CHINA! Land of amazing history, interesting views on life, super human feats, and all the noodles and rice you can eat!
Our spring break adventure for 2015 was a trip that Clint has always wanted to take--a trip to China! Mainly, he has just always wanted to personally see the Great Wall of China. Well of course that was included on the itinerary but first we made other stops along the way. We weren't alone on this journey, our good friends, the Rentfro's, joined us for the adventure! So off we went 3 adults, 3 teenage boys, 2 eleven year old boys, and one sweet eight year old little girl….
Our journey began on a red-eye flight from Dubai, UAE to Beijing, China…. Eight hours later we arrive in China, hustle to retrieve our luggage and meet our tour guide. (The travel agency we used in Abu Dhabi to help us plan our trip made sure we were well taken care of… Never travel in China without a guide who speaks both your language and Chinese! A great big thank you to SNTTA travel agency and Jecintha for all her help!) Our guide was waiting for us as we came off the plane. He said to call him John because his Chinese given name would be to hard for us to pronounce….how thoughtful! Honestly he said that most Chinese choose an "English" name when working internationally, just makes things easier on everyone.
We load luggage and crew into the waiting van with our jet-lagged eyes and down the road we went. In case you didn't know, traffic flow is the same as in the US, same side of the road that is. Now what is not the same is that cars do not yield to pedestrians in the cross walks! RUN! It is a serious game of frogger! Of course the only ones concerned about this were the "Americans"…LOL!
Our first activity was a Chinese acrobatic show. When we first were approached with this option I wasn't sure if the boys (including Clint) would enjoy it or not. SURPRISE!! We all enjoyed it! It was a Chinese version of Cirque du Soleil…amazing feats of balance, body strength, and trust!! A super exhibition of well trained timing and choreography. I am glad we didn't skip out on this! The last part of the show took the circus act we all have seen, motorcycles in a cage, to a whole new level! The cage was approximately the same size used in the US at the circus, which usually causes you to hold your breath as three cyclists enter and then proceed to chase each other in close knit circles. The Chinese looked at this and said "NO, that's not enough!" So by the time the act is finished they have crammed EIGHT cyclists into the cage to chase each other and make criss cross patterns across the cage! HOLY SMOKES! (Literally the fumes were thick!) Talk about heart pounding moments of "WHAT!?", "NO WAY!", "ARE THEY CRAZY?"….All survived…We were impressed!
We were very glad we had our English speaking guid because EVERYTHING--I mean EVERYTHING was in Chinese! We lived on the edge and tried some things that we weren't real sure about--some were good, some not so good. Of course there were products that you knew just based on labeling…Coke, Doritos, Oreos, and some candy bars.
It was now time to venture onto the overnight train from Beijing to Xian, China (pronounced shee-on). We traveled from the acrobatic theater to the train station. The waiting area was packed with people. We stood out in a MAJOR way! Our tour guide, John, informed us that most Chinese never see "Americans" during thier lifetime except on TV. So people were taking pictures of us, standing near us taking selfies with the American's in the background (LOL), and some even asked John to ask us if they could take pictures with the kids. The train station was our first encounter with the public toilets….EWWWW, GROSS! This was an experience all to itself any time we were in public. The public toilets rarely had what is referred to as "potty toilets". They had the type that are flush with and inset into the floor, and NONE ever had toilet paper! What!? UNSANITARY! I slipped while in the squatting position and had to catch myself with my hand or I would have landed in the "pop a squat" toilet. GROSS!! (Felt a little like the monster in Monster, Inc. that had the sock stuck to him--Someone call a 2319!!! Disinfect!!! This was just the first of many encounters with the "pop a squat" toilets, Thank God the hotels had modern "western" potty toilets!) The boys also had their own story to tell about the men's restroom…Denver said the bathroom attendent had a big stick that if you were taking too long, he would bang on your stall door and yell at you! LOL!! Now our wait was not long, so we were directed to the correct train car and boarded our lodging for the night. Don't be mistaken, a luxury train it was NOT! It was your bare minimum, needs met form of transportation. We crammed our family of five into a tiny little sleeping car with two bunks (sleeps 4), tiny table, tiny storage space (Glad I made us pack in duffle bags and backpacks!). The linens were clean--the floor was not! We dined on Ramen noodles, that by this point hit the spot because we hadn't eaten since our last in-flight meal. Best noodle soup EVER…ok we were really hungry! LOL The train had a spout reserved specifically for hot ingestible water. It was scalding hot straight out of the spout, so it was perfect for "cooking" Ramen noodles on a train. We laughed and joked and tried to get comfy. Everyone had their own beds except Denver and I…we slept on one bed since we were the smallest members of the family…AWWW! The Rentfro's were in the sleeping room next door, where I was told they all passed out from exhaustion after their gourmet Ramen noodle meal. That was not the case for me however. I tossed and turned…well as much as I could without kicking Denver in the face. Now, let's add in the MOST negative part of the overnight ride….CIGARETTE SMOKERS! Oh my! Chain smokers on a cramped, badly ventilated, poorly cooled (due to it not being the "hot" time of the year…well it was hot to us, and stuffy) commuter train! It seemed that every hour someone was smoking…UGH! For a family with 3 asthmatics and all with allergies, this was not good. I slept with my shirt pulled over my mouth and nose so I could filter the smoke as best as I could. We all woke up stuffy and wheezy, with Clay and Joshua both needing the inhaler. Thank goodness it was time to get off the train. We needed some air! Although smoking seems to be the thing to do in China, the air outside was better than the contained air on the train.
