Trip of a Lifetime - Day 4 -

What a day this has been! Before I get started on the events of the day, I want to mention how much security we have here at the China World. You can only go to your floor on the elevators and you must put your room key in a slot in the elevator before it will start. There are gentlemen who work for the hotel who all know each guest by name and they open the elevator door for you and then will help you use your key if that is necessary.

By the same token, when you get on the elevator to come down, it won't start until you have inserted your key and only stops on the public floors, not the ones where other rooms are. They don't want anyone in the hotel who isn't supposed to be there. I found this to be extraordinary and it gives you a very nice feeling of security. It's like the gated community where we stay in Santa Fe where no one can come to your condo without their name being left at the gate. You have no surprise visitors.

We started our day at 8:00 a.m. with our Viking guide, Helen, and 29 other fellow travelers were escorted to a bus where our first destination of the day would be Tianamen Square. It is a huge place and a very long walk. I made the mistake of not getting a wheelchair and "driver" so I had a hard time.

They let us off the bus at the FAR end of the square and we walked the entire length of it. The square is 880 meters (2887 feet) south to north and 500 metres (1640 feet) east to west, a total area of 440,000 square metres (108.7 acres), which makes it the largest open-urban square in the world.

From there we crossed under the main street (up and down MANY steps) and ended up in the middle of the main wall to the Gate of the Imperial City and the Forbidden City.

For the next two hours we walked constantly, stopping only briefly to snap a few photographs. The Forbidden City occupies 720,000 square meters and it felt as though we walked every inch of it even though we barely scratched the surface. Both the City and the Square are so vast that you to have been there to appreciate the vastness of these two places. Since we entered at one end and had to exit at the other to get to our bus, there were no shortcuts! You had to walk the whole distance.

From there we went to the Capital Hotel for a buffet lunch and then on to the Summer Palace. We were blessed as they let us take the Dragon Boats both to and from the Palace rather than walking there and taking the boat back! That saved us a LOT of steps. While we were there a man came and sat beside me and carved the place, date and my name in Chinese on my cane. It looks great! I'll always think of that experience when I use it and the little man who did this for me.

The Marble Boat above is also known as the Boat of Purity and Ease. It was first erected in 1755 during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. The original pavilion was made from a base of large stone blocks which supported a wooden superstructure done in a traditional Chinese design. In 1860, during the Second Opium War, the pavilion was destroyed by Anglo-French forces. It was restored in 1893 on order of the Empress Dowager Cixi.

I forgot to mention that we visited with a man and his son in The Forbidden City and they shared some of their rice cookies with us and wanted to take our photograph. In turn we took theirs. It was a neat experience. They were very interested in Frank and his age. The son spoke a little English but the man did not. He was only 52 years old! They didn't say a lot to me since it is mainly a male dominated society. I did get to have some of the cookies though ;-)

From there we went to the Summer Palace where we spent about an hour and a half and then drove through rush hour traffic so we could get back to the hotel in time to shower, dress and go to a Peking Duck dinner and the Beijing Opera.

In my opinion the dinner was not the best (and I like duck) but the opera was fun and the beauty of the whole evening was that we were back at the hotel a little after 10 and were in bed by 10:30. This was only our first day with Viking and our adventure is only beginning. We'll be off on another adventure tomorrow and we're still in Beijing, so stay tuned. By the way, someone in our group had a pedometer and we walked over 7 miles that day! Pcasso

Trip of a Lifetime - Day 3

We got up early, 6:00 a.m., dressed and went to the dining room for an early breakfast. As I was in a Yiddish mode, I decided to have one of my favorite things to eat in the morning ... Lox, bagels and cream cheese with capers and onions ... plus a HUGE glass of orange juice. What more could one want to start the day!!

We then returned to the room to prepare for our first big Chinese outing. It was time for us to venture outside of the comforts of the China World and see how everyone else lives in Beijing.

Our driver picked us up at the appointed hour and we were off to our adventures of the day.

Our first stop of the today was at the Behai gardens.

Our little friend, Mitch, had suggested we go there as there were always "senior citizens" gathered doing exercises, dancing and playing badminton along with socializing in general (do you think that she thought we would like it there since we are in the senior cagtegory?) If that was the case, she was absolutely correct! One thing that they do in China when they meet you is to ask your age. That's not an insult but a good question. They then ask what you do. We were told not to feel insulted, but rather to feel honored that they cared enough about you to ask. Not a bad thing, really. Age and position are highly respected there.

The parks are a place to socialize and people gather there daily to visit rather than meeting in their homes. It would be nice if we would utilize our parks in that manner. They also play cards, Maj Jong and drink tea at the tea houses which are inside the parks.

The women would get in a line after doing some of their exercises and pat each on the on their backs and arms as they sang little songs. This was to help with their circulation and get themselves ready for the next set of exercises. What a good idea!

The gardens themselves were absolutely beautiful and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there. We spent nearly 2 hours in the park which flew by, and then we went back to our car which was waiting for us and were on our way to the Beijing Zoo.

