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Published: February 5th 2009
Blogger Ash:
Well Beijing is definitely different and I don't just mean the driving, that is just downright scary half the time!
We've done a lot of resting and been very spoilt for the most part by Jim and Karen!
We arrived on the night of the 27th. We got picked up be Jim, Karen and Ming (the 3rd 'child' of the fidler family - the dog) and had a long awaited sleep in!! 😊 We were taken to the worlds best dumpling restaurant for brunch where you can watch the chefs make the dumplings!. A quiet day after our very hectic ones was greatly appreciated!
Thursday came with more clouds (how un-Beijing-like I hear you all say). However Jim declared that this would be the best out of the bunch to see the Wall so off we went! He was right as well when the fog lifted mid-afternoon and the views were fantastic! We had some pretty clear skies and excellent winter light so we were all quite proud of ourselves and our photos!
Blogger Owen:
The Great Wall of China was great fun. When I lived here as a teenager I would only visit one
part of the Wall in Beijing (there are three main sites), the one we often visited is named Mutianyu. The great thing about this section is that they have refurbished one part where they herd all the tourist, and the rest is left in reasonable shape but not perfect, much more authentic. So if you have some energy and and a dash of audacity, you can escape the crowds and ramble along a much nice piece of Chinese history. If you want great photos, especially with the weak winter sun, once you're on the wall head left in the afternoon, or right in the morning. Whichever way up you go (walk in summer with lots of water, in winter just take the cable car its easier and warmer), make sure you take the toboggan back down. For about 20 yuan each (about $4) you can zoom down the toboggan track (very sturdy and the carts are aging but fine) and go top speed. Ignore the little guys on the side telling you to slow down (they're the Fun Police), just lean into the corners and holla! If you don't get air on the whumps you're not going fast enough! If
you see a slow person starting in front of you, stall at the top for as long as you can because you don't want to come up behind them at mach 5. The attendant at the top will get a bit upset, but just smile poliety and don't let anyone jump in front while you're stalling... We were the only ones there this time so we went flat out, almost giving the little chinese fellows heart attacks we were going so fast. No need to break folks, just lean in and hold on! Anyway, I'll give control back to Ash and she can tell you what else we've been up to.
Blogger Ash:
After visiting the Wall we had dinner at Lijuan's house, who is the families Aiyi ("maid") since they came to Beijing. More importantly in my eyes she is regarded by Ow as his Chinese sister and her husband, Xi He, his brother , so I was very keen to meet them. Lijuan has just had her second child, Xin Yi, so we were all very excited to see the whole family. The dinner was fantastic with
the language barrier not a massive problem and the food was awesome as Xi He is a train chef! The most exciting part was going to buy our own fireworks and being able to let them off.... Was great fun!!!
The next couple of days were great rest days! Friday we had friends and colleagues of Jim and Karen come over for afternoon tea so we cooked up a gluten free storm and had some wonderful goodies!!! Saturday I didn't move from our bed till after 2pm (when i finished my book), I was bought breakfast in bed, lots of water and lunch was on its way up when I walked down the stairs! Fabulous 😊
Sunday we went to Emperor's lake in Hou Hai and did a mixture of chair skating, ice biking and ice skating. A uniquely Chinese experience I'm told! It was hilarious... Such a miss-match of technologies that somewhere work! Karen was particularly fast on the bikes, and Owen does a great octopus impersonation on ice skates. We then had a buffet lunch at the very upmarket Westin hotel before Jim and Karen had to go back to work on Monday.
Both Jim
The great wall of china
That'll keep the bloody rabbits out!and Karen wanted us to meet their students. Karen had us bring in all our climbing gear and show the kids (she's the Prep teacher), our photos and explain rafting and that sort of stuff to them. They're doing a unit on water, so we talked about how the water made its way to the river and the water cycle itself. We talked about rapids and safety gear - it was great! We then went to for a boulder on the mini climbing wall in the primary school play ground... I know they have their own little climbing wall... So we bouldered on that for a while . The kids climbed with us and we gave them lots of encouragement. The most amazing part is they have an even bigger one inside their gym which is awesome! Lucky things...
Tuesday saw us heading out to the Western Academy of Beijing (Beijing's second largest international school, behind ISB) to talk to the outdoor ed co-ordinator there and check out their programme. Elliot runs an excellent programme with a great philosophy, it
was really refreshing to see such a remarkable programme in an international school and to see there was better work than what is often being done back in Aus. We picked up some Thai contacts from him so we'll certainly be looking into those.
Our final full day in Beijing was spent downtown visiting the Forbidden City and Owen got to play tour guide! 😊 The ancient city is definitely a must see if in Beijing. The structures are just fascinating! So old and grand. For only $10 entry it's not the most expensive tour I've ever been on! The audio tours are worthwhile and give you some useful information, although the lady's voice does get irritating. For first time visitors beware the 'tour guides' at the main entry, they'll fleece for your whatever they can.
Today is again a day of packing and moving on. We fly out to Bangkok, stay for the night only before heading onto in the early AM for Chiang Mai and a 5 night stay!
That's all from us for now, zai jian!
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