Ringing the Millennium Bell at the Pavilion
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
July 10 – Nanchang
Zoe and Emma awaken on their own late enough so that we need to rush breakfast a bit before our 9am meeting with Michelle. Today we are walking a few blocks to the Tengwang Pavilion, which is a beautiful huge pagoda in a park surrounded by coy ponds, weeping willows, and many old smaller structures. Emma, Karen and Zoe ring the “Millennium Bell” for good luck, and place some incense in a pot – the bell is huge – like the Liberty Bell.
We enter the Pavilion where it turns out there is a dancing show in about 1 hour. We make our way to the top floor, which is probably 100 feet above ground and has a small theater for the performance. Emma is a hit again with the locals, and she hands out Seattle post cards and is given a fan by a teenage girl in return.
The performance is very entertaining – live music and traditional dance, and lasts about 30 minutes. We take some photos with the dancers, and then slowly descend the pavilion and stop on each floor to look at some of the crafts for sale – porcelain, carvings, paintings – and also take in the great views of the city and the river.
Michelle takes us to a local restaurant and orders a feast for the group. We fed six adults and three kids, with plenty of food to spare and in our own private room for less than $25 US. I realize I sound like a broken record on the cost of life here, but I still find it astounding how inexpensive things are.
We return to the hotel and a much needed nap for Zoe – she sleeps for 2 hours even though this morning she slept for 45 minutes at the pavilion and last night for 11 hours in her crib. I think we have a good sleeper on our hands.
This afternoon more family bonding. Zoe actually laughs and likes to play games with me, provided I keep a safe distance. We are still working on getting her to separate from Karen a little bit, which at the moment seems to be going well. We will eat dinner in the hotel room tonight to keep the bonding going as long as we can. Unfortunately the swimming pool has been out of commission all week, so patient Emma has gotten her exercise through jump rope and wrestling with Mom and Dad.
We watch a thunderstorm roll in with lightning and soaking rain and enjoy the view from our hotel window where we can watch all of the scooter riders wearing ponchos but otherwise going about their business navigating the crazy traffic and managing not to get hit by all of the busses running through town. All of the white and yellow lines painted on the road seem to be more of a suggestion than a rule when it comes to traffic law in China.
I give Zoe another bath this evening. She screams like it’s the end of the world – and I think she is really amplifying her voice because she thinks Karen cannot hear her. She definitely struggles with me still - lots of tears and protest, but amazingly when Karen gets her again after bath she is immediately calm and contented.
Zoe and Emma awaken on their own late enough so that we need to rush breakfast a bit before our 9am meeting with Michelle. Today we are walking a few blocks to the Tengwang Pavilion, which is a beautiful huge pagoda in a park surrounded by coy ponds, weeping willows, and many old smaller structures. Emma, Karen and Zoe ring the “Millennium Bell” for good luck, and place some incense in a pot – the bell is huge – like the Liberty Bell.
We enter the Pavilion where it turns out there is a dancing show in about 1 hour. We make our way to the top floor, which is probably 100 feet above ground and has a small theater for the performance. Emma is a hit again with the locals, and she hands out Seattle post cards and is given a fan by a teenage girl in return.
The performance is very entertaining – live music and traditional dance, and lasts about 30 minutes. We take some photos with the dancers, and then slowly descend the pavilion and stop on each floor to look at some of the crafts for sale – porcelain, carvings, paintings – and also take in the great views of the city and the river.
Michelle takes us to a local restaurant and orders a feast for the group. We fed six adults and three kids, with plenty of food to spare and in our own private room for less than $25 US. I realize I sound like a broken record on the cost of life here, but I still find it astounding how inexpensive things are.
We return to the hotel and a much needed nap for Zoe – she sleeps for 2 hours even though this morning she slept for 45 minutes at the pavilion and last night for 11 hours in her crib. I think we have a good sleeper on our hands.
