The Forbidden City (Jan 8th)

Our first full day in China was very busy.  We woke up at 5:30am (couldn't sleep any longer), showered, had breakfast, and meet our guide, Rocky, at 9am.

Waiting in the lobby for our guide

Heading out for the day, all bundled up!

Our guide, Rocky, and MeiLin riding in the van.

When we got in the van, Rocky had a surprise for us.  Pictures and a video of KaiLi at her 2nd birthday party!  It was hard to see her since she is standing in front of a bright window , but it looks like she had a great time!  And there were some other pictures from when she was a little girl!  We couldn't believe how long her hair was (Daniel!).  We can't wait to meet our precious girl on Sun but are glad we get a chance to recover from jet lag so we can give her our full attention!

An interesting fact.  Because of the pollution and congestion, on Mon thru Fri, cars with license plates that end in one of two numbers (say 3 and 7) are not allowed to drive on the road that day. And the numbers rotate through the week.  Sometimes when the smog is really bad, they will limit it to even and odd numbers to get more cars off of the road. We even saw a car pulled over for driving on their unauthorized day.  On those days, public transportation or carpooling need to be used. I just can't imagine that!

Our first stop was Tianamen Square but it was closed for an event, so we took pictures from a distance.  We then walked to The Forbidden City.  The line to get in was really long.  Rocky talked to some guards and next thing we knew, we were escorted straight in!  The architecture was beautiful and it was amazing to think about how old the stones, steps, and buildings were!  There are over 10,000 rooms with a huge wall and moat surrounding the complex.

The Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square.

The outer wall of The Forbidden City

MeiLin and I before heading in!

MeiLin wanted a picture!

Watching the guards practice.

It is so large.  Can you see the mountains in the distance?  They surround all of Beijing.

The throne

Rock garden

What I haven't yet mentioned is the COLD. It was in the teens with a steady wind blowing. We all layered with tights under our jeans, 2 tops, jacket, hat, scarf, and gloves, but we were still freezing.  (I could never live up north!). The van dropped us off in one spot and the picked us up somewhere different or I would have cut the tour short.

Next up was the rickshaw tour with a blanket to cover us.  I incorrectly assumed that would be warmer (I guess because we were sitting vs walking?). They took us to a traditional Chinese home for a delicious lunch.  I had to go to the restroom, was shown a squatty potty in an unheated room out the back, and I just decided to hold it.  This Chinese home is now divided and shared by 10 separate families.  Before communism, it was a house for one family.  After communism, the families were stripped of their ownership, relegated to a small section of their home, and 9 other families moved in. They built makeshift rooms in the courtyard and up on the roofs.  In the 80's when the rule was abolished, they gave home ownership back to those who still had their original deed. So next up was a Chinese home that had been converted back to a single family home with the makeshift housing removed. That was my favorite part of the tour; seeing the original layout. The eldest generation lived in the North house (the warmest).  The sons lived in the East house and the daughters (until they married) in the West house with the living quarters and kitchen located in the South side. All homes had a beautiful garden courtyard.  We bought a hand-carved paper scroll that was made by the brother-in-law of the home owner.  After that, the rickshaw returned us to our guide.

At the traditional Chinese house converted back to a single-family home!

The family in the courtyard with the North home in the background.

The Tea Ceremony was the next stop. Luckily, it was nice and warm!  She made 5 different teas using a variety of methods. I liked all but 2 and MeiLin liked all but 1!  (Of course, Brandon liked them all!)

A handmade flower

Next it was back to the hotel for a nap.  Brandon and I got an hour in, but MeiLin doesn't nap, so she played with her toys on the floor.  When we woke up, she was asleep on the floor - uh oh!  Sure enough, we couldn't wake her.  We thought we would have to cancel the dinner show, when she finally started to cooperate.

Though the show wasn't far away, traffic is horrendous, so it took a while to arrive. Before the Acrobatic Show, they were advertising the show (which was ironic, since we were already there).  One of the plugs was that one of Obama's daughters had attended the show, and they had a really grainy photo that I guess was one of the girls in the audience.  (That elicited boos from the audience...). Then they were displaying the raving reviews from different sources translated into English.  Our personal favorite was the review, "The least fun show".  OMG - I couldn't stop laughing!  The performers were fabulous, basically a knock off of Cirque de Soleil.  MeiLin LOVED it and watched all of the way through!  (There were 8 motorcycles all in one steel globe cage, crazy!). We then stopped by Old MacDonalds (as MeiLin calls it) and took it back to the room to eat.  MeiLin has her 3rd wind and wants to stay up to play while Brandon and I are fighting to stay awake - Ha!