Join the Adventure!
We spent a fabulous 4 days with our g-ddaughter, Isabella Colocci, who visited us for a few days in early March before heading off to Shanghai to teach. We celebrated Isa’s first night by going to a tasty, award-winning, Chinese restaurant called Hutong, with a …
Our 10 day trip around China finished with a day and a half in Shanghai, filled with architecture, crowds of shoppers, terrible traffic, delicious dumplings, tasty tea, a lion dance, and the most amazing fireworks finale I have ever seen in my life! The first …
After visiting the creations of the powerful Qin and Ming Emperors, we flew south to the warmth and natural beauty of Guilin and Yangshuo.
Our first stop in Guilin was a visit to the beautiful stalagmite and stalagtites at the Reed Flute Cave. The cave was enormous and lit up with colored lights and signs that indicated what shapes they thought the formations liked like.
Check out the reflection of the people on the left side of this photo and their reflection in the shallow pool water. Can you see the difference in their shape from the shapes of the stalagmites and stalagtites that are reflected?
The Reed Flute Cave is so large in some areas that they sometimes use part of the cave to host wedding receptions!
After our wander through the cave, we went to the home of Lily, a Guilin tour guide, who invited us over to celebrate the New Year with her wonderful family. All the cousins, grandparents, Aunts and uncles were there. The Aunts and Uncles were all playing Mah Jong (and gambling) while the kids ate New Years treats and played games with Aliya and Asher.
Here we are sitting on Lily’s family’s sofa eating an endless supply of treats like homemade dumplings, chicken wings, fresh passionfruit juice, and chocolates.
We exchanged gifts and then Lily’s father told me about the 2 books he wrote about growing up in Beijing and his life as a young doctor.
Then all the kids went out to play a circular hop scotch game by the river before posing for this photo.
And jumping for joy!
After our New Years Celebration we drove to our Guilin Waterfall hotel, where the water rushed down the side of our room into a fountain 10 floors down.
Our next day, we set out early for our bamboo boat adventure down the Li River in Yangshuo.
This picturesque area of rocky, crumbling pitons jutting up along the long, windy Li river became famous after 1999 when a party official that was vacationing in the area decided that it was so picturesque that he wanted the jutting hills and flowing river to be featured on the back of the 20 Yuan note. Since then, hordes of Chinese tourists have been flocking to the area to ride on the motorized bamboo boats down the river.
So we hopped on our bamboo raft and snuggled up to stay warm as we putted down the Li River for 2 hours thanks to our our boat operator and the lawnmower engine attached to a rudder at the back of our raft.
Here are some of the beautiful shots of our cruise down the river:
After our boat trip, we took a little motorized cart to the town of Xingping, an old fishing village that has now become overrun with tourists, for a delicious lunch at a restaurant on the corner of one of the old narrow lanes.
Aliya was completely shocked to see this family of four all squished together on a little moped . . . . and they weren’t wearing helmets!
Next we hopped in our van for about a 45 minute drive to the home of an old woman who lives in a traditional house with no electricity or running water. So, we went to her house so that she could show the kids how she still pumps her well for water and churns the soybeans to make a soup to feed her chickens.
Asher loved helping her pump the water and churn the soybeans:
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On our way to our hotel in Yangshuo, there was a traffic accident because trucks and cars were stuck going both ways on a one lane bridge. I love this image of a truck carrying the bamboo rafts that had sailed down the river back to the top of the river to start their journey again.
After a long, fun day we arrived at our oasis hotel: the Yanshuo Mountain Retreat. The kids were so happy to find some grass to run around on and a ball to kick! While I was very happy to have a cup of afternoon tea and then lift my feet up into the hands of my foot masseuse by the banks of the river.
Check out the view from our hotel room window:
Here is a collection of photos of the amazingly tranquil hotel by the side of the Dragon River. Unlike the loud and heavily trafficked Li River, the Dragon River was narrow, and quiet with only a bamboo pole and muscles of the local guides to power the bamboo rafts down the river.
When Aliya and I were relaxing by the water, we met a wonder French family from Paris with a girl (12 years old named Eleanore) and a boy (9 years old named Alistair) who played with Aliya and Asher until we all decided to have dinner together at a table on the waters edge.
While we were eating, loud booms and bright bursts of color exploded all around us! I think we saw about 10 different fireworks displays before our hotel had their own fireworks show at 9pm.
The next morning I looked out the window to see people fishing in the water below.
