Well it all started with an early wakeup call on Saturday March 26th , so we could to head to the airport, and I said my goodbye’s to Michael, this will be the longest we ever of not seeing each other, and we started our 24 hours journey to Beijing. Yes you heard right we landed in Beijing almost exactly 24 hours from when we left Salt Lake. One long day of airport/airplane food and sleeping in a sitting position. We were greeted at the airport by Bruce and then taken to our hotel. We had an early morning call everyday but it was worth it because our days were jam packed!
Day 1 in China:
Today started out by going to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Bruce our tour guide made fun of Americans telling us the joke that in Tiananmen Square you can fit 1,000,000 Chinese people, 2,000,000 Japanese people, and 500,000 Americans. Also another interesting fact he was telling us is that the majority…well mostly all Chinese citizens do not even know that riots even took place at Tiananmen Square as Brue put it why would we believe we never saw it or heard about it. Crazy how much information we all have and what they don’t have. Tiananmen Square was cool but nothing really to see. There is Chairman Mao Zedong Mausoleum there but it was closed. Across the street is the Forbidden City that was built in the 1400’s during the MING Dynasty and now is open to public to walk around. Oh my it is HUGE! We walked through so many squares to get to the most important square(where the thrones were) , and then behind that is all the living area and quarters MAN it just kept going!!! Also something to note was you could tell the significance or how important a building was by how many animals were on the edge of the roof of the buildings. After we headed to the Panda Zoo. It was a normal zoo but has a Panda section that we went to. It was fun to see a Panda Bear but zoo’s will never really be the same since Africa. Also this was the first time we got to experience a bit of Chinease culture. The parents will cut open a slit in their children’s pants and when they need to use the restroom they just spread their kids legs wide and let them use the bathroom. Even if it was in the middle of the pathway at the zoo! After we went to the Summer Palace. This is like Forbidden City except this is where the emperor would go during the summer seasons. It was beautiful on a lake, and has the longest outdoor covered corroder in the world.
Tiananmen Square
Forbidden City....On the Emperors bridge
The animals indicating how important a building was
Summer Palace
Day 2:Today was a drive to the great wall, we went to the Badaling section. Along the way we stopped to see the Olympic venues the Birds Nest , Water Cube and the Olympic village. Then continued to the wall. There are three sections that have been remodeled so you can climb up on the wall, the rest is all just a pile of rubble. WOW the wall is incredible! It just goes up and down these mountains as far as you can see. I don’t really know how to describe it, it just keeps going and amazing to think they built it on a mountain side. The wall was amazing; we were able to climb up and went to the highest point in the Badaling section. I know it’s on a mountain side I somehow just wasn’t expecting it to be a difficult climb but it really was a climb, I can’t even imagine patrolling that on duty. That night we went to the acrobatic show. The show was entertaining to see different acrobats that the men and women can do.
Water cube and Birds Nest
THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA
Day 3:
Today started out going to the Temple of Heaven. It was amazing it has now turned into a local park. The ‘elderly’ come here and sing, play chess, play games, and exercise. They were great in letting us join them in the exercises of tai chi, and tai chi ball as well as aerobic exercises. Also in the middle of the park is the Temple. This is where the emperor would come and make a sacrifice to god. He would first fast a week of food and women, then offer the blood sacrifice. Afterword we went to Yonghe Palace, a Buddhist temple. The temple was fascinating there were like 80 Buddahs is all and if you wanted to pray to their god they must pray to all 80 or it doesn’t really count as a full worship. After we took a tour of a Hutong. These are the traditional houses in Beijing. The door of your house signified your class in society. Then behind the door is an open courtyard and on each side is a room that an entire family will share or 4 separate families. Also the bathroom is not in the home, it’s a public one outside of the house that an entire neighborhood shares. Our tour guide lives in a Hutong and she made it apparent that she can’t believe that people are moving into apartments. As she put it there is no more socializing and you don’t know everyone around you, you’re not as close knit as a family. I believe that its true I just can’t believe people want to live this way, again cultural differences.
Temple of Heaven...This is where the Emperor would fast
Enjoying some aerobics in the park with locals. The instructor was like a Richard Simmons type!
Day 4:
Today we flew to Xi’an. When there we first went to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. A large Buddust Pagoda(temple). Afterword we headed to the Dumpling Feast. Lets just say a 18 meal course meal of dumplings. Definitely wasn’t the best meal, probably the worst that we’ve had. And easy to say I don’t want to eat dumplings really again! Hahah. Then we drove up to the hotel and above the front door of the hotel is a gigantic banner saying “Warmly Welcome Elder Brent Bishop and the United States Delegation” haha yup we are the united states delegation!
The Pagoda
The displays inside the Hotel....I don't have the picture of the banner on my computer
Day 5:
Today was the Terracotta Warriors, Middle School, and Xian wall. We first went to a store/factory to see how they are making the souvenir Terracotta status today and then we went to the dig sites. There are 3 in total. And all are still be excavated to find new ones. It was crazy to see them all and to see how small the pieces are that they dig up. Interesting fact….all the warriors were painted but when they excavated ones that are painted the paint deteriorates in a matter of days so now if they find them they rebury them and are waiting for technology to advance so we can preserve the paint. After we went to a Middle School, I felt like a celebrity or something they had a huge welcome banner (the same saying that was on the hotel) and then there were photographers and the huge video cameras everywhere. The English class was there to welcome us and then they would grab one of us and took us around the school and talked to us and asked questions back and forth. It was crazy what they go through each day, many have given up all hobbies because there is no time. They go to school then go home and do hours of homework, then sleep for a few hours and repeat. Man just wish some of my students and all students appreciated what they have and the freedoms they are given! Later in the day we went to the Wall of Xian. It is pretty much just a city wall that was used more in times of war. You can rent bikes and bike around the wall but because it was raining they wouldn’t let us L That night we went to the Tang Dynasty Culture Show. The show was excellent, and the costumes were amazing, at the end a banner dropped from the ceiling saying “Warmly welcome Elder Brent Bishop and the United States Delegation” We then got to go up on the stage a take a picture with one of the dancers!!! WAY COOL!
Pit 1 of the Terracotta Warriors
The wall of Xian
The sign at the Middle/High School
The show!
Day 6: Today we went to a local village and ate in their homes. It was a pretty nice house and neighborhood and the food was excellent. It was also the first time I HAD to use chopsticks because forks were not available. Across the street from this home was an art gallery of a pretty famous artist in China. We were able to meet her and she even taught us how to make a paper-cut(type of art) of the Chinese symbol for happiness. Then we went to the airport. Man that was an adventure. We had a delayed flight many gate changes and confusion between the languages of what was actually going on. Luckily about 3 hours after our originally departure time we boarded the plane to Guilin.
Aubrey, Kelsi, and I with the famous Artist. She drew that picture as we were all watching!
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