Pictures of a Silk Factory

Pictures of the Great Wall @ Mutianyu

Day 2 by Bryan

Here's another post written by Bryan:

Day 2 is over but not quite in the books, so here goes.

The Marriott still has the same amazing breakfast, so no need to dilly dally with all of that again. (any way it will just make my wife more angry with me)

Day 2 was huge, big, phenomenal, and dare I say great, yes it was great, why, because this was the day dad and I made the fantastic climb all the way up to the Great Wall of China. We visited a section different from my first two trips here; this section is called the Mutianyu section and seems to be out in the middle of nowhere. The other two sections of the wall I have had the pleasure of climbing were pretty much right along the interstate while this one consisted of driving along a two lane road for at least an hour passing small houses, farm land, more houses, a store or two, a long stretch of nothing and then more houses and farms. The drive out was actually very nice, I thoroughly enjoy getting to see the non tourist side of China so I spent a lot of the time snapping pictures out the bus window during the drive. Once there the families were given the option of paying 50 RMB to take the cable car to the wall or walking up for free, dad and I decided to walk it. Now here I use the phrase “walk” VERY loosely as this was no stroll through a park, quite the opposite, it was a climb up steep stairs which were so numerous it would be like trying to count the stars. I have to give my dad some major props, he held in and after five or six breathers we were both standing on top of the Great Wall of China. I still get an amazing feeling standing atop a structure that was built 2000 years ago and holds so much history; I only hope my kids are as amazed as I still am when it’s their turn to visit.

Unfortunately, the day was extremely overcast so the views from the wall were a little disappointing, but the wall itself didn’t let us down in the slightest. Not many choose to climb so there were only about 20 to 30 other people on the section of wall we were on, so it almost felt like our own little private little tour. The guard towers on the Mutianyu section are numbered, the cable car take you to tower 15, the climb splits so you can go to tower 10 or 8, and dad and I took the road less traveled to number 8. The first time I climbed up into one of the towers I learned, quite painfully, that there is a low ceiling in the stair well (my head crashing into it can be heard on my home movie), so this climb had me a lot more aware. Again due to the overcast skies the view was lacking, but from what I could see my imagination filled in a beautiful view that will stretch across the horizon for miles and miles.

Coming back down is always a lot easier than climbing, and dad again was fantastic, and never once wished for a ride in the cable car. He said it was a good thing for his heart and wanted to tell and show everyone that he climbed up to a manmade structure that can be seen from space, he has climbed up the Great Wall of China.

Back at the bottom the venders that hardly said a word during our passing them during ore trip up now starting trying to hock their wears on us almost forcefully. (this is really no big surprise if you’ve been to China before but I’m not sure dad was expecting it to this degree) We did stop at the first store and bought some shirts that said “I climbed the Great Wall” because I mean we were there, we climbed the wall, and now we can say “been there, done that, got the t-shirt” and actually mean it. Having a sack with shirts already purchased and the nice little phrase “boo yao” got us the rest of the way down with little hassel. In the midst of all the vendors is a small opening to the right and that was where our group went and had a wonderful lunch right at the base of the mountain.

After lunch we drove past the Olympic arena in order for a photo opportunity out the bus window, but just as we were getting close the rain began coming down in buckets. We all took photos but the rain kept any of them from being any good, it sure made me glad that we went there the day before. As we made our way past the water cube our guide told us that it would probably be crowded as it was the first anniversary of the start of the Olympic competition and that’s when it hit me, dad and I were here on the first anniversary of the opening ceremony. It took me a minute to let all of that set in and I really had wished I realized it when we were here yesterday as I think it would have made it that much more impressive.

After the failed photo op at the water cube we were now off to take part in a tea ceremony. Running in from the rain we all took our places around a large table and watched as a wonderful young lady told us all about the art of drinking tea. We sampled five or six different types of tea, pure being one of them again, and I think dad found two or three that he would be willing to take home and drink again. We didn’t buy anything at the tea house but we all got a kick from the Chenglish written on the sign over the door on the way out “Be careful, don’t be slip, please”. You gotta love direct literal translation.

Dinner this even was across the street from the hotel and once again didn’t disappoint in the slightest. The most memorable portion of the meal was the desert, it was sweet potato slices covered is some type of crunchy shell that was a little sticky but held in the heat of the potato being cooked. I think everyone agreed that they could have brought out another helping of those.

After the climb up the wall and a great dinner I had to fight to stay up long enough to talk to my wife and kids before falling asleep probably before my head hit the pillow, hopefully day 3 will be a little less of a workout.

