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The weather was absolutely gorgeous today, so it was a good day to visit a Tea Plantation. This area gets a lot of rain so they have many tea plantations that grow green tea. This area is known for its Dragon Well Green Tea, supposed to be the best Chinese green tea.

We wandered through the rows of tea plants in the fields and interacted with the ladies who pick the tea leaves. They were very friendly and smiling at us and showing us their baskets of leaves. Only women pick the leaves because of their smaller fingers. They also only allow the tea plants to stay small like bushes, if they grow into trees much of the energy is put into the trunk and not all into the leaves.

The buildings at the Plantation were very picturesque with saturated colors and detail. There were ponds with koi and many places to sit and admire it all. We relaxed while the boys played with koi and turtles.

There were abandoned puppies found at the plantation so they brought them out for the boys to play with. I think this was the highlight of the visit for the boys! They must have been less than a week old, their eyes weren’t even open yet. To make things even more excited, they asked the boys to feed them with bottles!

We learned about how they make the tea, it’s benefits and how to make and drink it properly. The tea is really tasty and it was a nice way to spend the morning, surrounded by the green fields in the middle of a Chinese garden, warm sun on your back, and green tea in your hand.

There is a huge freshwater lake in Wuxi named Lake Taihu. It is well known for its beautiful freshwater pearls that come in many colors and are prized around the world. The boys had fun learning about how they grow and they were allowed to take out some of the tiny ones they use for creams and other products but not jewelry.

We arrived at Hangzhou in the afternoon, it is very green and lush such a drastic change from Beijing! Marco Polo called Hangzhou “the finest, most splendid city in the world….where so many pleasures may be found that one fancies oneself to be in Paradise”. It was the capital in the 12th century and it is on the back of their 1 yuan bill. The center of it all is West Lake, it is exactly what you see in lakeside pictures of China. It’s very calm and surrounded on three sides by verdant green mountains covered in tea trees.

All around the lake there are temples, pagodas, gardens and arched bridges, it is so peaceful. We took a boat ride for about a half an hour and glided past all the sights and many other boats.

The weather was a little misty but not raining. While I would have rather seen it on a clear day, it gave the lake an ethereal feel that added to the magic. Hangzhou is also the area where many locals go to honeymoon and many go just for a weekend getaway. Hangzhou gets a lot of rain which makes it so pretty.

We stopped out in the country at a rest stop and there were some very interesting food items. I have also seen them in many other places, not just here.

Glad to see they are using all parts of the Duck, I saw this at many places served fresh and hot.

Pigs feet, whole ducks, duck wings and what looks like bats?

Duck tongues

Duck heads, hearts?, Duck legs, chicken feet I think because I didn’t see webs.

Necks, maybe intestine?

The shelf stable snacks were a little stranger:

Pickled chicken foot, maybe with a cold beer?

Dried whole fish, Rowan could possibly buy this as a snack.

Mexican tomato and chicken flavored Lays potato chips

Dried fish cheek

Duck heads

Necks

Tongues

Whole duck

Pigs feet

Dried shrimp

We love this hotel, the Pan Pacific Suzhou, it has great architecture, gorgeous gardens and modern facilities. The breakfast was a highlight, as usual and I spent some time meandering around the peaceful garden. It smelled so nice and the flowering cherry trees and ponds were just a great way to get the day started.

Suzhou, historically known as the Jewel of the East, is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site and has cobbled streets, canals, bridges, pagodas and gardens. It is also known for its prized silk fabrics and silk embroidery, this made it very important during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

We walked along the canals peering down the alleys and into homes as people went about their day. Our favorite part was wandering down the little narrow streets lined with produce and meat stands, fresh breads, live chickens, dim sum stalls and flat bread folded with greens and some kind of spread-it all looked amazing. Since this area isn’t where all the tourists go, the boys were very popular. Vendors would come out to try to talk with them, give them something to eat, the boys would play with the live fish in the tubs of water and get sad when they saw the chickens. There were huge chunks of pork on tables being butchered for people to buy and mopeds trying to get through the tiny streets crowded with goods and people. We stopped in a local temple and walked around, lit some incense and sat quietly. We walked along the canals edge and the boys explored the banks looking for fish, turtles and frogs.

We had lunch at a rest stop and it was very interesting. Looking through all of the products and food stalls was an experience in itself (pics in another post). We had some yummy dumplings and everyone was happy.

