Goals for the trip:
• Enjoy time with the Family
• Have some good laughs
• See the sights of China
• Don’t cause an international incident (which is always a good goal)
We started planning this trip a few months ago. It started with us going to S. Korea, but then after some political issues in the region and a reminder from my Dad that Korea might be colder there then we think, we chose China. Originally we planned on Beijing, Xi’an and then onto the beaches of Sanya. Due to flight logistics and time, we decided to take Sanya out of the mix.
And away we go … 4 people, 2 big backpacks, 2 small backpacks, Harvey (Hannah’s stuffed rabbit) and Scrump (Gabby’s stuffed doll from Lilo and Stitch). We took a cab to the Hong Kong MTR to get checked in and get on the airport express train. After handing the lady the passports and the confirmation number, I see a pause, look, pause, look, pause, confused look …. These are never good signs. Then I hear, “Ahhh, who is Gabby?”
“Gabby is my daughter” I respond.
“She is the same as Gabrielle? Do you have anything with Gabby on it?”
Oh crap, what is happening? “What do you mean?” I respond back.
“You see, her names don’t match.”
As I look at the confirmation that I have printed out, it seems that everyone else’s full name is on their tickets and hers just says, “Gabby Collins”. Oh my gosh, what have I done? Why would I put her nickname on her ticket and not her full name?
“Please have a seat over there” she says as she points to a group of seats near the counter, “It will be about 5 minutes while I wait for a call from the airport and the airlines”.
As the four of us sit and wait, we weigh our options. Keep in mind, I have gotten a lot more patient as I’ve gotten older, but really, when you don’t have a lot to begin with, this isn’t saying much. As we wait for an answer from the airlines/airport, I review my emails with the travel agent. Ha! It wasn’t my fault, I DID put Gabby’s full name on her ticket. The travel agent has messed up. They came back to us, they said, they would do a name change, but it would cost us HK$500 (about USD$65). We paid it, got on the train, got to the airport and checked in. Done.
As a side note, I did call the travel agent; she will be paying us back the $500.
We land in Beijing around 9pm, go through immigration and catch a cab to the hostel. Yes, HOSTEL. Not many people with 2 kids would choose to stay in one but we wanted the experience. They show us to our room – a 4 bunkroom with it’s own bathroom. The room was fine, nothing spectacular, but that is what we were looking for when we booked the hostel. As for the bathroom, that was another story. The condition of the bathroom wasn’t the problem, it was the smell. I can’t really describe it other than, not right. As long as we kept the door closed, we were fine.
Sunday:
First thing we did on Sunday morning, other than breakfast and coffee, was book our train to Xi’an, our tour to the Great Wall, and the Chinese acrobat show. After all that was done, we headed out. We have started flying by the seat of our pants as we get older; Unfortunately, this time, we went in the wrong direction for a good mile and then had to retrace our steps to get to the Forbidden City. After seeing the amount of people in line to get ticket to get in to see it, we decided we would come back another day.
We kept walking to Tiananmen square, ate lunch and then kept walking. And Walking. And Walking. At some point, we decided that we should go see the water cube and birds nest. What a great time we had walking ALL OVER Beijing.
Monday:
We got up early to eat breakfast in the hostel and be on the bus by 7:45. While we were having our European breakfast (eggs, baked beans and a tomato) and our American breakfast (eggs, toast and Canadian Bacon), I heard the sound of a mixed drink shaker. Mind you, it’s only 7:15 in the morning. When I took a look, I see a guy (who will now be referred to as Tennessee) doing shots and then drinking his mixed drink. Oh great … please don’t let him be on the bus with us. Sure enough, he was.
After a two-hour drive, we get to the Great Wall. We could either walk up to the wall, or take a chair lift up and the toboggan slide down. (As you can guess, we took option 2). It was a cold rainy day, but the rain has decreased by the time we got to the Wall. We walked along the wall, it was truly amazing. We didn't get to do the toboggan due to the rain; we just caught the front of the rain storm as we where coming off the wall. We had some lunch/early dinner and then were on our way back to the hostel. I found out during this little trip that my girls are always watching. They commented, “Mommy, you know, Tennessee was trying to hit on those girls, and they wanted nothing to do with him.” Great …
Tuesday:
We went back to the Forbidden City and walked around again. It is really crazy to think about how this place was built and what grandeur it used to have back in the day. We had lunch there and then left early in the afternoon.
