Walking the wall

I guess bikes have age limits now.  Especially when you want to rent one.  

The City Wall of Xi'an according to Wiki:

The fortifications of Xi'an (Chinese: 西安城墙), an ancient capital of China, represent one of the oldest and best preserved Chinese city walls. Construction of the first city wall of Chang'an began in 194 BCE and lasted for four years. That wall measured 13.74 kilometres (8.54 mi) in length, 12–16 metres (39–52 ft) in thickness at the base. The area within the wall was roughly 36 square kilometres (14 sq mi). The existing wall was started by the Ming Dynasty in 1370. It encircles a much smaller city of 14 square kilometres (5.4 sq mi). The wall measures 13.7 kilometres (8.5 mi) in circumference, 12 metres (39 ft) in height, and 15–18 metres (49–59 ft) in thickness at the base.^[1]

The State Council of the People's Republic of China, stated on 4 March 1961, that the Fortifications of Xi'an be included as a heritage site under national protection. On 28 March 2008, China proposed the Xi'an Fortification be included on UNESCO's World Heritage List, where it is categorized as a tentative listing.^[2]

We wanted to rent a bike to ride around the whole City Wall of Xi'an, but you have to be at least 15 to ride, so we skipped out on that.  We walked on the wall for a few hours, looking at the inside and outside. The inner part of the wall looked much older because a lot more of the old buildings are preserved.  

Afterwords, Mother and the Baby stayed in the hotel because the Baby fell asleep and carrying him around when he's awake is hard, but carrying him around when he's asleep is no fun for everyone involved.  Father took the rest of us to meet with one of his employees, her husband, and daughter (who's around the Baby's age) to see the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda.  We somehow made it all the way to the top of the Pagoda, getting a nice view from the top and feeling the slight sway.

The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda

View form top

View from top

Later that day, after the Pagoda, we had dinner with some more of Father's employees, trying a lot of the local dishes.  Every region in China was their own distinct flavor in their food and I could tell.  It was great dinner, with good company.  We unfortunately forgot to get pictures, we were busy eating, the kids playing and the men drinking like they were in college again.  Father could not keep up with the hearty daily drinking men, but he certainly tried!  Ha ha...I really liked what we ate and was full by the end of the night. 

The next morning, we rode the train once more, only this time to Changsha, Father's hometown.

View from our condo

Off to Xi'an!

Xi'an was one place Father hadn't planned on when we started our trip, but Mother insisted on it.  To be honest, Mother didn't know the geography of China very well and didn't understand how far away Xi'an was.  We decided to do a quick side trip on our way to Changsha. 

It was time to board the bullet train to Xi'an for a little side trip to see the Terracotta Warriors. It was a surprisingly comfortable and quick four hour ride there, which is to be expected, we were riding the fastest bullet train in the world.  The train went up to 200 miles per hour! What are Terracotta Warriors you ask?  I think Wiki explain it best:  

The Terracotta Army or the "Terracotta Warriors and Horses" is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE and whose purpose was^{[citation needed]} to protect the emperor in his afterlife.

The figures, dating from approximately the late third century BCE,^[1] were discovered in 1974 by local farmers in Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi province. The figures vary in height according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals. The figures include warriors, chariots and horses. Estimates from 2007 were that the three pits containing the Terracotta Army held more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which remained buried in the pits nearby Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum.^[2] Other terracotta non-military figures were found in other pits, including officials, acrobats, strongmen and musicians.

When we arrived, our driver was already there.  From the station, it was an hour car ride to the hotel we were staying at.  We settled for the night, although my room was weirdly hot at 31 degrees Celsius, or about 88 degrees Fahrenheit, but I slept through the night.  The next day, I saw that the temperature had risen overnight! Turns our Mother and Father's room was the same and they hardly got a good nights rest which really messed up our mood for sightseeing today.  Father went to the front desk to take care of business and Father insisted on everyone getting a room with two AC in the room which I was extremely thankful for.

Our day went on, filled with some sight seeing! We went to see the Terracotta Warriors.  It was extremely crowded in the pits displaying the warrior, but I managed to get some good looks.  The guidebook describes the third pit as the best pit, but I personally found the first one most impressive.

