Headed Home . . .

It's time to leave China and head back home to sunny Los Angeles.  

I started out feeling like I had “forever”, and now I find myself trying to cram in as much as I can in my last few days.

Would you believe I visited a jade carving factory?!?  Yep.

I now know what real jade looks like and how to spot a fake, if you're ever interested.

These balls are called, "A Ball Within a Ball".  It's a traditional gift given at weddings or at the birth of a baby.  The meaning is "a family within a family".

The artists start with a block of jade like this, and then keep working to form the ball within a ball. Very cool to see them work!

Another tea ceremony at this famous place called Dr. Tea.  This one was faaaaancy.  They  pride themselves on fresh tea leaves and ship teas all over the world. 

I learned that the Chinese do not drink tea for taste - only for bodily function.  I bought some tea from here.

These teas here are only sold after they are 12-years old. It has a strong taste that's bitter at first, but then is very sweet. The Chinese do not put sugar or honey in their teas. 

My last supper.  In a huge, high rise shopping mall, no doubt.  You wouldn't believe it, but some of the best and most fancy restaurants in Beijing are at the mall.  Plus, there's air conditioning :-)

I probably will NEVER eat tofu again after this trip. Tofu & bell peppers on the left; potatoes & bell peppers on the right.  Both were scrumptious.  Probably the best meal of my entire trip.

Goodbye, my favorite mall in Beijing!

This entire trip has been nothing short of incredible.  Thank you Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Suzhou and Beijing.

I've learned much about the Chinese people, customs and cities.  But I've learned even more about myself.  This has been a transformative and eye-opening experience.  I'm proud that I pursued each day with such a vigorous adventure.  

They say it takes 22 days to break a habit (or to form a new one).  Well, I still want Chex Mix when I get home.  And Sonora Nachos from El Cholo Restaurant on Western & 11th Ave.  And to give lots of belly rubs to my dog, and to see and laugh with my hubby in person.

Thanks room 1028.  You've been good to me for 12 days.

Thank you for everything, China.  I am filled with much gratitude.  May the road rise to meet you until we meet again!

~SS

The Summer Palace . . .

I went to the summer home of the emperors.

The massive mega-estate is in North West Beijing, and is kind of a hike to get to.  Beijing is very big and spread out, like Los Angeles.  But it was worth the trek to see this awesome royal residence for myself.

The palace sits on Longevity Hill, which overlooks a man-made lake.  It's one mile long and was initially built in 1153 by the fourth ruler in the Jin dynasty.  But over time, every Chinese ruler after him had their teams to expand it, cultivate, and renovate the grounds to absolute perfection. 

It was burned down twice in wars, but was always rebuilt.

The Summer Imperial Palace, as it is officially called, is a series of grand pavilions, halls, palaces, temples, gardens and bridges. 

A professional picture of Summer Palace.

The palace was used by every presiding emperor and his wife.  And his top concubines #1, #2 and #3  got to come along too, as well as any children they had with the emperor.  

Important office staff were rounded up too, and together they would all come here to chill in the summers, or for birthday weekends, or to host international dignitaries and other special guests, or to just getaway from their (hard?) lives.

Stunning.  Professional photo.

The design is based on a legend in Chinese mythology.

Map of Summer Palace, 1888.

Some important business meetings and discussion would take place while the emperor was relaxing here - things like court proceedings and military briefings, but largely, this summer villa was a place to have party and have fun.

The estate is now a public park. Here are my photos of the day I went.  

Hall of Benevolence and Longevity. There's actually furniture and light fixtures that the last emperor used in many of the halls.  They all still work.

Lotus flowers.  I found out from a local while at the palace the reason the Chinese love their state flower is because it grows in dirty muddy waters, but blossoms so pretty.

Pavillon of Precious Clouds.

Nowadays, Senior Citizens are let into the park for free.  A bunch of regulars come here everyday to exercise, sing and dance.

I heard many concubine urban tales on my visit to Summer Palace.  Apparently, they had to always watch their backs because they were malicious and vicious to each other.  They were always plotting to take each other out, and/or to kill the emperor's wife.  

Each night, the concubines would get massaged, receive mani/pedi's, and have their hair and make-up done, and then they'd wait to see if the emperor would choose them.  He usually didn't do the choosing - his assistant always did, and that admin took copious notes about each woman.  

If you did not get chosen after a few presentations, you would get pushed out of rotation and be downgraded housekeeper.  This happened every day.  Many emperors had hundreds, some had thousands, of concubines.  

Seniors were singing old traditional Chinese songs.  It sounded like Alabama twang.

Lotus flowers.

This place is old. Man, if these walls could talk.

The biggest scandal about Summer Palace is Empress Dowager Ci Xi (pronounced Cee- She). At age 17, in 1852, she entered the Forbidden City as "Honorable Person Lan," concubine of the 5th rank. She was promoted to "Royal Concubine Yi" and after giving birth to a son, and she became "Imperial Concubine."

The Emperor died in 1861 leaving his only son, 5-years old, as heir to his throne.  Ci Xi, his mother, was elevated to "Holy Mother Empress Dowager" (over the widow!!!) and as his guardian, she became Regent.

Soon, she staged a coup d'etat and seized political power. While she was somewhat educated (she taught herself to read and write at a young age) she was ignorant of the world at large and resisted all attempts to modernize China. Her 50-year reign was founded on the principles of Confucian teachings. She was the effective ruler of China during the reign of two emperors, her son and her nephew (whom she put into office too).

