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Mom and Dad and Aunt Carolyn loaded up four big boxes in the van and went to the embassy to mail them. I had to help with some more packing, taping the boxes. While they were gone we did a whole Nancy Drew mystery game from beginning to end. It was mostly me and Melissa, but everyone helped.

When Mom got home we had to pack our suitcases for Tibet. We can’t bring much. We leave early tomorrow. Then for our last night we went to Pomegranate for dinner.

At first we had our own room, but it was hot and the mosquitos were really bad. So we moved to the big room. We got couches near a TV. We all had fries and popcorn. I had baked chicken and ate almost all of it. Maddy had spicey wings. Mia and Melissa had Quesadillas. It was all good

We had to go home early and go to bed because an early flight tomorrow. Wan An! - Good night!

Not much happening. I had to help pack a little. Mom and dad are packing the things they are shipping back. It looks like there are at least 3 big boxes. Aunt Carolyn spent a lot of time trying to find boxes for us, and getting their hotel rooms for their vacations.

We went up to Pinnacle for a while, to do a little shopping, and had some snacks. Then I worked with Mia on her writing and spelling. Eva came over and we all played together. We also did a lot of mosquito chasing.

We went up to the pool and did some swimming and got an orange soda. Then I went rollerblading on the street. Everyone is getting ready for us going to Tibet. Bye

Dad:  Today was quiet for the kids. They stayed at the house with the Ayi while Carolyn, Tricia, Melissa, Sandee and I went down to HangQiao. HangQiao is a famous market right next to the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. It’s most famout for the 3rd and 4th floor pearl market. The high end stores have pictures of many dignitaries visiting there.

We went to Sharon’s store, also frequented by The Queen Mother, and W’s Mom.  They have a huge selection and suffice it to say we spend a few hours there.

HangQiao is mostly full of Westerner’s. I saw more here than anywhere else. This is the place where your bargaining skills really get put to the test. We seemed to have a great day, getting pretty much what we wanted at the prices we wanted, and for the most part those prices were pretty good. Tricia finished the day quite happy with her purchases, as was I.

We got some special items there that we weren’t really planning on. We’ll have to wait for later to put up pictures of those.

We got back late from a long day of shopping, and Tom took Carolyn out for a birthday dinner. We ordered in.  Since there are no delivery charges and no minimum here, we ordered from three different restaurants, so everybody could get what they wanted.

That’s pretty much it. Sorry no pictures at the moment. The pictures are on another PC that I don’t have access too at the moment. We’ll add pictures later.

Zai Jian!

Ni Hao ma? Wo shi hen lei. (How are you?, I’m really tired.)

We came back from Xi’an today. We didn’t do that much this morning. We just got up, had some room service breakfast in my dad’s room, and then our driver came and picked us up to take us to the airport.

The Airport is a pretty long ways away, it took about an hour. We saw a lot of interesting things on the way. Xi’an is a pretty clean city, and not as busy as Beijing. We passed lots of parks, and in a bunch of them people were doing morning exercises. Some were doing Taijiquan (Tai-chi), others were doing some kind of fan exercise. The stoplights were kind of neat - some of them have signs that tell you how long before they change.

Most of the signs here are in Chinese and in English. Sometimes the English is kind of weird, and lots of bad spelling. (Rear End Collisino - Kepp Space) Some we have no idea what they mean (”Don’t jump over nuclear waste?”). Also things aren’t all on time - the desk to get our boarding pass was 20 minutes late opening - and we have the picture’s to prove it!!

The airplane flight was ok. The food was weird again, but we got drinks. I also had some white rice from the food they gave us. I played on my PSP and tried to sleep a little. When we got to Beijing we drove back to the house and were surprised to find that someone had TP’d the house!!

There were big signs that said Happy Birthday Melissa and Carolyn. Today is Melissa’s birthday, and tomorrow is Aunt Carolyn’s. For Melissa’s birthday we kept the party small, and at home. She wanted a big pancake dinner, and Aunt Carolyn made tons of them. Melissa’s record is 32 pancakes!! She also made bacon, and sausage and scrambled eggs. It was just us, and Judy’s family. Melissa got lots of gifts, I gave her a PDA she could use. We stayed up pretty late starting the second season of Lost.

