the time we arrived back in Shanghai, she was feeling downright crummy. She has been very sick with a flu? cold? or something since getting back. My poor mom! :( She is supposed to be going to Guilin in China on Monday. I desperately hope she is on the mend by then.