Beijing-A Dream Fulfilled

Hello, Great Wall of China

 I've been meaning to post about this trip for a while now, but this month at work has been crazy and I've put my energies elsewhere lately. I don't ever want to forget the memories we made in Beijing this year, so I'm determined to record them here. :)

We were given two days off in May due to a Chinese holiday, and I was very thankful for them this year. With no spring break, the second semester has stretched on forever. So on the eve of the holiday, we joined all the other departing Chinese families and took the ferry over to the HK airport to head to Beijing.

We arrived very late, not settling in at our hotel until the early hours of Thursday morning. Paul slept very little, rising just after the sun rose to declare "It's daytime now!" So we rallied to breakfast to eat, and meet up with our wonderful friends, the Bates. We hadn't seen them since October when we visited them in Seoul, so Paul bounded up to his buddies, Alex and Ariana, and gave them huge hugs. We did the same with Kel and Marcela, and even Kel's mom, who was traveling with them. We caught up over breakfast, and then geared up for a day of sight-seeing with our own guide and in a private van!

Our first stop was Tienanmen Square, a famous site in Beijing, not so much for it's infamous clash, but because it was unlike any other square in all the world. (Our guide wouldn't even talk about the bloody event, but gushed about it's glorious position as a monument in the Forbidden City. From there we wandered with the masses of Chinese tourists (who asked repeatedly to take pictures with us) down towards Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City was huge! I had never imagined wandering through the temples, corridors, bedrooms, and all other fashion of rooms in this gigantic palace. To be honest, I had no idea what to expect. It was the size of a city for sure, it took us at least 4 hours to make our way through the whole thing. Especially considering how crowded it was, and the ages of our travelers. It was spectacular though, the kids had fun playing around, we had fun soaking in and learning the culture, but everybody was ready to eat when we finally made it through.

First group pic at Tianenmen Square

Forbidden City

After checking a few restaurants, we found a Chinese place with all of our favorites and had a delicious meal and awesome conversation. Paul was starting to show weariness, and Kel's mom was tired also, so Donnie and I volunteered to take the kids and Mrs. Bates back to the hotel for some swimming/rest time while Kel and Marcela continued on to another temple with our guide. I ended up taking a nap, but the kids had some fun play time in the pool and Kel and Marcela were back for dinner.

Cool kids in the back of the bus.

We ate up in the exec lounge because of Kel's special privileges, and we had a private room to play and nobody disturbed us. It was a relaxing way to end the day, and we all went to bed exhausted from the day's activities.

Up the cable car to the Great Wall!

Friday morning, we rose early to venture out of the city to The Great Wall of China! We were delayed by quite a bit because the traffic was horrific in Beijing (again due to the Chinese holiday) and a drive that would normally take 1.5 hours took about 4 hours. It was crazy! But we finally made it, we went to the section called Mutianyu, which is a farther distance, but is supposed to be the one of the most beautiful portions of the wall. After such a long drive, we were ready to stretch our legs and we wandered through the corridors of souvenir-selling stands to the base of the mountain.

Looking up you could see the wall in front of you, it was astounding. Such a feat of architecture and show of human strength and determination. As we climbed the steps to take the cable car up to walk on the wall, I marveled at seeing something I'd only ever imagined seeing. I feel truly lucky and humbled to have the opportunity to see and do things like this. I will never forget what it was like to be on such an iconic piece of history. The Wall itself wanders up and down the mountains, it's not a flat walk, and it was very steep at times. Paul stayed close, and we walked down to meet Kel and fam (they had taken a different way up). We finally met up with them took some pics, toasted to our good fortune and friendship, then made our way back down. Our 2.5 hours experiencing that was well worth the journey.

It was such a cool, clear day.

The Wall stretches out behind us.

Taking a break from hiking.

So happy to be there.

We hiked up and down this part.

Searching for the Bates'

Great kids.

Group pic on the Great Wall

So majestic.

I wonder if Paul will remember being there.

