Last night, we made our way from the beautiful new Beijing airport into the cool foggy air of Beijing, with our guide, Veronica. She took us on a very nice shuttle to our hotel, Poly Plaza.
We could not believe how nice and crisp and cool the air was compared to humid Hong Kong. It was so reminiscent of our last adoption trip when we left the humidity and heat of Ho Chi Minh City and landed up north in Hanoi. HCMC was flashy, showy, crammed with people during the Christmas festivities, and extremely lively at all hours of the night. Hanoi was foggy, cool, more of an ancient look and historical vibe. Same here in China. Hong Kong was flashy, showy, crammed full of people up all hours of the night partying the hours away. From what we saw of Beijing today, it is spread out very much and isn't crammed so tightly together. It also is cooler, foggier/smoggier, and has a more historical, ancient vibe.
Today we toured the Summer Palace with another adopting family and our guide, Michael. We rode the dragon boat to the other side of Kunming Lake where the huge porcelain
boat sits. Then we walked through the longevity tunnel looking at the thousands of different and unique paintings underneath the awnings. Michael taught us about Empress Cixi, the dragon lady. She sounded pretty funny how she relegated the emperor's statue to the inside of the palace. Then, she put hers outside, front and center, because she was in power and didnt want to play second fiddle like was normally the case when males ruled.
The other adopting family has their two young daughters with them, and lots of the Chinese tourists surrounded them, wanting pictures with their daughters and to touch their hair. They may either have thought the two girls were twins or they just weren't used to seeing caucasian children.
In the middle of the day, we took the subway to Olympic Village where the water cube and bird's nest is. We foolishly took a bus from the subway to the Olympic Park and almost got trampled trying to board the bus. Absolute lawlessness.
Let's just say this much...
STAY AWAY FROM ANY BUSES IN BEIJING AND PROBABLY THE SUBWAY AS WELL!!!
(especially if you are not Asian and stand out like a sore thumb from the locals)
Take a taxi instead. Much safer. Much, much safer. Even with the taxi drivers who adhere to no road rules, it has got to be safer than what we encountered today near the Olympic Village.
On to this evening..
We went to an acrobatic show that was pretty fun and entertaining. I'm glad we went even though I originally thought it'd be hokey. It was pretty cool what most of the performers did, like the girl bicycle act. There must've been at least 12 girls balanced on one bicycle, which was being pedaled in a pretty small circle.
And here we are, back in our hotel room, which is shockingly spacious compared to the cracker box we had in Hong Kong. Our bathroom in this hotel is the size of what our entire bedroom was in the HK hotel. One thing is the same. The beds are as hard as everyone says they are. But at the end of the night when we're bushed, we somehow find a way to crash hard and not wake til the next morn.
We could not believe how nice and crisp and cool the air was compared to humid Hong Kong. It was so reminiscent of our last adoption trip when we left the humidity and heat of Ho Chi Minh City and landed up north in Hanoi. HCMC was flashy, showy, crammed with people during the Christmas festivities, and extremely lively at all hours of the night. Hanoi was foggy, cool, more of an ancient look and historical vibe. Same here in China. Hong Kong was flashy, showy, crammed full of people up all hours of the night partying the hours away. From what we saw of Beijing today, it is spread out very much and isn't crammed so tightly together. It also is cooler, foggier/smoggier, and has a more historical, ancient vibe.
Today we toured the Summer Palace with another adopting family and our guide, Michael. We rode the dragon boat to the other side of Kunming Lake where the huge porcelain
boat sits. Then we walked through the longevity tunnel looking at the thousands of different and unique paintings underneath the awnings. Michael taught us about Empress Cixi, the dragon lady. She sounded pretty funny how she relegated the emperor's statue to the inside of the palace. Then, she put hers outside, front and center, because she was in power and didnt want to play second fiddle like was normally the case when males ruled.
The other adopting family has their two young daughters with them, and lots of the Chinese tourists surrounded them, wanting pictures with their daughters and to touch their hair. They may either have thought the two girls were twins or they just weren't used to seeing caucasian children.
In the middle of the day, we took the subway to Olympic Village where the water cube and bird's nest is. We foolishly took a bus from the subway to the Olympic Park and almost got trampled trying to board the bus. Absolute lawlessness.
Let's just say this much...
STAY AWAY FROM ANY BUSES IN BEIJING AND PROBABLY THE SUBWAY AS WELL!!!
(especially if you are not Asian and stand out like a sore thumb from the locals)
Take a taxi instead. Much safer. Much, much safer. Even with the taxi drivers who adhere to no road rules, it has got to be safer than what we encountered today near the Olympic Village.
On to this evening..
We went to an acrobatic show that was pretty fun and entertaining. I'm glad we went even though I originally thought it'd be hokey. It was pretty cool what most of the performers did, like the girl bicycle act. There must've been at least 12 girls balanced on one bicycle, which was being pedaled in a pretty small circle.
And here we are, back in our hotel room, which is shockingly spacious compared to the cracker box we had in Hong Kong. Our bathroom in this hotel is the size of what our entire bedroom was in the HK hotel. One thing is the same. The beds are as hard as everyone says they are. But at the end of the night when we're bushed, we somehow find a way to crash hard and not wake til the next morn.
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