Day 1 by Bryan

I have finally heard from Bryan again! The following is a post he sent me about their first day in China. Hope you enjoy! He also sent me some pictures. I will post those as I can this evening. Battling a headache, and having to share the computer with the girls.

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Well here we are, our first full day in the Peoples Republic of China, and the wonders of the country never seem to cease.

We’re staying at the Marriott Beijing West and absolutely love the room. The beds are either comfortable or we’ve been so tired that we haven’t really noticed and on entering the room there’s a hallway prior to the beds that can be closed off in case one of us wants to stay up on the computer. I’ll try to get some pictures of the room later so I can post them here. The breakfast here is fantastic, it’s buffet and includes eggs (scrambled and fried), bacon, sausage, breakfast fried rice, vegetables, cereal, fruit (and pineapple was on there but I didn’t eat too much this time), and waffles, etc. etc. Needless to say my dad and I have yet to go hungry in the morning. They also have a great black tea and a green tea that we get with breakfast where words cannot describe the wonderful flavor.

Our first trek outside of the hotel was a cab ride to Tiananmen Square which came off with no incidents and a fair price of 29 RMB. (that comes to about $4.50 for a distance of about 7 miles, not too bad) It’s really hard to describe Tiananmen Square, I’ve seen it in pictures and on the T.V., but you can’t quite grasp the size of it until you see it in person. We walk up and it is completely packed with people due to it being a Saturday so we didn’t get to see the whole expanse at once. There’s security you have to go through and get your bags scanned before you can enter. Then you walk out of the tent and among the throngs of people eating, walking, talking, and doing quite a number of different things all in this huge open area. I still didn’t appreciate the sheer size of the square until about half way across when I stopped and looked around. Once in the middle of Tiananmen Square, when you take that moment to stop and look around you can feel the importance of it to the country and its people as well as take in the grand scale while trying to look from one side to the other and end to end. It was quite simply amazing.

From there we crossed under the street and walked through Tiananmen Gate (you’ve probably seen the picture of Tiananmen Gate, it’s the one with the LARGE picture of Chairman Mao on it) on our way to the Forbidden City. Once through the gate we were asked by three or four complete strangers if we wanted them to be our guides and take us through the Forbidden City, of course we said no, we just wanted to walk in and take in all the sights cause we could read about the historical part of it. Well, it’s a good 100 to 200 yards from Tiananmen Gate to the actual entrance of the Forbidden City and it was almost elbow to elbow with people, all the combined body heat probably had raised the area by 10 degrees. We get to the other end, the actual entrance of the Forbidden City, and see the ticket line stretching completely through the serpentine gates and notice that the line is moving at a snail’s pace. Needless to say, that was as close as dad and I made to the Forbidden City, but what we did see was beautiful.

From there it was a quick 5 block walk due East to wangfujing to show dad where we stayed on our previous visits and take a look at the night market. (wanted to try a grasshopper or starfish) We walked through the Oriental Plaza mall in order to get some well deserved air conditioner and stopped off for a drink at the Dairy Queen. From there it was back up and another stop at an arts and crafts multilevel shopping center. We both found a lot of things we wanted but decided it best to wait and see if we can find the same item at the fantastic Pearl Market. Further North we next visited a children’s store where the best item I found was a couple of puzzles, one of Mickey and Minnie as Emperor and Empress in a temple with Chinese scrolls hanging around them and another of a Chinese lady. (again didn’t buy anything with a visit to the Pearl Market coming soon) We finally arrive at the Wangfujing Night Market but seeing how it’s only 1 p.m. there is nothing going on, hence the name “Night Market”. (well duh!)

Our next trip was back to the subway station with a little side trip to McDonalds, I know what you’re thinking “you can have McDonalds here”, which is true, but I can only get Pineapple pies at the McDonalds here. Taking a break dad and I both drink down a soda and chow on a delicious, hot, moist, pineapple pie. (yum yum yum)

Taking the subway in China is really no big deal, you just have to know where you’re going and what direction the train you’re getting on is going. With that done the station announcements are in Chinese and English, there’s a station indicator over the door, and a subway map on the back of your ticket. We decided to go see the Olympic grounds which took three transfers, five flights of stairs, fighting to get into and out of overcrowded cars, and a cost of 2 rmb. It was some of most fun yet.

We walked out of the subway station to and amazing courtyard made to resemble an ancient Chinese hutong, simply beautiful. Turning left from the station you look up and see the tower that the Olympic flame was on during the games and it is gigantic. From there it’s just a few stairs up and we got our first glimpse of the famous “birds nest”, and all I can say is that it is awe inspiring. We walked around the grounds taking various pictures of the Olympic flame tower, the birds nest, and all the little things around like the ground lights (which are shaped like the birds nest), and the keep off grass signs (which actually read “the grass is smiling at you please detour”. As we got closer to the birds nest the water cube slowly came into view along the right side so my attention quickly shifted over there due to the fact that Olympic history was made there by team USA. After many, many pictures we decided it was time to head back and call an end to our sightseeing excursion for the day, and since the closest subway station to our hotel is over half a mile down an eight lane road we got a cab and made it back to the front door in less than an hour.