The big attraction at the zoo was the Giant Pandas, or at least that's what we thought. However, what we found out was that WE were the main attraction! Not many Caucasians go to the zoo in Beijing, so everyone was looking at us! Our driver took us to a private entrance since it was Sunday and there were hundreds of people in line, so we didn't have to wait. Trust me, it's the ONLY way to go!

As I was snapping photographs of the animals, the people were taking photos of me! They were fascinated with our fair skin and light colored hair (thanks to Mother Nature!)

It was a very warm and humid day, and after several hours at the zoo, we were more than happy for our driver to take us back to the hotel for a cool shower, a cold beer and a bite of late afternoon lunch.

Our guide from Viking River Cruises called us on the phone in our room and gave us our instructions for tomorrow. Her name is Helen and she will be our personal guide for the next 3 weeks. We were to find out later that she is a real jewel .... sweet, pretty, efficient and very capable of taking care of her "flock". Viking hires only the best and she exceeded the requirements.

Frank went down to the lobby to watch them set up for a tea dance while I took a shower. He came back up to the room and we decided what we really needed was one more nap. After today we should finally be over jet lag.

Talk about a nap! We slept for nearly 4 hours. We missed both the tea dance and the Sunday evening concert! We then played a game of gin, had a drink, ordered room service and went to sleep again at 10:00.

While we were having cocktails, we asked each other what our pre-conceived impression of China was before we actually arrived there. Having had the privilege of visiting most of the major cities in the world at this point in our lives, we expected Beijing to be like most large cities. We were wrong! The architecture here is amazing and much more hi-tech than many other cities that we have visited. That came as no great surprise since we have been in Hong Kong several times, but here are other impressions we have so far.... there is a great respect for the elderly, the young women of a higher class in China are tall, willowy and extremely well dressed. The shopping mall below our hotel would put the shops on Rodeo Drive to shame. Every high dollar store that you have ever heard of is there.. and all within a city block! Everything from Gucci, Fendi, Chanel, Louis Vuitton ... you name it! If you are a shopper (Frank is still thanking the Lord that I don't like to shop :-)

The people are extremely polite, hospitable and very helpful. They speak very little English and it's difficult to understand them at times, but if you can't figure out what they are saying ... they will write it for you in English. They truly can't pronounce r's and l's! The city is immaculately clean which surprises me since there are millions of people here. I would defy you to find a piece of litter!

We finally gave up the ghost and were in bed by 9:00. We have a VERY full day tomorrow and we want to be raring to go in the morning. Are you up for it??? We were :-)

XOXO, Pcasso

Trip of a Lifetime - Day 2 - Beijing

When we woke up in our lovely room at the China World Hotel at 5:30 a.m. (still running on Texas time, I suppose) we decided it would be foolish to stay in bed as we wanted to try to get our body clocks adjusted to Chinese time.
After taking a shower and dressing, we ventured downstairs to get a little bit of breakfast. After all, nearly 6 hours had passed and we hadn't eaten a thing. A wonderful breakfast buffet breakfast awaited us, so we ate our fill of goodies. There had to be at least 40 different kinds of breads and rolls,



all sorts of fresh fruit, juices, cereals as well as eggs cooked any way that you would like. The Chinese eat soup, rice, pickled vegetables, olives, cold cuts and assorted things that I wasn't sure what they were for breakfast, but we stuck to Western food, at least for our first breakfast meal here.



After breakfast as we were looking around the hotel, we found this delightful hotel employee whose name was Mitch. She helped us with our plans for the next couple of days while we are still on our own in Beijing. Our tour with the Viking Company doesn't actually start until the 3rd, so we wanted to do something that was not included on their agenda for us. Mitch is Filipino and speaks very good English, so we asked her for suggestions. As it was very hot and humid outside, we decided to take it easy and enjoy the hotel for the rest of the day and start our sightseeing tomorrow.



We had lunch at the Nada Man restaurant in the hotel which is a little like Hibachi 97 at home. Even thought the food was cooked in the same manner, it was very different and absolutely delicious.

We started with a mixture of pickled vegetables.



Then the chef prepared grilled garlic which was similar to chips as he used Elephant Garlic and sauteed it on the grill in olive oil with lots of salt, followed by fish, beef, fried rice, Chinese beer and of course we finished the meal with a cup of tea.


Later that afternoon we met with Mitch again and she arranged a car and driver for us early tomorrow morning. It gets very hot in the afternoon, so she suggested that we start out in the morning and then possibly stay in the hotel in the heat of the day.
After lunch we took a little siesta and were so comfortable with our surroundings that we decided to have a drink in the lobby bar, listen to some music by a string quartet and stay at the hotel the rest of the evening. There is music in the lobby every day beginning at 8:00 a.m. and lasting until midnight, I loved it!
After a light supper, we played cards, watched a movie on TV and were in bed by 10:00. We know that tomorrow will be a long day but we're about to get caught up on our rest. In the words of Miss Scarlett, "Tomorrow is another day" and there are surprises around every corner!
Pcasso

The Trip of a Lifetime - Day 1

I have been asked by several people to blog about our recent adventures in China, so here goes. On the 29th of August we flew from DFW to San Francisco to make our connection on JAL to Beijing, China via Tokyo. Since we were flying in the front of the plane, we didn't have to wait in any lines and were escorted to the Executive Lounge as soon as we arrived. That was especially nice as there was a big crowd waiting to fly overseas. The Asian airlines are wonderful and they are there to make you happy. What a pleasant change! They had all sorts of food and beverages in the Lounge, so of course, we partook!

