Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Our annual Christmas photo. Christmas Eve Eve 2008 - Santa Rosa, CA

Beijing Day 4: Hutongs, Tea House and the Beijing Opera

In case you were worried, no, we didn't leave China after only a three day visit! Although the photos from Day 4 have been uploaded for over a week now, work has kept me busy, and I haven't had a chance to give you any details until now...

This was the last day we would spend with Jane and Hong - a day exploring and experiencing some of the older neighborhoods of Beijing.

We began with a tour of one of Beijing's hutongs - the old traditional alleyways and courtyard homes which once covered all Beijing. This cycle rickshaw proved to be a great way to navigate through the old narrow streets.

Along the way, we stopped at a traditional family courtyard home - a building complex formed by four houses around a quadrangular courtyard. We were welcomed in by a lovely woman who gave us a tour of the layout of her home, and invited us into her art studio, where she and her husband do papercutting.

In the courtyard, there was a caged bird, who called out "Ni hao!" - hello, in Chinese!

Peppers drying.

With our hostess and the rice-paper cutting, affixed to a silk scroll, that we purchased. This dragon and a phoenix design - created by she and her husband - has exquisite detail!

We walked along some of these narrow streets and enjoyed the variety of doorways that we encountered - both old and new, simple and intricate.


Bicycles are, by far, the most common form of transportation. We were amazed by some of the things we saw - a parent with 3 children riding along with them - the variety of materials pulled on carts behind - and even someone peddling down the highway, with cars flying by alongside them.

And after a chilly morning of walking around - which included stopping at a Prince's palace and museum - we stopped at a Courtyard Tea House to experience a Chinese tea ceremony. Having personal tour guides was wonderful. This tea house stop was not on our original itinerary, but they were so willing to accommodate us in any way!)

After lunch, we were officially exhausted. Three days of waking up at 4am, with no hopes of adjusting our internal clocks, had taken its toll. We decided that an afternoon nap was in order before our evening at the Beijing Opera.

(Funny story here. There was construction going on just above our hotel room. We requested a move, and the only option was a room with 2 twin beds. I was absolutely NOT going for it, but Mark insisted that we needed the rest. Still, sleeping in separate beds for the remainder of the trip? Admittedly, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that these twin beds were extra wide. We managed to comfortably sleep together in one of them for the remaining few nights;)

The Beijing Opera was quite different from its western counterpart. The various scenes contained a mixture of heavily costumed performers, mime, acrobatics and stages martial arts, and singing in higher pitched tones accompanied by traditional Chinese instruments. Take a moment to share our experience.

More Beijing Day 3: Ming Tombs and Sacred Way

Before arriving at the The Great Wall on our second full day in Beijing, we stopped at a jade factory, where we watched artisans carve and polish jade before admiring the many pieces displayed in their showroom.

Amazingly, this is carved out of just one piece of rock.

Just afterward, we stopped for lunch at the Friendship Store, which contained a cloisonne art factory. Cloisonne is a technique used to create metal objects with enamel decorations - pieces of metal are soldered to a metal object such as a vase, where the metal rods form outlines of images. The spaces are filled with enamel paste, then placed in a kiln. Finally, empty areas are gilded.

Adding colored enamel to a vase.

Tuesday afternoon was spent touring the Ming Dynasty Imperial Tombs, in the foothills of the JunDu mountains. The site was carefully chosen according to Feng Shui principles - to ward off bad spirits and chilling winds from the north, this quiet valley full of dark earth and tranquil water was chosen as the resting spot for 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty.

The Great Red Gate

The Sacred Way - a 7km path lined with willows and carved animals and figures. This is one of the few areas where the Emperor had to travel on foot when paying respect to his ancestors. No animals were allowed to carry him along this path.

The animals include pairs of lions, camels, elephants and the mythical qilin.

Generals and civil officials also stand guard.

We visited one of the two of the tombs open to the public - ChangLing - located about 2 1/2 miles from the entrance way. We drove, rather than walk the entire distance:)

This sacred silk burner was filled with money, reminding us of a wishing well.


ChangLing Mausoleum

And another beautiful sunset.

Beijing Day 3: The Great Wall of China

With Jane, our wonderful tour guide.

Seeing The Great Wall was by far my favorite part of our trip to Beijing. The structure itself was absolutely amazing, and its history, equally so.

Built, rebuilt and maintained between the 6th century BC and the 16th century, the series of walls was intended to protect China from attacks from the north.

Constructed primarily along mountaintops to make it even more difficult to overtake, during the Ming dynasty, it was guarded by more than 1 million men.
In total, the Great Wall spans over 6,700 km, or 4,160 miles!
The section of the Wall that we visited is known as the North Pass, Badaling, the primary entrance point to China's capital, Beijing.

The views from the wall its watchtowers were breathtaking! Thankfully we visited on a clear and sunny day, with fantastic visibility.

A number of the sections were incredibly steep - we were definitely winded as we climbed and couldn't help but marvel that men had actually scaled the difficult terrain while building.

Standing atop one of the world's Seven Wonders - what an amazing and unforgettable experience.

Beijing Day 2: Silk Factory and Summer Palace

Did you think that our day was over after only visiting Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City?