We got some DVDs up at the store. You have to ask if they’re “qing chu” (clear) or “bu qing chu” (usually videotaped by someone in the theatre). They only cost about 10 yuan, or $1.25. 20 yuan for some of them.

After the movies, it was time to go to sleep.

Wo dei zou le - I gotta go - Zai Jian!

Ni Hao!

We got up real early, like 6:30 am, and went to the airport to go to Xi’an. Aunt Carolyn’s flight seat was 23 (LOST). The flight took about an hour and a half. I played on my PSP on the way there. I sat next to Maddy, and we had an empty seat next to us.

When we got there, we had a driver waiting for us with a van. He didn’t speak any English! Bu hao! (not good!) We first went to the Terra Cotta Soldier Factory, where me and Maddy, and Melissa and Mia made our own Terra Cotta Soldiers. They tried to sell everybody a lot of stuff but we didn’t buy anything.  Tai gui le!  (Too expensive)

Then we went to the Terra Cotta soldier museum. We hired a guide to show us around. And we got drinks and went on a little bus to take us to where the pits were. It was sweltering. (That was Maddy’s word - she’s listening as I write this.)

Before we went in the pits, we saw a movie about the emperor and how they created the soldiers, and how they were destroyed. Then in the souvenir area we bought a book about the place, and the little old man who discovered it signed the book. Aunt Carolyn believes there are lots of little old men, they are pretending are all the same one who discovered the soldiers. You are not allowed to take pictures of him. So here’s a picture:

Then we went to the first big building. It’s called Pit #1. It was pretty big and hot, and they had long, long rows of soldiers and horses. There were broken soldiers and horses, in the back. The first pit had more than 6000 soldiers. Only a few hundred have been restored. Some of the heads were cut off. Of all of the statues, not one was found whole. The emperors enemies broke the statues, and burned the place they were after he died.

The soldiers were made with local clay. They made the bodies first. The legs are solid and the upper body is hollow. Then they would make a head, that could be attached separately, and you could take it off. All the heads are different. They originally were all painted, but as soon as they were uncovered, the paint was destroyed. They are still repairing lots of the soldiers all the time. When they repair them, they keep them in the very back to the big building. We took pictures with them.

The second pit was the officer’s pit. It was very small and had 4 horses at the front. There were only like 60 soldiers in this pit, and they were mostly officers. You can tell the different types of soldier by the hat and hair, and their uniform. I like the calvary man best. He has a flat hat, and is unusual.

The third pit, was kind of boring. They have done almost nothing with it. They say there are almost 2000 soldiers in there, but almost none was uncovered. It had smallish walls. It did have examples of the different soldiers behind glass. We also found 2 very unusual Terra-Cotta soldiers in this room.  I’ll upload there pictures later.

The final room was a museum, and the main thing there was 2 chariots with horses. These were half-sized and made of bronze. They were found in a different place. There was some other stuff there, but I really don’t remember much about it. It was cool, the air-conditioning was working. That’s good because it was the hottest day of the year in Xi’an.

After that we were finished with the Terra-Cotta soldiers. We drove back to town. It took about an hour. We stopped at the ancient city walls that were really big, and surrounded the whole downtown. But we didn’t climb them, we were getting tired.

From there we went to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. We toured the grounds, and then mom, dad and Melissa hiked to the top and took pictures. It was a big building and there were lots of Buddha’s and monks everywhere. For 10 RMB (about $1.25) you could get candles and incense and pray to Buddha. We didn’t. But we did buy lots to drinks because we were thirsty. A lot of places you are not supposed to take pictures. We met a man and woman who are traveling around the world for two years and writing a book about it. A lot of the people here were pushy and wanted to touch me and Mia on the hair and face and stuff. Bu Yao!! No pictures for you!!