This afternoon more family bonding. Zoe actually laughs and likes to play games with me, provided I keep a safe distance. We are still working on getting her to separate from Karen a little bit, which at the moment seems to be going well. We will eat dinner in the hotel room tonight to keep the bonding going as long as we can. Unfortunately the swimming pool has been out of commission all week, so patient Emma has gotten her exercise through jump rope and wrestling with Mom and Dad.
We watch a thunderstorm roll in with lightning and soaking rain and enjoy the view from our hotel window where we can watch all of the scooter riders wearing ponchos but otherwise going about their business navigating the crazy traffic and managing not to get hit by all of the busses running through town. All of the white and yellow lines painted on the road seem to be more of a suggestion than a rule when it comes to traffic law in China.
I give Zoe another bath this evening. She screams like it’s the end of the world – and I think she is really amplifying her voice because she thinks Karen cannot hear her. She definitely struggles with me still - lots of tears and protest, but amazingly when Karen gets her again after bath she is immediately calm and contented.
Zoe falls asleep early, and we watch the city lights out of our window, as well as a local fireworks show across the river. Not sure the reason for the fireworks – I also heard them our first night in town as I was falling asleep. Must be a regular occurrence here.
Monday, July 09, 2007
July 9 – Nanchang
A word about the Gloria Hotel where we are staying. This place is much nicer than our Beijing hotel – the Wangfujing Grand was a bit tired, but this place is in better condition, and the meals and facilities are nicer. We are staying in a suite, with one bedroom, two bathrooms, living area (with couch) and kitchen. Our room overlooks the river that flows by the city.
Michelle told us last night that we need to be ready to go by 8:30am for our day’s paperwork, financial settlement, and gift presentation to the orphanage and officials. No problem we think – the caregivers tell us that Zoe is usually up and going by 7am, and breakfast at the hotel is conveniently included with our room.
Zoe slept the whole night. We thought she might be a midnight feeder (based on her paperwork) but no sign of that last night. I am up by 6:00 and see Karen shortly thereafter. Shower by 7am, and I set out to purchase some water since the kids are still sleeping.
After barging into a closed grocery store at 7:15am, I sheepishly exit (past the crowds of locals waiting for the 7:30am opening) and walk the streets until I can return. Prices are great – I purchase 12 bottles of water for about $1.25 US.
Back at the hotel room – Karen has had to awaken Emma, and Zoe is still sleeping. At this rate, we are going to be late, so we go against our basest instincts and awaken Zoe, dress the poor groggy child, rush to breakfast, and back to the room to change for our meetings today.
Today we finalized our paperwork with the Chinese government. Back to the adoption offices where we had our interview, presented gifts to the agency and officials, and had our official paperwork finalized. After this meeting (and our subsequent visit to the Notary), the Chinese government now says that Zoe is our kid. The agency presented us with a gift of local porcelain, and a good luck jade charm for Zoe.
These meetings take most of the morning, and we returned to the hotel, took a trip to the grocery store for more supplies, and back for a nap and some food in the room. This afternoon we have one final meeting and Michelle has agreed afterward to accompany us to Wal-Mart, of all places.
Wal-Mart is a madhouse. People everywhere, and two floors of product. We purchased some diapers, baby food and some other supplies, and then Michelle graciously agreed to take us to the computer pavilion so that we could get a new part for the laptop. The computer place was an amazing experience and luckily Michelle translated everything so that within 30 minutes and $6 US, we are fixed and able to access the Internet again.
Now our only limitation is that we can post to the blog, but still cannot read it due to government Internet policies preventing that sort of access from within the country.
Zoe has absolutely expressed a preference for Karen. She cannot leave Karen’s side without getting extremely upset – even when Karen puts her in the floor in the hotel room, or when we do a diaper change, or when I give Zoe her bath. Me on the other hand – any time spent in physical contact comes with loud protest (so much so that the room neighbors know us as the people with the loud baby). We’ve heard that often the baby will latch on to one parent over the other and we are seeing this for sure. If I was a first-time parent, this would be brutal, but lucky for me I know that at some point in the future I can win Zoe over. I hope it happens in the next week, otherwise the airplane flight home could be particularly taxing for everyone. We were told that lack of bonding is the leading cause of “disruptions” in the adoption process, where parents back out at some point after meeting the baby. Fortunately for us, we have one extremely strong bond between Zoe and Karen, and I am lucky enough to get some smiles from time to time.
