The Olivers Take on China!

It's Monday morning here in Hong Kong, which is thankfully still a holiday!  Brian and I have spent the past 10 days with his mom, Joan, dad, Randy, sister, Lisa, brother-in-law, Ryan, and our nephew, Oliver (AKA Ollie).  They were our first official guests in Hong Kong, although we have had a few non-official visits by friends passing through for work, which have been nice.  :)  I've been off work the whole time, and I have to say, it's been nice!  The pace that I've been going at is a little crazier than even this crazy girl likes to keep, so having a big pause was fantastic (although those pesky blackberries make it pretty hard to truly escape!).  We had a great visit, spending time both here in Hong Kong and also in Beijing.  I wasn't sure how traveling with a 6-month old would be, but it was easier than I thought - Ollie was a champ and attracted throngs of fans everywhere we went!  :)  Most importantly, it was just nice to get to see our family - being out here does make everything feel really far away, so getting to see the people that we usually only see on Skype dates was really, really nice.  Unfortunately, Skype hasn't created a "hug" feature that really simulates the real thing just yet.  :)

Anyways... everyone arrived late on Thursday evening, the 30th of March.  We had a nice evening at home, and Lisa and Ryan even got to see the famous laser light show from our window that night before Randy and Joan arrived (they were staying at a hotel just down the street).  It was so fun to get to see Ollie playing - the last time Brian and I saw him, he was only 2 weeks old and was just barely opening his eyes.  Now, he smiles, laughs, listens, and focuses... he's really fun!  :)  

Brian had a teacher in-service day on Friday, so I ventured out with the family to the Peak.  Now, I have to admit... I was very nervous.  Why?  Well, I've hardly spent any time in Hong Kong, and we had to take a bus I was unfamiliar with to a place I didn't know.  Sounds like a recipe for getting lost, eh?  With my trusty iPad in hand, we managed to get on the right bus, get off on the right stop, and even made it to our final destination - the Peak Tram.  The weather was a little iffy that day, but when we got up to the top, we were rewarded with some pretty decent views of Victoria Harbor and Hong Kong.  A pretty fun way to get oriented with the island!  :)  Brian met us there later, and we managed to see a few other sites without even pulling out a map!

Getting ready for the train up to the Peak!

This little boy became Randy's adopted grandson at the Peak - he reached out to Randy and was just perfectly comfortable!  Too funny!  :)

We tried to take things pretty easy for the first two days, since we were working with a 12-hour jetlag and weren't too sure what the baby would do.  He really just rolled with things... it was great!  Saturday, we went down to the Stanley Market, where we haggled our way through the souvenir shops and enjoyed a little less densely populated area.  That evening, we took the family to our favorite hot pot place.  Hot pot is basically Chinese fondue, to make it simple.  You have a pot of boiling broth on your table, and you cook various things in it, like meatballs, veggies, or cock testicles.  We had a bit of a heart-stopping event just before we got there - Ryan left his wallet in the taxi, and we were sure we were never going to see it again... a ways into dinner, Brian got a call... a domestic helper had found the wallet, and Brian's phone number was listed on Ryan's discharge papers that were in his wallet.  We couldn't believe it, but she returned the wallet.  Whew!

Sunday, we were up at the crack of dawn to leave for Beijing!  We got picked up at the airport by Wang, the husband of our private tour guide for the week, Qing.  The couple was fantastic... Wang confidently drove us around the crazy streets of Beijing, and Qing kept us entertained at all of the sights with her little clap of the hands and announcements that it was "Story Time!".  It was a great way to see the city, and nice that everything was planned out for us.  We saw a lot of Beijing, but it was laid out in a really understandable way.  Brian and I both felt like we learned a lot about the history behind Imperial China.  Plus, Qing took us to some fantastic restaurants that I'm pretty sure we never would have found otherwise. 

Tiananman Square

During the trip, we did a lot of jumping shots - this one is at the city gates, and we are making ourselves into 5-point stars... in ancient China, 5 was a lucky number, just so you know...  ;)

Another constant during the trip was that the Chinese people LOVED Ollie!! Everywhere we went, people wanted their pictures taken with him, and there was just an absolute swarm of activity around him.  One lady even gave him a kiss on the cheek - hello, disinfectant wipes!  It was sweet - here are just a few of the pictures of Ollie's adoring fans:

Ollie at the zoo - he got more attention than the baby pandas, and they were pretty cute!

