Break in Updates

Another break in the China trip update. It's been a busy couple of weeks. I haven't had as much uninterupted computer time as I would have liked. We've been outside....riding bikes, swimming, playing hard.
We're heading out tonight to Tennessee. Will update when we're back....

Chengdu

The girls and I arrive in Chengdu on a great direct flight from Beijing....but first a word about the Beijing airport.
The girls and I get to the airport early because Jim's international flight leaves an hour before our domestic flight. We all have early morning flights. I figure, we all check in....get through security and get breakfast. Wrong. Despite all of us being at Terminal 2....international quickly gets separated from domestic. Bummer. The girls and I get in line to check in....wait....get out of line because they have to potty....Mom has to start throwing elbows in the bathroom because the concept of waiting in lines and kindness towards children who really have to "go" appears very elusive...get back in line to check in....get in line for security...get through security....and then realize there are no restaurants to speak of. MAJOR bummer. Thank goodness for the emergency rations in my carry-on bag.
OK. That was my venting for the evening. So, we get on a direct (hooray!) flight to Chengdu. Thankfully, it's not Delta (double hooray!). Any airline these days seems to be better than Delta. The girls and I camp out at my mom's apartment for the next 2 weeks. Here's the night view from her apartment window. It's such a shame the city is seemingly just as polluted as Beijing (and mosquito infested). Never saw the sky here either....but the night view is quite nice. (Mostly because you can't see the polluted air as well at night).

Below are the girls in front of the bridge (lit up in the picture above). It's quite pretty and has a very nice restaurant on the bridge. Do you like their newly acquired chinese sun visors (complete with solar powered fan and sunglasses)?

Shopping and eating

So on our last day in Beijing, we spend it walking, shopping, and eating....eating, shopping, and walking in the heat. Yes, Jim and I tried scorpion. Passed on the tarantula....it was too expensive. And yes, the girls had "ice pops"to take the edge off the heat (and as bribery).

Overall, a nice stay in Beijing. We can highly recommend our hotel. Stayed at the Marriott Sandalwood. Huge apartments. Good pool. Excellent breakfasts. Perfect for a family. Would we go back to Beijing? Probably not anytime soon. Pollution was overwhelming; heat was oppressive; smokers were everywhere; and aggressive drivers with complete disregard for human life frankly scared me. We never did see the sky...although we did after a few days (once the smog cleared a bit) realize that we had a view of a nuclear power plant from our window. That said....we did have a very nice time.

Jim heads home. Next stop for me and the girls....Chengdu.

Summer Palace

Can't win them all....so we were late getting to the summer palace. Throngs of people. Ugh. Miserable stop. Crowds of megaphoned tour leaders and their tour groups. Pretty, but not necessarily worthwhile in my book. Mark this spot as "been there. done that."

Lama Temple

The next morning, we head out to the Lama Temple. Originally built to house the court eunuchs, it was then converted to house a prince who later became an emperor. After the emperor ascended to the throne, half was used for a monastery for Tibetan buddhist monks while the other half remained an imperial palace. Now, all monastery.
While waiting for the temple doors to open, several people engage us in conversation...fascinated about the girls. This funny grandmother got out of her wheelchair to have her picture taken with Lolo.

Anyway, fascinating to walk through....even got to hear the monks chanting. A very nice stop.

And thankfully, once again, we left just as the tour buses arrived. Whew. Dodged another bullet.

A few more Sacred Way pics

Sacred Way

After the tomb, a stop at the Sacred Way....the road leading to heaven. Constructed in 1540, during the Ming dynasty, it's got 18 pairs of stone statues...all sculpted from whole stones.

This actually turned out to be far more kid friendly than I had initially imagined. The girls climbed all over the animals. I'm actually a little surprised we weren't kicked out.

Ming Tombs

After the Great Wall and lunch, it was off to the Ming Tombs.... Thankfully, we chose to visit the underground burial vault for the Emperor Zhu Yijun(Dingling....no, Vicki, it's not Ding a ling)....the 13th emperor (and his 2 empresses). Hooray for the cool air underground!

