Charm of China - Part 2: Flights and the Beijing Area

Part 1 of this series focused on the pre-trip stuff.  I'd like to chronicle each portion of the journey and try to capture what I experienced and learned while in this neat place.  Maybe just maybe it will help someone traveling there in the future or you can become an armchair traveler through this blog.  Now, on to part two - flying and Beijing!

March 18th just happened to be part of the SXSW music festival in Austin, so we decided to arrive really early for our 7:43a flight.  There were posts online about nightmare wait times and lines, so we expected the airport to be a mad house.  I was impressed with the ABIA parking lot people.  They immediately pointed us to an open spot and we hopped right on a bus to the terminal just in time to sit for over an hour while enjoying breakfast tacos :)  We have Global Entry and TSA pre-check and the fee/application/interview has been well worth the cost.  The security line is usually speedy and coming back to the US was a breeze - more on that in a later entry.

journey begins with a photo bomb

The guy next to me on the plane from AUS to SFO was also traveling to Beijing, but he was on an earlier flight.  The rest of the Texas family members met up with us in San Francisco where we all flew the rest of the way together.  We had several hours to burn between flights, so I walked a bunch around the terminal, bought a Kindle Fire, and had one last Tex-Mex meal.  The Air China flight took off on time and we were on our way over the Pacific.  Thanks to my travel pillow, mask, and earplugs, I was able to catch a few z's and feel sort of refreshed to face Beijing.  It's crazy we left early on Friday and arrived around 6p on Saturday as China is 13 hours ahead of Austin.  I missed "second dinner" as I catnapped, so was starving when we landed.

Air China provided two meals for the long haul and had a nice in seat entertainment system.  I used my own headphones, but you could use ones they provide.  Since I love maps, I spent a good chunk of time staring at the different views to see where we were and where we had been.  You did have to watch the same 2 min "ad" before the start of any movie or tv show.  Got tired of that sucker every time I wanted to watch something new.

I mentioned in my packing list that the Chinese are very strict about the power on battery packs (and spare batteries must be with you in your carry on).  They also do not like you to be on your phone, even if it is on airplane mode!!!  I was able to use my Kindle reader easily, but while on a domestic flight they had us turn off the device like 30 mins before landing!  Flying elsewhere has spoiled me where you can use your e-reader at anytime, in airplane mode of course.

Texas crew

leaving SFO

the journey

riding in the airport tram after 11.5 hrs of flying

Beijing airport

Upon landing, we made it through passport control quickly and met up with the tour representative.  We had to wait a little over an hour for a plane from Chicago to arrive with more tour people, including the other two from our party.  During the down time, we found a Starbucks for the closest thing I could find to a chai and McDonald's for dinner.

first meal - black tea latte and McDonald's/Coke

After everyone arrived, we followed Christina (?) like ducklings to the bus to transfer to the hotel - Loong Palace Hotel and Resort.  We met Toby our guide for the trip as he gave us the room keys and then after a nice shower I crashed until morning.

The next morning we met Tina, the local Beijing guide, and all hopped on Bus 4 to be transported to Tiananmen Square in downtown Beijing.  It is huge!  My photos do not really capture how big it is in person.  There were several German flags flying along with Chinese ones in the square - if a foreign dignitary is visiting, their flag flies in the square. 

After walking around the square for a bit, we headed through the Tiananmen gate into the Forbidden City where the Emperors ruled from the 1400's to early 1900's.  This area was off limits to commoners back then.

Meridian Gate

The Forbidden City provided me the opportunity to use the loo like a local.  Ladies, it takes skills - maybe brush up on lunges??  Now I want to research why these are used instead of western style ones.  You were lucky if the facility provided TP and soap.  Most were not fully stocked, so travelers tip is to have those items with you so you are not caught stranded!

my first squat potty in China

The ornamentation of the buildings of the Forbidden City were so lovely and intricate.  You have to look hard, but on the ridges of this building below, you can see little animals.  They are always an odd number of them and the more important the building, the more figures.

Hall of Supreme Harmony

view in the square

water pot for firefighting 

The photo above is of a pot that was used to collect water in the event of a fire.  The buildings were constructed of wood so would be an extreme fire danger.  I thought of this as an old-school fire extinguisher.

After checking out the business area of the city, we toured the living quarters section.  We walked around the courtyard that some of the concubines would have lived in back when there was an emperor.  Those poor ladies did not have much freedom at all.  They were pretty much confined to the walls of the Forbidden City.  If we would have had more time, I would have loved to explore more of this historic site, but it is giant and we did not have the time to roam.

courtyard

an example of a room for a concubine - this is the bed

After touring the courtyard, we headed over to the garden area.

beautiful trees in the garden

The photo above is looking through a gate at a building up on a hill.  This "hill" was created from the dredged material when creating the moat around the Forbidden City.