Ollie with the "concubine" at lunch on our second day

As I mentioned, we loved our tour guide!  She took us down another layer in understanding Chinese history... like this.  There are bats everywhere at the Forbidden City.  It's not because these people were pre-Twilight vampire fans... no, "bat" in Mandarin sounds similar to "happiness", and this was a symbol of happiness and longevity (although EVERYTHING is a symbol of longevity in China!  :))

We had so many amazing meals, including Peking Duck - certainly did not lose any weight on this trip! 

Our third day in Beijing, we got up early to hit the road to the great wall.  It was about 2 hours away, and it was a holiday in China, so Qing was nervous that the tourist sites would be really busy.  We timed it perfectly - when we got there, there were hardly any people; when we left, it was packed!  Seeing the Great Wall of China was one of those surreal moments... it happened to me also when I saw the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa... all of those iconic things that you see in text books growing up that you never in a million years thought you would ever get to see in person.  Sometimes, I just pinch myself.  Anyways... the wall was built to defend China from Mongolian invaders, and... it is truly impressive!  It went on as far as the eye can see!  We walked about 1/2 a mile, and it was quite a trek - lots of uneven stairs!  I guess there is a marathon that runs on the Great Wall - um, no thank you!  :)

Checking another of the 7 Wonders of the Modern World off our list!  :)

It was quite a trek to the top, but we made it!!  Ollie christened the wall up here with a wee tinkle!  :)

Dumplings for lunch!  I could have eaten these yummy things all day!

After the Great Wall, we rested a bit and then went to see the Chinese Acrobatic show - it was fantastic!  I nearly had a heart attack several times - these folks were absolutely fearless!!  For example, one of the acts involved having SEVEN motorcycles in one of those "metal globes of death" or whatever we call it in the US... I had seen TWO motorcycles in there before, but never seven!!  Oh, and the drummer from DMB was sitting in front of us.  I never in a million years would have guessed that, but my pop culture pro husband pointed it out to me.  Kind of random...

We had nearly a full day there before our evening flight, so Qing continued with the great tour and took us to see the Temple of Heaven in the morning.  These are probably some of the most famous Beijing buildings.  It was great to see them now, because they were all rennovated for the Olympic games in 2010, so they had a brand-spanking new coat of paint on them!

Temple of Good Harvest

 That afternoon, we got a slice of modern Beijing life.  We went to to District 798, which used to be a factory, but has now been converted to a bunch of outdoor sculptures and art galleries.  It was really cool to walk around, and Brian and I both agreed that if we came back to Beijing, it would be fun to go hang out here for an evening - it looked like a cool place to sit around, have a glass of wine, and people watch. 

Cool take on the Venus at 798 Art District

Qing, our wonderful guide.  She is expecting her own Dragon baby this year.  :)

We got back to Hong Kong late on Wednesday evening, and had a pretty relaxing day on Thursday.  Joan, Lisa, and I had some girl time at my favorite foot massage place, while the boys checked out the electronics supermall in Wan Chai.  That evening, Brian made a stirfry at home and we watched The Last Emperor, since it was filmed in Beijing at the Forbidden City where we had just been.  So cool to get to see all the sites we had just learned about on the big screen!

Friday we ventured out to see the famous Po Lin Monastery and the world's largest bronze, seated, outdoor Buddha.  Now, if you remember back to our Christmas trip, in Phuket, we saw the world's largest MARBLE, seated, outdoor Buddha.  I wonder if they consult each other before they start constructing these things??  :)  We took a cable car up to the top of the hill, which was especially cool because we were in a "Crystal Cabin" with a glass floor.  We got some super cute photos of Ollie - it looks like he is totally super-imposed on lots of interesting backdrops.  The Buddha was majestic as always, and it just blows my mind how they got these large pieces of bronze up the hill!

Ollie enjoyed our "crystal cabin" cable car ride up to the Buddha

Braving the misty weather at the Giant Buddha

Our last day, we had one of the quintessential Hong Kong experiences - we took the ferry across the harbor from Hong Kong island to the Kowloon side of Hong Kong (Brian and I live on the island of Hong Kong, but across the harbor is also considered Hong Kong, even though it is part of mainland China... just so you know!).  There is a Hong Kong "Walk of Fame", where we had a fun time posing Ollie in his little Asian outfit with all of the movie star's stars.  We had one last Cantonese dinner (I think everyone was getting tired of chopsticks by this point!), and then watched the laser light show from a rooftop. 

Catching the laser light show on our last night together!

Future Kung Fu Star?!?

All in all, it was a fantastic trip.  Both the times we were sightseeing and the times when we were just hanging out as a family were so nice.  I have to say... I truly lucked out in the in-law department.  Brian and I both feel so blessed to have the extended families that we do.  We are missing everyone already, and looking forward to our next visitors - mom? dad?  ;)  xoxo