What a great time we had in China!
Normally when we are traveling, I have a chance to write up everything that we do each day, then post it to my blog. This trip had the biggest time change we have ever faced - 14 hours - and not being able to use gmail (blogger) or FB made it less motivating to type each day. I tried writing in a physical journal, but the planes were always too bumpy, and we were always asleep super early each night. So, here are some scattered highlights and stories - enjoy! (I may add things later!)
Flight to China
Busy day! Kate wakes up but isn't reading - bad sign. She has a fever so I beg to bring her into the doctor. Flu and strep tests negative. J and W go to school for a few hours.
Our flight is delayed 3-4 hours. Turns out I took them out of school for no reason, but oh well. Luckily Disney channel was on at the airport :). Flight was uneventful but long. 13 1/2 hours of fun. I was feeling rather claustrophobic and tried not to think about how long we had been in the air.
Beijing
We land after midnight so it is Saturday am. Friday was spent = 1/2 on the plane, 1/2 to time change. So it is the middle of the night and we have to get up early. The kids tried to sleep, but it was hard for everyone.
Our guide is Tonku and he is our favorite of the trip. In Beijing we toured Tiananmen square, the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, the hutong area, the Great Wall. It started raining on the wall so we couldn't take the slide down, but instead the chair lift of death a second time. Our schedule was something like: wake up at 2-3am, try to sleep until at least 4:30, shower, breakfast at 6, come back and watch football live from the night before, tour the city.
We had a lot of glimpses into Chinese life with our guide. He was great at telling us things. All the rules and all the ways to get around them. How knowing people is vital in China. How different the cultures are, especially from American culture. It was very educational.
The kids are big celebrities. Especially the tall blond one and the little blond one (aka Kate and Tom). They pose for many, many pictures with Chinese tourists. It is low season, so we had very little lines anywhere, but the weather was still pretty good.
The pollution level was excellent - they had closed many factories for the 2 weeks before because of the APEC meeting in Beijing!
Xian
After a few days we said goodbye to Tonku and headed to Xian on a quick domestic flight. Our guide is Vanessa (she places third of 4). I love the local airlines; They are very efficient and do offer food. But they just hand you whatever they have, you can eat it or decline. I did see Will eating a tuna? sandwich on one flight.
Speaking of food, we ate so, so, so much. We love Chinese food, and here it was even better than in the US. Our only thing we didn't really dig on was the dumplings in Xian.
Xian has much different history than Beijing. While B is the capital and feels like communist China (ok, plus the amazing Wall), Xian has the ancient history with the Terracotta Warriers. Very cool!
Chengdu
Pandas!! Our main reason for taking another domestic flight and staying just one night was to see the panda breeding research center. Definitely the trip highlight for the kids! I think the Wall has adult highlight. New guide is Rebecca. She is ok, but places 4th. Chengdu makes it all worth it for the amazing food!!
Shanghai
Another domestic flight and we are in Shanghai. WOW!! What a spectacularly beautiful city!! Daniel is our guide and he takes 2nd place. While the other cities felt like China, SH has more of a European/Western/Modern feel. The driving is much less aggressive (lanes and lights actually used) and the cleanliness is much higher. Here we saw not only just western toilets, but fancy Japanese toilets! We toured the super tall World Financial Center. Most of us were pretty timid walking on the glass floor on the 100th floor, but Will was leaning against the walls and jumping on the floor. Not so much history to see here. But the shopping and dining and architecture are amazing. Our fav dinner was at Mr. and Mrs. Bund.
Flight home
Another delay, this one rather challenging. Reschedule from 6pm to 7am the next day which defeats the purpose of why we scheduled this flight. Challenging to reclaim bags, get hotel vouchers and get to hotel. And then back at 4am. Finally we make it to the flight and head home. It was an amazing experience.
PLUS:
China Pictures
China Videos
Normally when we are traveling, I have a chance to write up everything that we do each day, then post it to my blog. This trip had the biggest time change we have ever faced - 14 hours - and not being able to use gmail (blogger) or FB made it less motivating to type each day. I tried writing in a physical journal, but the planes were always too bumpy, and we were always asleep super early each night. So, here are some scattered highlights and stories - enjoy! (I may add things later!)
Flight to China
Busy day! Kate wakes up but isn't reading - bad sign. She has a fever so I beg to bring her into the doctor. Flu and strep tests negative. J and W go to school for a few hours.
Our flight is delayed 3-4 hours. Turns out I took them out of school for no reason, but oh well. Luckily Disney channel was on at the airport :). Flight was uneventful but long. 13 1/2 hours of fun. I was feeling rather claustrophobic and tried not to think about how long we had been in the air.
Beijing
We land after midnight so it is Saturday am. Friday was spent = 1/2 on the plane, 1/2 to time change. So it is the middle of the night and we have to get up early. The kids tried to sleep, but it was hard for everyone.
Our guide is Tonku and he is our favorite of the trip. In Beijing we toured Tiananmen square, the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, the hutong area, the Great Wall. It started raining on the wall so we couldn't take the slide down, but instead the chair lift of death a second time. Our schedule was something like: wake up at 2-3am, try to sleep until at least 4:30, shower, breakfast at 6, come back and watch football live from the night before, tour the city.
We had a lot of glimpses into Chinese life with our guide. He was great at telling us things. All the rules and all the ways to get around them. How knowing people is vital in China. How different the cultures are, especially from American culture. It was very educational.
The kids are big celebrities. Especially the tall blond one and the little blond one (aka Kate and Tom). They pose for many, many pictures with Chinese tourists. It is low season, so we had very little lines anywhere, but the weather was still pretty good.
The pollution level was excellent - they had closed many factories for the 2 weeks before because of the APEC meeting in Beijing!
Xian
After a few days we said goodbye to Tonku and headed to Xian on a quick domestic flight. Our guide is Vanessa (she places third of 4). I love the local airlines; They are very efficient and do offer food. But they just hand you whatever they have, you can eat it or decline. I did see Will eating a tuna? sandwich on one flight.
Speaking of food, we ate so, so, so much. We love Chinese food, and here it was even better than in the US. Our only thing we didn't really dig on was the dumplings in Xian.
Xian has much different history than Beijing. While B is the capital and feels like communist China (ok, plus the amazing Wall), Xian has the ancient history with the Terracotta Warriers. Very cool!
Chengdu
Pandas!! Our main reason for taking another domestic flight and staying just one night was to see the panda breeding research center. Definitely the trip highlight for the kids! I think the Wall has adult highlight. New guide is Rebecca. She is ok, but places 4th. Chengdu makes it all worth it for the amazing food!!
Shanghai
Another domestic flight and we are in Shanghai. WOW!! What a spectacularly beautiful city!! Daniel is our guide and he takes 2nd place. While the other cities felt like China, SH has more of a European/Western/Modern feel. The driving is much less aggressive (lanes and lights actually used) and the cleanliness is much higher. Here we saw not only just western toilets, but fancy Japanese toilets! We toured the super tall World Financial Center. Most of us were pretty timid walking on the glass floor on the 100th floor, but Will was leaning against the walls and jumping on the floor. Not so much history to see here. But the shopping and dining and architecture are amazing. Our fav dinner was at Mr. and Mrs. Bund.
Flight home
Another delay, this one rather challenging. Reschedule from 6pm to 7am the next day which defeats the purpose of why we scheduled this flight. Challenging to reclaim bags, get hotel vouchers and get to hotel. And then back at 4am. Finally we make it to the flight and head home. It was an amazing experience.
PLUS:
China Pictures
China Videos
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