China Trip Day 15: Beijing

On Day 2 of our Beijing Trip, I'm sure we went to some sort of shopping stop but I don't remember.  There was a ton of walking around today. We made our way to Tiananmen Square.  Joseph bought a communist hat from a street vendor and everyone loved taking pictures in it.  He even got stopped by someone wanting to take a picture with him but he had to turn them down because our tour was on the go and we would have left without him!

We then walked over to the Forbidden City and it was incredibly crowded.  Tons of people everywhere and everyone was on the move!  We did not really have a lot of time at any of the buildings to look around as we only got maybe 10-15 minutes at each location, and it took us just that long to walk from point to point!  Poor Maddie was confined to the stroller as there was no way we could let her out!

After the Forbidden City we took the bus over the the Temple of Heaven.  Maddie finally got a chance to stretch her feet and walk and run around!!

Tiananmen Square

Communist Joseph

Forbidden City

Forbidden City

I *think* this was the bedroom where the Emperor slept on his wedding night (see the bed on the left)
We could only see it through the windows 

Beautiful silk bedding!

This is a picture of people sleeping at the exit of the Forbidden City.
I thought it was too funny and had to take it for some reason. Lots of people leaning against each other for support to sleep.
If you look closely you'll see a person with a map covering his face from the sun.

At a beautiful garden outside of the Forbidden City

Water surrounding the Forbidden City

Maddie striking a post while napping in the stroller

Temple of Heaven

China Trip Day 14: Beijing!

We finally made it to Beijing!!  All I've ever wanted to do was walk the Great Wall of China and we will finally do it this trip! We originally were going to do the Great Wall on Day 2 of the trip, but apparently Tiananmen Square was closed for some reason so they had to switch day 1 with day 2.

I think we first visited a jade "museum" and all was not lost, I at least purchased a pair of jade earrings I liked. Then we finally made our way to the Great Wall!  There are lots of spots of the Great Wall you can be dropped off at, and according to the itinerary we were at the Juyong Pass of the Great Wall.  We started off at Watch Tower #18. It was incredibly steep and tall from where we were standing!!  I had hoped we would be dropped off at one of the more horizontal stretches of it.  We walked around a base a bit to take pictures before we ventured up the steps to the next Watch tower.

Unfortunately Maddie was in a terrible mood, it was hot and she was sleepy. Joseph strapped her into the baby carrier and made his way up with her.  Pau Pau and I took our time up the steps, stopping a few times along the way. Others would stop right in front of us and just sit down, which I found annoying, until I had to do it myself!

We finally made it to the next Watch Tower and went inside and let Maddie run around a little bit.  We then started walking back down and coming down was harder than going up since it was so steep and the steps were uneven!  After making our way down, Maddie eventually feel asleep and Joseph walked around and took photos while I went to cool off at the gift shop!

We then went to a Chinese medicine store but the tour guide let Joseph to take Maddie in the stroller and walk around rather than be stuck inside. Luckily we did not get pulled into individual consultations with the doctors and we all snuck outside and waited around until the tour guide arrived.

We then got dropped off at a busy night market street called Wangfujing Street for dinner on our own again. We then headed to the hotel exhausted after our first day in Beijing.

Maddie eventually stopped loving the bus so we had to entertain her somehow!

At the Great Wall!!

Poor hot tired girl

Panoramic view from the top of Watch Tower 19

At the night market

China Trip Day 12 & 13: Taishan to Guangzhou to Bejing

In the morning, Joseph, Pau Pau, Aunt Pooi and family went to the cemetary to take photos and try to mark where the graves were. The cemetary was up on a hill so it was a lot of walking and hiking.  Grandma Kathy, Maddie and I stayed back at the hotel, then we checked out and walked over to our cousin's home to spend the morning.  I don't have any photos as they're all on other devices.

We then took a van to the bus station where we caught a coach bus back to Guangzhou.  We then caught cabs back to the hotel we had stayed at when we were in Guangzhou a few days earlier.  We really didn't do much as we had gotten to the hotel kind of late and were just really tired from traveling.  I believe Joseph got us McDonalds for dinner and we turned in the for the night.