We have dinner at the hotel – Zoe loves Winter Melon Soup with rice, and also eggs. I try a durian fruit dessert and find the taste to be terrible. Emma tries a variety of local options and so far has been a great eater here in China.
A word about the Gloria Hotel where we are staying. This place is much nicer than our Beijing hotel – the Wangfujing Grand was a bit tired, but this place is in better condition, and the meals and facilities are nicer. We are staying in a suite, with one bedroom, two bathrooms, living area (with couch) and kitchen. Our room overlooks the river that flows by the city.
Michelle told us last night that we need to be ready to go by 8:30am for our day’s paperwork, financial settlement, and gift presentation to the orphanage and officials. No problem we think – the caregivers tell us that Zoe is usually up and going by 7am, and breakfast at the hotel is conveniently included with our room.
Zoe slept the whole night. We thought she might be a midnight feeder (based on her paperwork) but no sign of that last night. I am up by 6:00 and see Karen shortly thereafter. Shower by 7am, and I set out to purchase some water since the kids are still sleeping.
After barging into a closed grocery store at 7:15am, I sheepishly exit (past the crowds of locals waiting for the 7:30am opening) and walk the streets until I can return. Prices are great – I purchase 12 bottles of water for about $1.25 US.
Back at the hotel room – Karen has had to awaken Emma, and Zoe is still sleeping. At this rate, we are going to be late, so we go against our basest instincts and awaken Zoe, dress the poor groggy child, rush to breakfast, and back to the room to change for our meetings today.
Today we finalized our paperwork with the Chinese government. Back to the adoption offices where we had our interview, presented gifts to the agency and officials, and had our official paperwork finalized. After this meeting (and our subsequent visit to the Notary), the Chinese government now says that Zoe is our kid. The agency presented us with a gift of local porcelain, and a good luck jade charm for Zoe.
These meetings take most of the morning, and we returned to the hotel, took a trip to the grocery store for more supplies, and back for a nap and some food in the room. This afternoon we have one final meeting and Michelle has agreed afterward to accompany us to Wal-Mart, of all places.
Wal-Mart is a madhouse. People everywhere, and two floors of product. We purchased some diapers, baby food and some other supplies, and then Michelle graciously agreed to take us to the computer pavilion so that we could get a new part for the laptop. The computer place was an amazing experience and luckily Michelle translated everything so that within 30 minutes and $6 US, we are fixed and able to access the Internet again.
Now our only limitation is that we can post to the blog, but still cannot read it due to government Internet policies preventing that sort of access from within the country.
Zoe has absolutely expressed a preference for Karen. She cannot leave Karen’s side without getting extremely upset – even when Karen puts her in the floor in the hotel room, or when we do a diaper change, or when I give Zoe her bath. Me on the other hand – any time spent in physical contact comes with loud protest (so much so that the room neighbors know us as the people with the loud baby). We’ve heard that often the baby will latch on to one parent over the other and we are seeing this for sure. If I was a first-time parent, this would be brutal, but lucky for me I know that at some point in the future I can win Zoe over. I hope it happens in the next week, otherwise the airplane flight home could be particularly taxing for everyone. We were told that lack of bonding is the leading cause of “disruptions” in the adoption process, where parents back out at some point after meeting the baby. Fortunately for us, we have one extremely strong bond between Zoe and Karen, and I am lucky enough to get some smiles from time to time.
We have dinner at the hotel – Zoe loves Winter Melon Soup with rice, and also eggs. I try a durian fruit dessert and find the taste to be terrible. Emma tries a variety of local options and so far has been a great eater here in China.