We bought the girls tickets to one of the acrobat shows, it was pretty amazing to watch these people … both the performers AND the Chinese. At one point during the show, there was a single man juggling at the end of the stage. One by one, a person in the orchestra pit would throw him another ball to juggle. I guess it was too much for a couple of people in the front row, and they just had to find out where the balls were coming from and who was throwing it to the man. So, in the middle of the show, three of them got up and took a look. It was pretty funny to watch.
Wednesday:
We went to the Pearl Market. Holy cow .. this place was crazy. We walked through and Jonathan was asked to buy a watch. When he said, “no thanks”, they brought out the “special” boxes with the Rolex’s and the TAG watches. We just laughed and kept walking. What I really wanted was to get to the pearls. In doing so we had to go through the purse area. We walked by a lady, I said, “no thanks” to her and kept walking. We had to pass by her again, and this time she grabbed my arm. I told her to “let go and if you touch me again, I will punch you in the face. “ Now, if you go back and read my goals, causing an international incident was not part of this trip. You may think that I over reacted, and I may have, but having people grab to buy their stuff, is just not acceptable.
We made our way up to the pearl area. I looked in three stores before I decided to start the bargaining. I wanted to get the girls something from this trip that they would always have. I told them they could choose pearls to make into a necklace. Gabby chose two different shapes of pearls in white. Hannah, on the other hand, chose the same shape in two different colors, one in white the other in hot pink. Really, hot pink? I denied that color and she went with the much subtler light pink. I also got my own pearl necklace and some gifts for the Grandma’s. While they were stringing our necklaces, Jonathan brought the girls back down to the first floor to “teach them how to bargain”. Gabby learned right away and then bargained for her own watch. Hannah still has a ways to go.
Later that afternoon we were going to take a train from Beijing to Xian. We all had high hopes for this. Maybe it was too much Harry Potter, but the girls thought that the ride was going to be as cool as the movie. Unfortunately, we did not book our tickets early enough and then had to sleep in two separate cars, on the top bunks. Gabby and I took one and Hannah and Jonathan took the other one. This really wouldn’t have been so bad if the train wasn’t delayed for 3 hours. We were suppose to leave at 5, and didn’t leave until 8. After going to the bathroom twice, the last time around 830, I decided that I was not going to eat or drink anything until we got to Xian. I have to say, that was about a billion times worse than any airplane. Between the delays, smoking people, gross toilets and no caffeine… I never wanted something to end so badly (it made the marathon look like a complete cake walk!).
Thursday:
We finally arrive in Xian around 10. After checking into the hostel (which was awesome) we took advil, showers and got large amounts of food and caffeine. Things were starting to look up, not only because my headache was gone and I was clean, but it was a smaller city and it was MUCH warmer.
We explored the city during the day. We visited the Bell tower, the Drum tower and the wall around the city. We ended up having dinner in the Muslim quarter. We didn’t stop to eat in any one place, we just walked and tasted whatever looked good. Jonathan found out that he really like quail eggs. They would crack them into the cooker and then cook them so that you could eat them on a stick. After they were done, one side would be coated with chili oil and the other side with peanut butter. He had 18 eggs that night.
Friday:
We got up early to catch a tour bus to take us to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. It was a spectacular and amazing site to visit.
We again went to the Muslim quarter for dinner. The girls also got their friends gifts and sharpened their bargaining skills again that night. Jonathan and I bought two replica warriors, one archer and one general. As of right now, they are still in their boxes and honestly won’t probably come out until we get them back to the States.
Saturday:
We were flying back to HK. Riding in the taxi to the Xi'an airport is not for the faint of heart. We went through many intersections that did not have stop light or stop signs of any kind. We saw people on bikes riding against the flow of traffic in the middle of the road. When we stopped to refuel the car, with what we think was natural gas, all of us just looked at each other and said, what the hell was that!?
The flight home was non eventful, and even Gabby made it onto the flight with the wrong name still on her ticket.
All in all, we are really glad we went to Beijing. We are also really glad that we picked Hong Kong for our “home” city in Asia. We really counted our blessings after this trip.
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