All I have are these 2 pictures of Maddie reading a book at the hotel in Guangzhou.

The next day was a travel day from Guangzhou to Beijing!  A family friend drove us to the airport (Aunt Pooi stayed in Guangzhou as she was staying in China another 4 weeks!). We walked around and Maddie crawled around with a little boy and his baby sister until it was time to board the flight.  After landing in Beijing we hopped a shuttle to get taken to the actual airport and grab our luggage, found the tour bus and boarded.  We got to the hotel and everything was closed so Joseph and Pau Pau went to go find us some dinner.  We went to bed so we could get up early for our first day in Beijing (and final leg of this trip)!

Grandma Kathy and Maddie at the Guangzhou Airport

Making friends at the airport

Hanging out at the airport.

China Trip Day 11: Taishan

Today we had a full day in Taishan!  We visited both Pau Pau and Bak Bak's villages.  Bak Bak's maiden name is Chan so we visited the Chan family village. She married a man whose last name was Moy (my grandfather), so then moved to the Moy village where she had 3 children (Uncle Richard, Aunt Pooi and Pau Pau Nancy) before being forced to leave when the Communists came. She then had another child in Guangzhou (Uncle John), and then 1 more child (her last one, Uncle Frank) in Hong Kong.

We got dim sum for breakfast then got into our car and drove to the Moy "City Center" if you will, it is a new tourist attraction. It's set up in an old section of town and is now an open air market. Joseph was stopped again by a couple of girls who wanted to take photos with him. Joseph then got Kathy into the photos and then Maddie as well.  Photos are below of how large the group got who wanted to take photos with them. Then each of the girls wanted to take pictures with Joseph alone.  We then drove over to the Moy Village and visited the home of a current living resident who still lives there today.  We then saw the house my mom grew up in and even saw the bed she was born in!  Aunt Pooi is trying to fix it up to be livable as she plans on spending months of the year here in the future as she's currently retired.

We then headed over to the Chan Village and this village is being set up by the government as a tourist attraction as a lot of the homes are still in very good shape.  You'll see photos below of the incredibly ornage welcome gate to the Chan Village. Most villages only have a small sign noting where the entry way is.  The house my grandmother (Maddie's Bak Bak) grew up in is in very good shape and is set up as a tourist site!  That means, there is a placard outside with the date it was built, how many levels, etc etc. Tourists cannot go in but since we are family they let us in and we walked all the way up to the roof!  We were even able to go to the house next door that was in even better shape than her old house!

We headed back to the hotel afterwards and the 3 of us took a much needed nap. We woke up and walked around, then headed over to a family friend's house for a delicious home cooked meal.  On the walk over, 3 Chinese girls (maybe around 8-10 years old) saw Joseph pushing Maddie in a stroller and I heard them yell out in Chinese "a white person!" and they ran over to us just as we were getting to the house. They noticed Joseph at first and were looking at him, then noticed Maddie and started talking to her and asking her name (in English) and they asked where we were from. We then said goodbye as we headed inside for dinner, but they stuck around and we even caught them looking at us from outside as we were eating dinner.

Tofu making station at the Moy City Center
(This was for show only, they make the real stuff inside or at a different location)

Maddie running away

Pau Pau making tofu

Yee Pau making tofu

Vickie making tofu

Joseph getting Kathy into the pictures.

More people want in on the photo op....

And more....

And more...

And more!!

This lady just picked Maddie up without asking

Panoramic of the Moy Center

The tofu we "churned" is on the right. It ends up being very smooth after lots of churning.

Doorway to a relatives house who still lives in the Moy Village

Inside his house

Inside his house

This is inside my Mom's (Pau Pau Nancy's) old home. The alter is still there.
The Communists made all families tear down their alters but they somehow missed this one!

Maddie standing on a bed very similar to the one my mom was born in
(photos of that particular bed are on other devices)

Beautiful Welcome Gate to the Chan Village

A gazebo just inside the Chan Village

We have lots of photos of the Chan Village on other devices and will upload those separately when we have time.