It was a great experience to see the Terracotta Warrior in person, since I'd only seen pictures.  Even though I couldn't get too close, it was still amazing to see how each face is slightly different.  After that, we went to see the tomb of Emporer Qin Shi Huang, which the warriors protect. 

After looking through all the warriors on display and the tomb, we went back to the hotel.

Temple of Heaven+Snack Street

We had a jam packed day when we went to the Temple of Heaven and Snack Street.

The Temple of Heaven was pretty crowded since there were so many tour groups and several people were getting their wedding photos done.  Probably because the Temple was so beautiful! It wasn't too large, so we went through it prettty quickly.  However, at one point, Mother and I got split up from everyone else.  It took a while to find everyone else and I was agitated since Father had the drinks and I was thirsty.

Luckily, we found them and continued on with the day, getting some more drinks on the way out. We knew that we would be going to Snack Street, but we also knew the food there isn't particularly filling, it was more about the experience.  So we stopped by a nearby mall to fill up.  To Mother's delight, they had Korean food, which was actually pretty good imitation and some interesting drinks Mother wanted to try out.

We spent a lot of time eating, since we got so much food, so by the time we were done, it was getting dark.  This was fine, though, since the Snack Street is most active at night.

When we got there, it was very crowded, and throughout the night, that didn't change.  We walked around to see what our options were.  The people on Tripadvisor forum says that no real Chinese go to the snack street and that it's only for tourists.  Well, we ARE tourists so...

Sugar glazed fruit

Whole chickens

There were scorpions, fruits, starfish, spiders, snakes and more! Some of the brothers were a little hesitant to get anything, especially with the moving scorpions on display.

I tried the starfish, Brother #1 tried the scorpions AND the spider, and Father tried the snake.  There wasn't much flavor, it was mostly salty and crunchy, but I suppose the point of eating a starfish isn't the flavor.  It's more to have the right to say that I've eaten a starfish before!

Me ft. Starfish

Brother #1 ft. Spider

Father ft. Snake

We got some more drinks before deciding to head back home. In the subway, Mother was about to sit down on a seat with the Baby in her arms when a lady swooped in and took her seat! We understand that getting seats in the subway, but Mothers knees were halfway bent, her butt mere 5 inches away from the seat and ready to sit down when the lady placed her bag on the seat, giving a dirty look while doing so.  We were all a bit appalled by this action, especially since Mother was carrying the Baby.  We stared at the woman and her daughter until we had to leave and change subway lines.  

Pandas, Polar Bears, Oh My!

We've spent all this time in China, yet we haven't seen any panda bears yet! So today, we decided to change that by going to the Beijing Zoo.

Our tickets!

Immediately, we went to the panda exhibit.  The Baby was particularly excited about this.  Unfortunately, all the pandas were sleeping but it was still cool to see them.  The exhibit was very crowded since everyone was bustling to get a picture of the pandas, so we stayed there for a while.

We continued to walk around, looking at various animals.  We saw monkeys, elephants, wolves, tigers, and polar bears!  

Only one polar bear was active :(

All the tigers were asleep!

Unfortunately, mos of the animals were either eating or asleep.  But some were very friendly and came quite close to the glass.

The wolf got the closest, surprisingly

Brother #2 ft. Elephant eating

Most of the tourist were from the country, and you could definitely tell.  They were the worst kinds of tourists! The obnoxious ones...luckily it wasn't too crowded since it's a weekday, but it was still annoying.  Plus, some women were walking around in 5 inch heels! I felt tired in my flip flops, thanks to the walking and the heat.

The sign clearly says no crossing?? ?

It was still a fun trip though.  We didn't see everything, since we mostly came for the pandas (duh!) and more exciting animals, but it was a day well spent.  However, coming out during the hottest part of the day probably wasn't the best idea.

For a late lunch/dinner, we stopped by Pizza Hut.  We ordered 3 large pizzas like last time and ate about half of it, taking the other half back home as leftovers.  There was a rowdy table next to us who thought it'd be cool to smoke.  Key word, thought.  On our way out, we noticed that they ran out, running very far ahead of us despite us leaving way before them.  I suspected they left without paying, since they were constantly looking back and laughing.

