Mike's China story

I caught Mike doing a write-up on our trip to China- and promptly stole it! :) I think he did a great job, and picked up where I left off as far as details go....enjoy!

Our trip to Beijing and Hong Kong was super. We were pretty tired when we got home, but we did a lot and saw a lot and did it with two kids!!

Beijing was not what we expected at all - it was clean, modern, user friendly for the most part, and easy. Our biggest problem was that most taxi drivers didn't speak english (we just assumed they would speak a tiny bit due to the recent Olympics and would know the common big touristy areas, and the names of the larger hotel chains). We were quickly acquainted with this issue at the airport upon arrival. One dude who did spoke English wanted to charge us 450 Yuan (6.3 to 1 USD) to go to our hotel. All said and done, it cost 77 Yuan using a non-speaking taxi driver who took the initiative to call the hotel and get directions.

From that point onwards, we got our destination written out by a local as per guidance given to us by friends who had recently visited.

China was not what I expected in a communist country. I just expected white, square, concrete buildings and no one talking or interacting with others - years of brainwashing at West Point! It was pleasant, modern, and for the most part friendly. It is very militaryish, with the servicemen and police standing everywhere. And you can't help but notice the perfectly aligned trees in the common areas, all the same height, etc., etc. A bit planned, but, the alternative is Mumbai...

We did the common touristy things with the kids in tow. We did the Mutianyu portion of the wall with a tour guide who we hired from Beijing - the drive to get to this part of the wall was about 90 minutes one way. It was great. We got there in the morning and had the wall just about to ourselves. It was cool and crisp, which made the trek up to Guard Point #20 pleasant. I had Ryan on my back, so I was a bit whipped after the journey, but it was well worth it. From Guard Point #14 (where we acquired access to the wall), it was mostly uphill - and the trek from #19 to #20 was VERY steep. The last little climb to the top of #20 was on all fours!! I wasn't so sure it was smart going up with Ryan on my back as I hadn't completely figured out how I was gonna get back down! It was so steep that a rope was really needed. But, the wall is largely not safety proofed - read, no safety elements added. You are basically on your own - and there are no "park rangers" roaming the area to offer assistance, help, guidance, etc.

We did the street vendor thing one night for dinner and survived the experience! Ryan was not happy that evening, so Tara took him back to the hotel early. Cate and I searched for fried grasshoppers, but only found scorpions, beetles, seahorses (and other stuff that I was NOT going to try). The thought of eating a scorpion or a beetle didn't sit well with me, so we settled for delicacies that were not in the "insect" chain...dumplings, roasted corn, grilled chicken, sugared fruit. Great experience. I really had Cate committed to eating fried grasshoppers with me, but we couldn't find any!! Darn!!

We used just about every form of transportation while there - taxi, bus, subway. It was nice!! We would go back, but the visas are not cheap!!!

Hong Kong was really enjoyable, too. It is an interesting city, built on the side of and on top of mountains that are surrounded by the sea. The weather was overcast and hazy during our trip - can only imagine how awesome the views would be in clear skies. We slowed down just a bit in HK, but only because almost everything we did was across the harbor, so we had to walk to the ferry terminal, ride the ferry across to HK island, and then either walk, or taxi, or bus our way around the island. There is one area of the island that has about a mile or so of escalators that go up the side of this mountain. At each cross street, the escalator ended so you could get off and sight-see or shop, eat, etc. We rode the escalators all the way to the top and then walked over to the public Zoo and Botanical Gardens, which had some birds and mammals on display.

Because of the mountainous terrain in HK, they have a few cable cars to connect different sections of the island. We spent one day at an amusement park called Ocean Park. Is was there before Disneyland Hong Kong was built, and Ocean Park pumped millions of dollars into the park to upgrade it to compete with the new Disney park (which we did not do- we'll do DisneyWorld this summer). It was really nice. But, one of the best rides as far as views was concerned, was the cable car ride from one section of the park to the other. The one section that you entered into was the "kids" section. It had all kinds of kiddie rides and things for little ones to do, to include a few Panda bear exhibits! So cool!! To get to the other section of the park that had the "big kid" rides, you either had to take the train through the mountain or the cable car over the mountain. We took the cable car. Awesome. Cate couldn't ride most of the big-kid rides as she was too short, but she and Tara did the log ride. I got some pics of them coming down the last big fall. Great pics!! Mouths wide open and soaking wet!! Tara said that as they were pulling into the station to disembark, Catherine declared "That was SOOOO FUN! Oh my gosh, that was SO FUN!" It started raining later in the afternoon and it got quite cold. We were not well equipped for the rain, so we departed the park around 5pm. It was a good day.

Our last day in HK was Easter, so we had Easter brunch at the hotel and slowly packed up afterwards. We departed the hotel around 2pm for the airport, but our flight didn't depart until like 9:30pm. We had heard that Cathay Pacific would allow you to check your bags early in HK, so we thought we would try it and if possible, would use the rest of the afternoon to explore the world's largest sitting Buddha statue located about 2km from the airport on the top of a mountain. Well, Cathay took our bags, so we put Ryan in the backpack and off we went. We had three options, take the crazy bus to the cable car for a 25 minute ride up the mountain, or- take a taxi, or- take the crazy bus to another bus and ride for 45 minutes up the mountain. We opted for the cable car!! Again, another awesome trip. The ride was so long that we transitioned through three stationhouses so that the cable car direction could be changed. Very cool. However, as soon as we got up to the top, the line to get back on the cable car to get back down the mountain was already at the 90+minute marker. We didn't get up the mountain until 5:30pm and we were supposed to be at the airport for security checks around 7pm for our 9:30pm flight. So Tara immmediately got in line while Cate, Ryan, and I went to go see the Buddha (I know, kinda bad since it was Easter, but we knew Jesus would understand). We didn't climb the 260 stairs to get to the statue, but we took some pics. Most of the pics show Buddha's head in the clouds!! Well, after a very long wait, we got back down the mountain and to the airport in time to catch our flight. Never a dull moment!!!