Hi Everyone!
There is so much more to say, but I had written this up for the church Newsletter and thought it would serve as a brief discription of our journey for this too.
CANDICE IN CHINA: Thought I would take this space to tell you about my amazing vacation to China in April. My step-mom, DeLynda, and I were able to take advantage of an amazing opportunity. My good friend from college, was returning to China with her husband and 21 month-old baby girl to visit their families for the first time in nearly four years. Both were born and raised in China, then came here for graduate studies. They were nice enough to ask us to visit while they were going to be there, so that they could show us around the sites. Their hospitatlity during our stay was beyond compare and I only hope that one day their family will have a chance to visit us so that we may repay their kindness.
THE PREPARATIONS: We had to decide quickly if we were going to make the journey. We were invited at the end of February, and would have to travel by April 4th. So we took our passport photos and expedited the passport process so that we could get them back in time to send off to the Chinese Consulate to obtain our visas. Turned out to be just enought time, so we booked our flights, packed our bags (as lightly as possible) signed our Traveler's Checks, and headed to China via San Francisco and Tokyo, Japan.
GETTING THERE: The longest leg of the flight was only 10 hours. It is a long time in the air, but not as unbearable as those 13 and 15 hr or more flights. We stayed up the whole time, partly due to excitement, partly because we were arrivng at 10:00 PM Beijing time and knew it would be best if we could be tired enoug to sleep that first night. In theory, that was great, but in reality, neither one of us could sleep that night which meant we were touring the Great Wall the next day, after being awake for nearly 48 hours staright. The time difference from home is about 13 hours with savings, so add one hour to the time and change the AM & PM. So if it is 7:00 AM at home, it is 8:00 PM in china of the same day.
BEIJING, SHANGHAI, HANGZHOU: Our time in China consisted of roughly four days in Beijing and four days in Shanghai and boy did we make the most of it! It was a hard, steep climb up the Great Wall, but we managed to get to the fourth fortress checkpoint for a breathtaking view of only a portion of this enormous wall as it disappeared up and over the mountains.
We finally managed to sleep the next night, and over the next three days in Beijing we toured the magnificent Summer Palace, The Temple of Heaven, The Forbidden City and Tian'amen Square. All were so incredible. One of my favorite moments, was when we climbed the Bell Tower, located just behind the Forbidden City. It was such a peaceful and serene climb to the top with hardly any other people. This must be one of the best kept secrets of Beijing. At the top was the most amazing view overlooking all of the Forbidden City (In "My China Photos") and maybe 8 other people were there to share it with us.
Next we took an overnight (14 hr) train ride from Beijing to Shanghai. Which is a whole other story in itself. In Shanghai, we stayed at the famous "Peace Hotel," though I would recommend visiting it rather than staying there. The location was great though, and from there it was easy to walk down to the Nanjing Shopping district, view the "Bund" (the 100 year old buildings and historic district of Shanghai located along the HuangPu River), and cross under the river to the new "Pudong" district of Shanghai. We were able to spend some time walking over to the 88 story building and took a ride up the "Oriental Pearl" (The Space Age looking TV station) for an amazing view of "The Bund".
Our last day in China, we took a short two hour train south to Hangzhou, where we connected with a tour (totally in Chinese) and saw a tropical paradise. I could have spent at least a day or two at the Yin Ling Garden alone and it was only one of our four stops that day.
There just isn't enough space to tell you about all the glorious details of the journey (and the few not so glorious, like the squatting toilets), but I hope you can get a glimpse of what the trip was like and maybe decide that one day you will make the journey as well. -CB |