We finally went to our hotel. They had overbooked the hotel we were at so they put us in an even nicer hotel. It was the Grand Mercure Hotel in downtown Xi’an. It was really nice and we got three rooms. All four of us girls got our own room. It was a 5 star hotel, and it only cost us like $35 each room. It was supposed to cost at least $70, but because they moved us from the other building they gave us the same price. This is a good price even in China!!

We went to dinner at a 5 star hotel, at a really fancy buffet. It was called Azur. I ordered noodles with butter. I finished the first big bowl, and they gave me a second bowl for free. Melissa had grilled cheese and french fries. Everyone else ate the buffet. I’ll let dad talk about the buffet.

Dad: The buffet cost about $20 a person, which is pricey for China. But we had prime rib, steaks(australian beef), seafood, sushi, and about a dozen more entrees. Steak, pork and fish could be cooked to order. Dinner also came with a drink, beer or soda, and a large dessert bar. We all got our money’s worth, even if it did cost about 4 times as much as most dinners here. We hadn’t eaten all day, we skipped lunch planning to eat in town after the Terra Cotta warriors, but we changed our plans and never took a break. Nobody walked away from that place hungry, and the service was pretty good and friendly. They didn’t even mind sharing the buffet desserts with the two girls who didn’t get the buffet.

One of the coolest things was the 5 star bathroom in the hotel near the restaurant. The nicest bathroom in China so far!! This is probably a 12 star.

After dinner we even went for a swim at the hotel pool, and used the hot-tub. There was only like one other family there at the pool. It was a really fancy place, with lockers, and women with towels, and an inground bar by the pool, and fancy chairs.

Then back to the room to watch TV until everyone fell asleep. It was a full day - and now we’re all full. So ”Wan An” to everyone from Xi’an, China!!! Zai Jian!

Hi! It’s me again, Jensen.  Hao jiu bu jian! (Long time no see)

When we got up today, Dad and Aunt Carolyn had to go to the airport to pick up our tickets. While they were gone, I took my rollerblades up to the pool with Judy and Maddy. We got drinks and we went to the pool. There was nobody at the pool. I went inside to dry off my coverup when Judy hit her lip on the side of the pool. She had to put ice on it because it was bleeding.

After we got back to the house, we went up to Pinnacle with Mom, Aunt Carolyn, Melissa, and Maddy and got our nails done Chinese style. Nobody got massages this time. It only costs about $4 each.

Then it was back to the house for some packing and relaxing. We watched the last episodes of the first season of LOST. (4 8 15 16 23 42)

We had to go to bed early, because our flight the next morning was leaving early. That’s it for Friday! Sorry, no pictures.  Wan An! (Good night)

Trying to squeeze in one more entry before we head to Xi’an tomorrow to see the Terra Cotta warriors. Although it would be a shame to short-change the Ming Tombs. So Dad is taking over for this day, and Jensen promises to be back at the helm after Xi’an.

A family event, Carolyn drove, and the whole family went (except for Tom who still has to work.)  The Ming Tombs are a little less than an hour from the house, and the traveling isn’t too bad since we can stay well out on the outskirts of town.

The Ming Tombs are 13 tombs of Emperors of the Ming Dynasty that were laid to rest in the same general area. The necropolis is entered via the Sacred Way, a long road lined with stone animals. The area is nestled among the mountains, surrounded on three sides. The Tombs themselves are scattered over a vast area, with only a couple of them restored, but all of them open.

Visiting the Ming Tombs is one of the more expensive events. Each has it’s own entry fee, and these fees are more than the Summer Palace or Prince Gong Mansion. They start to add up for 7 people going to multiple tombs!

The first tomb we visited is the largest and most restored. It is the Chang Ling tomb, and when driving to the Ming Tombs, it is the name of the area on the signs. The Chang Ling tomb was the first one built here, and is very large and very complete.

The basic layout is a series of building and gates built along a central axis, leading to a large, tall tower which overlooks the entire tomb complex to one side, and a large hill which the emperor is entombed in on the other side.

