Beijing City Tour

Beijing City Tour

Words can’t describe our wonderful, perfect day. We woke up at 3:30 am, still adjusting to the time difference. We went downstairs to a lovely breakfast at the hotel at 6:30am. We had time before we met our guide, so after breakfast we ventured out on to the streets. Can you say “Shopping District”? My favorite was the huge statue of Yao Ming outside of Reebok. Most stores were closed, but it was just a great way to get comfortable with our surroundings. There is a Catholic church down the street, and two people were getting wedding pictures. Kacie was stared at by everyone, but more on that later.

Let’s talk about Chinese drivers. First, stop lights are merely a suggestion. Second, if you need to, it is perfectly acceptable to drive in the wrong lane if you need to get around the person in front of you, regardless if pedestrians are crossing. Last, two vehicles can compete in for the same lane by basically a game of chicken, seeing who gives up first. We witnessed all of these, and we were in the van for the last one! Our driver won (scariest 5 seconds of my life)! She’s the best driver ever! Oh, and I’ve never heard so many horns in my life. If you are going to change lanes, forget the blinker, just use your horn.

We left our hotel at 9:00 for Tiananmen Square. This is basically like The Mall in DC. A lot of political symbolism. October 1st is the 60th anniversary for National Day here, so the building with Mao’s picture is being renovated, but they left a space so Mao’s picture can be seen. Great experience, as we also added a new word to our Chinese Vocabulary: Hoo-yah, which means “we don’t want any”. This was all the vendors. If you just say No, they keep following. Oh, Kacie was a little pro with this word! Many vendors were told “Hoo-yah” by Kacie! The guide just thought it was great, I found it humorous. It’s not that we were being rude, Charlotte just said if we used typical Chinese terms rather than “No” we wouldn’t be bothered as much. Some vendors were very aggressive. And about our guide Charlotte, wow! She is the best. She and Kacie hit it off well.

Next stop: Forbidden City. I wish I still taught the upper grades to put some of this into my lessons. I learned soooooo much! While our guide went to buy tickets, we became celebrities. It started with two sweet 12 year old girls who wanted a picture with us. Soon it was whole families. Even a teen boy wanted a pic with Dan! The girls said to Kacie, “You are so beautiful!” and Kacie said, “You are very pretty.” It was so sweet. It never got out of hand, but I was nervous for a second or two. The Forbidden City itself is amazing. I could write a lot just about that part, but trust me when I say, it is amazing! In one of the pictures of the forbidden city, Kacie is holding a green perisol, and our guide is walking along side her. Charlotte even bought Kacie ice cream!

Then it was off to lunch at a typical, authentic Chinese restaurant. This was one of the most shocking parts of the day for me. It was sooooo loud! Unbelievably loud, and they smoked inside! Our guide got up for a second to check on something, and while we were eating, a Chinese woman sat between Kacie and I and wanted to get a picture with us—while we were eating!!!

Next stop: Silk Factory. Again, very educational. I bought a silk purse, and Kacie was given two cocoons, single and double. And the best part: it was air conditioned. It is so hot, after being outside 5 minutes, you are sweating, hair is frizzed, and clothes are sticky.

Dan and I are just in awe of the architecture of the buildings here. They are not cookie cutter replicas of each other. Each building has it’s own shape and style. And they go on and on. And there are apartments as far as the eye can see. You can’t even imagine it until you see the rows and rows…

Final Destination: Olympic Games Park. Kacie was exhausted at this point, and so were we. But to go to Beijing and not at least see the Bird’s Nest? Out of the question. So we made the drive and stopped to take some photos. We could have done more, but we were all feeling the effects of the day’s walking and heat. At that point our guide left, and driver drove us back to the Hotel, and that’s when we learned the lane-change rule. I am telling you, these people are the best crazy drivers in the world!

Back at the hotel, we went for a swim and then went on to dinner at a little restaurant across the street. Everything is reasonably priced. We cannot drink the water and must be careful about certain things. $1.00USD = $6.70RMB (Yuan). We went to a little store to buy more bottled water, and even the guy there touched Kacie’s hair! The people here are just in awe of her. Now we are winding down to prepare for tomorrow: The Great Wall tomorrow mid morning, Jade factory in the afternoon, and an Acrobat Show in the evening.

It is now after 8pm, so I need to get rested up. We meet our guide at 8:30am, and it’s a 1.5 hour drive to the Bataling section of the Great Wall.

Thanks for following along, and thank you for all of your prayers. God is showing me a side of this world I never knew existed. I could go on and on about our day. It was incredible.