Great Wall at Mutianyu

We chose the section of the wall at Mutianyu (moo-tian-yeo-oo) because according to Fodor's it is away from the crowd and more scenic.

They were right. We're sure glad we picked this one.

The ticket office is divided in two. Surprisingly they were in competition to sell tickets to us. One side offers sky chair to the top, and back on a toboggan. The other side offers cable car ride back and forth. For safety reasons we chose the cable car.

But if you love toboggans and don't have small ones tagging along, you might want to try it.

The great wall is, well, GREAT.

And hot this time of year. But at least there are some peddlars selling 10 Yuan ice cold mineral waters up there (say, "ping suey" = cold water). So if we're out of ammo, there's still hope.

Also there are bees the size of a thumb. They seem to like hovering around the middle of the path on the great wall. We avoid them. Careful with bees. When we slap them their juice will attract their comrades to attack you in hordes. So just ignore them, please.

My son ran up and down the wall pretending to be a soldier at war. He had fun. There are holes at the bottom along the wall facing out, I suppose for the soldiers to shoot arrows from.

It's really a wonderful close to our trip. We saved the best for last. I love the scenery, the old stones (some new bricks were added during renovations), the old steps.

Praise the Lord.

Lunch at Mutianyu

We found a wonderful, tiny restaurant very near the Great Wall at Mutianyu called Xiaolumian. http://www.xiaolumian.com/. It's rustic. But it's a very clean place. Very hard to find, too.

As the name suggests, it is located in a small road. Very small road. Xiao=small, Lu=road, Mian=noodle. Thank God for a kind and resilient taxi driver who keeps using his handphone to ask for directions from the restaurant.
We finally reached the place and was delighted with the smiling waitress who is a local living in Mutianyu. And... speaks english!

The dumplings are tasty. The noodles fresh and, mixed with the sauce, is wonderful. I also enjoyed the freshly cut vegetables they prepared for us.

What a unique, traditional chinese meal. Kudos to my hubby who found it when he researched the internet.

Summer Palace

We went to the Summer Palace on Saturday. Phew! Crowded!

But we love the hike up and down the hill through narrow passageways. Rocky steps lined with christmas trees. I guess I mean pine trees.

Occasionally we spotted beautiful plump birds the size of a chicken (but not chicken). They sing. They went down the path to take a sip of water or peck at the ground. The back is blue but the wings are black. We love spying them.

The stairs leading to the temple on top of the hill is magnificent. You can see it on the photo above. It zigzagged up and up and up. We felt like Po in Kungfu Panda (coming up soon to a theater near you!) when he had to climb the stairs up the mountain.

But the view from above is very rewarding. We could see the Beijing skyline.

For lunch, we sat under a shade of trees on top of the hill. It was very quiet there. We could peek at the lakeview in between the trees. The plump blue bird came back for a visit. But she did not eat bread or anything we entice her with. In fact she declined to stay. (Hence, no photographs of her.) That's nice, I thought. They are independent. Not used to begging people for food like city birds in other places.

Ritan, then Tiantan

On our third day in Beijing my son and I planned to visit Tiantan Park (Temple of Heaven). It's south of the city and it's huge. (My hubby went to give training at his office on Thursday and Friday.)

But in the morning the taxi driver accidentally dropped us in Ritan Park. He must have heard the doorman wrongly or whatever. But my son and I decided to check it out anyway.

It's a public park so entrance is free. There is one small pond near the front. Very serene.Little children with their mums or grandparents play around it.

The park goes deeper where there are many corners for people to exercise. An old couple sat together under a gazebo, the husband was playing a chinese string instrument while the wife turned the musical sheets for him. No one was watching. They didn't ask for money either. They were just playing it.

We spotted beautiful grey colored birds jumping from tree to tree. My son had fun trying to get as close as he could. But the birds seem to anticipate his next move all the time.

In the middle of the park there was also a big circular mound used to give sacrifices. It's a big area and was deserted because it's all stone.

Finally after a short lunch and coffee, we got the correct temple of heaven. It's where the emperor gave sacrifices to the God of heaven to appeal for good bumper crops.

It's a beautiful park with lots of ancient cypress trees. and very green at this time of year.

We came out right on time for... rush hour. Thank God for sending a taxi driver for us in that middle of nowhere (it seems to me!). The taxi driver also endured at least an hour of driving through massive traffic jam along the highway. He didn't complain at all. Amazing. And all the meter charged me for all that distance and jam was less than 8 singapore dollars.

At night we had peking duck and some sichuan dishes for dinner at the hotel's restaurant. I wish we could go to the famous peking duck restaurant in a hutong somewhere in the city, but the traffic jams was a major deterrant for us. So there.

