Beijing

Bumpa & Gigi Visit - Beijing click above for pictures

On the Friday after they arrived, we made them get right back on a plane to Beijing. We spent the weekend touring China's capital. It really is an amazing city that is under a lot of change and construction getting ready for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

We took the Maglev to the airport and then arrived in Beijing on Friday night. We stayed at the Sheraton and in front of the hotel was the Beijing Hard Rock Cafe. We ate dinner there that night. It was very loud, but Elizabeth was so tired, she still was able to pass out at dinner.

We hired a private tour guide and driver. The tour guide's name was Rita and she lives in Beijing. She grew up in Harbin which is a northern China province. She did an excellent job showing us the city.

The first place we saw on Saturday morning was Tiannamen Square. It is the largest city center in the world. Here was saw the countdown clock to the Olympics, the place where Mao's tomb is (closed for refurbishment) and the picture of Mao on the entrance to the Forbidden City. You can see from the pictures that is was chilly and windy.

We couldn't believe how big the Forbidden City was. This was the place that the Chinese Emperors lived. It's easy to understand why the Boxer Rebellion happened since these people lived so large while there were so many peasants with nothing on the outside.

After the Forbidden City, we went to lunch at a traditional Chinese restaurant in the area where the Heaven's Temple is. After lunch we went up to the Heaven's Temple. Twice per year, the emperors would come here to pray to the gods for a good harvest.

On the way out of the Heaven's Temple we witnessed daily Chinese life. Singing, playing cards, dancing, kites....It wiped Alex out.

Before we returned to the hotel, we stopped at a silk factory and store. We saw the silkworm lifecycle and how they extract silk thread from their cocoons.

Our day ended with a swim in the pool and dinner at the hotel. Again, Elizabeth passed out at dinner!

The next day we went on a Hutong tour. Our guide's name was Seven. The Hutong houses were traditional Chinese houses with many rooms surrounding a central courtyard and many family members would live together. We rode in traditional bicycle drawn rickshaws throught the neighborhood. The alleys were no bigger than 2 bicycle widths since that is how most people traveled. At one time there were 6000 Hutong neighborhoods in Beijing. Now with modernization and construction there are only 2000. The one we went to is now protected by the government.

We had lunch in a family's home. Elizabeth ate with Rita, Seven, and the home's cook in the kitchen while we ate in the family room. The food was very good and there was a lot! Gigi even mastered using chopsticks to pick up peanuts.

On our way in the car to the Great Wall, we drove by the Olympic Stadium and the Swimming pool under construction.

It took us about an hour to get to the location where we were going to go up to the Great Wall. Once we arrived, we had to take a cable car up to the top of the wall. What an amazing place. It truly is a wonder how this could have been built and how massive it is. It was pretty windy on top of the wall and pretty steep in some cases. The view was outstanding. While we were on top, a snow squall came through! For some reason, Elizabeth had it in her head that we were going to walk the whole great wall and she was upset when we told her it was time to go. We had to explain how many days it would take to walk 6000 kilometers!

We weren't that impressed by the city life in Beijing, definitely not as cool as Shanghai, but the historical sites and landmarks were truly amazing! Definitely a great trip.