On Thursday, March 15, the kids were allowed to leave Candian Academy mid-day with just an email from me. I was amazed that they could leave on their own. This is just such a safe, trusting, and honest culture in Japan. All were showered, packed, and ready to take the 12:45pm bus to Shin-Kobe. From there, we took the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Shinagawa (in Tokyo). About 30 minutes before we reached our station destination, we saw Mt. Fuji. It was such a clear, sunny day that the view of Mt. Fuji was just beautiful.
Waiting for the Shinkansen
Mt. Fuji
In Shinagawa, we took another train called the Tokyo Express to Narita Airport. We checked in and enjoyed the Sky Club. Fortunately, we got plenty to eat there before boarding our plane. We left at 8pm and finally arrived in Beijing at 11:10pm (gaining an hour). Our driver, George, took us to the Sheraton Great Wall.
On Friday, March 16, our lovely guide Connie met us in the hotel lobby. She was cute, friendly, and about the size of Matthew! (Actually, I think Matthew may have been taller.) We boarded the van with George and Connie and headed to one of the great wonders of the world ... the Great Wall of China. It was quite hazy so our view was a bit limited. However, this did not in any way diminish the enormity of what we were seeing. We decided to walk the Mutianyu section, which was fortified in 1568 and is about 14 miles long. We took a cable car up to section 14 of the wall and then walked to section 6. It was amazing to see the watch towers and cannons, and just to take in the history we were experiencing. We then took the luge down the wall to the bottom. This was very cool.
We stopped for Chinese food at a restaurant near the bottom of the Wall. Delicious! Then, we headed to Summer Palace. Between 1750 and 1764 the Qing Emperor Qianlong created the Garden of Clear Ripples (Summer Palace). During the Second Opium War (1856-60) the garden and its buildings were destroyed by the allied forces. Between 1886 and 1895 it was reconstructed by Emperor Guangxu and renamed the Summer Palace, for use by Empress Dowager Cixi. It was damaged in 1900 by the international expeditionary force during the suppression of the Boxer Rising and restored two years later. It became a public park in 1924. The Palace is simply gorgeous. The funny thing to us is that we became very popular. Chinese people were taking our pictures while we walked. They would come up to ask to take pictures with us. One woman even put her arms completely around me for pictures. Some of the teenage girls giggled a bit around Jacob and Matthew. So funny. Our guide explained to us that many people come to Beijing from the countryside to see the capital city, and they have never seen Western people before. We took it in stride and just smiled.
Then, we headed to Olympic Park, home of the 2008 summer olympics. We were amazed at how well planned and beautiful everything was, even the media tower. The lights came on at dusk. The Water Cube was completely blue, while the Bird's Nest was lit up in red.
We stopped of at Wangfujing Night Market, the most famous and popular snack street among Chinese and foreign visitors in Beijing. It is most famous for very odd street foods such as deep fried insects, scorpions, beetles, snake, seahorse, silk worm, centipede, etc. We chose only to try the fried banana.
Alas, we arrived at a Peking Duck Restaurant for dinner. Connie ordered for us, and then she headed out to have dinner with George to give us family time. The food came quickly. This is a very busy restaurant, and so everyone is given one hour to eat and leave your table! The food was great.
George and Connie took us to 7-11 to pick up some snacks and then dropped us off at the hotel. It was a long day, but a great one. We had talked about going to see the Great Wall since we moved to Japan almost 2 years ago. We are very happy that we were able to get there before we move back to the US!
More to come in Beijing day 2!
Peace and Love,
Tina
More to come in Beijing day 2!
Peace and Love,
Tina
No comments:
Post a Comment