30 July 2014
Beijing, China
Liam’s Blog: We wake
up and get ready for the day, at around 9:00 we get picked up and head on a 1
hr. trip to the great wall we go up on a cable car and walk around it was
extremely long no matter how long I walk I cannot see the end. It is made of
not as hard as new brick, brick but not soft and crumbly. It has loop holes and regular wall
crenellations on both sides so if the enemy got in the wall they could shoot
them, it was not a risk because their civilians were in the city so could no
shoot them on accident. There were a lot of stairs. Then when we got back to
the hotel Skye my cousin and Liz my aunt went for a walk and then we went to
bed. We had dinner on the way back from the great wall.
31 July 2014
Beijing, China
A day to catch our breath. My sister Elizabeth and niece Skye
arrived on the 27th and brought a new excitement and mix of
personalities to the tour. It’s great to have them on board! In order to get to
Beijing in time to pick them up at the airport we took the bullet train from
Xi’an. The old train was a 14 hour roll. The bullet train left from a different
station, featured car attendants in crisp new uniforms and reached speads of up
to 302 kph (187 mph) – I know because each car had an LED display keeping the
passengers abreast of the speed. Had we not been informed, it wouldn’t have
been too impressive because the acceleration, deceleration and ride were so
smooth that it certainly didn’t feel particularly fast.
Gracie and I picked them up at the airport and we took the
subway back to our hostel in a hutong. Hutongs are the alleyways of Beijing and
by traveling in the youth hostels here I’m able to get the kids used to budget
travel while at the same time enabling us to be located much more centrally
than would otherwise be possible. Liz and Skye’s energy lifted them over their
jetlag and we were off and running from the get-go on Monday. In the past three
days we’ve seen the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, Tianamen Square, the
Forbidden City and the Great Wall at Mutianyu. A student who will be joining my
lab in September, Siming Xie whose family now lives in Beijing, made splendid
arrangements to take us around to various sites. Yesterday as we were wandering
I knew we needed another musical travel blog – so there’ll be one forthcoming
on these Beijing sites. Liam insisted that we cover the Great Firewall of
China, too. So why not? I put a verse in it about internet censorship, too.
Carrie’s Journal: Forbidden
City. When we walked in there were “secret” police security guys who look
exactly like the regular ones excepting they wore regular clothes. I was really
interested in the concubines and everything because it kid of disturbed me and
reminded me of books I have read. It was amazing and everything was very
pretty. The animals on the roof symbolized how important the building was.
Gracie’s Blog: Things
I am noticing. First things first, people keep taking pictures of us or as we
call is paparazziing. Then something else is people touch us, stare at us and well
that’s all. So I hadn’t told you the way people ask to take a photo of us. Some
people say, “Can I take photo?” (but in a Chinese accent).
Also we need a progress report. Beijing is 40°N, about the
same latitude as Philadelphia, but more inland, so perhaps more like Columbus,
OH.
August 1
Beijing, China
Liam’s Blog: It is
finally August I am so exited I am going to see you guys in just about a
month!!!!! Any way. We got up and had breakfast then we move to a new Hotel
with a pool we get situated then we go to the pool and then they say you have
to have swimming caps so we buy swimming caps it was fun in the pool then we
got out and got ready to go to an acrobatics show it was based on a story they
made up of a clown getting lost it a computer game and in the levels the
acrobats to things that are really cool and in the last part 14 people get on a
one person bike and open their fans. Then we go home and go to bed it was a
really fun day.
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