We reached Xian and here we met our second tour guide that would help us for the next few days. Timo was great! (She also told us that her Chinese given name was difficult to pronounce, so Timo was easier.) While in Xian we ate more noodles (seemed as though that was what we had breakfast, lunch, and dinner). In Xian we experienced the Wild Goose Pagoda (buddhist temple/museum), Tang Art museum, Xian Old City Wall (we rode bicycles the entire top of the wall--14km in 1 hour! We are good! Timo said we were really fast!) and the Terra Cotta Warriors Museum/exhibit. Timo and our driver took us everywhere in Xian. The most interesting thing happened while we were on our way to see the Terra Cotta Warriors…we were pulled over by the police! Of course they were all speaking in Chinese and it sounded heated! We "shoosh" the kids and sit quietly not having a clue as to what was going on. One of the officers boarded our van and off we went again. We were all casting questionable glances at each other and shrugging our shoulders…. Finally Timo tells us that we had crossed into another Chinese province (like crossing a state line) and the van was lacking a registration sticker needed for that province. Shheeww, that was a relief! We did not know what was going on until then…LOL! So the officer, continued on with us and then after we got out at the warrior museum, he went with the driver to complete forms and get everything squared away. The warrior exhibition was mind blowing due to the sheer magnitude of the number of Chinese warrior statues in one place (well actually 3 places on the grounds). There were thousands--rows upon rows. Statues of soldiers, horses, officers, and even actual wagons/chariots. It was a marvel to see how the ancient Chinese had reinforced the area to support the earth that would be covering all of the statues. It was a tomb for the Chinese emperor. The warriors were created and placed in the tomb to guard him in the afterlife. Remember, I said we learned some interesting things.
That evening on our way back to our hotel we spied a WAL-MART! So we made a plan to check it out… We set out by foot to walk to the Wal-Mart because it was just a couple of blocks away from the hotel. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and our straight line took us right through REAL, AUTHENTIC China! There were little food carts and vendors on each side of the tiny street (room for one car but they would cram two at times). They were selling "various" food items that they were cooking on the spot. There was trash every where, puddles of water/liquids to avoid, and a mingling of smells that varied from savory to vile. Definitely an EXPERIENCE! The Wal-Mart was also a unique experience and not your typical Wal-Mart….very interesting! Dehydrated chicken, pig snouts, pig ears, chicken feet, well every part of the chicken and pig was hanging out for sale, and everything was written in Chinese. It was still cool to see though!
The next morning we boarded a bullet train for our FAST--5hour--trip back to Beijing. Guess what? MORE NOODLES---Yea!!! (Not really--more like UGH! But at least we had food!) So thankfully this train was much newer, clean, and fresh (unlike our first train experience), and we took the opportunity to take a NAP…zzzz!
Beijing was full of history and lots of knowledge was gained about the Chinese Dynasty (actually the whole trip covered that…they are very proud of their history and rulers). We toured the Forbidden City, stood in Tieneman Square, watched a man carve Jade, watched ladies unravel silk from a cocoon, viewed the Temple of Heaven, rode a dragon boat across the lake at the Summer Palace garden, and CLIMBED THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA! My silly self packed only flip-flops (Hey, we have been living in the land of sand for 2 years! Its the perpetual footwear for all!) We had a day of cold, drizzly rain and we froze! We all had packed jackets, thank goodness! My feet were freezing, but that was my own fault, LOL! (We survived and at least had a story to tell!)
