Lindsay's Adventure in China
Monday, February 11, 2013
Crazy busy day
We woke up at 4 a.m. The hotel is connected to a mall. A really big mall with an ice skating rink. When we woke up we walked around the empty mall for awhile. We got back a little before six and they let us eat breakfast a little early. Then off to our days adventure.
The 2008 Olympic Bird nest. |
Nothing says Beijing like a surgical mask. The air wasn't too bad today. We wore mask because we were freezing our faces off. We will dress a little differently for tomorrow adventures. |
The Forbidden City was HUGE! I didn't have any expectations but it was overwhelming. There were just palaces after palaces built in the 1400's. Home to emperor's their concubines and their eunuchs. |
Amazing architecture. The color yellow was considered royal and only the emperor's could use them. |
A ceiling in the imperil chambers at the Forbidden City. |
Sean took this picture from Don's shoulders. |
Sean got to have his name written in the snow on a bench in the Forbidden City in Beijing. I thought that was a fun memory. |
An alley to the living area of one of the forbidden cities. |
A white out behind us at Tienanmen Square. |
There are huge copper vats all around the forbidden city. I am sure setting your kid in one is forbidden but we did it fast so no one yelled at us. |
The massage
On the bus returning from a long day of walking in the cold our tour guide suggested massages. A one hour massage was $25 in your hotel room. Don's back hurt from carrying Sean on his shoulders so he ordered a massage. I was laying on Sean's bed while Don had his massage. When Don's massage was done she asked if I wanted one. Sure, why not. Don seemed to enjoy his.
My massage was a little different. Usually a masseur ask if you want the massage, light, medium or hard. This lady spoke no English and didn't read body language. She was definitely in the hard category she popped all my fingers and even my toes. I spent the entire massage grimacing in pain and laughing. At one point she had me sit up, grabbed my hair and shook my head back and forth. I don't think this woman trained at the Utah school of massage therapy. She soaked my feet in a bag of water. Don's water wasn't scalding but mine was so hot I could not put my feet in it. The sadist tried to force by feet in the water but I kept pulling them out eventually she put cooler water in the bag. Our trip was all about adventure and the massage was an adventure. I laugh every time I think about it. I wish I had a video of her shaking my head.
My massage was a little different. Usually a masseur ask if you want the massage, light, medium or hard. This lady spoke no English and didn't read body language. She was definitely in the hard category she popped all my fingers and even my toes. I spent the entire massage grimacing in pain and laughing. At one point she had me sit up, grabbed my hair and shook my head back and forth. I don't think this woman trained at the Utah school of massage therapy. She soaked my feet in a bag of water. Don's water wasn't scalding but mine was so hot I could not put my feet in it. The sadist tried to force by feet in the water but I kept pulling them out eventually she put cooler water in the bag. Our trip was all about adventure and the massage was an adventure. I laugh every time I think about it. I wish I had a video of her shaking my head.
Don's feet soaking in a bag of I don't know what |
The tooth
We figured Sean would lose his first tooth in China. Don looked up Chinese tradition for lost teeth. If the tooth is a top tooth you bury it so it will grow up straight. If it is a bottom tooth you throw it on a roof top so it will grow up straight. We talked to a couple of Chinese people who had never heard of this tradition. WHAT, we read it on the Internet how can it not be true. Oh well, we liked the idea so we went with it. Sean now plans to bury or throw all his baby teeth. It's a much cooler concept then a fairy sneaking in your room and slipping money under your pillow. That's just scary.
We didn't have a roof to throw the tooth on as we are staying in a high rise hotel. We were at the Buddhist Temple in Beijing and Sean threw his lost tooth up on an alter. It made for a unique lost first tooth experience. I'm not sure how the monks would feel about us paying homage to Buddha with a lost tooth but it seemed like the thing to do.
I bet no other kid in Centerville got to do that. Pretty cool stuff. |
Sacred Way of Ming Tomb's
The Ming Tomb's was chosen by the Ming Emperors as their resting place because it is situated in a valley. There are mountains on the north that cradle the tombs on three sides, opening to the south and protecting the dead from evil spirits carried on the north wind. The burial ground is over 400 years old. China has so much ancient history. I still can't get over the wall being started B.C.