The Chang Ling central hall is enormous, and has a small museum, and a very large statue of the emperor inside.  A special wood is used to make the huge posts and crossbeams, and it has a nice sweet smell.

The open courtyards have small stalls for selling souvenirs and refreshments. They are cool, with many tall trees, and grass. There are numerous rest and relaxation places, and even that rarest of all commodites, a genuine 4-star bathroom!!  The three courtyards end at a huge tower that is the entrance to the large hill under which the emperor is buried. At Chang Ling, the burial chamber in intact, but at Ding Ling, our second destination, they have excavated the burial chamber.

At Ding Ling tomb, there is again a very large tower, with a large inscribed rock with a prayer for the Emperor. At Chang Ling that’s as far as you can go, but at Ding Ling, they have recently excavated down more than 100 ft to the original burial chamber. The Emperor here was buried with his two Empresses, and numerous concubines. The burial chamber was intact. They have opened it up for tourists, but the burial remains are still there hidden by large red boxes. The treasures of the tombs are now in museums above ground.

The Ming Tombs are impressive and calming. They were not too crowded, but we did see a lot of Westerners here, the highest percentage of any place so far.  It may have to do with the higher prices. We only got to see two of the tombs at length, and it would be interesting to see some of the less restored ones.

Again, we had lots of people asking to take picture with Jensen and Mia. Mia’s not crazy about having her picture take with strangers, but Jensen’s usually a good sport about it, but with some of the larger tour groups she has to stand there smiling until her face aches!

On the way out Jensen and Mia decided to try an old-fashioned mode of transport, and they had a blast. You could hear Mia laughing a mile away.

It’s late and I’ve got to go - it’s off to Xi’an tomorrow bright and early!

We hired a driver for the day, Li Xiaosheng (Mr. Li) and he was great - he got us safely to the Summer Palace in a clean comfortable cab, driving really well.  It took 30 minutes driving time.

He dropped us off, and we told him where to meet us 4 hours later (si dian ban, 4:30), and went to get entrance tickets. We hired an English speaking tour guide for the day! She wanted about $20 for 2 hours of guiding, but like most things here that was negotiable, and we finally agree on 100 RMB, about $12 US. It was well worth it.  Details later on why she was worth it!! 

The Summer Palace served the Qing Dynasty as the Imperial Vacation home during the summer away from the hot Forbidden City in Beijing. It’s been there for hundreds of years but the placed was burned down twice at the end of the Qing dynasty, and the Empress Dowager Cixi had it rebuilt both times and left her fingerprints all over the new designs. As such the Summer Palace is very much a reflection of the end of the last Dynasty. It’s another of the World Heritage Sites (along with the Great Wall, Forbidden City, and the Ming Tombs)

The place is HUGE. There are so many beautiful buildings, gardens, and couryards, all layed out around a large artificial lake, Lake Kunming. There was a beautiful opera, 3-tiered with 3 different performances that would go on simultaneously and around the clock. The Empress Dowager Cixi loved the opera and she could go take rests away from the performances, however the performers had to keep performing. We were able to catch a short musical show performed on the main level. We watched it from Cixi’s vantage point, just like royalty!

She was an interesting lady-she began as a maid, then was promoted (if you will) to Concubine, and finally bore the only son to the Emperor and became the Empress.  When the emperor died, her son became Emperor and she became the Empress Dowager - mother of the Emperor. She glorified in her power. She changed her hairstyle every couple of hours, she had some incredible clothes and wild shoes. Her meals commonly had 128 dishes. She was really running the show even though her son was the Emperor.  Her son died and she had her nephew put in power.  When he rebelled, she had him locked up in one of the courtyards, the doors were all bricked in, and he was fed through small doors by the eunuch servants. When he died she put her grandson in charge-meanwhile she was running things and making bad decisions that hastened the end of the Qing Dynasty in 1911. 

She was SCARY looking also-we saw many pictures of her and her entourage from 1903. 