The Great Wall was AMAZING! It is definitely worthy of being a wonder of the world! As you climb you can sense the magnitude of what it took all those years ago to create this spectacular structure. It took 40 years for it to be finished. The men placed every stone by hand into the wall. If they died while working they were buried within the wall. So it was also a gravesite to so many. When you are standing at the base of the Great Wall, about to take the first step, you look up….and up… and up. It doesn't seem like it is that far, just steep BUT then you begin to climb. As you climb you physically realize the amount of perserverance and determination needed to make the journey to the top. You have to stop and rest along the way. In these moments, you can look out across the mountain range and feel the hand of God. You realize just how massive His creation of our world is and how tiny we are in comparison. In the words of Dr. Seuss, we are just a speck. It is an amazing, humbling experience in my opinion. You want to quit many times but as you look forward to the goal and then back at where you started, you realize how far you have come and you know you can't stop…you MUST push on or you will regret it! So you continue and push, taking one step at a time…. Finally you reach the top, turn, and marvel at the view. Truly breathtaking! You feel so small standing on the Great Wall, looking out at the massive view, and realize that even this large piece of the world is minuscule in comparison to the whole planet, the universe, to God!
This was my experience while on the Great Wall but others may have other revelations or they may see the climb as a challenge worth taking, while others like our boys saw it as a competition--who would get there first! I believe about half-way up they gave up on racing and just focused on not being a quitter! Denver said he laid down in the middle of the path and claimed he was dying! LOL! Clay pushed his Dad and I, and encouraged us to keep going! He wasn't yelling or really verbalizing it, just merely stayed with us rather than running off and leaving us. He could have left us behind in his dust but he said he didn't want to do that. He didn't want us to give up--he wanted us to go all the way to the top. (He is such a good boy--young man!)
Our journey was coming to an end and honestly we all were ready. We were very tired… Six nights and seven days of China was great and definitely enough to last a long time in our memories! We were blessed to be able to have this marvelous opportunity--from the magnificent to the sketchy--and it was worth it!
Our spring break adventure for 2015 was a trip that Clint has always wanted to take--a trip to China! Mainly, he has just always wanted to personally see the Great Wall of China. Well of course that was included on the itinerary but first we made other stops along the way. We weren't alone on this journey, our good friends, the Rentfro's, joined us for the adventure! So off we went 3 adults, 3 teenage boys, 2 eleven year old boys, and one sweet eight year old little girl….
Our journey began on a red-eye flight from Dubai, UAE to Beijing, China…. Eight hours later we arrive in China, hustle to retrieve our luggage and meet our tour guide. (The travel agency we used in Abu Dhabi to help us plan our trip made sure we were well taken care of… Never travel in China without a guide who speaks both your language and Chinese! A great big thank you to SNTTA travel agency and Jecintha for all her help!) Our guide was waiting for us as we came off the plane. He said to call him John because his Chinese given name would be to hard for us to pronounce….how thoughtful! Honestly he said that most Chinese choose an "English" name when working internationally, just makes things easier on everyone.
We load luggage and crew into the waiting van with our jet-lagged eyes and down the road we went. In case you didn't know, traffic flow is the same as in the US, same side of the road that is. Now what is not the same is that cars do not yield to pedestrians in the cross walks! RUN! It is a serious game of frogger! Of course the only ones concerned about this were the "Americans"…LOL!
Our first activity was a Chinese acrobatic show. When we first were approached with this option I wasn't sure if the boys (including Clint) would enjoy it or not. SURPRISE!! We all enjoyed it! It was a Chinese version of Cirque du Soleil…amazing feats of balance, body strength, and trust!! A super exhibition of well trained timing and choreography. I am glad we didn't skip out on this! The last part of the show took the circus act we all have seen, motorcycles in a cage, to a whole new level! The cage was approximately the same size used in the US at the circus, which usually causes you to hold your breath as three cyclists enter and then proceed to chase each other in close knit circles. The Chinese looked at this and said "NO, that's not enough!" So by the time the act is finished they have crammed EIGHT cyclists into the cage to chase each other and make criss cross patterns across the cage! HOLY SMOKES! (Literally the fumes were thick!) Talk about heart pounding moments of "WHAT!?", "NO WAY!", "ARE THEY CRAZY?"….All survived…We were impressed!
