Well, I guess our trip to China is now very old news! But needless to say, our May 19-24, 2007 trip to Beijing, China was awesome! I think we truly would have regretted missing out on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity if we had let this invitation get past us. This trip probably wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for my sister, brother-in-law and parents who helped us out with the kids. Thankfully, my sister was able to rearrange her work schedule so she could have some days off to help out with Justin during the time we were away. Even my sister’s in-laws and my aunt and uncle joined in on the childcare duty. We were so grateful to have their help!
With each of our kids in different parts of the continent - Jessica here at home and Justin in California - Jay and I caught a flight from LAX to SFO to Beijing the morning of Friday, May 19. It was a long journey and I was restless for the last 2 hours of the flight. Half a book, 4 in-flight movies, several cat naps, a magazine, 2 meals and several snacks later and we still weren’t there yet! Finally, we touched down in Beijing, went through customs without any problems, picked up our luggage and followed the guides holding the company placards directing us to the coaches that were waiting to take us to the Grand Hyatt Beijing.
As tired as we were, I couldn’t sleep because I was anxious to take in all that was Beijing on the drive to the hotel. Beijing is a fascinating city where ancient history remains wonderfully intact amongst the modern construction. The city streets are immaculate. They’re cleaning up the city in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. But the air quality is horrendous.
My body clock was so out of whack because of the time difference. The minute my head hit the pillow mid-afternoon local time I was out. I thought I would just close my eyes for half an hour or so, but it was 10:30 pm before I woke up again. Jay and I were starving so we headed down for a bite to eat at one of the hotel restaurants. We bumped into Jay’s colleage and his wife (coincidentally they also happen to live down the street from us) so they joined us for a late night dinner.
Since the event didn’t officially start until the following evening, most of Sunday was a free day. We met up with our neighbours again for breakfast and then decided to take a cab to Pearl Market to do some shopping. The guys whipped out their sales negotation skills (haggling is a must if not purely for the entertainment) and we walked away with some sweet deals. Most of the vendors spoke very limited English so the calculator was the tool for communication. We would ask “How much?” and they would plug in a figure (an extremely ridiculous amount in their currency RMB) to indicate the price of an item. Someone gave us a tip that we should haggle the price down by at least 75% to avoid getting ripped off and to politely walk away if the vendor didn’t budge on her price. Most of the time they ran after us, grab an arm, and in broken English ask us to give them “a no-joking price” (they would feign horror at the price we offered, but usually they remained in the game). It was fun to watch but emotionally taxing because it took an hour to deal with some of the vendors.
Sunday, May 20 - The Welcome Dinner in the Grand Ballroom of the Hyatt kicked off a string of back-to-back activites for the short time we were there.
Monday, May 21 - Was an early day packing in walking tours of The Forbidden City and Tianamen Square before making the trip to The Great Wall of China for a tour and dinner atop the Wall.
Dinner on The Great Wall was definitely the highlight of the trip. The hike was no easy feat, but definitely worth it for the spectacular views and the photo ops. Unfortunately, my little 4.0 megapixel point-and-shoot digital camera just didn’t do the splendour of The Great Wall justice (I’m dreaming of a sweet digital SLR).
The company even arranged for its own manned port-a-potties for lack of proper westernized restroom facilities. We were welcomed with a Dragon Dance at a special Cocktail Reception and Dinner atop The Great Wall. Apparently, this is only usually reserved for dignitaries, but someone called in favour to make this happen. After an amazing dinner and a gorgeous sunset The Wall was lit up just after nightfall. The moment was surreal and I’ll never forget it!
Tuesday, May 22 - Another early day to catch a 7 am flight to Xi’an for a full day excursion to see the Terracotta Warriors. Another spectacular sight. Flight back to Beijing was delayed for several hours - not cool!
Wednesday, May 23 - A day of leisure and more shopping. Took a taxi to Silk Market for more haggling and last minute gifts for family back home. Quick shower and change for Cocktail Reception at The Rostrum and Gala Dinner at The Great Hall of the People, Tiananmen Square. Learned that these two venues are also usually only reserved for dignitaries. Locals were staring wondering what kind of celebrities were on the 8 coaches with police escorts.
Thursday, May 24 - Last minute packing and a quick dash to the private breakfast, goodbyes all around and a mad dash to catch our flight to SFO then LAX. Missed the kids and couldn’t wait to see them! Missed our connector to LAX, managed to get on the next flight out, but our checked baggage didn’t which meant waiting around once we arrived at LAX. I was dead tired, just wanted to get back to see my baby. I had no desire to see another ounce of Chinese food, just a burger with the works would have been great! Picked one up at Carl’s Jr. Got back to my sister’s home and played with Justin and Mia, talked about our trip, tried to catch a nap. Met up with friends for dinner…for Chinese food at P.F. Chang’s.