After a spectacular breakfast of tasty juice, yummy eggs and pancakes, we were picked up by our driver & guide and taken to the markets of Yangshuo for our calligraphy and Chinese painting class. We learned how to paint bamboo and how to sign our names.
Then we went into the markets to buy some souvenirs.
Asher bought a magic set, while Aliya bought this beautiful flower headband which she had been admiring for a couple of days.
Of course, we had a couple of local Chinese people ask to take photos with the kids.
While some just seemed to stare at them when Aliya and Asher decided to fight in the markets.
We had the most amazing Chinese New Year celebration in Xian! Our adventure began before we even landed in the imperial capital of China. After Asher was stroked on the cheek and had his hair and ear pulled by some admiring older ladies in the …
“I want to be a warrior when I grow up!” exclaimed Asher at the top of the Great Wall. It was a misty, overcast day when we traveled about an hour and a half outside of Beijing to visit the Great Wall at Mutianyu, the longest fully-restored …
The Chinese capital city of Beijing was our entry city which kicked off our 10 day tour of China. It was the first time that Aliya, Asher and I had ever been to China.
Aliya’s first impression of Beijing was the smokey smell and polluted sky which met us as we walked off the plane. Fortunately, Vivienne our tour guide from China Highlights was standing with a sign with our names on it outside baggage claim to whisk us away to the comforts of our Executive Suite at the Marriott City Wall Hotel (which was the kids favorite room in China).
We started our Beijing adventures the next day in Tiananmen Square at “the Gate of Heavenly Peace” which was built in 1415 during the Ming dynasty. We were amazed to see the double gates – darker outer gate with windows and ornate inner gate for the Emperor.
Tiananmen Square is a very significant place for Mainland China since it was the site of the 1919 May Fourth Movement protests, the 1 October 1949 Proclamation of the Peoples Republic of China by Mao Zedung (who our guide revered as a huge national hero), and the Tiananmen Square protests of 1976 and 1989.
Our first impression of the square was how wide and open it was. There were very few tourists, except for the ones who were coming up to take photos of Aliya and Asher.
The kids had a dose of what life would be like if they were famous with lots of random people taking photos of them. Most people asked to take photos of them; many did not bother to ask. One woman in the Beijing airport even stroked Asher’s cheek, ruffled his hair, and pulled his ear!
My favorite was the Mom who asked if she could take a picture of Aliya with her daughter at the Imperial Palace inside the Forbidden City. She thought Aliya looked so interesting, beautiful and different! And I thought the same about her daughter! An interesting cultural study of East meets West and vice versa:
The Forbidden City was Asher’s favorite thing we did the first day because he was so amazed that the bedrooms were so tiny when the palace was so huge. We walked almost a kilometer just to get through the three ornate gates of the Forbidden City into the Imperial Palace.
Every sculpture had meaning from the egrid with a long neck for long life, to the lion (with a ball under foot) and lioness (with a baby cub under foot) to protect the Emperor. The blue, green, gold, and red colors of the gates and the buildings were so vibrant!
Asher particularly enjoyed the garden of the Imperial Palace that had large porous limestone boulders from the South of China and ornate little buildings to play hide and seek.
My favorite was the Empress Cixi’s Summer Palace, rebuilt in 1888 after the British burned down the original palace at the end of the Opium War in 1860 (the original palace was built by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty in 1752 as a birthday present for his Mom).
I loved the reflection of the buildings in the frozen man-made lake, the unique windows in which no shape was the same, the dragon boats, the marble boat, and the beautiful long hand painted corridor – the longest in the world at over 750 meters.
I also really enjoyed seeing the local people selling traditional sugar coated fruit on sticks and hot roasted sweet potatoes.
After a day of history, Peking Duck, and sight seeing, it was off for an evening of culture and contortions at the “Myth Jingha” Chinese Acrobatics show. At one point in the show, Asher exclaimed, “I know how they do that: her legs are not real! They are made of rubber!
DAY 2 (Beijing): THE GREAT WALL & OLYMPIC STADIUMS
On our second day in Beijing, we drove about two hours to the Mutianyu Great Wall, which was Asher’s favorite part of the entire trip. Check out our blog entry on the Great Wall for more great pix.
After exploring the Great Wall, we went to Beijing to visit the Olympic Bird’s Nest Stadium and the Water Cube.
Aliya loved the Water Cube where the swimming and diving events of the 2008 Summer Games took place. Architecturally the building is really uniquely made of plastic (like blown up plastic bags with little tiny holes).
