BEIJING CHINA!

 

We have lived in Asia for almost 4 years. Can you believe it? Since we got here, Beijing has been on my list of must-see, must-do, gotta-get-there places. But because of the expensive visas, the long flight, the pollution and a million other excuses it always got back burner-ed with more alluring (read: tropical) places filling our time. 

But this spring break we finally made it! We took a trip to Beijing, China! 

It was cold. 

It was dirty.

And it was crowded.

But it was also SO fascinating and SO interesting.  

The East is so different from the West in every little detail. 

The big sites were incredible. It was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China. Very impressive. 

But my absolute favorites were the unexpected back alleys, the markets, the doorways, the bikes, the traffic, the old people, the bundled up babies and the Chinglish. Oh, the Chinglish was so great.

 

Here's a back alley we slipped through to get from one tourist destination to another. Dave is in the red backpack. Most of the bikes and motorcycles had these huge mittens attached to the handlebars for the cold weather. 

 

All the Chinese babies we saw wore "split pants." No need to change diapers. They would just go when they needed to. "That is China style" our guide said. Noah and Gage thought they were hilarious. 

 

More from the alleyway.

 

Selling roasted chestnuts and yogurt. 

 

 

  

happy corn on the cob

 

sweet potatoes    

bikes everywhere for everything

 

 

 

A snack market. The huge dried tomatoes looked awesome.   

 

We stayed in the Chaoyang area which was close to the business district. It was very modern and very big. Can you believe 22 million people live in Beijing?

 

 

The pollution and the traffic were crazy.  The sky was kind of blue one day we were there and everyone was so excited. We were told that for the Olympics, Beijing ordered 2 million cars off the road and closed or relocated over 300 factories until they could comply with international clean air standards for the athletes. No one mentioned if it all came back or not.

 

pedicabs

 

This billboard had Dave and I laughing for a long long time.   

 

Besides the main sites we also hit some markets and some shows. The markets are pure chaos. I'm sure that's why I never get many pictures at those types of places. A total shame because it is so much fun. 

Noah and Gage learned the drill. Don't ever act like you like something. If you see something you want, whisper it to Dad. If someone hands you something say 'no thank you'. If someone grabs you, scream! Survival skills, I tell you. They each had a certain amount of money they could spend on the trip and you should have seen their faces when we saw off brand Ninjago legos at the Toy Market! 

They bargained hard and were so happy with their spoils.

Another day Gage perfected the art of walking away during a negotiation and got his nunchucks down to 10 yuan from 85 yuan. 

  

And they loved the Kung Fu show at the Red Theater. Wish we could say the same for the Acrobat show.

Overall the boys did awesome in China. A week before our trip Noah wrote in his journal,

"I'm a little bit exited because I'm going to Beijing, China tomorow. I've learned mandarin in school so it will be easy to talk to people there!"

We went to McDonalds one day for lunch. Nothing was in English and everyone was speaking Chinese. Noah really wanted a plain hamburger with only ketchup and pickles like usual, but I told him I didn't know how to say that so we would just have to pick off everything he didn't want. Instead, he whips out his mandarin phrase book from his backpack and looks up "no onion" and "no mustard please" and totally orders it himself in Chinese.


Other things we learned in China:

Singapore squat toilets are waaaay different than China squat toilets.
If you feel like hocking a big logi really loud, go for it. Farmer blows? totally acceptable.
Need to get to the front of the line? Just push and shove, no problem.
Feel like wearing barrettes that look like cat ears? me too! Or a minnie mouse dress? A big white furry coat with a bear head? You will totally fit in.
Or feel like dancing along to the music? Twirling in circles with a scarf? Let's do it!

People watching was so fascinating!


And Sibby?

The sweet thing was just along for the ride...