After a bite to eat - first family style meal, we checked out the Temple of Heaven.  It was beautiful and I was amazed to learn it was constructed without nails. We also walked by locals playing cards and other games.  That afternoon we also had a stop at the government run freshwater pearl store.  I was so sleepy I do not remember if it was before or after the Temple!  I did purchase a pair of stud earrings ["clearance"] that were of a color I had not seen before.  Prices were quite high here, maybe check out Amazon instead :)

After watching a beautiful sunset, we had our first Chinese style dinner of the trip at a local restaurant.  Each table had their own room.  Again, I crashed until morning after arriving back at the hotel.

Table 12

The next morning after stuffing myself at the huge breakfast buffet, we started the journey to the Great Wall!

chaos of a ton of people grabbing food for breakfast.

Oh but first we had to make a stop at the government run jade shop.  Jade is very important in Chinese culture.  It is like diamonds to westerners.  I did enjoy learning about the gem and watching the masters carving pieces.  Since things were so pricey, I just looked around the shop. Did you know that jade was included in the 2008 Olympic medals?!

carving master

amazing jade carving

Next up was the Great Wall - one of the Seven Wonders of the World! We hiked [more like climbed] along the Badaling section of the wall as it is only about 50 miles from Beijing and well maintained.  I was proud to have made it to the 8th tower and saw some Buddhist monks while up there.  Also, I was almost smacked in the face by several selfie sticks along the way.  Those things were everywhere and people were clearly not paying attention to the stick part when answering the phone.

It was amazing to see how many people were visiting the wall - both foreign and Chinese tourists alike.  Ladies were climbing the steep steps and slopes with crazy shoes and small kids followed [more like dragged] their parents.  I should have run stairs at home to prep for this trip like my dad does for backpacking.  Whew.  Hiked too fast sometimes trying to get ahead, so I would have to stop and rest for a second.  You can tell it was quite hazy the day of our hike.

I mentioned there were a bunch of tourists from China.  Many are from the rural parts and probably have not seen many foreigners.  They like to take pictures of the western tourists to show everyone at home later.  I admit I wanted pics of the monks!

me and my FIL

I think I can make it!

hiking back down

After our adventure on the wall and a quick stop at the souvenir shop, we headed back to the hotel.  S and I said goodbye to Tina as we did not sign up for the optional tour of dinner and nighttime Beijing sightseeing that night.  The rest of the family went on the tour.  They saw hutongs and a very interesting market full of exotic foods.  Tina mentioned to us at some point that if you look at China on a map, it sorta looks like a rooster.  By golly it does!  Check it out on Google Maps or Wikipedia.  The "head" is the part near the Korean peninsula and the heart is Beijing (awww).

Tina the Beijing guide

S and I had our own adventure trekking to the Google office and Olympic park.  Lesson learned is to have the hotel's address written in CHINESE, not pinyin.  Ideally we wanted to use Uber, but that has to be set up and ready to go in your home country.  Neither of us had used it on our phones in the US, so we do not know if that would have been a better route compared to taxis.  Also, we heard hailing an Uber might be all in Chinese, so who knows.

Google Translate is a must have app on your phone when abroad.  Some phone companies are awesome and allow you to have free data and texts depending on where you are.  Thank you T-Mobile!

We made it from the office to the Birds Nest by showing the taxi driver a photo of the Birds Nest.  Since I'm a former competitive gymnast, this was a must see spot for me.  It was very impressive.  We walked around the Birds Nest and Olympic park area to check out the water cube, torch and rings.  A ton of people were strolling about the square on a Monday night.

China will hold the winter Olympics in a few years

Water Cube

awesome torch and rings

The real adventure was attempting to hail a cab back to the hotel.  Oh my.  We had to walk a distance to be in a non-pedestrian area where S flagged a taxi guy over.  Yeah, he rejected us!   Maybe he thought the hotel was too far or something, but I believe we were turned down by like 5 people total.  Not sure how much time went by, but as I was brainstorming plan B, S had located the address in Chinese.  FINALLY a guy said ok.  I was so thankful we got back.  We gave him a really nice tip as a thank you.  Those other guys missed out!

After returning to the hotel we packed up and slept as we had to catch a relatively early flight the next morning to see pandas and board the cruise.

Until next time!