Bed by 8:30 – Zoe falls asleep with Karen by her side, then we transfer her to her crib for the night.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
July 8 – Beijing and Nanchang (and more…)
Woke up to pack and check out of the hotel. We find that we are still awakening at 5:30am or so (it’s pretty light at that point) so the morning does not feel too rushed. Belinda helps us to check out at the hotel, escorts us to the airport, and checks us in. I think she worked some magic too, as we had several bags and should have been overweight on our China Air flight, but for some reason all we got was a warning, and not a surcharge.
Our flight is delayed by about 40 minutes, but otherwise uneventful. As we land in Nanchang (pronounced Nan-chung), we see that the area surrounding the city is agricultural and beautiful – rolling hills and rice farming dominate the landscape.
Our local guide Michelle meets us at baggage claim and we board the van. She tells us we will have a 1/2 hour ride to our hotel in Nanchang, and the temperature is about 39 degrees C. Nanchang is also nicknamed “Furnace City” and this is the hottest time of the year.
Michelle also informs us that we will have about1/2 hour to freshen up before we head to our appointment.
Appointment?
We are getting the kids TODAY!!!
Panic all around the van. Fortunately Michelle has already checked us into the hotel and brought a bellhop on board the van to deal with our luggage.
All we have time to do is a quick change, grab cameras and diaper bag, find matching dresses for Emma and Zoe, and back to the van. We are incredibly surprised by this change of events, as we had thought tomorrow would be the big day. Now we are getting the kids at 4:30pm today.
Did I mention TODAY?!
The van trip to the adoption offices is pretty quick through the city. It’s much more urban that we envisioned – population 4 million with narrow streets and crazy traffic. But none of that matters since we are getting the kids TODAY.
Suddenly we’re at the building and heading to the 25th floor. We walk into the room and there they are!
Zoe is incredibly cute – wearing a pink dress and not really happy about her immediate future. Passports are verified, kids handed over, and an agreement that we would finalize paperwork and finances tomorrow. Her orphanage director is present, as well as some of the caregivers, and they wave a quick goodbye. We take family and passport photos, and that’s the whole deal for the day. Wham bam, we have another kid in the span of 30 minutes – very surreal. Back to the van, back to the hotel, room service, paperwork with Michelle, and an attempt at sleep.
Zoe took to Karen immediately. Me, not so much. She really wants to be close to Karen and the feel of Karen’s skin is clearly comforting to her. She loves Cheerios, but we cannot seem to make her a bottle of formula that she will eat (we are formula novices). We have some playtime bonding in the room, and she seems to really like games and even graced us with lots of smiles and laughter. Emma gave her a stuffed butterfly which is an immediate favorite toy. We also had a much needed bath for her.
Zoe’s bedtime is 8:30pm typically, and right about then it’s clear that she is tired. We get her into her crib with some crying (it’s been awhile since we have heard that – and our inability to calm her is stressful to Emma) and protest, but before long she is out like a light. Emma is dealing with mixed emotions about this new addition to the family but has been a great traveler and big sister so far. Final lights out for the whole family is about 9pm, and we fall asleep to the sounds of the street, and fireworks.
Woke up to pack and check out of the hotel. We find that we are still awakening at 5:30am or so (it’s pretty light at that point) so the morning does not feel too rushed. Belinda helps us to check out at the hotel, escorts us to the airport, and checks us in. I think she worked some magic too, as we had several bags and should have been overweight on our China Air flight, but for some reason all we got was a warning, and not a surcharge.
Our flight is delayed by about 40 minutes, but otherwise uneventful. As we land in Nanchang (pronounced Nan-chung), we see that the area surrounding the city is agricultural and beautiful – rolling hills and rice farming dominate the landscape.
Our local guide Michelle meets us at baggage claim and we board the van. She tells us we will have a 1/2 hour ride to our hotel in Nanchang, and the temperature is about 39 degrees C. Nanchang is also nicknamed “Furnace City” and this is the hottest time of the year.
Michelle also informs us that we will have about1/2 hour to freshen up before we head to our appointment.
Appointment?
We are getting the kids TODAY!!!
