China Chronicles: HONG KONG. BEIJING.& SHANHAI

Although a few weeks late, below are the stories of my time in China!
We arrived in China by way of the Hong Kong port. We were all eager to get off the ship but immigration took some time, our temperatures were required to be taken before we could step foot in the country to make sure that we did not have the bird flu. However we eventually were granted access into the wonderful land of China. We docked basically right next to a mall and looking out the window in the morning we saw a California Pizza Kitchen which was a nice taste of home. We walked out of the boat into the mall, grabbed some Starbucks, and started our Hong Kong adventures. One of my friends Jenny had a family friend that lived in Hong Kong, she had never met the couple but they were friends of her uncles and they had a nephew living with them that had just moved to Hong Kong from the US. Jenny invited us to come to lunch with her so a group of us decided to go, a bit nervous about what to expect. However, we turned out having the most perfect day. We met the mother of the family at a hotel across the street from the boat and she led us up to a private room of the hotel. Luckily their nephew (Stephen) spoke perfect English and Mandarin so he served as an excellent translator during lunch. Soon the husband, Paul, arrived and we had the most amazing meal. We were a bit nervous about making sure to follow proper Chinese manners, but when Darcy and I were struggling with the chopsticks the couple quickly ordered us forks to make it easier for us. We had the best noodles, beef, tea, and much more. During lunch Paul asked what we were doing for the day and jenny told him we had no plans. Then he said that he would order us our own private van to take us around the city and that Stephen could come with us to be our personal tour guide. We were beyond ecstatic and grateful. Soon we were bustled away into our private van and driven to the Hong Kong Park. Stephen was the best tour guide, even though he had moved to Hong Kong only 4 days ago from Virginia, still we had a great time roaming the park looking at various gardens and a bird park as well. Then we went across the street and took a trolley/tram up to the top of a mountain that had the most amazing view of Hong Kong. We roamed around this area for a bit which was gorgeous; it was just a picturesque piece of nature situated right in the middle of the large industrial city of Hong Kong. After a while we headed back to the boat to change, and then we all indulged in a little flavor of home and had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. I could not have imagined a better way to spend my day in Hong Kong. We took a ferry ride across the island to the main downtown area of Hong Kong. The lights in Hong Kong are incredible, they are bright neon colored and come in every color of the rainbow. After dinner we met up with one of Sarah and Allison’s friend from their home university who was living in Hong Kong. He basically showed us the best place for nightlife in Hong Kong, when we got there we ran into lots of SASsers on the streets. We stayed out till 5am…it was one of the best days turned into nights ever. It was such a treat to have two local tour guides that spoke both English and Mandarin.
After our late night in Hong Kong we woke up fairly early to get ready to head to Beijing! We had a few hours to kill in Hong Kong so we did a little shopping before heading back to the boat to pick up our luggage. I picked up the coolest pair of gold tennis shoes in Hong Kong. To get to Beijing, we flew out of the Shin Zen airport which was about two hours away from Hong Kong. I travelled independently to Beijing so my group and I were responsible for getting everywhere and seeing everything. We took a cab to a mall and then jumped on a bus. After the bus we jumped on our flight to Beijing. We arrived to some very cold weather which was very refreshing, I felt like I had just stepped foot outside of KCI after coming home for Christmas break from San Diego. That night, we just checked into our hotel and got some dinner. We headed to sleep early to rest up for our full day of touring we had planned for the next day and to catch up on some sleep we had lost.
The next morning we woke up and had The Forbidden City and Tiananmen's Square on our to do list. I got bundled in my warmest coat and boots in order to explore the city happily. I was travelling with a group of five so we had to take two cabs everywhere we went, usually we would leave at the same time and basically have the cabs follow each other but this morning the first cab left and we had to wait for the second cab. We planned on meeting back up but once arriving to Tiananmen Square we soon realized that was a lot easier said than done, and we ended up never finding the first cab of people! That left me, Darcy, and Jenny to be our own tour guides. When we first got out of the cab we immediately saw tons of stores with Olympic memorabilia. Then right ahead of us was the famous building with General Mao’s face! It was crazy to see the building after seeing it on NBC so often this summer when I was glued to the television watch Michael Phelps (who I defiantly had my eyes peeled for just in case he wanted to come back to Beijing after his Olympic glory). The building was huge and there were lots of guards standing in front of it. There were so many people standing around it and we were walking around lost looking like typical tourists. Soon Darcy noticed a lady with a baby walking towards us and then turn around and start following us. At first we were all kind of whispering to each other what was going on but as soon as we turned around the lady asked if she could take a picture with us. She wanted her baby in the picture too and as her daughter took the picture she was giggling making us all laugh a little bit. It was a bit awkward to say the least to have our picture taken by a complete stranger…I mean who knows where that picture will go, perhaps on their mantle? But we could not help but feel like celebrities, especially when this continued all day! A group of young girls asked to have their picture taken with us, a son asked if his mother could be in a picture with us, and a group of young school boys bombarded us for a picture. It was insane. After viewing the Mao building we headed further inside the city to walk around the Forbidden City. It was a city where emperors lived during the Ming Dynasty and was reserved only for the elect few chosen by the emperor. There were tons of palaces and gardens, it was gorgeous. The three of us were impressed but were kind of lost on the significance of the whole thing until we rented an audio guide that saved us. It was a really fascinating area that was only open to tourists about 50 years ago. After the Forbidden City, we headed to the Temple of Heaven which was located in the most gorgeous park. We came at the perfect time of the year because the leaves on the trees were bright yellow, orange, and red. The trees lined the most picturesque pathways that lead to a bright blue temple or a simple patch of a rose garden. It was magnificent and we did not expect much except a temple, but we got a lot more. After we headed back to the hotel where we finally meet up with our other long lost 2 travelers we lost earlier in the morning. We took a rest for a little bit and indulged in some Pizza Hut, then headed out for what I was looking forward to all ay…the Olympic Buildings! I was obsessed with the Olympics this summer so needless to say I could not wait to see the actual place where Michael Phelps swam or the actual place where the Opening Ceremonies took place. We decided to go at night because we wanted to make sure we would have time to go and thought the buildings would be cool to see at night. We were brave and took the subway all the way there, very impressive. I could hardly contain my excitement walking up the steps to the Olympic area. It was pretty dark out when we walked out but still the buildings were amazing! They were right next to each other which surprised me and the architecture was quite impressive. The birds nest is huge and it really looks exactly like a birds nest. The water cube glows just like a water cube and the walls look so thin just like ice. There were men selling all sorts of Olympic memorabilia there and we bought some kites to fly around. We met some local Chinese college students who we took a picture with and joked around with for a while. I told one of them my name was Tiger as a joke and he said his name was Pig, very clever! Unfortunately we could not go into the buildings because they were not open and we never had the chance to go back. Still just being around them and in that area was a dream come true. Plus when I marry Michael Phelps, we can return to the water cube for our wedding (kidding, kinda…) I dropped my red feather at the water cube, perhaps Michael Phelps will find it. We headed back to the hotel that night and then headed out for a little bit. We went to a really cool area where there was basically a warehouse with bars on each floor but we were all pretty tired so we made it an early night. First, however we found a DVD store and loaded up on some more $2.00 DVDs. Perfect ending to an exciting day!
