I’m
going to summarize the rest of our visit to Beijing for a few reasons. One is because the bulk of what we did here
was straight tourism (and the point of this blog series was to report on taking
the trip as a cultural exchange trip), and the second is that I didn’t have the
down time that I had in Guangzhou and so it didn’t get written day by day.
We
essentially had another two and a half days of tourism, which was enjoyable. Please take note the air quality of the
following pictures here—Clear blue skies? Yes!
That was a direct effect of the snow a few days prior! We were so
fortunate to have the clarity.
After
settling into the hotel in Beijing, and having a good night’s sleep, we headed
off to see the Tiananmen Square area. My
first impression was shear awe. If you
are reading this and are of a certain age or older, this likely holds a
particular scene in your mind. The funny
thing was that the kids had NO idea what the significance was here. None.
Nor was there anything that we could relate it to for them. From a sociological standpoint, our guides said not one word of what happened
here in 1989. In retrospect, it is very
possible that neither may have been born (one definitely not and the other is
far too young for it to have had an impact).
In addition to that the denial there of what actually happened, or the history
re-writes and who knows what they actually were educated about. But enough
about that and on to the rest of our day!
Our
walk continued thru the Forbidden City, and finished after the Palace of
Heaven. Any Disney fans reading
this? This might look a bit familiar to
you:
We had time to walk
around and see the detail, and ended up finding a group of junior high students
from San Francisco. Their teachers had
the opportunity to teach a class here and the kids did an in-home-stay. Such a wonderful opportunity for everyone!
The
following day was the one that I had been looking forward to most, and waiting
for since finding out about the trip (and it was the entire reason that I
wanted to chaperone this trip.) We were headed
to the Great Wall of China! It was hard
to contain my excitement.
There
are a few different areas of the wall that are within a short drive from the
Beijing area and that are tourist-friendly.
The one we went to was apparently the most “easily accessed” and had
areas that could be walked by all types of people. The long and short of this is that the
entire area had been developed to accommodate the hoards of tourists that
showed up every day. Please note that we
are not talking Western tourists, most of these tourists are more local, from
one of the other regions in China, more rural in nature. We
arrived to find a version of a strip-mall, with various shops, a Subway
restaurant, and bathrooms in multiple locations (both with and without seated
options). I was not expecting that.
Here
at the Wall, there was a central square and two hiking options. The first was shorter and steeper, and the
other was longer and less steep. My
daughter, after the obligatory selfies on the wall, literally RAN up the wall
with some friends. I took it a bit
slower with some of the other kids and made it all the way up one side and
about 1/3 of the way up the less steep side.
I stopped the second half of the way because of the crowds. I’m not kidding when I say that they brought
picnic lunches and were making a day out of their journey.
 |
| The blossoms were in full bloom and the colors were gorgeous: |
Our
last day in China consisted of a visit to the Summer Palace prior to heading to
the airport. This is where the famous
“Dragon Lady” or “Dowager Empress” (the mother of the famed Last Emperor) spent
her time. It was gorgeous and absolutely
enormous. I wondered, knowing that this
was during the time when women bound their feet, what the point was making the
palace so large. There is no way that
they could have walked it on their own, surely they had to be carried?
The
flight home was tolerable. Unfortunately the food on the
plane was awful and I was very tired of being in the back of the plane (we were
at the mercy of the seat assignments at the airport, one of the downfalls of not
having been in control of the travel booking personally as the travel agent). That being said, I still had a great time and I
would absolutely go to China again. I
now have a visa that is good for another 9 and a half years, and didn’t even go
to Shanghai or Hong Kong. If/when I
return, I don’t plan on doing this on my own without a guide. One of the disconcerting things I noticed on
this trip was that there was no English in the airport. Were it not for the guide or one of the
parents that could read Chinese, I think it would have been far more
frustrating to get from point A to point B for me. I’m figuring my next visit will be via cruise
ship and guided excursions. I do know
people who have gone to China and worked there successfully, but I’m not sure
that I would ever be comfortable with that sort of independence.
In
summary, this was an amazing opportunity that I never saw myself embarking
on. I enjoyed stepping outside of my
comfort zone, and, as with any historical sight I have ever visited, I loved
seeing things that I have only learned about in history books. It was enlightening to become part of the
tourist attraction. In our country, it’s
not common to look upon others as so “different” that they become a
distraction. It was very odd to be the
one on that receiving end here. Lastly, these were precious memories I was able
to have with my daughter. Those 18
summers that we get with our children go by so quickly that you need to take
every moment available to you. This was
one of those great moments that I will always cherish. I am very thankful for the opportunity to have
experienced this cultural exchange. If
you get the opportunity to do one with your child, take it—you won’t regret it.
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