Spell of the Wild

Beijing - 20 Sep to 24 Sep Saturday, 20 September: Day 1 in Beijing.

The morning of the 20th of September found lots of activity in the O'Brien household as we all prepared for the trip to Seoul Airport and the flight to Beijing, China. Chuck and I have had a wonderful stay here in Seoul and since we normally put one of the kids out of their room, we reward the one who's room we stay in and the others for having that one move in with them. So, this time we decided money for shopping in China should be the reward. Rumor has it that you should have lots of $1s and some $5s. We all (adults included) had our 5s and 1s ready to take along. The theory is that the merchants like American money, but usually want to give you change in Chinese money and that's not the best deal. We got some 5s and 1s for the boys. Mikey was sleeping when we went to give it to them so he got his later. Bobby and Brendan thought it was a great trade, the room for the money. Brendan said, "Is that all mine?" and Bobby said "Brendan, we're rich". Just shows what an impression a bunch of small bills can make. EJ drove to the airport and parked in long-term parking and we all made our way to the terminal. The flight to Beijing was about 2 ½ hours. It went quickly and the processing on both ends went well. We were met in Beijing by our tour guide, Mr. Chen who goes by "Wally", and our driver, Mr. Foo. They drove us to the Hotel Jinglun and gave us a little history on the way as well as talking about the two different tours arranged for us. Our hotel was really nice. We had two rooms, each with two queen size beds and a bathroom. Susan and EJ had Christy and Bobby staying in their room. Chuck and I had Brendan and Mikey in ours. Our rooms were on the 10th floor and the boys were ready to start training for the Great Wall. In the time we were in Beijing, they made many trips up those stairs. Once we were checked into the hotel, we headed out to do some exploring. Susan was armed with lots of information on sightseeing and shopping. Our first stop this afternoon was "Sunday Market". As we ventured out into the city there was little doubt that this was a city of 13 million people. It's a maze of pedestrians, bicyclists and motor vehicles. Beijing is a modern city and has been the center of cultural and political affairs since the 13th century. It was from Beijing, then called Khanbaliq, that Kublai Khan ruled the largest empire in history. Sunday Market was a sprawling market much like the large "flea markets" in the states. There were four different areas of the market handling different types of goods. Each of the four sections was probably about the size of a football field. We wound our way through most of them. There were antiques, linens, jewelry, and numerous other items. It was lots of fun to look at the many treasures. A couple hours of late afternoon exploring put us in the mood for food and off to the Hard Rock Café we went. The hotels here in Beijing have little cheat sheets that they give foreigners. On the sheet it says "Take me to" and then lists a whole bunch of places that foreigners might want to go. These are all translated into Chinese. It has the markets, restaurants, and popular sights listed. We had one of these and would show it to the taxi driver and point to the one we wanted. We had a great meal at the Hard Rock and Chuck treated us to T-shirts. After dinner it was back to the hotel where the guys started playing cards. Suz and I decided we should go check out the Lido Market. This is another one of many popular markets and we spent the evening in search of the best treasures. Sunday, 21 September: Day 2 in Beijing. The hotel we are staying in serves a wonderful buffet breakfast that is included with the room. This morning everyone got to have their favorite foods for breakfast. Bobby and Mikey found the fresh yogurt and loved it. Our tour guide met us at the hotel at 8AM for our tour to the Great Wall. The Great Wall stretches for about 7200km and is believed to have been originally constructed under Emperor Qin Shihuang (221-207BC)by linking the ruins of older walls from the Zhou dynasty. The wall was meant to keep out invaders from the north and also served to protect traders and explorers who traveled in caravans. Smoke signals were used to warn of enemy attacks. As well as being a protection barrier, it was also used as a road to move men and equipment. Over the years the wall has fallen into disrepair and the portion we would see today is largely a product of the Ming Dynasty and has been restored. Much of the wall has crumbled and is closed to the public, however a few areas have been reconstructed. As we traveled to one of these sections of the wall, we got some far away glimpses of the wall and were astonished at just how massive it is. Our driver dropped us off at a parking lot near the foot of the mountain. We took a cable car up the mountain and then climbed the rest of the way to the Wall. It is the most amazing and incredible piece of construction that I've ever seen. We were all excited about being here in this incredibly awesome place. The