China, 2012
Post under Construction...
Stay tuned!
We drove down to California and dropped our kids off with Becky's parents. We then caught an early flight from San Francisco back to Seattle. In Seattle we met some more of the teachers that were going on our tour with us (several were from Yakima). After a long layover, we boarded the plane to Beijing. When we arrived in Beijing, there was a guy holding a paper sign with SNA written on it. When our group walked over to the guy, he handed us a cell phone. Our tour guide was on the phone and appologized for the very informal greeting, but said that traffic was extremely bad due to a national holiday, so the main bus that was supposed to pick us up was still stuck in traffic with the other part of our group and that another smaller bus was on its way. The normally 30 minute ride from the airport to our hotel took almost two hours.
Day 1
After having a great breakfast at the hotel, we boarded our bus for Tiananmen Square. On the way there our tour guide Wilson (this is his English name, after the volleyball in the movie "Cast Away") told us a little history of the Square, but told us to not talk about the inicidents that happened there in the 80s. To get into the square you have to go underground through tunnels and security check points. Once you are there you see police officers, soldiers, even undercover police listening to your conversations. The whole area is covered in cameras and microphones.
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| Tiananmen Square |
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| Notice all the cameras on the light pole. |
After touring the Square we made our way over to the Forbidden City. Since it was a national holiday, everyone and their brother was visiting. As one person in our group put it, we were in the "sea of humanity". It is customary in China to push your way through crowds and no one takes offense. This took a little getting used to. Once inside the Forbidden City we toured the grounds. It was amazing to see how much power the Emperor once had.
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| The Sea of Humanity! |
After the Forbidden City we had a late lunch of Peking Duck and then toured the site of the 2008 Summer Olympics. From there we went to a tea factory and tasting room. We had dinner on our own that night and went to bed somewhat early and worn out.
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| Notice the large Lazy Susan with all of the dishes. |
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| The Bird's Nest |
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| Nothing like have a homemade barbeque on the back of your bike! |
Day 2
Our first stop was a jade museum and factory. Some of the carvings were unbelievable, in both size and price!
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This was our favorite one. This is one piece of multi-colored jade with tons of horses carved in it. A bit out of our price range.
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We then drove out about 50 miles for Beijing to the Great Wall of China. There was a chairlift from the parking area up to the actual wall, but we decided to hike up the hill. it was a steep hike just to get to he wall.
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| "Chinglish" sign on the hike up to the great wall. I think it is supposed to mean no open flames... |
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| The number one injury they have is people trying to take pictures and walk on the wall at the same time. |
After the Great Wall, we went to Sun Village. Sun Village is an orphanage for children whose mothers are in prison, mainly for political purposes. It was started by a female police officer that discovered that when many women were arrested and thrown in prison there was no place for their children. The kids put on a show for us and we toured the orphanage. At the end of the day we went to a farm where the kids learn farming techniques and then sell the produce in the market and learn sales skills as well. This way they can eventually leave the orphanage with some skills and training. The kids then made us a traditional dinner. Becky had a chance to make dumplings with some of the girls.
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| Some of the children at Sun Village. The founder of the orphanage is to Becky's right. |
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| Becky making dumplings. |