Everything in old China is positioned in a symbolic way. Even the way the bedroom faces determines if a boy or girl sleeps in the room. Gardens only have four elements (or maybe five I can't remember).
Everything in old China is positioned in a symbolic way. Even the way the bedroom faces determines if a boy or girl sleeps in the room. Gardens only have four elements (or maybe five I can't remember).
I'm guessing there is a rule against setting your child on top of the 400 year old statue. |
Sean holding up the elephant. |
The Great Wall of China
I looked at the wall and was just amazed that I was standing on the Great Wall of China. It was not a place I thought I would ever visit. So awesome. |
Seeing the Great Wall was really a wow moment. The Wall was begun in the 5th Century BC to keep out foreign invaders. (The Chinese do not have a lot of nice things to say about Japanese). Construction went on for centuries. The wall is over 3500 miles. That is one huge wall. Chairman Mao once said "You haven't walked on the Wall, you haven't been good Chinese."` With the wall being that long it seems like most Chinese should have the opportunity to walk on it. They used a lot of prisoners to build the wall. If you died while building it they just threw you in the wall and buried you. I guess that was their idea of an employee benefit. It had to have been miserable work because China is COLD in the winter. Seriously cold. I've always thought pictures of little Chinese kids in the quilted clothes were cute. Now I know it's not about being cute it's about not freezing your kids butt off.
One side of the wall is taller with cut outs in the rock so soldiers could guard the wall. If enemy was approaching they would build a number of fires depending on the number of enemy.To say it was windy on the wall would be an understatement. It was lots of fun though. It was a steep climb. I couldn't believe we were really climbing the Great Wall of China I kept thinking how cool it was.
Sean was hyper he ran way ahead of us. He could have kept going and going but he had to stop and take a picture of me laying on the steps.
Yep, I had to lie down for a little break. Seriously my calves were burning!
What a view. It was breathtaking. (figuratively and literally)
When we got to the top of the area we were climbing we saw a roller coaster that would take you down the mountain. It looked like fun and Sean really wanted to do it. The big question was where does the coaster leave you? We asked at the ticket counter and they said "on the other side of the mountain, only ten minute walk to coffee shop." Hm, that doesn't seem likely but what the heck,this trip has been about adventure. We took the ride down the mountain. There were bears in cages and lots of vendors or as our guide calls them "winders." We walked around for awhile trying to figure out how to get back to where we needed to be. There was a guy with a camel who wanted to charge 12 yen to have your picture taken on the camel. A Chinese teenager with really good English was telling everyone the guy was a crook. The teenager wanted to have his picture taken with Sean, I told him it would be 12 yen. Ha, ha! He had his picture taken with all of us. It cracked me up people wanting to have their picture taken with Sean. He is a super cute kid but he has brown hair and brown eyes. He's doesn't look that much different than a Chinese kid. The first time someone grabbed him for a picture it really scared him after that he got used to it and didn't care. We asked the teenager how to get to the other side of the mountain and he told us it was a long way back. Bummer, of course there was a taxi willing to take us back to the coffee shop and our tour bus for 200 yen. At that point I was freezing and tired and didn't care how much it cost. We made it back to the coffee shop with about 30 minutes to spare. Panda's and acrobats
We went to the panda zoo in Beijing. We learned a lot about Panda's. They are super lazy and eat 20 pounds of bamboo per day. If they have twins they just throw one out because they don't want
to take care of two. At least that's the assumption humans make because panda's don't talk.
to take care of two. At least that's the assumption humans make because panda's don't talk.
Sitting next to bamboo. They grow a lot of bamboo. If you have to feed bamboo to a couple of hundred pandas every day you are going to have to grow a boat load of bamboo.
We went to a Chinese acrobat show one evening. The acrobats were very talented but I kept thinking about a video I saw on Youtube of how abused Chinese children are when they are being trained as gymnast. One of the performers dropped his hats during a juggling act. He did it three times. At first I thought it was part of the act but it became obvious he just dropped the hats over and over. Eventually he just bowed and walked off the stage. I hope they didn't beat him or fire him after the performance. I had a hard time enjoying the performance because of how the performers were treated as children.
Sean really enjoyed the show.
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