As a result of all the walking...the girls were quickly melting in the heat....here, you see....a well deserved "ice pop" break.

Lolo's favorite part of the Great Wall adventure

Looking back at our trip, we've asked the girls if they had a favorite part of the trip. Lolo replied that the Great Wall of China was her favorite part. Really? Yep.

Guess what set it over the top? It was the giant stainless steel alpine slide all the way down. The longest slide any of us had been on.

Is this really less touristy than the Badaling section? Somehow I can't believe that. Admittedly, we all thought this was fun. Yep. I couldn't wipe the big "tourist" tattoo off my forehead all month.

A few more Great Wall pictures

Great Wall Pictures

This is why getting up early has it's benefits. No crowds. Unbelieveable.

Great Wall...and the chairlift

Since we were still relatively jetlagged and still getting up very early, we managed to get a jump start on our Great Wall tour....here's a tip....it's really really really important to get going before all the tour buses arrive. Our hotel concierge found us a driver...Polo. (Very nice man. Named himself after Marco Polo...not the clothing Polo....he was very firm in informing us. He's with us in the picture below.). Huge improvement over our disasterous taxi ride the day before.

So we get to the wall (decided to go to the Mutianyu section). It is supposedly slightly less touristed than the Badaling section...but clearly it's still very touristy...as evidenced by the chairlift that we took to the top (yes, we were lazy and challenged for time).

Here's a funny thing...as a family, we've ridden chairlifts hundreds of times. No issues. So we just hop on. It's not until we get really close to the top of the lift that I realize..."hey, I don't have skis on my feet! How in the heck am I supposed to get off of this thing?!?!" Well, it's a good thing Lolo and I were fairly mobile. We both hopped off and kind of did a quick jog to get out of the way. I'm so thankful she didn't get whacked.

Here's Jim....thank goodness he's strong and quick. I'm not quite sure what they do for someone who isn't as agile.

A few more pics from the Temple of Heaven

We got these fans at the outside of the Temple. It's always entertaining talking to street vendors. They couldn't get over the color of the girls hair.

Inside the temple walls was a garden area....these ladies were trying to sell these fabric ribbons. Of course, our girls had to try them out.

Temple of Heaven and Celebrity Paparazzi

I forgot to mention that the first day, we decided on the public transportation route. Subways to the Forbidden City. Crowded. But as we discovered, with a gajillion people, it's pretty rare to find "not crowded". Jim and I boxed out a little area for the kids to stand. Then a lady saw the girls and harrassed a man sitting down until he finally gave up and relinquished his seat to the girls. Satisfied, the ladies on the subway proceeded to talk to the girls.

Such was our first taste of our girls "celebrity status". Almost everywhere we went in China, people would stop us and see if they get their pictures taken with the girls. (See above). Do we know these people? Nope. Just random groups of people wanting to talk to the girls, touch their hair, and get their pictures taken with them. We had one little boy who kept following us because he was so fascinated with the girls.
Anyhoo...

Here we are at the Temple of Heaven....you know standing at the Center of the Universe ;-)

Getting here was another adventure. We decided to take a taxi instead of the packed subway. Mistake. Our cab driver apparently had just learned how to drive. He'd stall out when he had to stop the car. It took us forever to get to our destination. So we walked and walked....and had ice pops in the heat.

Lunch

After a walking and wandering, we found a motorbike-taxi driver to take us to a restaurant....the Li Family Restaurant which serves imperial cuisine (food served to only the emperor and his court). The story goes something like this...the great-grandfather used to work for the imperial court of the qing dynasty...smuggled out recipes which are still used today. Finding the restaurant was a challenge. It was hidden in a back alley hutong. All we had was an address and when we got there....no sign. The girls who worked there had to come out to let us know we arrived at the right spot. Alas, I was too hungry to take pictures of the food (like a proper chinese gal). Needless to say, the food was fantastic.