We DID take a short break for lunch, and then proceeded to a nearby silk factory where we learned about two common methods of silk production.

Silk thread is made by dipping the cocoons of single larvae of the mulberry silkworm into boiling water before the adult moth emerges, in order to unravel the cocoon as a single thread. The silk filaments of 8 cocoons are wound together, which helps to strengthen the silk thread.

Spools of thread.

In instances were there are two larvae in a single cocoon, the thread cannot be extracted independently, and these cocoons are instead, gathered together and streached to make the soft andwarm filling for silk throws and comforters. Mark and I tried our hand at this technique, and quickly saw how delicate the process is.

Trying to stretech evenly.

We spend a bit of time perusing the silk factory (and making a few purchases), after which we headed to the nearby Summer Palace, the most celebrated imperial garden in China. Here, we enjoyed the beauty of dusk and a lovely sunset on the Kunming Lake.

Beijing Day 2: Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City

On Monday morning, we were wide awake at 4:00 am. Despite our best attempts to sleep in while on vacation, each and every morning in China, we would wake up long before the sun rose. Even on days when we went to sleep after midnight:)

Jane and Hong met us at 9 am to begin our day with a trip to Tian'anmen Square, which lies in the center of Beijing, just south of the Forbidden City. We entered through the Qianmen Gate, formerly the front gate (Zhengyangmen) to the Inner City of ancient Beijing. Although a relatively quiet day, we noted the heavy security both in police and military presence, and in screening and bag check points we were required to pass through in order to enter.

Qianmen Gate

Tian'anmen Square is surrounded by the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall to the south, the Great Hall of the People to the west, the National Museum of China to the east, and The Forbidden City to the north. In its center stands the Monument of the People's Heroes.

To enter the Forbidden City, we passed through Tien'anmen Gate, built during the Ming Dynasty, the location where common people could stand to listen as proclamations were issued to the whole nation. The iconic photo of Mao Zedong, first chairmen of the Chinese Communist Party, has hung above the central gate since his death in 1976.

Tien'anmen Gate - Gate of Heavenly Peace

The Forbidden City, once the home of 24 emperors - fourteen of the Ming Dynasty and ten of the Qing Dynasty - is surrounded by a city wall and a moat. It is full of symbolic detail that clearly reflects the majesty of Imperial power. With Jane's guidance, we noted that almost all the roofs were yellow glazed tiles, the color of the Emperor. Group of three (representing Heaven), six (representing Earth) and nine (representing the Emperor) were also found throughout. And the Dragon and Phoenix, symbols only used for the Emperor and Empress respectively, were seen again and again.

We spent a number of hours exploring Forbidden City's outer and inner courts, and the Palace Museum, filled with bronzeware, paintings, ceramics, timepieces, porcelain and jade and Palace artifacts.

And taking countless pictures, of course:)

Beijing Day 1: Travel Day

We're already back! Its hard to believe how quickly the week passed, and just how much we managed to pack into our once-in-a-lifetime trip to Beijing.

The photo above is of Mark and I toasting to our journey just after boarding UA 889 from SFO to PEK. We certainly enjoyed the Business Class experience - the seats were both comfy and roomy, the food and wine were enjoyable, and the service was lovely (although more so on our return trip home). Sadly, we still found it difficult to sleep much on the 12 and a half hour flight, even after only getting 2 hours of sleep the night before our departure (thanks to a delayed flight home from Los Angeles on Friday night, getting me in to begin packing just after midnight!). Traveling over the Pacific Ocean, it was strange to have the sun shine continuously as we transitioned from Saturday to Sunday.

We arrived in Beijing at around 3:30pm, and were met at the airport by our local tour guide, Jane, and driver, Hong. Although we knew we would be provided with transportation between the airport and hotel, what we didn't know is that these two would also be our personal guides throughout the trip! What a difference they made.

After settling into our hotel room, we adventured out into downtown Beijing to find some dinner. Quickly, we learned the value of our Mandarin phrasebook. After waiting nearly 20 minutes to be approached by the waitstaff, we soon realized that there were only two that knew a few select English phrases - the majority seems worried to even stop at our table for fear of having to communicate.

We managed to order our first dinner, which included Beijing's famous 北京烤鴨 (Roast Duck).

Carving the duck in front of our table.

Served with thin steamed pancakes, sliced cucumber and scallions, and sweet noodle sauce (similar to Hoisen sauce).

Learning the proper way to assemble our meal.

Attempting to follow suit.

Chinese beer, which along with hot tea, flows more freely than water.

Love Is...

...returning from a weekend away to wonderful aromas filling our home.

I was only at home for one day between my business trip last week and leaving for Chicago this past Saturday morning for an additional four days away. I tried to make up for it after my first trip with a little present for my hubby - the cookbook stand that he's been wanting for for some time now.

Mark appreciated the gesture, and to test it out, randomly opened one of our cookbooks to a Salmon and Dill Quiche recipe. He noticed how excited I was about the recipe, which is why it was baking in the oven I got back late on Tuesday night. That, along with a delicious Ham and Cheese Feullete.

What a yummy, yummy dinner. Thank you, honey!