But inside, Aliya loved seeing the huge water park. When she saw it, she exclaimed, “This feels like Heaven!”
Asher enjoyed looking at the fish in the floor, where the pools used to be. Check out the diving platforms in the background. Notice that the pools/water are all gone!
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DAY 3 (Beijing):
Our last day in Beijing we visited the Temple of Heaven, which was constructed in the early 1400s as a complex of temples and an altar for the Emperors to worship for good harvests.
In the Temple of Heaven park, we enjoyed seeing the retired folks in the park painting poetry with water, playing chess, practicing ballroom dancing, doing tai chi, and kicking a shuttle cock (which we bought after Asher enjoyed playing too).
The kids also enjoyed trying to hear their echo bounce off the wall that encircled the Vault of Heaven.
After the Temple of Heaven, we went on a rickshaw tour of one of the many Hutongs in Beijing. A hutong is an old neighborhood with narrow alleys and houses that share communal bath houses.
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Asher’s favorite part of the day was the Yo Yo Experience during our Hutong Tour. Asher and Aliya both learned how to roll and toss the Chinese yo-yo.
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We concluded our hutong tour with a climb up the steep steps of the Drum tower to see the 25 Drums.
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Happy Year of the Ram . . . or the Sheep . . . or the Goat! We think something might be a bit lost in translation, but as far as we can tell, it is the Year of the Ram. Chinese New Year is …
Saturday we surprised the kids when we hopped on the Disney Express
and headed over to Lantau Island to spend the day at Hong Kong Disney!
Although Hong Kong Disneyland only opens at 10am, they let people enter the gates and go down Main Street before it officially opens. But then they rope off the end of Main Street until 10am, keeping all of the visitors piled up waiting to get to the rides. Once the clock strikes 10, the rope is pulled away, and tons of Chinese visitors start running to the rides. We just stepped aside to avoid the rush.
Our first stop was Tomorrowland
where we rode on the Buzz Lightyear Ride, one of Asher’s favorite rides.
Afterwards, Aliya and Ben went on Space Mountain, while Asher and I zoomed around in rockets in the Astro Orbitor.
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Aliya was so proud that she made it on to Space Mountain, a ride too scary for her Mom!
Since no trip to Disneyland is complete without riding It’s a Small World, we made it our next stop. It is quite similar to the one in the US, except it has a more expanded section for Asia.
Then the kids thought it would be funny to get me sick by twirling the tea cups as fast as they could
After going to Mickey’s Philharmagic and making our way through Fantasyland, we quickly passed through Toy Storyland to get to the Mystic Manor ride (like the Haunted Mansion), which the kids did not like at all. I guess it was because they took out the ghost that magically appears in the car.
Next we headed for the Grizzly Gulch, where Aliya and Ben rode the Runaway Mine Car roller coaster
while Asher shot water
No wonder he was a “wanted kid”
And who is that girl behind the bars?!?!
We then went on the Jungle River Cruise in Adventureland. But I think Asher enjoyed the musical instruments more.
I really liked the Lion King Performance, which was in both English and Chinese.
Then it was finally lunch time. We ate at the Plaza Inn for some typical Disney cuisine – Dim Sum! My favorite was the mango pudding dessert in the shape of Mickey Mouse.
After lunch, we were walking back to the rides when Aliya spotted Belle. It was cute how Aliya’s eyes lit up when she saw the princess. It reminded me of when she was just 5 years old and LOVED princesses. 
We then found a good spot to watch the Flights of Fantasy Parade.
I loved the colorful costumes
We rode some more rides, like the Autopia, which we stood in line for about an hour!!! It was pretty much the only ride that we waited for more than 10 minutes, so we put up with it. Next, Asher and Ben went on the Carousel and Toy Soldier Parachute Drop, while Aliya and I went to the Golden Mickeys, which was completely in Chinese (fortunately there were some subtitles on the wall next to the stage).
Everyone was hungry after a day of fun activities, so we went for the typical Disney fare of Noodle Soup with Dumplings!
We went back to Space Mountain so that Aliya would have a good photo of it as a keepsake.
And then found a good spot to watch the Disney Paint the Night Parade
It was a magical, fun filled day!
After learning field hockey at St Margarets School in Chile, Aliya has picked up another new sport at CDNIS in Hong Kong – Netball! Aliya is a proud member of the Timberwolves. Here is her first game in which she played against ISF. Aliya really …