Panic all around the van. Fortunately Michelle has already checked us into the hotel and brought a bellhop on board the van to deal with our luggage.
All we have time to do is a quick change, grab cameras and diaper bag, find matching dresses for Emma and Zoe, and back to the van. We are incredibly surprised by this change of events, as we had thought tomorrow would be the big day. Now we are getting the kids at 4:30pm today.
Did I mention TODAY?!
The van trip to the adoption offices is pretty quick through the city. It’s much more urban that we envisioned – population 4 million with narrow streets and crazy traffic. But none of that matters since we are getting the kids TODAY.
Suddenly we’re at the building and heading to the 25th floor. We walk into the room and there they are!
Zoe is incredibly cute – wearing a pink dress and not really happy about her immediate future. Passports are verified, kids handed over, and an agreement that we would finalize paperwork and finances tomorrow. Her orphanage director is present, as well as some of the caregivers, and they wave a quick goodbye. We take family and passport photos, and that’s the whole deal for the day. Wham bam, we have another kid in the span of 30 minutes – very surreal. Back to the van, back to the hotel, room service, paperwork with Michelle, and an attempt at sleep.
Zoe took to Karen immediately. Me, not so much. She really wants to be close to Karen and the feel of Karen’s skin is clearly comforting to her. She loves Cheerios, but we cannot seem to make her a bottle of formula that she will eat (we are formula novices). We have some playtime bonding in the room, and she seems to really like games and even graced us with lots of smiles and laughter. Emma gave her a stuffed butterfly which is an immediate favorite toy. We also had a much needed bath for her.
Zoe’s bedtime is 8:30pm typically, and right about then it’s clear that she is tired. We get her into her crib with some crying (it’s been awhile since we have heard that – and our inability to calm her is stressful to Emma) and protest, but before long she is out like a light. Emma is dealing with mixed emotions about this new addition to the family but has been a great traveler and big sister so far. Final lights out for the whole family is about 9pm, and we fall asleep to the sounds of the street, and fireworks.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
The group is pretty worn out when we meet our van again and head for lunch. Belinda has found a local place, and does all of the ordering for us. We had lots of tasty veggies, some rabbit, and chrysanthemum tea. Emma was game for everything and had no problem eating the rice/meatballs using her chopsticks.
After lunch, it’s too hot for the Summer Palace, so we detour to a silk factory. Another amazing place where we see them spooling the silk threads from the chrysalis, and where Karen and Emma help stretch and pull silk for the silk quilts that they make and sell here. The quilts are incredibly soft and tempting to purchase, but we decline. We also take in the beautiful silk duvet covers and clothing before heading back to the van and to the Summer Palace.
The Summer Palace is beautiful. Traditional buildings border a large lake, with dragon boats crossing from one side to another. It’s cooler here for sure, and we enjoyed alternating scenes of learning the history (courtesy of Belinda), and keeping a watchful eye while Emma was center stage in a variety of photos with the locals. We could have spent lots more time here, but evening caught up to us and it was time to return to the hotel. Our original plan to see an acrobatic show was scuttled because we ran out of time today.
We bid Belinda good night, and headed out to walk around the neighborhood with Randy and Amy. Just down the street from the hotel there was a whole block devoted to open air food stands. Really local selections available BBQ style on skewers – things like squid (or was it octopus?), scorpion, and snake as well as more traditional fruit and chicken. We were not brave enough to sample the food, but plenty of people seemed to be enjoying it.
Karen Emma and I ran out of steam and started back to the hotel right as a fierce thunderstorm kicked up. We were largely protected under covered walkways as we made our way back to the hotel, but the dust storm that preceded the rain did cover us with a thick coating of grit from the street. Showers and baths were in order, and off to bed by about 8pm.
July 7 – Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace
We awake to sunshine – what a surprise, but we suspect that we are in for a warm day in Beijing. We meet up with Belinda, Amy and Randy, and Larry and Sharon who adopted a 15-year old several years back, and are back in China visiting her birth province.