I am thankful for God's protection and His mercy that day, that I could reach the hotel back safely.

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
The Holy Bible : New International Version. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Php 4:6-7

Just outside of the Tiananmen Gate on our first day in Beijing (21 May) we witnessed a quarrel between an old man and an old woman who collects plastic bottles to recycle. Obviously they were fighting about the amount of bottles that belong to them. Maybe they happened to count it next to each other or something, we didn't know. But it really saddens us that they were fighting over mere cents. These people really are poor.

Plastic bottle collectors, usually old people, were in every park and public places we visited. It's nice to sometimes see a group of people purposely stopping by them and drink up their mineral water so they can give the bottles to these people.

At the base of the Great Wall at Mutianyu my son ran a distance to give his bottle to a very old woman, no taller than himself. She looked ancient even from afar. I waved goodbye to her and gave her the most loving eyes, from afar. To my delight she burst into a big smile and waved and waved back at me for a long time.

That really touched me. Not only that her eyes are still good , but also it makes me think that though I may not know the language perfectly I can still show them Christ's love. I know He loves these people. I know He is pleased to show it through me.

I just pray that these people that touched our lives on the trip, whether taxi drivers, waitresses, or bottle collectors, will in turn be touched by Christ and find Him.

To get around I have to ask the concierge to write the name of the destination on a piece of paper just so that there will be no misunderstanding. After all, it is my first time to Beijing. Plus, my mandarin is non-existent and javanese infused .

Thanks to my mom and dad who spoke mandarin at home when I was growing up, I could still at least survive in communicating the basics. It got me around in taxi, it got me food (when ordering), it helps me to communicate with people to show them love and concern. But really it is little more than "tarzan" gestures sprinkled with mandarin words.

But of the few caucasians I met in restaurants, etc, I overheard them speaking to the waiters in fluent chinese (mandarin). Wow. If they can do it, I should be able to do it better, right. (Maybe they have a private tutor. Heheh.. jealous.. )

So come on, people. Let's learn this beautiful language.
Now if only I have more time... (... excuses...)

Today we went to Beijing Zoo to see the pandas.
It's quite a big park. Sadly, the animals are mostly in concrete enclosures.

But we enjoyed ourselves exploring the vast ground.

The highlight for my son was getting a cute panda as a new friend.

The sandstorm was gone.

Then we went to Malls of Oriental Plaza for late lunch. It has a terrific food mall downstairs, with a food court filled with chinese and japanese style food.

Dinner was at Crystal Jade Palace.

Another perfect day.

sandstorm

Beijing is beautiful. Except for the sandstorm.

Light yellow dust covered everything. Trees, cars, buildings, us...

But we were undeterred. We trudged on through miles of sidewalk in search of the Dongximen subway station. Good thing we walked through mostly leafy embassy areas.

My son was coughing a couple of times, or sneezing. So was I.

But the weather is nice and cool compared to our sauna Singapore (that I really missed today because of the sand). Overall it's not so bad. People could still breathe, albeit slightly sandy.

Finally we reached Tiananmen square. A really big place.

It so happened that there was a protest of some sort, we didn't know what it was all about. But it was loud and involved quite a number of people. Turns out it was a show of support for the earthquake victims. People gather together under the hot sun of Tiananmen Sq to shout out encouragements to the victims as if they can hear them. I think that's really touching.

Later on we proceeded into Forbidden City.

My son's complaints, due to his fatigue, only ends when he saw the exit sign from that huge complex that was forbidden to all but emperors and their immediate families and servants for centuries. I've got to give him credit, though. He did last a whole morning and some of the afternoon quite cheerfully, despite we just got off the plane this morning.

Room service for dinner, please.

Tomorrow I'm checking the weather first before I'd venture out.

Thank God for today. For the lovely Terminal 3 both in Singapore and in Beijing. For a good night's sleep on the flight. For the sandstorm, that we could have a chance to experience it. Hope it will go away soon. ;P

Signing off for the day,

3 (sand)stormtroopers.

Beijing Trip prelude

Here I am on my way to the land of my ancestors.
I'm thrilled cos I've never been to China before.
Part of me is sad, too, remembering victims of the earthquake that just happened.

We're going to take the red eye flight.
My son is famished cos now is nearing midnight.
He's eating pepperoni pizza with his dad at the bistro in Terminal 3. What a nice terminal, to say the least!
I'm enjoying the cappucino. Superb.

I can't wait to see what's in store for me in the next few days.
Oh, yeah.

My son who usually never converse with us in chinese, suddenly already spoke quite a few sentences with me in the taxi. Just a light banter. Wow. I hope this trip will awaken his passion for the chinese language.