Terri, Liz, Mary, and Bret made a wonderful trip to China and had one of our greatest times ever!  We were there for eight days and saw so much… The Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, Ming Tombs of the Hills, The Summer Palace, Drum Tower, Tea time in the Bell Tower, and a tour of the Beijing streets via a Pagoda ride and home tour of a Beijing local family. Due to the off season, we were able to secure a fantastic deal through Continental Airlines Vacations who put us in the five-star Peninsulas Palace Hotel and provided us with a personal English speaking guide with full transportation tour of everything… all for a great price… which is why we chose January, the only cheap month, to make this trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a long 14 hour non-stop flight from Newark, NJ to Beijing via the North Pole where I saw flying Reindeer already practicing for next December's run.  Worse yet though was that the jet-lag took about three days for us to get over making the tours really exhausting.  Never before have I constantly been so tired that I was in bed by 6:30pm (Beijing local), yet I still slept-in the next morning as I still have this desire to not get up until at least 3 hours after the sun has risen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stayed in the glamorous Peninsula Palace, a five-star hotel in the heart of downtown Beijing.  The best thing was the plasma screen TV in the bedroom.  I was able to watch the NFL playoffs, even when using the bathroom.  The rooms we sort of from the Jetsons with control consoles that ran everything in the room: A/C, TV, all the lights, ect. The same controls were in the bathroom and even the shower stall! We even had nightly turndown service, a nightly quintet in the fabulous lobby, and a guy whose sole job was to spin the revolving door.  Ahhhh, and the plush bathrobes. . . It was just a short walk to

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As soon as we stepped out of the customs area at the airport, we were met by our tour guide who was holding a big "Continental Vacations" sign that had our names written on it.  Her name was Wendy.  (no relation to Peter's friend)  Although she has never left China, so spoke perfect English and even understood all of Bret's jokes, and even booed at the bad ones.  And her knowledge of the tour was absolutely outstanding and very thorough.   Although personal escorts have not been required in China for many years now, having someone pre-plan your tours makes things much, much easier. And our guide, Wendy, has been absolutely fantastic with her detailed knowledge and mastery of the English language. She has even corrected my English! (OK, so does everyone else back home too). We were amazed that the Chinese people have of the world outside of China.  Wendy has high-speed internet access in her home, as well as TV and Cell phone, though she doesn't have a bathroom (more on this later on).  Although the internet does have some censoring, i.e. the recent Google/Yahoo! agreement with the Chinese government, they pretty much have the entire world-wide web available to them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tiananmen Square is billed as the biggest square in the world, even bigger than Red Square in Russia.  The center of the square houses Chairman Mau's Mausoleum as well a a couple of obelisks and statues. It took Bret 65 minutes the walk around the entire circumference.  Well actually, 30 minutes of that was for a stop at McDonalds. Apparently, they close the square down at 6pm and make everyone leave by fanning out guards and vans with loud speakers on top yelling "Leave".  (Bret mentioned that when they tell you to leave Although it looks really, really, cold, in some of the pictures, the temperature remained steady at around 30 degrees F.  Our coldest day was 28F, warmest 42F.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mau's Tomb located in the heart of Beijing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beijing is already in Olympic fever.  They are cleaning up the city, building like crazy, and making a lot of major modifications.  One change is that the are making all street signs in both Chinese and English throughout the city.  Spitting on the sidewalk and streets is a very common Chinese habit.  However, it has been outlawed and carries heavy fines if caught. Come to Beijing now because it will be prohibitly expensive here in 2008!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Forbidden City has been the home of the Chinese Emperor for many centuries. It has a huge moat surrounding many compounds of buildings and courtyards where the Emperors, Empresses, and their concubines frolicked and played.  All the buildings are painted a golden red.  To get a great sense of the history, you see the movie "The Last Emperor" We were lucky to get in because this place use to be "Forbidden"!  ;-) This was the only day it snowed on our trip.  It really made for a beautiful tour, especially in the quiet garden areas with the snow on the trees and rock outcroppings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ten miles North of the Forbidden City is the Summer Palace where the royals "summer".  Ok not very far to go on vacation, but it still took a days travel to get there.  The palace is built along a lake with a giant island in the center. The compound boast the world's longest covered walkway which has each beam and panel hand painted with a different picture, no two alike.  It also boast the worlds only boat made entirely out of marble.  The Dragon Empress took a year of the Navy's budget to have it built for herself, along with a giant mirror on the top level..

The lake next to the Summer Palace, like all the lakes this time of year, was frozen over and hundreds of people was walking on it.  How dangerous.  So naturally Bret to go out on the ice too! .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had several walking and riding tours through Beijing seeing the people and the culture.

 

 

 

 

 

King Kong released during our trip... I don't know what the hell those are.. and bus as a moving billboard.

Lots of people sell produce on the street, as well as a few gambling sessions.  Bret and Wendy come back from buying more 8mm video tape after we ran out.

 

Crabapple on a stick is a favorite on the streets of Beijing.  Wendy decided to by a couple and let us try.  Only Terri was coaxed into trying some, although I think she was faking.  Mary screamed bloody murder when Wendy was unsuccessful in get her to try.