Our first stop is Tiananmen Square, which is a huge open square that today is a mob scene. We are approached by persistent vendors as soon as we get out of our van, and finally Belinda recommends that we ignore them entirely if we want to make any progress. There are literally thousands of people in the square today – a sunny Saturday brings out mobs of tourists. It’s an impressive place, and guards stand near the flag grounds under the protection of umbrellas.
After crossing the square, we enter the Forbidden City. It is hot here in the former Emperor’s private palace grounds. Today is a day for lots of water, popsicles and a parasol.
The Forbidden City is 1,000 meters by 700 meters in size, surrounded by high walls. Even so, there are 9999.5 rooms in the palace, and it takes us the better part of 2.5 hours walking in the hot sun to navigate from one end to the other. And we thought the Great Wall was a tough climb! Emma is rather popular here, being frequently stopped by the crowd so that pictures can be taken with her. Ever the ambassador, she smiles for every last one.
We cooled down with frozen popsicles (mango flavored for Karen and Emma). I chose a green popsicle for myself, which turned out to be green-bean flavored. Let’s just say I don’t need to try that again.
We awake to sunshine – what a surprise, but we suspect that we are in for a warm day in Beijing. We meet up with Belinda, Amy and Randy, and Larry and Sharon who adopted a 15-year old several years back, and are back in China visiting her birth province.
Our first stop is Tiananmen Square, which is a huge open square that today is a mob scene. We are approached by persistent vendors as soon as we get out of our van, and finally Belinda recommends that we ignore them entirely if we want to make any progress. There are literally thousands of people in the square today – a sunny Saturday brings out mobs of tourists. It’s an impressive place, and guards stand near the flag grounds under the protection of umbrellas.
After crossing the square, we enter the Forbidden City. It is hot here in the former Emperor’s private palace grounds. Today is a day for lots of water, popsicles and a parasol.
The Forbidden City is 1,000 meters by 700 meters in size, surrounded by high walls. Even so, there are 9999.5 rooms in the palace, and it takes us the better part of 2.5 hours walking in the hot sun to navigate from one end to the other. And we thought the Great Wall was a tough climb! Emma is rather popular here, being frequently stopped by the crowd so that pictures can be taken with her. Ever the ambassador, she smiles for every last one.
We cooled down with frozen popsicles (mango flavored for Karen and Emma). I chose a green popsicle for myself, which turned out to be green-bean flavored. Let’s just say I don’t need to try that again.
Friday, July 06, 2007
July 6 – Beijing and the Great Wall
Belinda kindly let us sleep in and agreed to meet us at 9:30 this morning for our tour of the Great Wall. We’re meeting up with Randy and Amy, another couple adopting through Faith and who came to Beijing a few days before us for some extra adventure. The trip today is a bit of a flip-flop compared to the planned itinerary (we thought the Great Wall would be Saturday), but no big deal. Breakfast in the hotel included traditional Chinese fare (fried rice, fried noodles), as well as eggs and bacon, and most importantly for me, coffee. Karen noted how strange to be in a place where the people at the table adjacent to you enjoyed a morning Marlboro with their fried noodles. Makes me appreciate smoke-free Seattle even more.
We board our van for the Great Wall. Lucky for us, we have a different driver today. The location where we will visit at the wall is about 60km from our hotel, and the drive is roughly 1.5 hours due to traffic. On the way, we see the Bird’s Nest (new Olympic Stadium for Beijing 2008) and the Olympic Swim Arena (a.k.a. the Water Cube, or Box of Bubbles). We also stopped at a jade factory for a quick tour and some shopping before reaching the Wall. Beautiful stuff, but bracelets run about $1,000 U.S.
