Beijing adventure

We are back from our three day adventure in Beijing! We left after school on Friday and arrived at the hotel late in the evening (the Beijing Marriott City Wall- a very new "Mega" hotel - with four towers of rooms). After breakfast on Saturday morning we headed out to the Mu Tian Yu section of the wall with Oliver,our guide. It was very busy and here was a traffic jam , but we finally reached the cable car section and rode to the top. We hiked for about 2 kilometres along the wall and then took a toboggan run down the hill- FABULOUS fun and the kids had a blast. This section is beautiful , the skies were blue and the air clear with a lovely 18 degrees. In the afternoon we had a rickshaw ride through the Hutong section which was again a wonderful experience. The drivers were really fun with the kids and were racing each other and encouraging the kids to grab at the other rickshaw- maybe a slight bit dangerous but the boys just loved it. We had a quick pizza hut dinner before heading to the Acrobatic Show which kept us all enthralled for nearly two hours. It simply goes beyond description what those young acrobats can do. We collapsed into our beds to try to rest before day two.

Sunday morning saw a very early start as we decided to try to see another section of wall in addition to the full day that was planned. We left the hotel at 6 am and headed out to the Ju Yong Guan section of wall. What can I say- we had an even better experience than the day before. it was less busy than the we had experienced the day before , equally spectacular and a great chance to take many photos with stunning early morning light. The local Chinese people loved watching our four eager little people scrambling up the wall and playing together. We happily posed in many peoples photos as we were quite a novelty to them. I told Maddie she should smile and enjoy it- it may be the closest she comes to being a celebrity and it is nice to think that complete strangers would think her special enough to want a photo with. Some of the steps were quite high (almost up to Riley's hip level) so it was more physically challenging but well worth the climb. We then went to a factory to see cloisonne ware being made before heading to the Summer Palace. Another steep climb to view the palace from the temple perched high above the lake and by then we had really earned some lunch. The afternoon we spent at Tienanmen Square and The Forbidden City. We finished the day with a traditional Peking Duck dinner. The kids were horrified at the idea of eating duck and it was quite an experience. They are getting better at being more adventurous with their food tastes but their reluctance was obvious. We steered clear of some of the other menu options such as bull frog, duck tongues and scorpions and we tried to explain the by comparison Peking Duck was the "safe" option. Callum explained he actually though room service hamburgers would be a much safer option!

Monday morning saw Mark head off to the office for meetings and the children and I went to The temple of Heaven. We had a wonderful time wandering around seeing all the local people practicing their tai chi, laying traditional musical instruments, ball room dancing, playing cards and dominoes, and most special the old gentlemen with their buckets of water and traditional brushes painting calligraphy character poems out of water on the pavement. the kids (and I) were mesmerised, watching it quickly evaporate. What a beautiful and peaceful start to the day. Next we visited the Pearl and Silk market and even went to silk factory where the kids learned all about the way silk is made. We finished up with a visit to the Olympic stadium, the Water cube and the athlete village before heading back to the airport for our flight home. We have maybe a thousand photos from the three days and my head is still spinning trying to process all we saw. It was a truly wonderful weekend. I will post some pics to try to give you a bit of an overview. I just want to add that I am in "awe" of the stamina, flexibility and adaptability of our four little people. They coped amazingly well with a very demanding schedule and a very foreign environment and culture. They practised their mandarin with our two guides, Oliver and William and were complimented on their enthusiasm and ability as well as their wonderful Beijing accents. Great job guys!