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| Silk embroidery ART It is ALL silk thread! |
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| Best Dinner when you are hungry! |
We were very glad we had our English speaking guid because EVERYTHING--I mean EVERYTHING was in Chinese! We lived on the edge and tried some things that we weren't real sure about--some were good, some not so good. Of course there were products that you knew just based on labeling…Coke, Doritos, Oreos, and some candy bars.
 |
| Arent we cute?! |
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| Jade Dragon |
It was now time to venture onto the overnight train from Beijing to Xian, China (pronounced shee-on). We traveled from the acrobatic theater to the train station. The waiting area was packed with people. We stood out in a MAJOR way! Our tour guide, John, informed us that most Chinese never see "Americans" during thier lifetime except on TV. So people were taking pictures of us, standing near us taking selfies with the American's in the background (LOL), and some even asked John to ask us if they could take pictures with the kids. The train station was our first encounter with the public toilets….EWWWW, GROSS! This was an experience all to itself any time we were in public. The public toilets rarely had what is referred to as "potty toilets". They had the type that are flush with and inset into the floor, and NONE ever had toilet paper! What!? UNSANITARY! I slipped while in the squatting position and had to catch myself with my hand or I would have landed in the "pop a squat" toilet. GROSS!! (Felt a little like the monster in Monster, Inc. that had the sock stuck to him--Someone call a 2319!!! Disinfect!!! This was just the first of many encounters with the "pop a squat" toilets, Thank God the hotels had modern "western" potty toilets!) The boys also had their own story to tell about the men's restroom…Denver said the bathroom attendent had a big stick that if you were taking too long, he would bang on your stall door and yell at you! LOL!! Now our wait was not long, so we were directed to the correct train car and boarded our lodging for the night. Don't be mistaken, a luxury train it was NOT! It was your bare minimum, needs met form of transportation. We crammed our family of five into a tiny little sleeping car with two bunks (sleeps 4), tiny table, tiny storage space (Glad I made us pack in duffle bags and backpacks!). The linens were clean--the floor was not! We dined on Ramen noodles, that by this point hit the spot because we hadn't eaten since our last in-flight meal. Best noodle soup EVER…ok we were really hungry! LOL The train had a spout reserved specifically for hot ingestible water. It was scalding hot straight out of the spout, so it was perfect for "cooking" Ramen noodles on a train. We laughed and joked and tried to get comfy. Everyone had their own beds except Denver and I…we slept on one bed since we were the smallest members of the family…AWWW! The Rentfro's were in the sleeping room next door, where I was told they all passed out from exhaustion after their gourmet Ramen noodle meal. That was not the case for me however. I tossed and turned…well as much as I could without kicking Denver in the face. Now, let's add in the MOST negative part of the overnight ride….CIGARETTE SMOKERS! Oh my! Chain smokers on a cramped, badly ventilated, poorly cooled (due to it not being the "hot" time of the year…well it was hot to us, and stuffy) commuter train! It seemed that every hour someone was smoking…UGH! For a family with 3 asthmatics and all with allergies, this was not good. I slept with my shirt pulled over my mouth and nose so I could filter the smoke as best as I could. We all woke up stuffy and wheezy, with Clay and Joshua both needing the inhaler. Thank goodness it was time to get off the train. We needed some air! Although smoking seems to be the thing to do in China, the air outside was better than the contained air on the train.
We reached Xian and here we met our second tour guide that would help us for the next few days. Timo was great! (She also told us that her Chinese given name was difficult to pronounce, so Timo was easier.) While in Xian we ate more noodles (seemed as though that was what we had breakfast, lunch, and dinner). In Xian we experienced the Wild Goose Pagoda (buddhist temple/museum), Tang Art museum, Xian Old City Wall (we rode bicycles the entire top of the wall--14km in 1 hour! We are good! Timo said we were really fast!) and the Terra Cotta Warriors Museum/exhibit. Timo and our driver took us everywhere in Xian. The most interesting thing happened while we were on our way to see the Terra Cotta Warriors…we were pulled over by the police! Of course they were all speaking in Chinese and it sounded heated! We "shoosh" the kids and sit quietly not having a clue as to what was going on. One of the officers boarded our van and off we went again. We were all casting questionable glances at each other and shrugging our shoulders…. Finally Timo tells us that we had crossed into another Chinese province (like crossing a state line) and the van was lacking a registration sticker needed for that province. Shheeww, that was a relief! We did not know what was going on until then…LOL! So the officer, continued on with us and then after we got out at the warrior museum, he went with the driver to complete forms and get everything squared away. The warrior exhibition was mind blowing due to the sheer magnitude of the number of Chinese warrior statues in one place (well actually 3 places on the grounds). There were thousands--rows upon rows. Statues of soldiers, horses, officers, and even actual wagons/chariots. It was a marvel to see how the ancient Chinese had reinforced the area to support the earth that would be covering all of the statues. It was a tomb for the Chinese emperor. The warriors were created and placed in the tomb to guard him in the afterlife. Remember, I said we learned some interesting things.