A little unnerved by his first haircut NOT by Mother

We then went to the market to get haircuts to end the day, since we were all in need of them.  Even the Baby got a little trim!

Wangjing Korea Town

Yesterday, we stayed inside until the afternoon.  It took around 1.5 hours to get to the Korea Town by subway.  Once we got there, Mother was super excited to spot Paris Baguette her favorite bakery in Korea so of course we got some pastries and other goodies.  

My choice of calories from the bakery

Shaved Ice...Korean Style.  It's red bean and matcha powder.  YUMMM

After that, we walked around the whole Korea Town, which didn't take too long since it was actually pretty small. The baby was about to fall asleep during the walk, but somehow woke up when we were close to Lego toy store, and he insisted on walking, and was trying to get back to the toy place. It was ugly for about 20 minutes. Then we had dinner at a Korean barbecue place, by which time the baby finally fell asleep.

All of us enjoyed the food, since it's closer to the food we grew up with.  Since Mother is Korean, she mostly fed us Korean and American food.   It took a while to finish up all the food since we ordered so much.  We got 5 different meats and a myriad of side dishes.  Once we got home, it was dark, so we decided to get back home.

Our meat and side dishes

The next day, everyone slept in and us kids got some summer reading and homework done.

Tiananmen Square: Where the History Happened

Everyone went out to see Tiananmen Square. Again. We took the subway and got to there sometime in the afternoon.  We got some drinks right off the bat since we left them at home and a man approached us, trying to sell us a fan for $20.00! No matter how many times we told him no, he kept on following us.  Luckily, we got rid of him after a few minutes.  A fan for $20, really?

We walked around the whole square as Mother and Father told us about the history.  We went into the Zhengyangmen Gate Tower (a.k.a. Qianmen), even though there was a sign saying it was closed. (This seems to be a recurring theme in China).  After Father did some asking around, we found out it was open.  We didn't go into any other buildings but did get to see everything from the outside, including the National Museum of China, the Great Hall of the People, the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, and the Monument to the People's Heroes.

The Forbidden City entrance lit up

Once we saw the whole square, we went to the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA).  Plus, Lonely Planet suggests checking out this "...massive mercury beadIt took a while to find the entrance because Tiananmen square and some side roads was blocked for "special occasion" (the police cleared everyone out), but we did eventually.  We spent an hour in the inside, checking out the opera house before leaving to get some food. Mother commented that it had the best toilet in China by far. Perhaps father will take us back for a performance sometimes in the not too distant future?

Brother #3 and the Baby in front of the NCPA

We went a very small noodle shop for dinner. After eating, we went to nearby Zhongshan park to kill time in order to avoid rush hour.  There wasn't much to do since it was pretty late, but the park was nice looking and fun to walk around in. And did I mention, entrance fee was only $.50??

Brother #2

We walked around for around two hours and left a little bit before rush hour ends.  At this time, all the buildings and monuments were lit up (as pictured above), which looked very nice.  But we didn't stick around and quickly left on the subway.

Lama Temple in the heart of the Beijing

Mother hasn't been feeling good lately, although that doesn't stop us form having fun!  We went out to the Lama Temple without Mother and the baby. Father was very happy about not having to carry the Baby around.  

We left the condo a little late in the morning and took the subway to the Lama Temple, the biggest Tibetan Buddhist temple outside of Tibet, leaving Mother and the Baby behind.  The ride was similar to the one where we went to the Ghost Street since they're very close to each other.  

We got in and got a little split up looking at everything.  Towards the end, we joined back together and did a quick walk through of the whole temple, getting a good look at the sculptures and artifacts.

Brother #1 and 2

Once again, I didn't like the smell of the incense, but it was a lot less intense than the last temple, so I could deal with it..  The temple was very beautiful and you could tell that it was newer, although it was a little smaller than the typical temple.  It was about the size of one Ming Tomb.

There were many sculptures in the temple, all of them ranging in different size.  Some of them were a little taller than Father, while the biggest one there was so big you had to tilt your head all the way back to see the top of it.

Seeing the whole temple took about 2 hours, which was pretty good for us. We left the temple, got some street food, and got on the subway to head home.