The ride home was just as long, and after a meal in the hotel, we all turned in in preparation for another day of touristing.

The next day was cool and windy, and packed full of sights to see. We started at the Summer Palace, a magnificent park in the city where royalty used to spend their summers. It was massive (720 acres) and packed full of more tourists. We walked through it, through the longest corridor in the world, took a dragon boat across the massive man-made lake, then packed back into the bus off to the Temple of Heaven.

Summer Palace Dragon Boats were P's fav

Running down the corridor at the Summer Palace

On the way, we jumped out of the car to take a pic in front of the Bird's Nest. The sight of the 2008 Olympics. When we arrived at the Temple, it threatened to rain. We worked our way quickly through the park, stopping to marvel at the Temple of Heaven. It's a huge structure that is built using only wooden pegs, no nails. It had been recently painted and restored, so it was quite a spectacular sight to see. The rain forced us under another corridor, so we decided to duck into a tea house instead of continuing on in the park. Such a good choice!

Windy highway shot of the Bird's Nest

The Temple of Heaven (with Donnie and the kids in the foreground)

Love these two!

A great day of touristing! 

Tea tasting!

In the tea house, we learned about five types of Chinese tea. I am not much of a tea drinker, but I was blown away by the flavors and methods in brewing tea. After an extensive tasting session, I settled on buying a fruit tea and a tea called Oolong tea. The fruit tea is naturally sweet, and after you brew it, you can eat the re-hydrated pieces of fruit! So awesome, in fact I only have a little bit left. The Oolong tea is a combination of green and black tea, and has a sweet after taste. It's fantastic! I'll bring some back with me this summer if anybody wants to try.

From there, we did some bargaining at the pearl market (which sells everything much like Luohu), then off to Donnie's second favorite spot in Beijing, the Great Leap. In researching our trip, he found a brewpub in a corner of town, so our guide dropped us off and bid us goodbye and we proceeded to eat incredible pub food and really tasty craft brew beer. From the look of the place and the clientele, we could have been in Portland or Seattle, or even Four Peaks. It was a great way to close out a fabulous trip. After a few snacks at the hotel, we bid the Bates' goodbye and packed up for our flight back to HK.

A very happy Donnie.

It was a great trip, not only because we saw some of the most incredible monuments, but because we got to share time traveling with such good people. Paul was in heaven the whole time, playing the days away with Ariana and Alex. He never wanted to leave their sides. And it's nice to touch base with people who know us so well and can relate to how it feels to be so far away. They are some of the most interesting and lovable, fun and fantastic people I know, and I'm so glad we got to share this time together. :) Love ya, Bates'.

Lots has been going on here in Shenzhen since that trip, but my time grows short and I've got to get home. More posts soon, I promise!

Love to all. :)

P.S. I posted most of my pics on FB, so I tried to limit my pics here. But I had to have a few. ;)

Is summer here yet?

Silly Easter fun.

So summer is still so many weeks away, despite me willing it to be here sooner. It's been a few weeks and we've been trying to keep busy, but it's hard to not be distracted by the change in weather and the excitement of the school year drawing to a close. 

Scootin' about.

Easter passed with little excitement. Paul and I met up with some families from work for an Easter egg hunt at one of the apartment complexes near by. It was fun, lots of food, kids, running around I didn't get any pictures because it took all of my efforts to keep track of Paul in his excitement. I was worn out after a couple of hours, so we headed home to hang out and relax.

The weeks sort of blur together after that, the routine of daily life and no outstanding events. Interrupting the onward march of time was Honey's birthday last week.

C'mon Honey!!

