Hogwart's Express...

(Allison)

I am typing this in our very small apartment on train Z9 that is traveling from Beijing..overnight to Hangzhou..we will arrive in Hangzhou at 8:17am! Although the last 3 ½ weeks (I cannot believe that it has almost been a month)  have been absolutely amazing..we are all ready to be situated in one place for awhile.

Today was the last day of the travel portion of our trip. When we woke up it was snowing…our first snow in China (although we have heard that there is quite a bit of it at home..)  We gathered all our stuff and headed downstairs to check out of the hotel.

Beijing is a fantastic city… the government invested an enormous amount of money into the city to prepare for the Olympics…they built 300 new hotels alone… but Beijing is actually not as built-up and modern as I was expecting…it certainly has been able to maintain its history and unique character..

Ashley, our wonderful Beijing guide, met us in the lobby and we hopped into the van. We traveled to the hutong section of Beijing..It is a very old section of Beijing, which consists of hundreds of homes built in the traditional Chinese courtyard style.  The word hutong actually means alley. The houses are built very close together, and narrow streets and passage ways wind through them. 

In between the old drum and bell tower, we found some rickshaws to ride! Our journey began (it was really cold…but our friendly driver provided us with a blanket). We pulled over and Ashley led us into one of the homes. An actual family lives in the hutong, but invites tourists into their home. A sweet old man met us at the door, led us through the courtyard, and led us into his living room! He proceeded to speak to us in Chinese, which none of us understood, but Ashley served as our interpreter. He told us the story of his house, and how his father had purchased it in 1935, and that it was taken away from them during the Cultural Revolution, but then returned to them in 1987…He showed us some family photographs and then walked us out. Hopped back on the rickshaw, meandered a bit¦and then happily returned to the van to warm up.

Next, we headed to…where else…but another temple (at this point – we have been to quite a few..)! The Yonghegong Tibetan Buddhist Lama Temple – this was certainly one of the most beautiful temples that we have seen on the trip! It is quite large, the last building housed  an enormous stunning Buddha! It is the largest wooden Buddha in the world, but it is painted gold and draped with a giant wooden bead necklace, and silk from Tibet Alex got in trouble for taking a picture…and was worried about karma...

Lunch = The Future Long Beijing Bean Sauce Noodle Restaurant  -- this was one of my favorite restaurants that we have gone to on the trip (and we have been to a lot of those as well…) usually, when we arrive at a restaurant we are quickly ushered back and placed in a private room (not always – but usually).  Alex, Lianna, and Mark all ordered noodles with pork, and I went with the famous bean sauce noodle. We actually got to order off the menu…usually our guides make thee selections for us..but the menu was in both English and Chinese, and Ashley let us choose.

Has anyone blogged about crossing the street in China? I think that people have mentioned the traffic patterns?? And how there really aren't any… and cars hardly ever give a pedestrian the right away.. when you cross the street…you actually have to cross it lane by lane..I usually try to find other people who are crossing at the same time..and just cross with them..

After lunch, we headed to the Temple of Heaven. The entire complex is actually larger than the Forbidden City…We walked towards the center and passed a bunch of Chinese senior citizens playing instruments, playing cards, dancing, singing, and also playing Chinese hacky-sack..one of them asked us to join him…so I made a sorry attempt to play along.   Ashley and the kids just laughed at me..oh well.

The iconic round building, in the middle of the complex, is known as the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.  Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasty used it to worship heaven and pray for good harvests, then we meandered around for a bit…

Ashley then took us to the Hong Qiao Pearl Market…to get war rm and to kill some time before we had to arrive at the train station¦ it is a very large building full of mostly knock-off goods and souvenirs – the sales people are extremely aggressive and were yelling hello at us the whole time..some of them even grabbed onto our jackets – in order to persuade us to look in their booths.. we were put off by their tactics..and did not make any purchases..

We had to be at the train station by 6:00..and we were not hungry for dinner…so we decided to spend our dinner money on snacks for the ride – this meant – a trip to a Chinese supermarket!! First,  I love Chinese supermarkets because they actually have bike parking lots…a parking lot just for bikes...! Our driver decided to join us..and although the only English words he knows are pretty much hello and OK…he was delighted to take us around..and make various recommendations towards our selections..He was especially helpful in the candy room – yes, a room full of candy…he helped Alex find  white rabbit…and he threw a bunch of different candies in a bag for me to try!

To the train station! The train station was a bit intimidating but Ashley led us through and found our gate… we had to wait a little while…but then we were allowed to board..We had to walk all the way down to the front of our train because our compartment was in the second car.. We got on the train and realized  how small our quarters would actually be… It took a bit of time and effort to work out a plan to fit all four of our suitcases, all four of our backpacks, all of the random bags and other items that we have accumulated, and all four of us into the compartment..but we did it!

It is 10:54 pm, Lianna and Mark are asleep and Alex is watching a movie on his laptop.. I need to go to bed now.. We will be in Hangzhou tomorrow!!