Once we were on board they immediately started pampering us with food and drinks.

Frank even used his chopsticks on the plane. We needed to get used to using them as you don't have utensils once you get into the interior of China. He did really well, but we use them here at local Chinese restaurants all the time so that made it easier.

We each had our own beds on the plane, so when we finished our meal, we watched a movie, played a little Gin Rummy and decided it was time to sleep. I slept quite a bit but Frank stayed awake most of the time.

When we arrived in Tokyo, we had nearly an hour and a half before we were to board our final flight to Beijing. We were escorted to another JAL club to wait and while we were at the airport in Tokyo. We decided to go to the Duty Free shop and purchase a bottle of Kettle I so we would have it in Beijing.

We arrived in Beijing and when we were going though security, we were stopped and they took our Kettle I from us because you are not allowed to carry on more than 4 oz. of liquid. Wish they had told us that in Tokyo. We could have saved $40. Bet the security people had a good party that night!

When we arrived in Beijing we were greeted by a hotel representative and a driver. Once we got through Border Control, she helped us bypass all the lines as well as customs. We were then taken to our car by our driver and were on our way to the Shangri La China World Hotel. The drive from the airport took about 45 minutes due to heavy traffic (there are over 12 million people in Beijing), but once we arrived we had several members of the hotel staff waiting to greet us.

After a light supper in our room, it was now after 11:00 pm on the 31st of August, we took a shower and literally fell into the bed. You don't rest nearly as well on a plane as you do under cool, clean sheets.

We lost an entire day traveling due to the time change but our real adventures will begin tomorrow. Until then ..... Happy Dreams!

Pcasso

A Little Bit of Heaven on Earth

I have just published a few of my photographs in a slide show here on my blog. We've been busier than cats on a hot tin roof since we returned so I haven't given as much time as I normally would putting this together. We started in Beijing and finished our trip in Hong Kong. We were gone for nearly 4 weeks and it was truly one of the most exciting and wondeful trips that we have ever taken. I only wish that I could have shared our experiences with all of you.

We're getting ready to go to Dallas in a few minutes and I also have many things to do for our Parish this weekend so this will be a brief entry. I'll write more next week. I put captions on the photographs in the slide show but I don't know if you can see them or not. I'm fairly new to this so please bear with me.

Have a glorious day and I'll keep in touch. Please leave comments on my page so I'll know you made a visit to China with me. ;-)

XOXO, Pcasso

Photographs from China

2 P or Not 2 P, That Was the Question!

If you remember from a previous post, I was in a real dilemma before we left for China last month due to the fact that so many people had told me in order to use the toilet facilities you had to play "squat tag" if you were a female. Let me be among the first to tell you that it is no easy feat to do this, especially if you're in your "Golden Years". This is one time in your life that it really pays off to be a cripple!

When we were in the Houtongs in Bejing, we made an unscheduled visit to a kindergarten/nursery which was not what I would call the top of the line in schools, and wouldn't you know that Mother Nature decided to pay me a visit! I had no alternative except to use the only available facilities, and you can see in the photograph above what it looked like. After I had rolled my slacks up to my thighs so they wouldn't get "splattered" and assumed the "position", I could hear my knees creak and snap and before I knew it, I was playing the game pretty well. Now ... after finding my Kleenex packet in my pocket which had also changed positions since I started this bit of gymnastics ... they do not provide paper, I tried to stand back up but nothing happened. It was not a good position to be in, literally speaking, especially if I had to call for help! As a last resort, I grabbed on to the plumbing and nearly pulled the pipes out of the wall as I'm no lightweight! Fortunately, I didn't break the pipes, and luckily returned to an upright position. I only had to use a Chinese toilet twice on the trip. Praise God! Don't know when I last prayed so hard!!!

The little babies there were adorable and I have included photos of the teacher's transportation (a LOT of people ride bicycles in Beijing) as well as a photo of us after the bathroom incident.

When I made reference to it being advantageous to be a cripple, they most always have a handicap toilet which is "Western" style, so old people like me don't have to play squat tag .

I have many more stories to tell and photographs to send out, but right now I'm trying to play catch-up on my sleep and get my days and nights straight after being up for 37 hours. I took over 6,000 digital images that I have to sort out. I was working with three cameras, so it will take a while. I will probably have enough photographs to work from and paint from for the rest of my life. Everything was both interesting as well as beautiful. I'm going to put together a DVD and feature the highlights of the trip for us. That might take the rest of my natural life as well!

I can honestly say that this was the most wonderful and exciting trip that we have ever taken, and we've been to many many places in this wonderful world of ours.

We loved the people, the culture, the history and the country and feel very blessed to have been a part of their community for a short time. Three and one half weeks was not nearly enough time in China but we are grateful for every minute of it. Stay tuned for more reports later.

XOXO, Pcasso