Delish food at The Top

We decided to skip quiz night and have a night out in Shekou. It was lovely. We started with happy hour at a new Spanish bar in Sea World and enjoyed the patio weather. It was refreshing to sit and chat and not have to rush off to anywhere or distracted by anything. From there we ventured over to another area in Shekou called NH-Cool. We crossed paths with some strangely-costumed people and I couldn't resist taking a picture with them. ;) When we arrived in NH-Cool, we went to an Italian restaurant called The Top. It was delicious and we again sat outside and enjoyed the view. It was mostly of a construction sight near by, but it was nice to be above the fray and secluded on patio. Dinner ended too soon, so we continued the celebration at a bar called The Village. I had gone there with Honey and the girls on our wine and cheese night, and thought the cover band was so fun! So we took the boys, and they agreed that the music was delightful and the company enjoyable. From there we parted ways and luckily it was only one more day until the weekend.

A few pics from the night...in no particular order:

Awesome band.

Great way to start the evening

China Moment.

Adorable.

The Top

The weekend was welcomed by a trip back out to the Baolilai (the airport hotel from a few weeks ago). We gathered up our stuff, headed into the taxi and luxuriated in the huge suite again for as long as possible. It included multiple trips to the pool, lots of room service, dance parties and waking up at 4:30 am to watch a heartbreaking Spurs game. It was a great time, and a perfect end to the long week.

This kid makes me smile. Selfies in the taxi cab.

SPURS! With lots of coffee.

This week has been fast. We have a holiday for the next two days, so we're flying to Beijing to meet the Bates family for a short trip around the city. I'm looking forward to seeing them! I know Paul is excited to see his pals Alex and Ariana. I am also excited to visit the Forbidden City and see the Great Wall!! I have always dreamed of going there, and I hope it lives up to expectation. :) We'll see...

Only 6 more weeks of school! And that means 6 more weeks until we get to travel to SA and then Munich!  Summer is almost here...

Perfectly Timed Fatherly Visit

Dad is back! :)

 So the week after our beach trip, Dad flew in from Shanghai on a Wednesday afternoon. We met him at the ferry and then all went over to our favorite Mexican food restaurant in Seaworld. Just like the last time, it was so good to see him. I feel so lucky that his job and our jobs have brought us to the same place. I get to see him more often than when we lived in TX!

He brought us lots of Apple goodies, including a super cute shirt for Paul, which he insisted on putting on right that moment.  But catching up with him in person is really what I look forward to when he comes to town.

Quite a view, quite a pool.

We finished out the work week, hosted our very first quiz night (which was relatively successful) and met up with Dad after a run on Saturday. We met him in Luohu with a few items to get for people back home. I was on the hunt for phone cases for Andie, Dad was looking for silly t-shirts for Grace, and Donnie was looking for everything. We had a successful shopping day, all items were found, had a delicious lunch at Taste (a restaurant in the LCC), then headed back to Dad's swanky hotel for a swim. It seems that was the last cool day in Shenzhen, so we didn't stay to long by the pool, and then Paul was treated to a long bath in Dad's awesome bath tub. From there, we bid Dad goodbye until Sunday, and headed home.

One of Dad's rooms...

On Sunday, after Dad checked out of his hotel and made his way down to Shekou, we set out to see a temple that is not too far from where we live. We caught a bus to Seaworld, took some visa pics, then caught a different bus down to the Tianhou Temple in an area called Chiwan. It was only about a 10 minute ride from our school's bus stop, and we weren't quite sure we had the right place, but we got off the bus anyway. Luckily it was the right place! We didn't have much info about the temple, we knew it had been burned down and built several times, most recently in the 1990's. It's a popular temple for sailors since it's right on the sea and it has a goddess statue who looks after those on the sea. It was a small place, perfect for the hottest afternoon of 2014 so far, and we wandered taking pics and breathing the constant smell of incense. Paul had fun watching the fish and turtles in the ponds, climbing the stairs, but he was a little afraid of the chanting and drumming going on in the actual temple. After about an hour of wandering, we headed back to Seaworld to check out a new beer garden that has recently opened. Paul ate, then fell asleep, so we spent a leisurely afternoon drinking fresh beer, and chatting. It was perfect.

