China and Mt Fuji trip over Golden Week..

For Golden week in Japan we decided to make a trip to China. From Japan it is much cheaper and the flight is not so long. To start the trip out we woke up at about 4 am, loaded the van with the luggage and drove to Narita airport. With the family it was actually cheaper and less painful than taking the train. We booked the tour through JTB, a Japanese travel group, so when we arrived in Beijing we were greeted by a JTB representative and loaded into a van to start our trip. As soon as we got on the highway we were stuck in traffic. Every time we road the bus in the city the traffic was very heavy. Our first stop was Keizan Park. It is a temple on a hill overlooking the forbidden city. The hill was made by the land that was dug out to create the moat that surrounds the perimeter of the forbidden city.

The temple at the top was very elaborate and bright.

Here is a picture of the family from the top overlooking the Forbidden city.

For dinner we were taken to a restaurant on the 4th floor of a large building. The sign out front includes a Chinese theater mask in the name. I thought it made for an interesting picture so I am including it in the post.

All of our meals were included in the package with the exception of the 4th day and all were very good. Even the children were able to find something they liked. After having a number of meals in China I can say that Chinese food in China is not the same as Chinese food in America. Only one dish at one meal had sweet and sour chicken that reminded me a little of what I have had before.

After dinner we went to an acrobatics show in what we were told was a famous theater. Our guide said that it was 250 yen per person and so we quickly agreed to go as that is about $3.50 US. When it came time to pay I realized that she meant 250 Yuan (Chinese currency) or $36.50 US. We were a bit surprised, but in the end we were glad that we went. There were a number of amazing stunts that were performed. We only got a few pictures as flash photos were prohibited and the room was pretty dark. Below the bottom person is standing on a board that is on a cylinder holding two women while balancing the guy above him that is doing the same thing. It was pretty amazing to see.

This is five women riding 1 bicycle and balancing, at one point all the performers piled on to one bicycle and rode around, it was between 15-20 women. I was never able to count them all.

There was really a wide variety of things to see, Kate was able to get a video of the plate spinning on sticks.

Day 2 we were again greeted by a traffic jam. This street has no lights on it, everyone just merges in a pushes along. I have no desire to drive in China. It is just shy of a free for all.

Now in China more and more people are buying cars which is contributing to the severe traffic situation. Actually in order to drive in the city you have to buy a special license for your car, only certain numbers are allowed to drive in the city and it varies buy day. Of course there are still a lot of people ridding bicycles, scooters, and motorcycles. Many times you can see multiple people stacked onto one bike.

Once outside the city traffic moved more freely and we made good time heading to the Great Wall. At the wall there were many guards in around to make sure there is no trouble. The children and I stood next to one of them for a quick photo.

The Great Wall was actually my favorite stop on the tour. It goes on for as far as you can see. We were given about 1.5 hours to walk around and explore on our own, but the walking is not easy and there are many people there at the same time. That means that the amount that can be explored is pretty small, especially in comparison to the entire length that exists.

Some of the sections are quite steep and do not contain steps. We could see a number of people struggling to navigate these sections.

This gives a little reference as to how steep it is, and this is a section with no steps.

There are sections that are too steep and so they were built with steps.

Now many of the steps are worn from nature and so many people walking on them. The picture below shows how the steps are scalloped from all the wear. That and the fact that they are not any standard size makes them a bit challenging to walk up.

I ran up and took this picture back of Kate making her way up the steps with the crowd.

Behind Kate in the above picture there is a metal structure. That is a sign from the 08 Olympics. Around Beijing we could also see some of the building from the Olympics.

As we walked along the wall we also passed some sections that were covered and had look out windows. Here Liam is looking out the window at another section of the wall.

Kate shot a little video to give a bit more of the feeling of being there.

After leaving the wall we made a short visit to the Beijing zoo to see the pandas.

The children were excited to see the pandas in person. There were a number of different kinds, Liam is smaller and was able to push up to the window to see better so I gave him the camera and he took this picture of the giant panda.

This one is the Asian Panda, it has a little bit more yellow coloring to it.

Since we booked through JTB we had a tour guide for all but one day. He would carry a flag and escort us from place to place. The only problem we had is that he only spoke Chinese and Japanese and so it was really difficult for us to follow along when he explained the different points of interest.

When we were leaving the zoo the boy was posing for a picture for his parents. Kate and I thought he was cute so I snagged a quick picture. He is actually looking at me in the picture so I hope I didn't spoil his parents picture..

Next we went to the Summer Palace. It is a huge garden area in Beijing. The complex was started in 1750. There were many beautiful buildings and gardens on the grounds. If you want to read more here is a link from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Palace

This was a long covered walkway we walked along.

Along with the gardens and buildings there is a big lake on the premise as well. Kate took this picture with the trees draping over the walkway.

As soon as we left the gates we were greeted by vendors selling a variety of different products from bicycle carts.

This one is the Chinese version of the Yaki Imo truck. No song to go along with the sales pitch.

We did drive buy the Olympic National stadium and water cube. It was a little interesting to see but I was OK that we didn't actually go to the buildings.

Beijing is very modern and there are many interesting building that dot the skyline. This one is a newer Hotel that is close to the Olympic buildings.

To finish off the evening we went to dinner at a very nice restaurant.

On the menu this time was Peking duck. I believe this was the first time that I had duck. There was a special sauce to dip it in and we put in a wrap with some vegetables. It was very tasty.

