China- Day 1

I am going to do my blog posts for each day we were in China. I really want the boys to be able to have this and remember all that we did and experienced. So here goes.....

November 26, 2008- We woke up at 4;30 am to shower and get ready to meet the bus for Narita. Our flight was to leave Tokyo at 10:30 am. We managed to get out the door and to the bus on time and we were off. The plane ride to Beijing was uneventful and seemed quite short. We had the most beautiful view of Mt. Fuji as we were leaving, so I was able to get some great pictures. Once we arrived, we had to go through immigration with our visas, but all in all, it was pretty easy. We met our guide Allen outside and got on Tour Bus A, which would be our bus for the remainder of the trip. Allen was Chinese (so I am still not sure why his name was Allen, but oh well, stranger things have happened.) One of the first things we noticed on the way to the hotel was the space, the trees, the grass, and oh, they drive on the right side of the road. Allen told us that the entire way from the airport to the downtown area where we were staying was completely redone for the Olympics. No wonder everything looked well kept and beautiful. We arrived at Joy City hotel at about 4:00, and we had exactly two hours before we had to meet in the lobby and go to our first Chinese dinner, Peking Duck.

We were amazed with our hotel room. We are so use to Japanese hotel rooms- very tiny, twin beds for each person, and just not a lot of space. Well, this room was huge. We had a huge living room and kitchen plus two bedrooms, one with a king size bed and the other with two twin beds for the boys. Each room had a big bathroom with a tub and a shower, plus an outside vanity area. Not too bad!! We could certainly handle this for five days.

The Peking Duck dinner was a lot better than I had imagined. In typical Chinese style, the food was all brought out to the center of the table in bowls and there was a great big glass lazy susan so we could all turn it and help ourselves to the food we wanted. There was beef and vegetables, yummy cooked celery, pork dishes, chicken dishes, noodles, and even french fries. They eventually brought out the duck and carved it. It was actually good- it tasted like chicken to me. Both boys ate just fine and Patrick tried almost everything. Matthew is our pickier one.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and got ready for bed. Day Two would be a busy day- The Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, The Summer Palace, and the silk factory.