We got to see many artifacts, many of the dozens of buildings house a variety of treasures, including the first automobile in China, the first electric lights, dozens of gifts from visiting dignitaries, and hundreds of items used in the daily life of the Qing royalty. The grounds were incredible and there was a fantastic Marble Boat, it was originally made with the second floor out of wood painted to look like marble. Eventually Cixi had it made all marble. Of course it doesn’t float, and she used the money needed to upgrade their fleet to build the marble boat. The gardens were magnificent-Garden of Virtue and Harmony, The Garden of Harmonious Pleasures, etc.  The weather was beautiful and we had a lovely day.

Our guide Mary was a well-spring of information, she told us many fascinating stories, and found great ways around the property, avoiding much of the crowds. She even got Steve and Jensen into a closed off area for some extra photos, through a friend of hers. But best of all, she knew where the only 4-Star bathroom was in the whole place. A single secret western stall - no squatty potty here. That was worth the price alone!!

With only 4 hours, we barely were able to cover a quarter of the place. As much as we do here, it always seems we’re missing so much more.

Now, Carolyn is making spaghetti and meatsauce - gotta run - Zai Jian! 

Mom did such a wonderful job on the blog the past 2 days, I am letting her do the next 2 days of entries as well!

We decided to take the shuttle to downtown Beijing with Carolyn, the nieces, and the Hippaleus gang, Sandee and her 4 kids. We then walked about a mile to the Ancient Obervatory-Gu Guanxiangtai. It is one of the oldest observatories in the world There had been three famous ancient observatories, all built in the 1500’s, this the sole remaining one. 

The centerpiece of the observatory is an ancient stone tower that looks similar to a tall watchtower. We climbed to the top, a couple of hundred steps to an open rooftop. We saw some amazing, ancient astronomy instruments there - they are huge and made out of bronze.  Most were built around 1670.

There was an adjoining courtyard which is now one of the centers of astronomy, and is being restored as a museum. There were a few rooms filled with all types of exhibits abouts the stars, the moon, ASTRONOMY.  It covered a broad history of the heavens. We were looking at items again from before Christ’s time-this is what continually amazes me about China-how old everthing is. There was a picture of a 6000 year old burial that had a layout of the four main Chinese astrological symbols surrounding the body.

 After completing our tour of the Ancient Obervatory, it started to rain and we decided to try out the subway system, since there was a stop only a few feet from the entrance, and we knew there was a stop near where the shuttle was. It was on our to do list as we had heard from our Chinese Teacher Faye that the subway system is quite nice and she was right - very clean and airconditioned. Three RMB (less than $.40) takes you anywhere on the two main lines. We got back to China World, a very exclusive hotel and shops and found the subway had an exit on the bottom floor of the mall. From there we caught the shuttle back to Carolyn’s home.  

Night, night.

Today we ran a few errands and got caught up on laundry, read some and then Carolyn, Steve and I headed out and went down to the U.S. Embassy to pick up Tom.  We went down to the fabric district to pick up some items we had ordered from the week before, comforters and window treatments. 

From there we went back to the embassy area and went to a lovely restaurant and had some delicious chinese food. Tom calls it the hole in the wall, but it really is gorgeous. I was sooo excited to see they had a Western style bathroom (thank you Lord) and the whole sweet-and-sour fish we ordered was an interesting story.  They bring it out live for you to look at and approve and then they cook it and bring it out to you. We had a lot of different dishes, and some beer - but the fish cost more tha all the rest of the meal combined! The fish there is the specialty, and most of the tables were eating one of the fresh fish dishes. After dinner we looked at some of the pictures of famous people that had been there, including some recent Ambassadors, various Chinese and Hong-Kong movie starts, and even Al Gore. 

On the way home we saw this crazy guy. He’s always riding around the compound with this ladder - but we’re not sure if he ever uses it.

The girls all stayed home with the Ayi and ordered pizza and pasta and had it delivered in! Tomorrow we will be touring one of the world’s oldest astonomy obervatories, stay tuned for details!  Good Night!  (Not bad for mom’s first 2 entries)!