On the occassion of her 60th birthday in 1895, the Empress Dowager Ci Xi renovated the Summer Palace, largely to the decadence of what it is now. To finance this massive undertaking she used funds slated for the Imperial Navy to the dismay of many. Empress Dowager Ci Xi died in 1909 at age 74. 

The long corridor.  These overhead beams tell a sequential story.  Everything is hand painted. The stories are all about boys, no girls are painted.

The stonework on the ground is from Ci Xi's era.

I stepped on this and looked down, and realized that these ground gutter gates are all over Beijing.  It means "Happiness. Long Life.  Longevity."

Garden of Harmonious Pleasures.

People stood in long lines to take a cruise around the lake.

Those boats have dragon heads. Pretty cool.

The man-made lake is called Kunming Lake.

Marble boat.  Nice. This section of the villa is called Suzhou Street.  Remember I told you before, Suzhou is the birthplace of many things Chinese :-)

My favorite trees in China!

So peaceful.

One of 15 bridges on the grounds.

Yeah, pretty much, I want a summer villa like this too.

The visit was great.  The weather was hazy, but the pictures came out okay.

~SS

The Great Wall . . .

Dear God, am I really standing on the Great Wall of China?  YES.I.AM.

July 20, 2015

If you had asked me in April - just three months ago - if I would visit China in this lifetime, you would have gotten a "No."  Hubby and I have other international excursions on our bucket list: Ghana, Egypt, South Africa, Australia, the Greek Islands, the Cayman Islands.   

But this opportunity to visit China came like Moses parting the Red Sea, and well, when Moses parts the Red Sea...

But let me just tell you how I got to the Great Wall of China.

First off, it's far away.  Like in a children's storybook:  "Far, far away, in another land..."  No, seriously, it's far.

It takes thirty minutes on a metro train from wherever you are in central Beijing to the West Railway Station.  Then it's a one hour bullet train.  Then it's another hour by bus; that may or may not be air-conditioned.  And when you finally get off the bus - in no man's land - you'll need to board an illegal mini-van taxi to take you up the hill to the Great Wall. 

Yeah, um, no thank you.

I splurged and got a driver and a tour guide.  I know, super fancy.  But I had my bridesmaid/BFF T-Farris in my ear, and my dear friend Victor too.

Farris (currently in Europe) said out of all the times she's been to China with her Grammy-award winning band(s), she has NEVER gone to the Great Wall; so I needed to go for the team.  

And Victor (all the way from Brazil) reminded me that I may never come back to China again.

So there you have it - big money spent to make it happen.

Super long drive passing peach groves, strawberry patches and corn fields.  My lovely tour guide talked my ear off.  I just wanted to sleep since I had to meet her at 8AM in my hotel lobby. But no such luck.

FINALLY!  Here!  And still kind of sleepy.  God bless that guide, but she talked the ENTIRE car ride.  Now I have to hike up that BIG hill behind me to get to the main gates.

S-T-E-E-P.

OMG. Are we there yet? It is 90degrees, humidity is at 70%, I'm hot and sticky, and the incline is no joke.

Nope.  Keep it moving up these stairs.

And then head up more stairs.

Here are all of the sections open to the public. I'm going take the cable car ride up to section 10, and hike to towers 10 - 14.  Good plan.

Cable Car only cost $100 RMB. That's like $20 USD.

As I am stepping in, I can't remember the last time I was in a cable car.  Maybe Disneyland as as a kid??

Off I go!!!!  The blue text says "Michelle Obama, wife of the American President rode the car to climb the Great Wall on March 23, 2014."  If Michelle can do it, me too!

WOW!! That's the view behind me.

Landed.  But the Great Wall is up these steps.

Oh.My. ----  I have no words...

The view is spectacular from every direction. And it's so very peaceful and quiet.

According to historical data, the labor force to build the Great Wall was made up of three groups: soldiers, common people and criminals.  The wall was started in 221 B.C. and was finished in 589 A.D.

It was a big burden for ordinary people to build this. Sometimes, all the men in the nation were forced to construct. For instance, during the Wei-Jin and Southern-Northern dynasties (around 265-589), even children had to join in. As a result, no men were engaged in farming and women were frightened to have a boy. Also the Great Wall construction led to a large number of deaths and injuries. For those who lost sons or husbands, life would become much harder.

Sitting for a moment to take in the magnitude of this experience.

These are some pretty old stones.

I headed to the first watch tower. In this particular one you can sign your name.

People from around the world have made their mark :-)

Coming out the other side.

This father and daughter were so cute.  They came to the Great Wall to have a picnic lunch.

 

Further along, a bride and groom were there with a glam squad taking wedding pictures.

Each watch tower is different.

 

A crazy dare devil!

The wall goes on and on and on... all the way up that mountain.  I could see people hiking the hill.

I wrote a prayer for me and my hubby and slid it into a crack into the Great Wall of China.

Me n' hubby are up in there! :-) I wonder how long before somebody finds it?  Maybe never!!!

After 2 hours of hiking and soaking up the glorious beauty, I was ready to leave and go back to reality.  You should have seen me getting down these steps.  I looked like an old lady holding on for dear life. Ha! 

Cable Car back down the hill.

Felt like a roller coaster.

Here is a video on the way down. 

Bye Great Wall.  Nice to meet you.

"In each of us are places where we have never gone.  Only by pressing the limits do you ever find them." -Dr. Joyce Brothers

~SS