Wrapping up the day included a trip to the Hard Rock Café, (not my choice, we went with some travel mates) and had a great time visiting with new friends while listening to the Hard Rock’s cover band do quite an amazing job on stage.

Good night from the P.R.C. and I will hopefully have more tomorrow.

Heading to Kunming, Yunnan Province

Well, I've not heard anything from Bryan since the AM of the 9th (our time, evening of the 9th China time). He was exhausted from their Great Wall tour, and hopefully from shopping that afternoon. They are starting their Tuesday (11th). After breakfast they are scheduled to fly to Kunming.

Kunming is the capital of Yunnan province. Yunnan province is the furthest SW province in China, and sits on top of Laos and Vietnam. It is called "Eternal Spring", as the temps rarely get above the 70s or below the 40s. Yunnan grows 85-90% of all of China's flowers. China has 56 different minority groups. In Yunnan alone there are 36 different minority groups represented. Yunnan province was the home of the US Flying Tigers unit from WWII. (A film is currently being made about the Flying Tigers.) Kunming is lush and beautiful!! I can't wait to go back to visit again!! The majority of people are very nice. We got more strange looks while in Kunming than we have any where else in China. Not only were we some of the hand full of Americans in the entire city of millions, we also had S with us. Two overweight Americans with a Chinese child was not something these people see on a daily basis. :-D

There is nothing tourist-wise scheduled for them on the 11th day. Bryan will probably take advantage of the free afternoon/evening to show Tommy around Green Lake and then head to Wal-Mart for some Dove candy bars. We're not for sure what they're called in China, but they're similar to a Crunch bar. They are the delicious Dove chocolate, though, and about 1000X better than a crunch bar! I'm looking forward to the ones he brings home for the girls and I! (My mouth is watering just thinking about the taste.)

The 12th, is a big day. It is the day they get to tour the orphanage. Bryan is suppose to get to meet the nannies that took care of S the short time she lived there. He has a photo album for the orphanage from the past year, as we've been lucky enough to have others take photo albums to the orphanage for us. (A HUGE Thank you to all that have done this for our family!) We are praying, and ask that you pray too, that Bryan and the other families will be able to view their child's or children's file(s) at the orphanage. We so desperately want to have more pictures of S, especially of her before her surgery. Then on the 13th, Bryan gets to meet S's foster family to learn about the 10+ months she lived with them. We would also like to request your prayers for the other families. Some of the other children's foster families had not been found as of the 7th. We don't want anyone to miss the opporunity to meet them!! THANK YOU!!!!!!

Please note: we do not plan to share much, if any, of what Bryan learns from the orphanage or S's foster family. We believe that this information is too personal to share with the world, and if or when S wants to share that information, then it will be her choice.

Same Pics - Larger though!

Here are some of the same pictures, just in a larger formate. I don't know what happened when I saved them the first time. :-( These are the ones I was able to save in a larger formate.

Still haven't gotten a post from Bryan with a description of what they've done. Monday, August 10, they are visiting the Temple of Heaven, shopping at the Pearl Market, visiting CCAA, and taking culture classes at BLAS. (For those non-China families: CCAA= Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs; BLAS= Bridge of Love Adoption Services)

Pictures from August 8, 2009

The Bird's Nest - Olympic Stadium

The Water Cube - Olympic Aquatic Center

Tianamen Square

Tianamen Square

Tommy at Tianamen Square

Tianamen Square

Tianamen Square

Good evening,

Once again this is Kim. Bryan only sent me pictures before they headed to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. Hopefully, he'll email me something in his own words to describe their adventures so far.

This is Bryan's first time to go to this section of the Wall, and he was excited to explore more of this amazing, ancient structure. As this is Tommy's first trip to China, he was excited to be able to see two things he had to see while in Beijing: 1) Tianamen Square and 2) the Great Wall.

After visiting the GW, they had the afternoon free before meeting back with the group for dinner. They're planning on going to the Buy Now store this afternoon.

I realized as I was saving these pictures to our hard drive that they were at the Olympic Stadiums EXACTLY one year to the day of the Opening Ceremonies!!!! How cool is that?! I don't know if they went inside any of the buildings or just walked around the grounds. I'll be glad to get a written update, because when we've talked the girls have taken up the majority of the time.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.