 

Here, Bret try's to make a cell phone call.

 

 

 

 

 

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Awwwwwwww... Can you see who loves who written in the snow?

 

 

 

 

CHINESE OPERA!!!  Avoid it, don't go to it, run away.  Were were out and about when Bret thought he hear a cat being giving electrical shocks close buy.  He was disappointed ans shocked to see that it was a man screeching into a microphone... and there was an audience enjoying this!  They have stages set-up at various places were people to perform their version of this...this...this music?!?.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If anyone knows of any world landmark, it is the Great Wall of China.  Built continuously on and off for a couple thousand years and over 3000 miles of total construction, this section has stayed preserved as a the most visited part of the wall due to its proximity to Beijing. Mark that off the checklist of life experiences - Been on the wall, oh yeaaaah.

Although this was our warmest day, but the wall steep and very icy in some areas.

 

 

Terri enjoys the wall.   Can you find Mary & Liz in this picture?

 

 

 

 

 

You can get a camel ride on the wall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Emperor Tomb Gardens, the Emperor Tomb Gardens... really just more red colored buildings and long lined sidewalks with animals on either side of them.  The Emperors were buried in the mountains above.

 

 

The exit must be right around the corner.                                 ..................Doooh!.................

 

 

 

Terri rides a bucking horse!!!

 

 

 

Money!!!   at the base of a bronze replica of one of the many Emperors

 

 

 

Where's Mary?

 

 

 

 

 

One thing is for sure, this country sure loves Chinese food!  Well OK, maybe there is a good reason for that.  But every restaurant we went to served every meal as a 5 course meal.  It is a mystery how the Chinese people stay so thin.

 

 

 

Look at all the food!!!  And this was only the mid-day snack meal!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Food markets like this are the primary grocery stores for the local population.  Meats, vegetables, fish, and even a few electronics ... but this was not Super Wal-Mart.

 

 

A nice restaurant.!

 

This was a higher end restaurant (across from the Peninsula Hotel) with a great dining room.  The waitresses were dress in Geisha Gils outfits.  The dinner dishes had little caricatures made out of food.  We had our own private room with a "call button" when we needed anything.  We sure could use one of these in the states.

 

 

Bret gets overly aggressive with the "call button"

 

 

 

As Mary pays for the check, the waitress advises that a larger tip would be required because the overuse of the "call button" !  (Not really)

 

 

Some of the food places we just couldn't stomach.  The pig balloon pointing to a mall food court promised great food choices at goo prices.

 

Is that liver on a stick?????

 

 

We nicknamed the orange stuff above "Deep-fried Sea Spider"  Don't the fish heads look scrumptious?

 

 

 

We needed a Roliads just for looking at some of this stuff.

 

 

 

We finally had enough.  Even Terri finally said, "lets go to McDonalds".  So in we go.  (By the way, they have McDonalds over there like we have Starbucks here.  From one street corner, we could see two different McDonalds)

 

 

And we ordered. (It may look expensive, but $1 = 8 Yuan.)

 

 

You can't buy that kind of satisfaction!

 

 

 

We also went by the KFC and Hard Rock Cafe and also ate at a Pizza Hut.  Mentioning Starbucks above, there were a few, but I am told that they are about to explode in Chaina.  So this may be a good stock tip.

 

 

 

Everybody smiles in China!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Peninsula Hotel provided daily breakfast buffet. It was a huge array of traditional western breakfast and local cuisine, including made-to-order omelets and pancake/waffles.  All set in a fabulous dinning room surrounded by water on all four sides.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It just wouldn't be a Chinese vacation without a Pedi cab ride through the streets of Beijing.   However, the drivers upgraded to bicycles from the old days of pulling by hand, thanks to paved streets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went to the compound of a very famous woman who was revered in stature.  She was similar to that of Evita of Argentina.  This her house preserved as it was back in the 60's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were given a tour of an actual lived in home of a local resident family.  The man of this family raises and fight crickets.  Yes, they have cricket fights!  And they weight them so they fight only in thier own weight class.  The home had three main rooms: A kitchen, Bedroom, and living room.  They also shared a common courtyard with 5 other family  homes.

 

 

A bust of Chairman Mau towers behind Terri.  As mention before, he has been instilled by the Chinese Government education system as a much revered man and is loved, at least publicly, by all.  And this was strange, they had a Texas license plate on display in their home.  I suspect that a previous tour group handed them out as exchange gift to these host.

 

The status of a family in the community is displayed at the front door by the presets of beams that line up overhead.  Four beams mean you are a very prominent family, two beams usually means middle-class.  One beam means your house is going to collapse because one beam usually cannot support the weight bearing load of the house ;-)  Liz, Mary and Wendy enjoy the tea our host provided us next to a Buda statue.

 

 

Here Mary looks in on the bathroom.  This family was unusual in that they had a indoor toilet in there home.  Most homes do not have this indoor plumbing.  Before the last couple of years, they went in buckets, walked very long ways to one of the few public toilets, or worse yet, the streets. However, the Olympics have spurred not only new developments in Beijing, but also the habits of the population to greatly enhance the image for 2008.  They have built hundreds on public toilet facilities throughout Beijing.  Now the fatherest one is only a 2-3 minute walk.  They have clean toilets and showers and have "live in" attendants who maintain cleanliness hourly.