That evening on our way back to our hotel we spied a WAL-MART! So we made a plan to check it out… We set out by foot to walk to the Wal-Mart because it was just a couple of blocks away from the hotel. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and our straight line took us right through REAL, AUTHENTIC China! There were little food carts and vendors on each side of the tiny street (room for one car but they would cram two at times). They were selling "various" food items that they were cooking on the spot. There was trash every where, puddles of water/liquids to avoid, and a mingling of smells that varied from savory to vile. Definitely an EXPERIENCE! The Wal-Mart was also a unique experience and not your typical Wal-Mart….very interesting! Dehydrated chicken, pig snouts, pig ears, chicken feet, well every part of the chicken and pig was hanging out for sale, and everything was written in Chinese. It was still cool to see though!
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| Tieneman Square |
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| COLD TOES! |
Beijing was full of history and lots of knowledge was gained about the Chinese Dynasty (actually the whole trip covered that…they are very proud of their history and rulers). We toured the Forbidden City, stood in Tieneman Square, watched a man carve Jade, watched ladies unravel silk from a cocoon, viewed the Temple of Heaven, rode a dragon boat across the lake at the Summer Palace garden, and CLIMBED THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA! My silly self packed only flip-flops (Hey, we have been living in the land of sand for 2 years! Its the perpetual footwear for all!) We had a day of cold, drizzly rain and we froze! We all had packed jackets, thank goodness! My feet were freezing, but that was my own fault, LOL! (We survived and at least had a story to tell!)
 |
| On our way up |
The Great Wall was AMAZING! It is definitely worthy of being a wonder of the world! As you climb you can sense the magnitude of what it took all those years ago to create this spectacular structure. It took 40 years for it to be finished. The men placed every stone by hand into the wall. If they died while working they were buried within the wall. So it was also a gravesite to so many. When you are standing at the base of the Great Wall, about to take the first step, you look up….and up… and up. It doesn't seem like it is that far, just steep BUT then you begin to climb. As you climb you physically realize the amount of perserverance and determination needed to make the journey to the top. You have to stop and rest along the way. In these moments, you can look out across the mountain range and feel the hand of God. You realize just how massive His creation of our world is and how tiny we are in comparison. In the words of Dr. Seuss, we are just a speck. It is an amazing, humbling experience in my opinion. You want to quit many times but as you look forward to the goal and then back at where you started, you realize how far you have come and you know you can't stop…you MUST push on or you will regret it! So you continue and push, taking one step at a time…. Finally you reach the top, turn, and marvel at the view. Truly breathtaking! You feel so small standing on the Great Wall, looking out at the massive view, and realize that even this large piece of the world is minuscule in comparison to the whole planet, the universe, to God!
This was my experience while on the Great Wall but others may have other revelations or they may see the climb as a challenge worth taking, while others like our boys saw it as a competition--who would get there first! I believe about half-way up they gave up on racing and just focused on not being a quitter! Denver said he laid down in the middle of the path and claimed he was dying! LOL! Clay pushed his Dad and I, and encouraged us to keep going! He wasn't yelling or really verbalizing it, just merely stayed with us rather than running off and leaving us. He could have left us behind in his dust but he said he didn't want to do that. He didn't want us to give up--he wanted us to go all the way to the top. (He is such a good boy--young man!)
 |
| Expert carving Jade figure |
Our journey was coming to an end and honestly we all were ready. We were very tired… Six nights and seven days of China was great and definitely enough to last a long time in our memories! We were blessed to be able to have this marvelous opportunity--from the magnificent to the sketchy--and it was worth it!
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| Stretching silk from silk worm cocoons |
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| Summer Palace |
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| Jade Showroom |