kids were excited about the seemingly endless ramp to run on and stairs to climb so off they went. They ran and walked with the rest of us following. After about a half-hour walk, Susan, "Wally" and I stopped to sit on the wall and talk while the boys, EJ, Chuck and Christy went on. The six of them went about two miles out to the end of the reconstruction and then started the trek back. Now you'd think the boys would be tired, but they finished their trip back on a run. Christy walked and ran nearly all the way to the end of this portion of the wall and back. We all hated to leave this magnificent marvel, but were soon on our way to a late lunch at the Chinese Friendship Store. Friendship stores are government run. They serve meals and also have a large selection of Chinese goods for sale. They are not the best places to shop, but we had a wonderful Chinese lunch and then went to their Cloisonné factory for a tour. It's really fascinating to see how the cloisonné is made. I think most Chinese guides are encouraged to take visitors to the Friendship store. We arrived back at the hotel in the late afternoon and grabbed a quick snack at the Pizza Hut next door. Then it was off to the Lido Market to check on more treasures. Monday, September 22: Day 3 in Beijing. Another beautiful day in Beijing. We had our morning buffet breakfast and then headed to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Because there are eight of us we need two cabs. We pile two adults and two kids in each cab and off we go. Normally this is not a problem, however today we asked the cab drivers to take us to Tiananmen Square. The cabs got separated on the way and one cab let Susan, EJ, Christy and Bobby off at one side of the square and our cab took us to the other end of the square. To complicate matters even more we soon realized the square itself was cordoned off and we couldn't get to it. There were thousands of people around and soon we realized that some diplomat was visiting the square and so it had been closed for that visit and no one seemed to know how long it would be "off limits". Chuck and Mikey headed in one direction looking for the other half of our family and Brendan and I started looking for a way around the cordoned off area. We soon headed back after talking to a guard that seemed to be indicating there was no way around. In the meantime, Chuck and Mikey had located Susan and soon we were all reunited. We had a great tour of the Forbidden City which was home to the Ming and Qing Dynasties and has the largest and best preserved collection of ancient buildings in China. As we were enjoying the ancient buildings we would have Chinese people come up and ask if they could have their picture taken with the kids. Many wanted to have their picture taken with Christy, but also many wanted to have their pictures with the boys. Young teenage girls were especially fond of the boys. When someone would stop to get their picture taken, other people would gather around and then even more would gather to see what was going on. I started taking pictures of the groups forming around the kids. In the Forbidden City and at Tiananmen Square there are lots of plain clothes police who are constantly on the look out for large gatherings or demonstrations and soon a vehicle would come to disperse the crowd. As our minds started to glaze over and dynasty overload set in, we headed back to the hotel. EJ, Christy and the boys went swimming while Susan and I went to the Pearl Market. This is a shopper's paradise. A place to go broke saving money! We got back to the hotel in time for an early dinner at the hotel before being picked up by "Wally" and Mr. Foo for a trip to the Acrobatic Show. If you've never seen a Chinese Acrobatic Show and have a chance - go. It was absolutely fantastic. Christy had such a busy day that she slept through the entire show, but the rest of us were mesmerized. Tuesday, September 23: Day 4 in Beijing. This was that much dreaded day. Susan, EJ and the grand kids would be heading back to Seoul. We spent the morning packing and of course a little shopping at the Silk Market. "Wally" and Mr. Foo picked up our little family and whisked them off to the airport. Chuck and I were suddenly feeling very alone!! After reflecting on what a wonderful time we had we decided to once more try to get to Tiananmen Square. This time we decided to ride the subway, so off we went and visited the Square. Tiananmen Square is reported to be the world's largest square. It is the center of Chinese political life. It is known to most westerners as the place where army tanks rolled in and shot down pro-democracy demonstrators in 1989. Protests are still held here, but there are large numbers of police both in uniform and plain clothes that patrol the square. We left the square in the late afternoon and decided to take the subway back to the area where our hotel is located. When we arrived we started walking around the area and soon located a neat little place to have a beer and dinner. We drank to a wonderful time in Beijing and tomorrow we would be heading out on our Trans-Siberian adventure.