Day 3 started a little rough as the original start time was 9 am. The day before the guide changed the time to 8:04, but we heard 8:40. As a result we had just sat down for breakfast when the guide came up and said we were late and we had to go. We stuffed what we could down on the way out. Later we were told that the guides native language was Chinese and that his Japanese was a little difficult to understand sometimes. Of course our native language is English and with the two mixed we miss-understood. It all worked out in the end, but we were definitely ready for lunch time..

When we were at the Great wall Colleen purchased a Panda hat. At the time Liam did not want one, but later decided that he wished he also had purchased one. As we walked to Tiananmen square on the third day we were approached by a street vendor that had the hats. The original price was higher than Colleen's and so I said we only payed 20 yuan for the other one. Instantly the price became 20 yuan and so Liam was able to get a Panda hat as well. From then on they decided they were the Panda buddies and they wore the hats together for a good chunk of the trip. Here they are at the start of Tiananmen square sporting the Panda hats.

Tiananmen square is ridiculously huge. Without going it is difficult to explain the actual size. There are no benches or trees, just a huge expanse of concrete, buildings, and light poles with cameras on them. I felt a little like we were being watched. Actually an interesting side bar. We had internet in our hotel, but we could not access our blog or facebook as it was blocked. It is defiantly not Japan or America...Anyway the picture below is from the square and it is of two huge TV screens playing Chinese propaganda.

Here is our entire group in a photo in front of the gate leading to the forbidden city and of course the Panda buddies had there hats on.

Once into the forbidden city it goes on and on. It almost seemed like there was no end to the complex. The buildings were all elaborate with gold colored roofs and there were many different statues to see as well.

As we walked through the different buildings the children were stopped a number of times and asked if it was OK to take a picture. They really enjoyed all the attention they got and always quickly agreed to the photo when requested.

The building in the background of this picture is the one we went to on the first day of the trip, so this is looking the opposite way of the first family photo.

A dragon wall within the city.

In one of the buildings there were a number of different historic artifacts. These were stones that had the first Chinese symbols written on them. The picture behind this stone is an image of the writing that is contained on the stone. I believe the sign said it was from 374 BC.

I am not sure if this dog like creature is playing with the little one or attacking it. We could see this statue repeated a number of times on the grounds. I will have to check later what the significance of it is.

Here is a picture of just one of the roofs with the beautiful tile decorations.

as we were leaving the forbidden city I saw this tree. I thought it looked like a dinosaur and pointed it out to the children.

As we navigated the city we saw a number of motorcycles that were converted into car like vehicles. This one was one of the nicer ones. There are even windshield wipers on them for when it rains. It really looks like it would be very functional, but I would not want to be in an accident in one of these.

Here is another of the meals we had. I am including this picture because it shows what the typical restaurant set up we encountered looked like. The tables were all round and in the center was a glass lazy suzan. The food was brought out and placed on the lazy suzan and was shared by all. To get the food you want you just spin the glass top until the item you are looking for is in front of you. It was a great way for everyone to share the meal.

Next was the Temple of Heaven. This is the gate leading to the temple.

And the temple. This temple was used by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties to pray for a bountiful harvest. Just in front of the building is a platform with a rounded stone. I believe that is the location the prayer took place.

Finally we stopped at Hutong market. It is a number of small streets lined with shops.

Along a number of the streets we passed we could see large doors that looked like they led in to a living area. Part of this trip took up behind these doors to see what it was like.

The first thing visible as you pass through is just another wall and some bicycles. Sometimes clothes hanging from wires.

After turning to go past the wall it opens up into a nice sitting area. In the picture below to the right is a kitchen were all the food is prepared for multiple generations of family. The far wall and to the left was all for sleeping, and behind me in the photo was a business where various things were produced to be sold at market. It looked like a very interesting lifestyle, and I would think that it would promote a very close family relationship.

We noticed that many places had birds. I am not sure the significance of it, but this place was no exception. The video below shows some of the different sound this bird makes as well as the bird saying hello in Chinese. It says Nin hao (nihow). As Kate was filming the tour guide was trying to get us to move along so you can also hear him in the background telling us to get moving.

Through the market we were also able to take a bicycle ride. All of the members of our tour got to do it and so a line of the bicycles pulled up and we loaded into them two at a time. Kate and Colleen took one and me and Liam.

The gentleman pedaling our cart was excited to talk to us in English. He would turn and talk as he rode for the entire trip. He explained that he came from another town 14 hrs away by train and that he visits his family 1 time each year. He said there is not much opportunity for work in the country and so he moved to the city so he could get a decent job.

Day 5 was a free day and so we spent some time at the hotel pool as well as walking around exploring on foot. We walked through a number of small streets to see what we could see. For the most part I did not feel uncomfortable. We got a few double takes as I think people were a bit surprised to see a foreign family in those areas, but no one followed us or harassed us to buy things. It was nice to have some time on our own schedule, and we were able to enjoy a peaceful breakfast with no interruptions.

The last couple of days we were there we were overrun by some fluffy white stuff that was blowing all around. At one point it almost looked like it was snowing. I am not sure what plant it came from, but it really made my nose itch. Here Liam and Colleen pose with a pile of the stuff.

We saw a number of American restaurants while we were there. Many had delivery service like the KFC pictured below. Of course the delivery was by bicycle.

We actually did more after returning from our trip, but this post is so long I will include that in next weeks. Have a good week..