Ahoy,
We recently came back from China and Hong Kong. My parents wanted to take us to show us their former homes in Taishan, but also for touristing. Our first destination was Beijing, which they had never been to either. My brother and his fiance were with us here and in Taishan. After their departure, my parents and A and I went on to Hong Kong and Guangzhou.
There was a pick-up debacle in which my mom improperly communicated the logistics of our arrival. A and I flew in a day earlier than everyone else, and I was told there would be a driver holding a sign with our names. I looked through the crowd several times before we gave up and got on the subway to what I thought was our hotel. After arriving at the hotel and accessing wi-fi, lo and behold - we were not at the correct hotel. The driver and tour guide had been waiting at the airport for us for 3 hours now. We waited in the lobby for them to come pick us up and take us to our actual hotel, which my mom so willingly communicated to me ahead of time (not). A person with a red flag that read 'chinatours.com' walked up to us and we brushed him away thinking he was trying to sell something. We called him back and realized he was our guy! It was not a sign with our names, but a logo for the tour company. My mom so willingly communicated that info to us (not).
The following day we got to explore on our own. The hotel offers a breakfast unlike any other hotel breakfast we'd ever had. There were full American, continental offerings, but also Japanese, Korean, and Chinese offerings. The hotel breakfast was probably the best food we had in Beijing.
A looked up some hipster/trendy neighborhoods for us to wander. The subway is easy to navigate, but probably also one of the most complex and extensive networks out there. We did not get on the wrong train once. It took over an hour to get to our first destination - the 798 district, a former industrial warehouse area that now houses art studios and museums. There's something like this in every metropolis. We got off the train and didn't quite know where to go, so we just followed the hipster-looking people to their mecca. Yahtzee!
We saw a Hyundai exhibit where I watched a whole video of Chicago. A got the most expensive cappuccino of his life. It was pretty hot and humid as we wandered around looking at art. I have a pretty low tolerance for art and heat. This day we stopped at McDonald's and got things they don't have here: popcorn chicken, black bun chili chicken, taro pie, and boba.
On the way back we stopped to look for another trendy shopping district near the Forbidden City. We ran into what is known as the bar street and watched some paddle boats play chicken with each other. For dinner, we walked through the giant mall near our hotel and got noodles. I navigated ordering miraculously with nearly no grasp of Mandarin. As we walked into the hotel, the rest of the group arrived.
Our first day being tour guided found us on a trip to the Great Wall, the Mutianyu section. It was probably about an hour drive, but didn't feel like it because the landscape was interesting and our tour guide was feeding us facts. We stopped at a jade factory. My mom was clear right away that we were not buying, only looking. Our guide was trying hard to sell the lift ride up to the Wall. The alternative was stairs. You can guess which option we went with. My mom was probably regretting that decision instantly, but our guide comes here 4+ times every month. The stairs were a shorter jaunt than he had made it out to be. Once on the wall, there were more steps at varying angles of incline and decline. My mom pooped out at the first rest stop, and my dad proclaimed himself one of the 'young guys' to continue on with us. There was a stopping point, beyond which was unmaintained, where we literally ran into a wall and turned back. It was not a very long stretch of Great Wall (not long enough for us to tire of it), but probably once you've seen a bit - you've seen it all. Really quite a remarkable feat of architecture and manpower. There's really nothing that old and storied Stateside.
We stopped for lunch near the Great Wall. It was underwhelming, but we didn't expect much. I drew some parallels of this experience to our Taj Mahal venture. We drive out for the spectacle, see the spectacle, eat at a sub-par tourist place where every tourist goes, etc. It was fine. That evening we went to watch a show near the Happy Valley theme park. There were waterworks, acrobatics, dancing, etc. It was entertaining. I thought it was a low-budget version of something you might find in Vegas. We got deposited back at our hotel where we got dinner at the grocery store nearby. I think it's a pretty fun thing to option the local snacks and instant noodles abroad.
The next day we went to see the local tourist attraction of the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Our tour guide walked us through at a slower pace than I would have liked. You can really start to see me itching to get out of my skin when you make me amble through at a snail's pace. It was fine. It was also crowded and sunny, which contributed to my impatience. We negotiated a release from the touristing after popping out of the Forbidden City. A and I led the group to a recommendation from his sister to a dumpling place. And then we wandered around the pedestrian shopping street, stopping for dessert. We discovered the public bathrooms don't always have stall doors. We stopped at the lakes we had been on our first day to rent a pedal boat. It was a welcome respite for my parents certainly. The kids pedaled around for a bit before heading back. A and I led everyone back on the subway to the hotel. My mom remarked how it's cleaner than Chicago. We investigated more food options in the mall for dinner.
Our last day of touristing included the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, an institute for Chinese medicine, and a pearl factory. A has so much more patience than me. Bless his soul. The tourist places are fine. They are old and ornate and not practical in ways that I can't imagine. It still seems like a lifetime of fantasy and story. I'd seen these things in old tv or movies when I was a kid when my parents or grandparents watched shows - and now to see the real life versions from ages ago - it still seems fictional, like a movie set. Our last dinner was Peking duck. It did not disappoint. I think we were all worried given the pattern thus far, but it was a good ending. A was so relieved because his last time in Beijing - he did have bad duck.
The next morning we were off and onto our next destination. The airplane ride down to Guangzhou was about 3 hours. From there, we depart 2 hours by car to Taishan - my parents' hometown.
safe travels,
jt
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