Travis goes to Beijing

Beijing
There is so much to see and do in Beijing that we could have spent a week and not seen it all. We crammed as much as we possible could in 4 days and then some! When it was all said and done we were thoroughly “Beijinged out”! We had a fabulous guide for our visit to the Mutianyu Great Wall and the Forbidden City. Thank you Mandy for sharing your knowledge of Chinese history and culture with our group, she definitely brought the buildings to life!


We stayed at the Beijing Sihe Hotel. This was not your average Hilton, this hotel was built during the early Qing Dynasty. It was built in a Hutong that has been a part of Beijing for more than 400 years. Today people still live in these neighborhoods with courtyard style homes in the Hutong’s of Beijing. We were staying in the Dengcao Hutong, each of the Hutong’s was originally named for what type of products were made in that Hutong. Dengcao means gas lamp. The people who originally inhabited this hutong made gas lamps. As we made our way through the narrow streets of the hutong on the way to our hotel we saw the real people of Beijing going about their daily lives. Shopping, washing laundry by hand, playing cards and visiting with their neighbors. Most of the Hutong homes do not have running water, so there are communal bathrooms situation throughout the hutong’s.









Our first stop in Beijing was the Temple of Heaven. This temple was built between 1406-1420. It was built as a place or prayer for the Emperors of the time. The emperors were responsible for the well being of the people so they had elaborate prayers rituals during which they would pray for good harvests or rain. These temples were built without nails or concrete.








We had a fabulous guide for our visit to the Mutianyu Great Wall and the Forbidden City. Thank you Mandy for sharing your knowledge of Chinese history and culture with our group, she definitely brought the buildings to life!

The Mutianyu Great Wall at first glance looked much like the other sections of the great wall we have visited. But this one was different! Not only could you ride a chairlift to the top, you can take an alpine slide to the bottom! As hot as it was that day I am not sure we could talk the kids into trekking another stretch of the Great wall without some serious incentive! We learned from our guide Mandy that the Mutianyu Great wall was named after a woman who committed suicide on the wall when she was told she would have to marry a man whom she hated. A man who she felt was responsible for the death of her husband; her husband had died while working on the construction of the great wall.







Scorpions on a stick! Well what else should we eat for dinner after a long hot sticky day in Beijing! Chris was the first one to spot them squirming around and told us he wanted to try them! We saw a man in line ahead of us buy some and when he walked by Chris asked him if they were “hou che”, meaning good eats. He replied that they were “hun hou che!” or very good eats! So we gave Chris 25 rmb and he was the proud recipient of 3 fried scorpions on a stick. Of course after Chris was brave enough to eat them, and he survived everyone else wanted to try one too. Travis downed one without much fanfare, but said he would not have done it if Chris had not eaten one first! I was most surprised when Lauren, who mind you will not eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, wanted to eat a scorpion too. She hemmed and hawed, looked at them this way and that, then finally took a delicate bite. She liked it!! Rick wanted to try a bite too, but he had to fight Lauren for the stick!









Forbidden City
The Forbidden City was home to the Chinese Emperors, Empresses, staff and concubines during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It was built in 1406, and is now a World Heritage Site. We had a fabulous tour on yet another hot and sticky Beijing day with Mandy. Mandy shared with us the stories of the lives of the people who called the Forbidden City home. We were most surprised to learn that the Emperor had as many as 3,000 concubines at a time. We figured he must be pretty worn out by the end of the day!











This last picture is Lauren demonstrating just how hot it was!

Lama Temple
This temple was built in 1694, it is still an important temple to Tibetan Buddhist monks. It houses an 85 foot tall Buddha statue carved from a single sandal wood tree.





Shopping
Shopping in China is always an adventure, not for the faint of heart or those who despite crowded malls and pushy salespeople. We had fun haggling with the shopkeepers over the price of goods, and not so goods. We were told in advance to start at 10% of their asking price… this was a good strategy but it did earn me a reputation on the streets as being a tough bargainer! I will wear that hat proudly! I thought Travis was going to be mauled by one of the shopkeepers who REALLY wanted to sell him a purse… really does he look like a purse kind of guy? He was being too nice, when what he needed to do was push her out of his way!

On the Subway
We have become masters of using the subway system in China. It is by far the fastest and least expensive way to get around. We had to laugh when cramming ourselves into one subway where we were not sure we would all fit, our guide Mandy explained that this particular subway was not even considered “crowded”… Hmm tell that too me when I am not looking into the armpit of a stranger on the subway! Then we all had to comment when we saw this in a vending machine at the subway station… anyone want to guess what Pocari Sweat tastes like??? Hmm, any takers?



The Summer Palace
We toured the Summer Palace on our last day in Beijing. It would have been wonderful to tour around had it not been such a hot sticky summer day! We did manage to capture a few pictures. The Summer Palace is where the Emperors and Empresses would go to relax and get away from it all.






On his way home…
Travis chose to take some choice souvenirs back for some friends. We went to the local Chaoshi (market) where he purchased some nasty pickled eggs and chicken feet. Imagine the surprised look on the TSA workers face when he opened a suitcase filled with nasty chicken feet and pickled eggs! He was delighted to get to Phoenix and find that all of his chicken parts were intact.

In Closing
It was so much fun sharing our world with my brother during his short time in China. There are some aspects of our lives here that I just cannot put into words. I felt validated having him here to express his awe of our lifestyle… which is vastly different from what we experience at home. I cannot put into words the number of close calls we have been in riding in the car through the streets of China; one has to actually experience them. Travis got a glimpse into our world, where no-one speaks our language and we can’t read the menus at the restaurants and we don’t always get what we asked for…because we don’t know how to ask! In just 10 short months we will be headed home, leaving this wild and sometimes wacky life behind us. We will all treasure the time we have had here and are so thankful that Travis had an opportunity to spend some of that time with us.