Lindsay's Adventure in China

The little traveler

It is fun to watch Sean travel. Seeing the world really expanded his horizons and gave him a sense of confidence. He knows three sayings in Chinese, hello, thank you and Happy New Year. It's cute to see the response he gets when he speaks Chinese to Chinese people. They are so amused, you would think Sean had spoken full sentences. They just think it is so amazing that this little American boy can speak any Chinese. They always smile and touch him. If they are with other people they turn and tell them what Sean said.

Sean also made friends where ever we went. This little boy is named Roland and his mom works at the Pearl factory we visited. When Sean walked in the door this little boys eyes just lit up. The next thing you know he and Sean were in a back room playing with cars. Roland taught Sean how to count on his fingers in Chinese. They don't use two hands to count to ten they do it all on one. This was the highlight of Sean's day.

This little boy lived in the red door district. We ate lunch at his parents house. He and Sean played Thomas the Train.

Sean at the prayer wheel.

The most remarkable experience was Sean at the Lama temple. It is a Tibetan lamasery located outside of Tibet. Because it was a temple we couldn't take pictures inside the buildings but it was amazing. There was a 55 foot high statue of Maitreya (the future Buddha) carved from a single block of sandalwood. It was a sight to behold. Sean is very interested in religion. I find that strange for a five year old. Sean wanted to know who Buddha was. In one to the temples there were 200 monks chanting. It was surreal. The temple has open walls so it was freezing. The monks sat at tables in heavy robes with little green lights over their books and they chant. At first Sean was scared. Don told them what they were doing and why they were doing it. Sean said his teacher told him there was only one God. Don told him lots of people worship lots of different Gods or powers. Sean said that the God in his heart was not Buddha. How insightful is that for a five year old.

Sean watched many locals pay homage to Buddha by burning incense and bowing. It was one of those moments that I was glad he had the opportunity to experience. He could watch it on TV or read about it but it wasn't the same as actually smelling it, hearing it and watching it.

Our least favorite day

I'm not even sure where we went this day all I know is it was cold and miserable. So cold that the second stop we stayed in the bus and skipped whatever site the rest of the group was seeing. While sitting in the bus we spied a McDonald's which was good because in addition to being bone numbing cold the food we had for lunch was bad. humorously bad, they just kept bringing us plate after plate of dumplings. We were all laughing so hard. It was a memorable lunch. Our tour guide said it was a famous dumpling house and dumpings are part of the New Year festival. No one in the group will ever look at a Chinese dumpling without thinking about that lunch. They even had a dumpling stuffed with tomato's and eggs. There is a Pizza Hut, KFC and 7-11 every other block in this town. McDonald's had fried chicken and fried rice other than that it was the same. The McDonald's did have a squatty potty. That made me laugh. They call New Years, the spring festival. I thinks it's a premature spring festvial cause dang it is COLD! The air was good while we there so the mask are purely for warmth. We were worried about the air and came prepared but it was not a problem. The air was about the same as it is in Utah. That's not a complement to China's air.

Sean, running for the arches!! "Do they have happy meals?"

We visited a market where you had to argue over prices. I don't like shopping so shopping and having to haggle for prices is really not my idea of a good time. I did get some cute baby clothes.

I think this place was called the Temple to Heaven. This is where we froze. Everyone on the tour said this was a miserable day.

We were very happy to get back to our room and go to bed and get a warm nights sleep.

Hotel breakfast

The Beijing Trader hotel is a very nice hotel. In the information it said breakfast was included in our stay. I was expecting a continental breakfast like you get at a Best Western in the U.S. This breakfast was like no other breakfast I've ever had.

Sean can't wait to get up in the morning and go to his favorite restaurant. He tried lots of different foods. He said he didn't like seaweed until he heard Ella (another little girl there) say she loved it.
It was interesting Sean realizing our relationship with all the people in our tour group was short lived. When we said goodbye to Ella and Jim (our tour guide) Sean said "I will never see them again." We told him he was probably right but who knows. When he is older he can exchange email addresses with friends but five is a little young for that.

The walls in the restaurant. I thought it would make a great food storage decorative wall. Don said "that food is not for eating" I said "that's beside the point, it looks good and it's useful."

Steamed bread, some plain some stuffed with meat, bean paste or vegetables. So yummy.

A miso soup bar. Who knew such a thing existed.

Row after row of western and Chinese food.

Spreading the bean paste on to the dough.
I will miss these breakfast!!! I will probably dream about them.

Yes, I am smiling. No, I won't be smiling when I look at the scale.

China Spree world traveler

The Hutongs

We took a rickshaw through Beijing 's old Hutongs (narrow ancient ally ways). These neighborhoods are over 600 years old. The emperors of China used to live in them. Until the 1980's when China became open to the rest of the world Beijing was made up of these type of neighborhoods. Now most of Beijing is high rises. We shopped on "Lotus Lane." We ate dinner in the court yard of a local family. Well, we didn't actually eat in the court yard we ate in their dining room. Four families share the courtyard, kitchen, dining room and bathroom.

Rickshaw

This is the street we shopped on. I bought a couple of souvenirs. I liked this street because the prices were fixed. I am not a fan of shopping (unless it's coupon shopping at Walmart) so shopping and arguing over prices is not fun for me. Other's in the group really enjoyed haggling over prices. Speaking of Walmart. I would have liked to visit one in China. We drove past one and part of the signage on the building says "Walmart: A pretty store."

The post office. I loved all the red doors. It reminded me of a history book. Hm, maybe because I've seen them in history books.

A market we passed on our rickshaw ride.

One of the alley ways.

Part of our tour group. This is the home we ate lunch at. The grandfather is a famous artist. He painted all the pictures on the wall.

Hey chicken get out of my way.

Happy Chinese New Year

There were red lanterns everywhere. Jim said the Chinese New Year is also called the Spring Festival even though it didn't feel very springy. On Sunday a bunch of our group went to a festival in the city. We were too tired and didn't go. If I had it to do over I would have gone. Don and Sean went swimming and I went to the grocery store in the mall and started packing.

Sean and his dragon ornament.

As we were leaving the hotel they had a New Years celebration.

There were tables of food for the dragon. Gotta keep that dragon happy!

Seeing this picture reminded me that we went to a fabulous Peking duck dinner, so yummy.

Dragon Ceremony

I made a video though it doesn't do justice to the volume. There were thousands of fire crackers going of and drummers drumming. It was awesome. I seem to use the word awesome a lot to describe our vacation.