Greetings all! I’m just over three days in, though I feel like we’ve packed a month’s worth of activities during that time!
First, thanks to Mike for posting this! Things like Facebook and this blog site are blocked in China, so I won’t be able to access myself for a few weeks.
Flight over was uneventful, though of course I was seated in the “crying baby” section of the plane. Good thing my years at the B Haus have gotten me very proficient with earplugs!
Sunday was a bit rainy and cloudy and my roommate and I walked over a fair amount of Beijing. Though we kept being turned back from roads by armed guards, which was a bit mysterious. We later found out that they have a big celebration on Oct 1st and are preparing and practicing. But for many hours we just walked along large (Great?) walls feeling like we’d never actually get in anywhere! Many of the guards stood on small platforms and surrounded by Plexiglas up to their thighs. Though what protection that would afford other than from a good kick, we couldn’t imagine.
We did discover a lovely park and lake to walk around and found a series of pagodas each with some dancers or performers. They were just locals doing their usual Sunday morning activities, but it was quite fun to watch.
Sunday evening we met up with the rest of our group, 15 in all. All seem like a good bunch so far, mostly from Europe in their 20s and 30s.
Monday was our Great Wall day. Weather was mostly cloudy though we did get some peeks of sun later on. We fortunately went to a less touristy area further from Beijing so we didn’t feel too crowded. We had the option to take a gondola or hike up to the wall. Of course I couldn’t pass up the chance to hike it, though I probably have 10 years or more over many of my trip mates who opted for the ride. It was a solid 30-45 minutes straight up and the a series of more stairs so quite the workout!
It really was spectacular to see this massive structure along the mountains. Took over 400 centuries to build apparently. And each stone hauled up the mountains!
That afternoon some of us visited the Olympic area, which really is beautiful. Then another traditional meal at a local restaurant. Very helpful our leader Milly is native Chinese.
Yesterday, I still was still waking up at 4:30 (NOT my usual for those who know me!) But I used the morning to walk to the Temple of Heaven to wander around and watch all the locals do their morning exercise, fan dances, tie chi, ping pong and strangely – hacky sack! Then our group joined the hordes at Tienniman Square and the Forbidden city.
In general, been walking about eight hours a day and my legs are feeling it! But hopefully it’s burning off some of the major carbs that are part of the daily diet. The food has been wonderful, very flavorful, but yes, lots of rice and noodles. There is never soy sauce on the tables and nary a fortune cookie to be found! Some of my travel mates have never used chopsticks before but they are learning fast to survive! Though most of us declined the fried sea horses, scorpions, larvae, and other “delicacies” from the local night market!
We’re back in the land of pit toilets – fun fun! At least I should have killer quads by ski season! And of course, only bottled water to drink or brush teeth. So far so good though.
One unexpected occurrence is how I’ve become part of the tourist attractions! At several of the sights, I had local people grabbing my arm and pulling me to their photos. I thought they wanted me to take their picture, but no, they wanted me to BE in pictures with them! Apparently, there has been a big bump in Chinese tourism since the Olympics and many people from small villages and remote area are traveling to Beijing for the first time. So they have never actually seen blond hair or a non-Chinese person before. And yes, I’m probably as far from looking like a native as possible! My tour mates have a great time watching me get pulled into all these pictures!
Today looks like a beautiful sunny day. So far we’ve had more overcast skies and cooler temps. Now we may be in for the expected heat! And I actually managed to sleep until 7:00 today so hopefully that’s it for the jet lag! We have a free day today so likely I’ll visit the summer palace and then an overnight train to Shanghai. That should be interesting, with six of us plus luggage per compartment! Then I’ll be seeing Kevin Thalmann.
Well, that’s enough for now!
Cheers!
Val
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