 

 

 

 

 

In the courtyard were many of birds in dozens of cages.  The red beaked ones would even talk (in Chinese, of course).  But we were amazed at the variety.

Then I remembered later... The bird flu started in this country!!!!!!  Ahhhhhhhhh!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before there were clock faces or loudspeakers blaring the time, gigantic drums were placed in tall towers with open windows and they drummed out a series of beats allowing the residents to know the exact time of day.

The Bell Tower.                                                              The Drum Tower.

 

 

There were 69 very tall steps.  Bret arrives at the top completing his weekly workout.

 

 

On this demonstration, five drummers came out to show how they beat out the time as they did in the old days.

 

 

Very, very old drum.      A water timing device showing the drummers when to beat their drums!

 

 

 

This supposedly the worlds largest drum, according to the tour.

 

 

 

 

Our tour company provided stops to different shops that specialize in their particular products. First up was the silk factory where they demonstrated how they take the cocoon and spin it into clothing, sheets, blankets, ect.  Terri and Liz help stretch out a single cocoon into what will be the stuffing for a bedspread.

 

 

On a different day, we were taken to a jade factory where we were shown how they take raw jade stone and it is cut and polished into statyes, necklaces, and segmented balls.

 

 

Next was the pearl factory.  They let us select an oyster from a tank full of oyster in there shell.  They then opened it giving us the chance to win a large necklace quality pearl.  Unfortunately, it had a lot of little ity-bity pearls which they gave to us as a souvenir.

 

 

Lastly, we had a tea pouring and tasting demonstration in the base of the Bell Tower.  We bought a bunch of tea cups with pictures on the side that change to another picture when subjected to hot water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took the time out one night to go to a traditional Chinese acrobatic show.  It was a wonderful balancing reminiscent of the Circus De Solie performances.

 

 

What is the air pressure in that unicycle?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It wouldn't be a trip to China without seeing a Panda Bear.  So we went to the Beijing Zoo to the world famous Pandarium sleep research center.  OK, I made that name up, but everyone of the Panda Bears chose to be doing their best Rip Van Winkle.  They were less than active, but at least we saw them.

 

 

 

 

These bears looked a little more lively

 

 

 

This bear woke up and escaped from it's cage.

 

 

 

Two of the most popular Panda Bears were named Way In (in the left cage) and Way Out (right cage).  I know these bears were really popular because I saw their name everywhere in China..

 

 

 

 

Worlds tallest Panda Bear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Terri, Liz, Mary, and Bret made a wonderful trip to China and had one of our greatest times ever!  We were there for eight days and saw so much… The Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, Ming Tombs of the Hills, The Summer Palace, Drum Tower, Tea time in the Bell Tower, and a tour of the Beijing streets via a Pagoda ride and home tour of a Beijing local family.

 

 

Hey Terri, it won't in the suitcase!

 

Terri, Liz, Mary, and Bret made a wonderful trip to China and had one of our greatest times ever!  We were there for eight days and saw so much… The Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, Ming Tombs of the Hills, The Summer Palace, Drum Tower, Tea time in the Bell Tower, and a tour of the Beijing streets via a Pagoda ride and home tour of a Beijing local family.

 

 

 

"I bought nothing I am carrying here"

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can't stay a week at a glorious hotel like this without enjoying the glass enclosed pool, especially when you can see it from your room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Terri and Liz spent each night gettin massages from a local spa a few store fronts down past the hotel.  The 1 and 2 hour massages were 1/3 the cost they would be back in the states, hence the nightly treatment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We didn't spring for the thee day tour in Xi'an, China to see the world famous Terracotta Warriors, but there were enough replicas all over China to have fun with, so it was just like we were their.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The toughest part of the trip by far was packing things up.. Do to so much shopping, we had to by two more suitcases to get everything back.  We had 13 total bags (including carry-on) to fly back to the states.  If you notice the Terri staring at the maroon bag .. that one has our kitchen sink from back home.

 

We are a going to need a bigger boat!

 

The new international terminal, still under construction, should be done in time for the Olympics.

 

 

Beijing to Houston, on time.

 

 

We sadly had to said goodbye to Wendy who was such a fantastic tour guide.  We couldn't ask for a more knowledgeable host.

 

 

 

 

Manhattan Island as seen from the approach into Newark Liberty Airport.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Terri, Bret & Liz extended their layover in Newark to take the chance to visit Terri's relatives who live in the New Jersey area.

Cousin Sue came and met us at our hotel for dinner.

 

 

Uncle Thomas

 

 

Terri's Grandmother Margret.

 

 

 

 

Terri gets a ride on her grandmother's newly installed stair chair.

 

 

 

Abbey the Dog (No relation to the cat)

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was really a wonderful trip to China.  Can't wait to go back some day and check out the rest of the country.  January is not a bad time to go as, this year at least, they have moderate weather and it is a cheaper and very less crowded time of year to see everything.

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