Next stop was to see the Ling Shan Buddha, a huge 88 meter tall Buddha up on a hill overlooking something like an amusement park. It was very strange, not the Buddha itself, that was pretty cool, it was the amusement park. Kind of like a Disney World but instead of Mickey Mouse it was Buddha…. We climbed the steps up to the top, right at the foot of the Buddha, took the obligatory pictures and there was a very pretty view.

Our hotel tonight here in Wuxi, the Georgetown Hotel was gorgeous! It’s brand new and super plush, boys were happy.

The Summer Palace was a formal royal retreat most associated with Empress Dowager Cixi. Now it is a lovely oasis in Beijing with pavilions, bridges, walkways and gardens scattered along a huge lake. We walked around looking at the pavilions with the paintings on the ceiling that tell the history of the palace. We sat at the edge of the lake while the boys looked for fish and just did some people watching, many locals and their children come here to spend time. It was a nice peaceful time in the middle of a bustling city.

We had a flight to Shanghai in the late afternoon so stopped at Olympic Park. What most people remember is the Beijing National Stadium aka the “Birds Nest” where the 2008 Olympic opening and closing ceremonies took place, also many athletic events as it can hold 91,000 people.

The flight to Shanghai was pretty quick, just 2 hours and 10 minutes. Shanghai is a great base for exploring three of China’s prettiest and most historic cities in the Jiangnan region which means “south of the Yangtze”. So it is delta country with rivers and canals through the beautiful cities.

From there we drove about an hour and a half to Suzhou, checked in our hotel and passed out!

Today was the day we were all really looking forward to, the highlight of the trip, visiting the Great Wall!!! The night before and the morning of the boys kept saying, “I can’t believe we are going to the Great Wall of China!”

It definitely is majestic, slithering through the mountainous terrain of China and one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Some myths are that it is one single continuous structure or that it can be seen from space, even so it is a mind boggling achievement. Also amazing that they believe building started around 453 B.C.!

The boys were practically running to get to it, it was so cute. There were flat and sloping areas and uneven steps, some of the steps were very steep so it was scary at times and I didn’t look back! There were also watch towers every so often where you could stop and admire the scenery or just catch your breath. The boys were just so fast and so excited to explore and cover as much of the wall as they could.

Check that off the bucket list ✔️

One of the funniest parts of our time on the Wall was when a group of Chinese ladies wanted to take a picture with me. They were nice so I said yes. Well this turned into a huge thing, they were getting all excited, fighting over who got to take a picture with me next, cutting in front of each other, posing me, so that I had my arms around them like we were best friends. It was so funny, I got the biggest kick out of their excitement. Then we hugged at the end and I was free again,now I know how Grant feels when they touch his hair and take pictures with him!

Our hotel has natural hot springs on the property so when we got back we headed straight there. They have a beautiful spa set up inside and you get dressed and head out the back to the springs. There were about 10 different “pools” of varying temperatures and colors. We were instructed to start out in the milder light green springs and they were really nice, very comfortable and easy to get into. Then we were ready for warmer, so we tried the orangey colored springs and they were definitely warmer, like a perfect bath. After that it was time for some serious heat, the darker green springs. You had to just start with your feet, then halfway up your calves, then to the knee, etc. Took a while but once you were in it was amazing. Couldn’t stay in too long but it really felt great on your muscles after that climb today.

There was also a fish pedicure pond where you sit on the edge with your feet dangling in. The little fish eat the dead skin off your feet….eewwww! The boys did this in Bangkok and thought it was so cool so they spent most of their time there. Not necessarily with their feet in but playing with and watching the fish!

We skipped a day after flying over the International date line. Sleeping never felt so good, it wasn’t straight through, strange dreams and woke up a few times.

Breakfast was a dream for us, noodle soups and every kind of Chinese food you could imagine. I think the boys would have rather stayed there all morning instead of going out to explore Beijing!

We started out at Tian’anmen Square which is the world’s largest public square, the size of 90 football fields and can hold about a half a million people! We were instructed to not to talk about the student protests in 1989 and the aftermath by our tour guide. She asked us not even to ask her anything about it while we are there because there are many plain clothed police officers and she would be in trouble. She said that we know more about it than her because they can’t find any information about it in books or online. I like the description of it being the world’s largest patio designed to be big and bombastic but basically a boring Stalinist spectacle.