We headed home after and watched a movie until it was time for Dad to catch a taxi back to the ferry for his flight. It was a great day, and we were all tired. I didn't envy Dad's travel back to the U.S., but I could tell he was ready to be back and out of China. ;)

A few temple pics:

I'm not sure when Dad will be back, I hope sooner rather than later. It was so perfectly timed because we are really aching for summer, and seeing Dad makes it easier to face the upcoming weeks before we get to go home. He's a piece of home every time we see him, and I'm so thankful for that. I also love that Paul and I get to talk about Granddad now, and Paul looks forward to the next time he visits.

It's been a rough week since Dad left. Paul's been coughing, which means none of us sleep well and the weather is definitely changing back to what it was when we first arrived. We have some distractions coming up to help break up the time between now and June 15 when we fly back to the U.S. We are going to Beijing in 2 weeks to meet up with the Bates' again, and then back to the Philippines mid-May. But then we surrender our passports to the visa process until the end of school. I'm praying it flies by, but it seems to be inching, just like every other end of a school year. ;)

I'm keeping a list of all the places I want to eat at when I'm back in SA. I think there aren't enough meals in the time we'll be there, hehe. Guess I will be doing a ton of running to balance all of it out, but I can't wait! And my sis just booked a ticket to join us on the in South Padre while we're there! :) Let the summer-aching continue.... :)

Much love to all.

A Trip to the Chinese Coast

Best buds, headed to the beach.

 This is another long overdue post, but I figured better late then never. :) A couple of weeks ago, we had a three day weekend and were invited to spend it with some school people at the beach. They've been going to a specific hostel not far outside of town for a few years, so we decided to rent the whole place out and try to get as many families as possible to go. We ended up with 4 or 5 families, all with kids (or soon-to-be parents).

The Gentlemen from work (and a son)

Sun! Beach! Yay!

We packed up for the beach, including food to eat all weekend, and then met up with everybody on the Friday morning to board the chartered bus down to the hostel. It was about a 2 hour ride, mostly due to traffic and then hilly roads outside of the city. We arrived pretty early to the Zen House, and then unpacked, selected rooms (Real World style) and then geared up to head to the beach. It was a breezy, cloudy day, so the water was too cold to play in. It didn't stop the kids, but the adults hung back and chatted while the kids went at it building sand structures, burying each other, and running in and out of the water.  When Paul started shivering, we knew it was time to head back. It was a long walk back to the hostel, but Paul had his scooter so we hiked back up, showered and dug in for the night. The kids were exhausted, so they all went to bed early, and we had fun chatting and socializing with some of the people we work with, but don't see too often.

The next day was sunny and brilliant, so after breakfast, we stalled as long as possible to maximize the warmth at the beach. It wasn't long before the kids were demanding the beach and we headed down in shifts. We spent the whole day out there, Paul took a nap in the tent we brought, and we had a picnic lunch of PB&J's. It was an epic beach day and I was so tired when we headed back up to the hostel. Donnie mustered enough energy to grill some chicken and veggies to make fajitas, and after that, we turned in early. I was too tired to join in the adult time after dinner. ;)

Sunday was rainy, so we watched movies all morning until it was time to get on the bus and head back to Shekou. Paul took a nap, I did some reading, and Donnie did a little of both. We got home in the late afternoon with enough time to prep for the week, order some food and watch another movie before heading to bed.

So many kids :) 

The long walk home.

Walking to the beach.

This is the life.

How the kids spent their time at the house.

Chinese beaches are ok. ;)

PAARRTY! :)

Paul, the celebrity.

So it's not Port A, or South Padre, it's definitely not Boracay or Puerto Escondido, but it was nice to know there is a place that's not too far away and definitely not expensive (900RMB for the whole weekend) that we can visit when the city becomes a little too much to handle. It was more like camping than a resort getaway. No western toilets, hard beds a shared kitchen and fridge, but there was an awesome patio and the company was great. It was fun for Paul to be around so many kids, including his bestie, Connor. There may be another trip before we leave for the summer, but we are already planning another getaway to the Philippines. :)

Love to all, expect another post shortly....hopefully.