My parents came to visit us for a week. We had a great time. We spent 3 days in Hong Kong and three days in Beijing. It was a wonderful visit and I'm so happy they made the long trek out here.
Beijing Day 1
We signed up for a guided tour to see the highlights of Beijing. It worked out really well. We had our own tour guide and driver so we just sat back and relaxed as they took us to the "must see" sights of Beijing. Our first stop was the Beijing Zoo to see the pandas. This was kind of disappointing as we only saw two and one of them was facing the wall.
Our next stop was the Summer Palace. It consists of a series of gardens and pavilions built around a large man-made lake. Construction first started in the mid 1700's and was a place for the royal family to relax and entertain.
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| Dragon boats docked for the winter |
We saw this group of school children heading our way with panda hats on and they were so cute! They spotted us and starting talking to us immediately and all gathered around us to get their picture taken. It was quite a sight - one girl after another wanted their picture taken with us and it was really fun. Our tour guide told us that they don't see very many westerners so it's exciting to get your picture taken with them. I think it was as much fun for them as it was for us!
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| Love the smiles on these children! |
Beijing Day 2
Our first stop was Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. It was interesting talking to our tour guide as she was very candid about what people aren't supposed to talk about in China. She mentioned the three T's - Taiwan, Tibet and Tiananmen Square. As information is so restricted and censored in China, it is difficult for them to know the truth about what happened at Tiananmen Square. At one point during a conversation, my dad said something to the effect of "you can look it up on google". She said they can't because they can't access google. On that note, let's take a look at some famous Chinese landmarks!
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| Monument to the People's Heroes |
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| Mausoleum of Mao - notice the long line of people waiting to go in |
Across the street is the Forbidden City. This place is enormous!!
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| Cool panoramic shot |
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| Lucky Jade |
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| One of the Emperor's Thrones |
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| Rock Garden |
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| A frozen creek where people throw money for luck |
We were once again spotted by children wanting to take our picture. This time we got our own pictures with them.
After a delicious lunch, we went to the Temple of Heaven. Originally built in the 1400's, it was where the emperors would go to pray for a good harvest.
We went to a wonderful restaurant, Made in China, located in the Grand Hyatt. We had probably the best Peking Duck we've had since we got to Asia. It just melted in your mouth. Delicious!!
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| Very tasty potstickers |
Beijing Day 3
The Great Wall. Need I say more?
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| My mom and her knitting! |
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| Random people wanting pictures |
Our last stop was for lunch at the "Auspicious Hotel". The lunch was pretty good but the entertainment was a bit strange. There was a guy playing saxophone and it was terrible.
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| He needs to practice a bit more before playing in public |
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