It was IMMENSE and the gate to the north is the Gate of Heavenly Peace, most emblematic of Chinese State grandeur. It is also most famous for the portrait of Mao that hangs above the central door. This position was once reserved for emperors but was the spot where he declared the founding of the Peoples Republic in October 1949. His body is still there and they put it on display everyday but just recently they changed it so that only Chinese people could see it, no more for tourists.

Building for the Forbidden City started in the 1400’s. It is an almost 8 million square foot complex, the largest palace in the world. It’s called the Forbidden City because it used to be only for the Emperors, now it is open to the public. There were so many huge squares and each building was a gate and after we went through that gate it was yet another square, I could not believe the size of it. I love the architecture and the bright red colors, and under the eves there were such vibrant blues and greens and many colors painted on them. The Imperial Gardens were very pretty and the Magnolia trees were just starting to bloom so it just added to the beauty.

The Temple of Heaven makes me think of EPCOT when I was a child, it’s replica is in the China Pavillon. I was always fascinated by it and spent lots of time there exploring, shopping and eating…it made me feel like I was in China and gave me dreams of going there one day. Well today was the day one of my childhood dreams came true, I got to see the real Temple of Heaven. There is a beautiful park with rose gardens and full of ancient, tangled cypress trees as old as 800! Locals spend the day practicing tai chi and playing board games or cards. The Temple of Heaven was built about the same time as the Forbidden City, 1400’s but burned down and was rebuilt. There is not a single nail in the structure, it’s held up by 28 massive fir pillars from Oregon. The striking ceiling has guided panels and intricate painted brackets.

Peking Duck is one of Beijing’s most famous dishes. It’s soft and succulent with crispy red skinned meat. We watched the chefs cut it in a specific pattern with a specific number of pieces, it is an art. You wrap the slices with cucumber and scallion sticks and hoisin sauce in a delicate pancake, almost like you would a burrito. It was absolutely amazing, nothing like the Peking Duck I’ve had in the US.

Next stop were the narrow winding roads of the Hutongs, the original inner city homes of Beijing. The real estate is super expensive but the people who live there don’t usually sell, they keep it in the family and pass it down from generation to generation. There are some that have left due to the desire for indoor plumbing and heating or because of the government money incentives to leave so they can use the land. Each home has four single story rectangular buildings surrounding a courtyard with one door at the south facing corner. A whole family usually with grandparents, their children, grandchildren would live there and there would be a family shop. Where each generation sleeps depends on Feng Shui. The Communist Revolution ended most of the Hutong living and subdivided all these homes to fit six separate families in each one. Many have also been leveled in the past 20 years due to the growth of the city. While most are gone, preservation has started and many have been restored and are becoming trendy.

Rickshaws still pedal through the sleepy alleys and it was a great way to peek into the daily life of the Hutongs. Then we spent some time in the evening shopping and exploring one of the alleys that had great shops and food. What a day!

Started out leaving the house an hour late…traffic and security weren’t as bad as I thought they would be. Got to the airport lounge and only had an hour to eat and drink.

Air China boarding was not fun, felt like Southwest but lines were haphazardly in groups of 20 rows. So because I was in the lounge sipping Martinis and eating finger sandwiches I ended up at the back of the line. Took off about a half hour late, boys were content with their headphones, DS and entertainment system.

Big thing for me is that there was no liquor, only beer and wine! Had I known I would have been prepared…but the beer was good so I can’t complain.

Dinner was chicken or beef and rice. Nothing special, typical airline food. Enough to fill you up so you are not hungry. Dessert was Haagen Daaz ice cream cups, which I detest…

It’s funny how we are following the sun, it’s 8:30 Pacific time but still full sun as we go up over Alaska, past the Aleutians and cross the Bering Strait. Kids are content with books, in seat entertainment and electronics. I did nap for about an hour or so and now watching a movie I have never seen, believe it or not, Moonstruck.

Another similar meal before I slept for about 4 hours. Waking up for landing was not fun, I was so tired but definitely excited!

The hotel was beautiful and has hot springs all around the property. In our room there was a huge tub for 2 or 3 people that is filled by the touch of a button with hot mineral springs water. What an amazing way to relax after a 13 hour flight and a missed night of sleep!