Detroit Airport
On August 3rd, Ryan and I tearfully hugged and kissed our kids good bye and embarked on a journey of a lifetime, a trip 2 full years in the making.
We boarded a large plane that would, in 13 hours, land us in Beijing, China. The anticipation was exhilarating, tinged with sadness of not having our kids with us.
We were off!
On our plane, ready to take off!
View of Beijing from our hotel window.
Day 3 woke us up bright and early for our big (long!) day of touring the main sites of Beijing. We were able to see Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City and the Great Wall.
Tiananmen Square
The first impression of China was that it is vast and hot and crowded. This impression persisted through the remainder of our trip, regardless of the location. Everything is bigger than you would imagine, and more crowded. People are everywhere. There are no rules, no lines, no order. It is every man for himself and you better move if you want to get somewhere. The odd part of this is that no one is mad. No one cares that you just cut them off, as they will cut you off next. It is just part of life, the flow of streets.
Every part of our touring day surprised me. Pictures do not do Tiananmen Square justice. It is vast and expansive, with enormous museums surrounding it, important government buildings (similar to Capital Hill ) and the mausoleum of Chairman Mao, which people still go to and mourn at. It is an impressive site to see in person.
Tiananmen Square leads you directly into the Forbidden City. It is a literal City that expands, gate upon gate until it leads you into the inner courts and the celestial gardens. You could spends hours and hours in that place and not see everything.
One of the courtyards in the Forbidden city.
The Forbidden City was named because only the emperor and his family and military protection were allowed in...everyone else was forbidden. The royal family lived in unbelievable wealth and luxuries in an ENORMOUS city, all to themselves, while the rest of their people starved outside of the gates.
Each gate of the Forbidden City leads you farther into the Imperial area. The emperor was thought to be a god, so the farther into the city you went, only the emperor, his wives and concubines and eunuchs were allowed. They had to make sure the bloodline was pure.
One of the main buildings in the center of the Forbidden City. The more animal statues "guarding" the building at the top, the higher the status, the more important the building is.
After the Forbidden City, we headed out. The Great Wall is an hour and half away from Beijing. We had lunch at a cloisonne factory, a hand made brass medal and ceramic work that is stunning in person. We did a short tour and than were off to lunch.
A cloisonne workers filling in colors of powdered ceramic.
It was the first time that our entire American group was escorted to a separate side room...and it wouldn't be the last. I am not sure if it is because we are such a large group, or if it is because we do not understand Chinese, but every restaurant we went to, in every city, we were taken to a private separate room, away from the general Chinese population. We have no idea why.
The Great Wall was magnificent to see. It was so surreal, looking at it in person and not in pictures.
Am I glad that I climbed a portion of the Great Wall? Absolutely. It was a once in a lifetime experience. Would I climb it again? Probably not...at least not to so high. The Great Wall's stairs are not the same depth. Some of the stairs are only inches high, some are as high as a foot and half...there is no rhythm to it. So, you had to watch your step at all times. It was VERY crowded and most Chinese carry umbrellas to protect from the sun. So imagine body to body people, with umbrellas, climbing up and down steep and intricate steps. It was hard to navigate. It was also VERY steep in sections. Like, you could probably crawl up the stair easier, it was so steep.
It was also HOT. By the time I got to one of the flat sections of the Wall, I was dripping in sweat, pushed against by bodies of people and than I looked out.... and it was HIGH. I mean, we were REALLY high up. And I don't do so well with heights. It was definitely out of my comfort zone. Ryan convinced me to climb one more section that was less crowded and I was able to find a spot that I could catch a breeze and not be pressed against people.
Ryan climbed one more section and we began the slow and cautious trek down. Ryan would have kept going, but he was nice to his sweaty and shaking wife and we headed back down. I did feel better when our guide told me that he also was bothered by the heights on the Wall and he said to just watch my feet climbing down. He said that it was his 3rd time going up and down the Wall and it gets better. I am going to take his word for it!
Our drive back to the hotel let us see Beijing a bit more. This city literally just kept going, sky rise after sky rises, apartment complexes that had not 2 or 3 building clusters, but 15-20 clusters. The pure expanse of it was mind boggling. It is just SO big.
We did dinner with our group, before we were going to separate the next day. One of the families were coming with us to Nanning and the other was going to a different province to meet their daughter. We would all meet up back in Guangzhou.
But, Day 4? Day 4 we head to Guangxi to get our girl.
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