I suppose I should offer some back story here, for those of you who don't know.....I'm currently in China, with the Anchorage Youth Symphony. We came to China for a two-week Cultural and Arts Exchange in Shenzhen, and with the intent of spending a few days in Beijing and Hong Kong as well. My mom and sisters and I arrived in Beijing several days before AYS, and we are spending three weeks in Taiwan after AYS leaves to go back to the states. The Amodio family also arrived two days before AYS, so we spent those days touring Beijing and having several small adventures.
DAY ONE: Traveling
Anna, Emma, my mother and I left Anchorage a little after 4:00 on Saturday, July 3rd. We flew to Taiwan, arriving there at about 5:00 on Sunday, July 4th, having crossed the International date line. We took a free half-day tour that was organized by the Taoyuan airport, as we had a nine-hour layover. We saw an old temple that is absolutely gorgeous, and one of the old districts, both of which were really quite intriguing. Then it was back to the airport, and onto a plane for a three-hour plane flight to Beijing, China. We arrived in Beijing at about 19:00, and went directly to a small hostel-type place, where we spent three nights. We went out to a grocery store that night, and got some ice cream, and then CRASHED.
DAY TWO: Summer Palace
Mom, Anna, Emma and I went to the Summer Palace in Beijing. It's a gorgeous place....when it's not over a hundred degrees with extremely high humidity. So many STAIRS, I wanted to die. It was horrid, though there were a few neat experiences. Anna played a reed flute, which was really quite fun to listen to, and we got fun hats and pretty fans!! Then, it was back to the hostel. We met a man from Sweden, named Eric, who we had fun talking to IN ENGLISH, and then the Fitzmodio family arrived at about 21:00. More English-speaking people!!!!!! We went out to the grocery store again for popsicles, oreos, soda, and water (you can't drink the water in China, it's got bacteria that will make you sick if you're not used to it). Then, we crashed.
DAY THREE: Lamasery, Bell and Drum Towers, Silk Market, AYS
This was a day of adventure. We went to one of the oldest Lamaseries in China, home to an EIGHTEEN-METER BUDDHA CARVED OUT OF A SINGLE PIECE OF WOOD. It was insane. They way they placed it, you couldn't stand back and look at it. You had to stand quite close, and just look up, up, and up at it....incredibly intimidating. It was amazing. After that, we took a taxi to the drum and bell towers.....this was adventure number one. We had eight people, which is far too many to fit in one taxi, obviously. So, it went like this: Taxi Number One pulls up, three people get in-- Maddy, Debra and Emma get in the back, my mom talks to the driver, tells him where we're going and negotiates rates. Taxi Number Two pulls up, my mom runs over to talk to that driver. I jump in Taxi Number One, and the driver takes off. I'm left to translate exactly where we're going, and make small talk with the taxi driver. I find that a lot of Chinese people will get angry when you say your mother is from Taiwan. We made it to the Drum and Bell Towers without incident, though, thank goodness. So.....we go into the Bell tower first, and guess what we see? STAIRS. Seventy-something of them, if I remember correctly. And they 're steep ones. Painfully steep. So we go up, look at the massive bell, then go down, and walk over to the drum tower. We stop for popsicles on the way, of course. Then it's up the Drum tower, just as many stairs, but at the top, even more exciting!! We watched a drum show, it was really neat. Then, back down, and on to the SILK MARKET. Lots of great purchases there, and we go to see exactly what the markets in China are like....every person grabs you, says, "You want purse? You want silk scarf?" It's overwhelming. Anna, Emma, and I bought gorgeous silk pajamas. Then, we went to the hotel where we were staying for the next few nights with AYS!!! It was great to see people we knew and who SPOKE ENGLISH. Anna and I were sharing a room, we had Ben and Joel in our room until about midnight, just talking and snacking. Then, we CRASHED.
DAY FOUR: Great Wall
You guessed it.....we tackled the Great Wall on July 7th. We woke up in the morning, and then met up for breakfast, and were bused to the Great Wall. There, we broke up into our own, smaller groups, and were left to our own devices. We had about two hours to do what we wanted. My group tackled only a small section of the wall....let me tell you, that is TOUGH CLIMBING. The wall alternates between smooth slopes and stairs, and the slopes are steep, the stairs are steep, and it basically just kills you, especially when it's hot and humid outside (you'll find this to be a common theme.....heat and humidity killing you, that is). After the Great Wall, it was off to the Jade Factory, where we learned how to tell real and fake jade apart, and also looked at amazing jade carvings, they were gorgeous. Next was a kung-fu demonstration. It really was more of theatrics with awesome kung-fu, it was incredible. I saw a guy break about five pieces of stone on his head.....AT THE SAME TIME. Then, we had a rickshaw tour, and those things have CRAZY DRIVERS. Then, back to the hotel, and we CRASHED.
DAY FIVE: Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City
We started out by visiting the Temple of Heaven, where we WANTED to see the Palace of Abstinence, but were unable to find it. Then we went to Tiananmen Square, and found that Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City are HOT. There is no cover, really, and you roast when it's over a hundred degrees and humid. Ten seconds, and you're dripping sweat, ten minutes, and you feel like you've melted. It's miserable. Then it was off to a silk market, which wasn't nearly as aggressive or impressive as THE Silk Market, but it was still an adventure. Then the group split up, and we went to either an acrobatic show, the Beijing opera, or a park that we visited the day before. I went to the acrobatic show, and let me tell you....there is nothing quite like SIX PEOPLE ON MOTORCYCLES IN A GLOBE CAGE. It was ridiculously amazing. Then, it was back to the hotel, and we CRASHED.
DAY SIX: Limbo
Today was the day we flew out to Shenzhen. Or at least, the day we were supposed to fly out to Shenzhen. AYS was split into two groups, the first of which flew out at about one in the afternoon, the second of which was supposed to fly out at about four. The first group made it without issue, the second group....that's a different story. The flight kept being delayed and delayed until we'd been at the airport for about nine hours, and then they decided to put us in a hotel until our plane made it to the airport. So they drove us for forty-five minutes to a four-star hotel, where we slept for two hours, and then received a call telling us that we needed to go back to the airport. This time, the drive took TWENTY MINUTES, it was a little scary. We finally got on the plane twelve hours after we originally were supposed to, and Shenzhen twelve hours later then planned. No crash time today.
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