To Beijing and Back…part 2

Well, I'm sure by now all of the suspense I have kept you in has died off.  You might even have thought I took another vacation by my absence.  Sadly, not true.  For the sake of being honest, I just didn't feel like hopping on our blog lately.  After long days at work and mentally draining life decisions (saved for another blog), I chose to just lay in bed and watch whatever junk tv I could relish in (aka…anything and everything on Bravo).

So, back to Beijing (if I still remember the trip!)…

After a quick two hour flight from Korea to Beijing (because after flying for 24 hours to Guam, anything less is now defined as "quick"), we were greeted at the airport by our tour guide Lily (insert Chinese accent here because she spelled it Lily, but pronounced it "Lee-Lee" so Lee Lee it was).  She helped us get loaded up in the car and because of some insight I was given from a co-worker/friend who had gone to China previously and warned us of the erratic driving (including no regard for passenger safety…i.e. baby in a car seat) I stood outside the van until Carlos had Reece safely strapped in his car seat.  I'm sure they were wondering why this crazy American was not getting into the van, but I do believe in my child's safety and they didn't know I was on to them!

On our way to the hotel was when Reece decided to hit his wall.  It started out with mild whimpering, but within minutes turned into full-blown crazy baby screaming.  The lack of sleep officially caught up to Reece and turned him into a demonic monster of sorts.  Into the hotel we went and stayed for the remainder of that day so Reece could nap off and on as needed (and his parents as well).  The good news is we had built this day into the trip just for this reason.

After a somewhat decent night of sleep (Reece knew he was not in his crib and reminded us periodically throughout the night), we got up to start our sightseeing adventure of Beijing.  First stop, Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City.  These two alone occupied our entire morning.  The Forbidden City is never ending.  Temple after temple.  You just keep walking through and there is more more more!  It's amazing to see.  The architecture is just simply amazing, down to the finest detail.  I also found it even more interesting that in this huge city of Beijing (the size of the city is the size of a small country) and all its modern buildings, there is this ancient city.  Beijing is quite the fusion between old and new.

The layout of the Forbidden City

Another warning we had been given prior to leaving Guam was that the people (mostly women) of China are going to be drawn to Reece.  I just thought "of course!  Who wouldn't be!" :)  But I really understood better when we started our sightseeing.  We came to China to see the sights and yet you would've thought we were the tourist attraction!  I know blue eyed, fair-skinned babies are not the norm in China, but WOW.  Everyone kept coming up to us and wanting to touch him (which I politely dodged or angled the baby so they were touching his clothing).  Some folks asked (through our tour guide Lily) if they could take pictures of him, others just snapped away on their cameras.  For once in my life I understood what it was like to be Angelina Jolie with her kiddos (minus the millions of dollars of income, 5 less children, and the looks).  Ok, maybe Angelina Jolie was a bad comparison :)  But seriously, it was like we were being stalked by the paparazzi.  Of course Reece was the celebrity, not us, so everyone in Beijing became known as Reece's fan club or Reece's paparazzi.  Of course my child, regardless if he was sleepy or not LOVED the attention and flashed everyone his charming smile when they gave him one oodle of attention.  He would be fussing one minute then as soon as a stranger came up to him he was all "I'm a cute baby, look at me!"  Oh man, we realized in China just how much trouble we are in later in life.  The child knows how to work it!!


After all the walking (and walking), we came to the end which opens up into a beautiful little garden area.  Numerous cypress trees over 300 years old.  It was actually a very peaceful area even though there were hundreds of people.

Now it was time for our rickshaw ride through one of the local communities to the house providing us lunch.  The tour arranges for a local family to prepare a meal for us (this is a good time to insert that there was another couple with us…from Guam…but we didn't know them prior to the trip since they were from the Air Force Base.  Great couple, glad they were with us!).  I think all of us were a little hesitant about this at first, but as the saying goes…"when in Rome…" except maybe I should change it to "when in China…"

Bad picture, but at least there is a pic

Riding through the town…they carry EVERYTHING on the back of their bicycles

The housing was quite interesting.  Small homes, but then again, because of the government restriction on the number of children, there are mostly small families.  All I can say about the lunch we were served is WOWZER!  By far the best Chinese food I have ever had.  And there was soooooo much food!  The four of us could've sat there all day and just kept eating.  On a side note, I would like to take this moment to applaud myself for using chop stix to the best of my abilities.  I didn't want to be 'that' American.  You know, the one who asks for a fork.  So after a quick tutorial from Sharon and Carlos (the hubs can use chop stix like us regular americans use forks.  He's got mad skills) , I'd like to say I did a-okay.  Let's just put it this way…food went in my mouth and I certainly didn't leave hungry!  I also didn't make a mess on their floor so all in all a very yummy and successful lunch!

After lunch we rickshawed back to where we started, loaded up in the van, and off we went to the Temple of Heaven.  The TOH consists of a few temples, all used for ceremonial purposes.  It is just unbelievable how old these buildings are and to see them up close and unscathed, quite impressive.

Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests…not one nail used in the construction of the wood structure

Imperial Vault of Heaven

After the TOH, we did a quick visit to the silk factory where we saw the silk making process (interesting) and shopped around a wee bit ;)  Don't worry, we were good.

Finally it was time for dinner.  This particular night was our Peking Duck Dinner special.  Off we went to a restaurant (I couldn't tell you where we were if my life depended on it) where upon sitting down, food immediately started appearing in front of us.  I kick myself for not taking a picture of the spread that was put in front of us, but there was so much food they had to move food to an adjacent table to make room for more food.  We were only 4 people!  Lily enjoyed this time because she got Reece all to herself so Carlos and I could actually eat.  As long as she stayed within eyesight so Reece could lay eyes on me (he isn't happy if he doesn't know where I am), he enjoyed being with Miss Lily and I enjoyed stuffing my face with delicious food!  So.Much.Food.  And again, all chop stix. I was adventurous and tried the duck (my first duck experience) and it was pretty good, but I was really enjoying all the delicious vegetables (yes, I did just use delicious to describe vegetables.  You would've too, trust me) and other dishes.  The thing I learned with real chinese food is that even though you feel like you are eating a lot, we never felt overly full like you do when dining at an american restaurant (or eating americanized Chinese food).  We would eat and eat, but never hit a slump.  We just felt GOOD.  

After dinner, Sharon and Mike went on to the acrobat show, but Carlos and I declined for that night and said we'd catch it a different evening (7:30pm was way too late since Reece's internal Guam clock was saying it was 9:30pm).  Back to the hotel we went to get some good rest for the physical demands the next day would present…climbing the Great Wall!

Stay tuned!