The Great Wall. What an amazing place. Unfortunately the haze has not cleared, so our trip into the foothills surrounding Beijing could have been even more scenic. But the Wall – well, we’ve been warned it is a tough climb. No kidding! The Wall climbs the side of the mountain! Emma led the charge, and Belinda had to urge her to slow down the pace lest she burn out. It’s hot here, and humid in the haze. We make it about half way to the top of the climb and estimate we’ve gained about 400m in elevation. Randy and I continue on to the top while the rest of the crew heads back to the bottom. The Wall is incredibly steep in places – stair steps that require athleticism for sure. My legs were shaking from fatigue by the time we reached the top, and then we had to turn around for the descent. Belinda, Karen, Amy, and Emma were all waiting for us when we got to the bottom with some cold drinks. We took lots of photos, but I am not sure the camera can do justice to the beauty and rugged nature of the terrain.
Emma and Karen have been practicing some Mandarin (books on tape from the library) and this makes them even more popular with the locals. Belinda predicted that some people would want to be photographed with Emma, and sure enough, some women on the wall took her aside and posed with her. Emma was pretty tired at that point in the climb, but was still game and gave them her trademark smile.
We left the wall and stopped at the Cloissonet factory for lunch. We ate family style (including French fries!) and Emma demonstrated her chopstick prowess. After lunch, a bit more shopping at the factory store. They make beautiful stuff, including copper vases with enameled decorations priced anywhere from US $15 to US $40,000. Emma bought a ring for herself – unfortunately it may take some time before it actually fits.
We headed back to the hotel, and deep into dreadful rush hour traffic. I didn’t look at my watch, but imagine it may have taken 2 hours to get back. Emma and I took a quick dip in the chilly hotel pool (bathing caps required for everyone!), and then I took a 1-hour walk through the shopping area around our hotel. The place is teeming with people and activity and I bought some bottled water in a busy food market. Then headed back to the room for a snack, shower, and sleep!
Beijing impressions – what a beautiful city with crazy traffic, impressive architecture, lots of trees and lots of haze. The local people are very warm and friendly but you need to pay attention as a pedestrian because crossing the street can be a bit of a free-for-all.
Belinda kindly let us sleep in and agreed to meet us at 9:30 this morning for our tour of the Great Wall. We’re meeting up with Randy and Amy, another couple adopting through Faith and who came to Beijing a few days before us for some extra adventure. The trip today is a bit of a flip-flop compared to the planned itinerary (we thought the Great Wall would be Saturday), but no big deal. Breakfast in the hotel included traditional Chinese fare (fried rice, fried noodles), as well as eggs and bacon, and most importantly for me, coffee. Karen noted how strange to be in a place where the people at the table adjacent to you enjoyed a morning Marlboro with their fried noodles. Makes me appreciate smoke-free Seattle even more.
We board our van for the Great Wall. Lucky for us, we have a different driver today. The location where we will visit at the wall is about 60km from our hotel, and the drive is roughly 1.5 hours due to traffic. On the way, we see the Bird’s Nest (new Olympic Stadium for Beijing 2008) and the Olympic Swim Arena (a.k.a. the Water Cube, or Box of Bubbles). We also stopped at a jade factory for a quick tour and some shopping before reaching the Wall. Beautiful stuff, but bracelets run about $1,000 U.S.
The Great Wall. What an amazing place. Unfortunately the haze has not cleared, so our trip into the foothills surrounding Beijing could have been even more scenic. But the Wall – well, we’ve been warned it is a tough climb. No kidding! The Wall climbs the side of the mountain! Emma led the charge, and Belinda had to urge her to slow down the pace lest she burn out. It’s hot here, and humid in the haze. We make it about half way to the top of the climb and estimate we’ve gained about 400m in elevation. Randy and I continue on to the top while the rest of the crew heads back to the bottom. The Wall is incredibly steep in places – stair steps that require athleticism for sure. My legs were shaking from fatigue by the time we reached the top, and then we had to turn around for the descent. Belinda, Karen, Amy, and Emma were all waiting for us when we got to the bottom with some cold drinks. We took lots of photos, but I am not sure the camera can do justice to the beauty and rugged nature of the terrain.
Emma and Karen have been practicing some Mandarin (books on tape from the library) and this makes them even more popular with the locals. Belinda predicted that some people would want to be photographed with Emma, and sure enough, some women on the wall took her aside and posed with her. Emma was pretty tired at that point in the climb, but was still game and gave them her trademark smile.
