My parents and sister came to see me for part of their Christmas vacation, and it was really fun! They were here for 10 days, which is not really long enough to get over the culture shock of such a drastically different place and people, so I think it was quite a tiring trip, but we got to see lots of cool places and monuments, had some interesting food, and it was great to have loved ones here during the holiday. It was also interesting to experience anew the shocks and amazements of just arriving to China, which I only vaguely remember now due to the 'different' or even 'bizarre' having become commonplace. Their reactions to various things - i.e. baby's bare bottoms, people spitting, people EVERYWHERE, horrendous traffic, whole pigs in the aisle at the supermarket, etc. - were reminders of how much I've adjusted since arriving here!
Here is a brief recap of their trip to China:
Day 1 - Forbidden City, Tianenmen Square, Wangfujing street, and Chinese food for dinner - an accomplishment!
Day 2 - Temple of Heaven, Pearl Market, and introduction to work. My workmates professed astonishment at finding my parents so young, and it was fun to show everyone around where I work and the people I see everyday. We took an overnight train to Xi'an in the evening. The small size of the compartment was a surprise at first, but its cozy accoutrements were also noted with pleasure and I think overall this was a fun part of the trip.
Day 3 - arrival in Xi'an, arrival at the hotel after some difficulty with a dearth of real taxis, and our lucky transfer to the nicest hotel in the city. No kidding. I think its the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in, with free internet, swimming pool, and western buffet breakfast to die for, for less than the cost of a Super 8 at home. Sweet! We went to see the Terracotta Warriors which were very impressive. I also introduced Mom and Rebecca to the pleasures of Chinese foot massage...mmm...
Day 4 - Xi'an day tour - the old city walls, bell and drum towers, and Big Goose Pagoda, complete with kitschy music and fountain light show after dusk (which was nevertheless very cool).
Day 5 - trip to Emperor Jingdi's tomb on outskirts of Xi'an, with little miniature terracotta figures from 200 BC, much smaller than the famous warriors. These were also domestic servants, civil servants, animals, etc, so very different. Then airport, and home to Beijing on Christmas Eve.
Day 6 - Christmas in China! It was great to have my family here for one of my favorite holidays, to have someone to rejoice with for the real meaning of the season as opposed to the rampant commercialism existent in Beijing, and to take comfort from some of our favorite holiday rituals and food, even if filled with improvisations due to limited availability of ingredients in China. We also went to an acrobatics show in the evening which was very dazzling.
Day 7 - To the zoo to the see the pandas, who actually were quite active and enchanting, walking around, eating, and wrestling with each other. Then on to Prince Gong's mansion in my attempt to show my guests a Qing dynasy house plus a taste of Peking Opera; turns out the opera was only for tour groups and the house kind of looked like every other Chinese building we'd seen so far. Oh well, Peking Duck with my bosses and Adam, Alison, and Shangying and Grace, 2 Chinese students, plus hot chocolate with Adam and Alison afterwards, wrapped up the day nicely.
Day 8 - Great Wall!! We went on a tour sponsored by the same hostel Adam, Alison, and I used for our hiking trip, but this time we went to Mutianyu, a different part of the wall. It was much more developed, with a chair lift, a gondola, and a toboggan down, but the views of the wall and surrounding mountains were still dazzling! Ming Tombs in the afternoon, not so impressive but still cool. Then back to Beijing for some real pizza with Alison in a little Chinese courtyard, all the better for our 45-minute delay due to my getting disoriented with the map!
Day 9 - Olympic Park and Water Cube, which was as amazing the second time around. I love the architecture of this building! We went to the Silk Market on our way home, and while I'm sure we still got gypped, we managed to find a vendor who at least was not offensive and was quite friendly, making us all feel better about the whole deal. Many gifts and souvenirs acquired. Home to pack and hot browns for dinner.
Day 10 - up at an insanely early hour to send them off to the airport. My apartment seemed quite empty after they all left, although I was exhausted that night from being a tourist!
I'm catching up again while procrastinating on my thesis work in a Kabul cafe - it's funny that on New Years Day, I stopped in New York for dinner with my friend Annie and ended up at a noodle shop called Xi'an (which was pretty awesome). It was interesting to me that the menu included dumplings called mantou, that looked like the Afghan dumplings also called mantu (especially when I mapped Xi'an and it's not THAT far West...)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the world just keeps getting smaller, I swear. Stay warm and keep blogging :)