Beijing, Part One

It was so exciting for us to get our official visas and enter "real" China for the first time. Perhaps it was the larger scale, but everything in Beijing exceeded our expectations.

Our chariot

The airport was enormous, but very nice. You can tell that the Chinese government is trying to put its best face forward with the clean and modern design. It was very kid-friendly, too, with play areas and these luggage carts with cars on the front:

It might not seem like much, but it was a lifesaver when our return flight was delayed. All I had to do was push Evangeline around in this, up and down the concourse, and she was as happy as a clam the entire time.

Of course, the biggest highlight of the trip was the Great Wall. There are currently four sections of the wall open to the general public (one is closed partly because of civil unrest due to land reclamation!); we chose to go to Mutianyu, which is about 90km northeast of Beijing. It's the second-closest section to the city, which makes it slightly less touristy than the closest but very kid-friendly. We hired a private car with a driver for the trip for only around $80. And we could have had one even cheaper if we hadn't chose a company with car seats. :)

We got going early so as to beat the crowds

Our driver, Zhou. He spoke no English, so we had to go through an intermediary on the phone.

A ski lift took us right up to the wall

The Wall above us

The Fam!

The surrounding mountains

Nothing but Wall as far as the eye can see

Morning shadows

Evangeline enters a guard tower, built in 1368 and renovated in 1983

Joseph and E with a beautiful blue sky

A donkey surveys the majesty. Predictably, he was Evangeline's favorite memory of the outing.

It just keeps going and going and going...

We took sleds down from the wall--fun!

We had a little trouble finding Zhou when we got back down, since the parking lot was suddenly full and there were people everywhere. But we got a lady to call and talk to him on our behalf to arrange a rendezvous. When he arrived, she chewed him out, presumably for not communicating better. But that is something we see a lot in Hong Kong. It seems like for Chinese people, yelling at a stranger is not a big deal! All in all, the Great Wall was an amazing sight and something I'll remember for the rest of my life.

The Summer Palace complex was another of our favorites. It's on the outskirts of Beijing, but was very easy to reach via subway. Although there have been royalty here since the eleventh century, the layout that exists today is eighteenth century in design.

A solitary lion stands guard

Whimsical details on the roof

The rooftops down to the lake

Fabulous E!

Gorgeous gallery

There's a reason why Joseph takes most of our pictures--sorry, folks!

We rented a boat for an hour and went cruising

Some fellow tourists enjoying a dragon boat

A famous barge made of marble, emblematic of the excesses that led to the fall of the empire

Even Bunny had a great time

The climate was so incredibly dry, especially compared to Hong Kong. We were constantly applying hand lotion, and still our fingers were cracked. You can tell from the pictures that Evangeline's hair quickly went from corkscrew curls to a fluffy mess. I actually had to do something with it for the first time in her life--normally, I just make sure it's out of her face. But that was fun, too!

I'll be back soon with another post featuring Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and some of the delicious things we ate. Stay tuned!