We left the wall and stopped at the Cloissonet factory for lunch. We ate family style (including French fries!) and Emma demonstrated her chopstick prowess. After lunch, a bit more shopping at the factory store. They make beautiful stuff, including copper vases with enameled decorations priced anywhere from US $15 to US $40,000. Emma bought a ring for herself – unfortunately it may take some time before it actually fits.
We headed back to the hotel, and deep into dreadful rush hour traffic. I didn’t look at my watch, but imagine it may have taken 2 hours to get back. Emma and I took a quick dip in the chilly hotel pool (bathing caps required for everyone!), and then I took a 1-hour walk through the shopping area around our hotel. The place is teeming with people and activity and I bought some bottled water in a busy food market. Then headed back to the room for a snack, shower, and sleep!
Beijing impressions – what a beautiful city with crazy traffic, impressive architecture, lots of trees and lots of haze. The local people are very warm and friendly but you need to pay attention as a pedestrian because crossing the street can be a bit of a free-for-all.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
July 5, 2007 – Tokyo and Beijing
Our connection in Tokyo was smooth – however we needed to pass through another security checkpoint before making our connection. This little detail took some time, and as we reached our gate the plane was boarding for Beijing.
We arrived at the Beijing Airport on schedule and breezed through Immigration/Customs. So far it’s hard to tell what Beijing is like – our pilot told us visibility is 3,000 meters and we quickly see that this is due to a persistent haze in the city.
We were met by our guide for the weekend – Belinda. She is very nice – immediately grabbed us some cold bottled water and led us to our van for the trip to the hotel. As we depart the airport terminal, I am immediately hit with a sensory overload. Lack of sleep, hot humid haze, and a strange, somewhat industrial smell to the air that I find pleasant but also imagine cannot be healthy.
The parking garage is brightly lit, and loud classical music is piped in while we load the van. So far all everything we see is written in both Chinese and English, making navigation pretty straightforward.
Our van driver is not the model of efficiency, on the other hand. He got a bit turned around and had no problem taking a wrong-way detour in a round-about, with large busses bearing down on us flashing their headlights in warning. It was a bit terrifying, but I think we were so tired that we could not even achieve target heart rate in this situation.
The remainder of the drive is uneventful except we notice a heavy police presence in and around the city. Belinda helps up check in and we finally crash for the night at about midnight local time. It’s been a long day of travel (roughly 21 hours since we left Seattle until our head hits the pillow) and sleep is imperative.
Our connection in Tokyo was smooth – however we needed to pass through another security checkpoint before making our connection. This little detail took some time, and as we reached our gate the plane was boarding for Beijing.
We arrived at the Beijing Airport on schedule and breezed through Immigration/Customs. So far it’s hard to tell what Beijing is like – our pilot told us visibility is 3,000 meters and we quickly see that this is due to a persistent haze in the city.
We were met by our guide for the weekend – Belinda. She is very nice – immediately grabbed us some cold bottled water and led us to our van for the trip to the hotel. As we depart the airport terminal, I am immediately hit with a sensory overload. Lack of sleep, hot humid haze, and a strange, somewhat industrial smell to the air that I find pleasant but also imagine cannot be healthy.
The parking garage is brightly lit, and loud classical music is piped in while we load the van. So far all everything we see is written in both Chinese and English, making navigation pretty straightforward.
Our van driver is not the model of efficiency, on the other hand. He got a bit turned around and had no problem taking a wrong-way detour in a round-about, with large busses bearing down on us flashing their headlights in warning. It was a bit terrifying, but I think we were so tired that we could not even achieve target heart rate in this situation.
The remainder of the drive is uneventful except we notice a heavy police presence in and around the city. Belinda helps up check in and we finally crash for the night at about midnight local time. It’s been a long day of travel (roughly 21 hours since we left Seattle until our head hits the pillow) and sleep is imperative.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
