Rich and the kids just had the week of October 1-5 off of school and work to celebrate China's National Day. This holiday celebrates 58 years since the communist party began rule in China. It is a big week to travel for the Chinese in the country either as tourists or getting together with family. Rich's mom Carol Shields is here visiting from Michigan for three weeks and we all planned a trip to Beijing to see the sights. It was a jam packed trip which began with a 12 hour train ride from Shanghai to Beijing on the soft sleeper train. It was quite an adventure. We had packed a picnic dinner and we all ate in one of the little 4 person sleeper cars around 8pm. The cars were very nice and clean with bedding provided. We had one for the girls and one for the guys. Some of us got some sleep while others couldn't get used to the constant rocking of the car and the clacking of the rails. We arrived in Beijing around 7am and were met by our young, english speaking guide (taller than Rich if you can believe it!) who took us to the Capital hotel to get cleaned up and rest before hitting the streets of Beijing. On Tuesday we saw the Forbidden City, Tianamen Square and the Peoples Hall of Congress. It was a beautiful day for touring and we were among the masses of tourists seeing Beijing. We came with the expectation that it would be crowded, but actually it was very neat to be on Tianamen Square with thousands of people celebrating National Day. We had a notorious Peking Duck meal at the most famous Peking Duck restaurant in town for lunch. The duck is absolutely delicious. For dinner we walked from our hotel to a mall and had Mr. Pizza. After satisfying our western tastes, we walked back to Tianamen Square where it was covered in beautiful light displays. Once again Lance and Stacia (blond hair) were mobbed by locals wanting to take their picture with them. They are getting used to the celebrity status here and relishing the moments. The next day was a wonderful trip to the Mutianyu location of the Great Wall. What a beautiful day we had walking for hours and enjoying the splendor. It is a very impressive sight to behold! At the end of our walking we were rewarded with a trip down the mountain from the wall on an alpine slide. The next day was yet another beautiful day and we started it at park at the entrance to the Temple of Heaven. It was so fun being in the park in the morning where the local people are doing their exercises, playing games unfamiliar to us, singing and playing opera music on unknown instruments. They invited us to try their ball balancing games and ring tossing games. We could have spent an hour doing that but our guide ushered us along so that we could get to the day's itinerary. The Temple of Heaven was an interesting sight and we then went to the Emperor's Summer Palace which was more like a park surrounding a lake with courtyards and walkways. It was absolutely packed with people and probably the least enjoyable of all our sights. We will have to go back there on off season. That day we also went into the old neighborhoods of Beijing called the Hutongs. We got in 4 rickshaws (bikes with a covered two seated bench behind) and toured the alleyways. We also were welcomed into one of the homes by a local family so that we could see the inside of one. It was indeed a very unique experience. We finished our fun that day with VIP seats at the Beijing Opera. It was one of our highlights and we loved the acrobatic acts performed during the show. One additional stop on the tour was to see some of the new olympic buildings in the olympic village. We could view from afar the Bird's Nest, the Water Cube and some other stadiums as well. All in all we had a terrific time with perfect weather, good health and safety.