The next day we joined with another group of SASsers who were staying at our hotel and signed up for a tour of the Great Wall. It was so easy and nice to have everything taken care of. We had transportation and an English speaking tour guide. To start our tour we stopped at a porcelain factory and got to see how traditional Chinese porcelain was made. It was fascinating to see but we cannot help but wonder who is really mass producing all the porcelain and to think of what they are not showing us. Still we took time to enjoy the creation of this art. Then we ventured to another palace area that had the tomb of one of the emperors. Mao had once visited this area which was a big deal. When we were there Amber found a red feather on the ground which was a random coincidence. Amber gave the feather to me and we both were amused at how there was a random red feather there. Next we headed to a jade factory and were able to see how jade was made and how to find out if a piece of jewelry is real or fake jade. We had an amazing lunch at this stop. It was served on the traditional Chinese table instrument known to us as the Lazy Susan! After it was time to head to the infamous Great Wall of China. We drove for a while and then out of the blue popped the Great Wall hidden in the mountains. The wall was huge and went on forever! We got dropped off at one part of the wall and were told we could go up a steep walkway with a better view or an easier path. We went for the steep path which was a bit difficult. I did not come prepared but the walk was not too bad, we just kept telling ourselves we could do anything after climbing Table Mountain in Cape Town. The steps were very tiny and very tall, all made out of stone. There were lots of parents carrying their children up and we talked to one man who had hiked up the Great Wall after having bypass surgery. After climbing to our hearts desires we headed back down the path. I ended up leaving the red feather that Amber found for me on this wall where people leave locks or string and make a wish. I tied my feather to the chain on the wall. Even though I broke my one red feather per country policy, I felt this was an exception because the red feather was found in the country! After the Great Wall we headed back on the bus and to a pearl factory. We had our tour guide drop us off at the Silk Market located in downtown Beijing and shopped around for a little. Then we headed back to the hotel for some rest. That night we met up with Sarah and Allison who were in Beijing with a SAS sponsored trip and we all went out for a little before heading back to the hotel.
The next morning we woke up bright and early to catch a flight to Shanghai where the boat was (in the 2 days we were in Beijing the boat moved from Hong Kong to a port in Shanghai). When we arrived to the port, sadly the MV was not there because it was delayed due to storms on the ocean. A big group of us rented a small hotel room and all paid only $2.00 to store our bags today. Although we desperately wanted to return to our beds and shower on the boat, we decided to make the most of our day in Shanghai and head out into the city. We first had an amazing lunch and then shopped around a little bit before eventually getting back to the boat. The architecture in Shanghai was amazing. There were the most insane buildings and skyscrapers. There was one large tower with a large sphere in the middle of it or a tall building with a huge crown on top of it. That night we headed out to Bund St. where we went to a bar that had the most amazing view of the city lights from the outside deck. The next day we woke up early and were determined to get our rail passes for Japan (you cannot buy them in Japan) so we spent about 2 hours hustling and bustling through the confusing streets of Shanghai trying to find this one little spot where we could get the rail passes. We finally got them and then headed back to the boat to join an FDP. Darcy and I went to the Children’s Palace which was similar to a YMCA type of place. It was a place where kids could go to learn skills like drawing, playing the piano, singing opera, or dancing. Unfortunately, there were only a few kids there that day so we did not get to interact with the kids a lot but it was still cool to see that type of organized establishment for children in China. We got to go to a little shop that had some of the artwork done by the children. After we headed back to the boat, absolutely exhausted! We were the last people on the boat and missed on ship time, luckily we did not get in trouble though because we were on an FDP. We raced to Sarah and Allison’s room so we could all catch up on our travels about the wonderful China!That concludes my tales about China. My highlights of the trip include seeing the Water Cube, the impressive architecture of Shanghai, and the spectacular Great Wall of China. It was different to travel without a SAS sponsored trip but it felt great to get everywhere independently. Of course, nothing can compare to my perfect day in Hong Kong. The language barrier proved to be difficult but I want to take up Mandarin when I get home just for fun! Having strangers take random pictures with us was another unexpected addition to our China travels!
LOVE ALWAYS:
MAGGIE
ps looking forward to seeing you all in a month or so!