Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The Middle Kingdom

Beijing

Only by hearing the stamp of the customs I really believed it, since my visa was in my maiden name. Phew, I got through!

Our first impression is that compared to Vietnam, we are not disoriented at all, apart from the fact that the subway is really crowded and we think: well it's normal!

In addition it is not true that they don't speak English, at least one person in 2 or 3.

They also do a lot of tourism in their own country. Means that there is a lot to see!

As for Yarden, she gets photographed also here every 5 minutes, even Gilad and me from time to time, but at least they ask permission.

I tell them well, you should ask her, and there, they are much more bothered!

Otherwise as soon as she sees a little girl, it's right away a girlfriend;

and indeed the French tourists also: "They speak French like me!" Then she gives them a hand and eventually ignores us.

To communicate with the Chinese, she finally realized that they don't speak Vietnamese because now she understands it, and began to speak English, with the help of her hands of course. She is doing very well.

In visits, we did like everyone else, except the Temple of Heaven, we didn't have time.

So Tienanmen,

the Forbidden City

with the little tour through the Hutongs,

the Summer Palace,

markets (Gilad loves it),

and the shopping street of Quianmen where we got a Roast Duck for my birthday

before ending with the Kung Fu show to the delight of Yarden.

We enjoyed Beijing. Transports were all done, except the bike! We even tried the taxi ... we were sorry, since the traffic jam!

As for the Great Wall, as Mom and Yael told us they didn't enjoy it in Badalin, we decided to go to Mutianyu. We were not disappointed with the trip!

It's a bit further but it's worth it. Not many people there and especially

we go up by cable car

and go back down by a 1500m super slide! What happiness!

In addition it made Yarden walk and even run downhill across the section of the wall,

well, almost.

The only problem is that we would have done better to do it alone instead of taking an organized tour:

on the way they took us to the Ming Tombs, ok,

but also to jade

and silk stores, it's not really our thing,

where the parking is bigger than Tiananmen Square! In addition the guide had advised us not to do the slide and said it was dangerous for Yarden! You bet!

In fact he was afraid that we won't be back on time for the return. That's why we ran.

Finally, the Houhai district was very nice,

especially the guitarist.

Datong

Here, we are a little more disoriented, even if the arrival in town is awesome since we expect a little town!

The airport is small and empty. 2 taxis. In addition it took us a while to convince the driver to take us where we wanted:

next to the railway station to take the the CITS tour, the only travel agency in the city. As the start was at 9:00, we didn't know it before and it was already 9:30 when we arrived, they were kind enough to wait for us on the road until we caught them up with the taxi.

All that to go to a hanging temple, impressive and very nice

and especially to the Yongang carved caves. For me who loves old buildings it was beautiful.

They made a huge tourist complex where you have to travel by minibus.

Here you wash your hands before eating ... it's that a sink in a restaurant is superfluous here. Well the most important is that it was good and went well.

The next day we tested the train ...

and we concluded that in China,

the best way to move is still by plane.

On the way we did, Datong-Pingyao, miles and miles of corn ... and trucks.

Pingyao

There, it's really a small town,

given the shuttle

for the 5 stars hotel.

Everything is restored but antique, we loved it.

We can even get hooked sometimes.

Here the old banks have become museums,

and the bakers houses, hotels.


In ours,

the bed was 4 meters ... wide!

Xi'an

This time the plane was small.

Although the site, huge.

The city also is nice,

as well as in the night as in the day,

the market.

In the taxi, the driver is behind a grill, there is the TV.

As it's a Muslim city,

I managed to lead Gilad to see the mosque.

« Mom he lefou to me » a nice mix of french-hebrew-onomatopoeia: Mom, he blows the smoke in my face.

To leave, we had already booked the flight to Shanghai from Hanoi, but the funny travel agent booked it from another city, Xiamen instead of Xi'an. So we had to buy the ticket again, luckily there are flights every hour.

Shanghai

This is not Hong Kong yet but almost. Starting by the Maglev to reach downtown from the airport: 30 km in 7 minutes at 431 km/h and not a single Chinese in it.

By-cons for the little train on Nanjing road, it's the big rush.

Of course we did the little boat ride

and walks in the parks.

But what we liked most is the science museum,

especially the children part

and the old town.

We offered ourselves a souvenir,

and we came across the stores market: all the trinkets found all over the worl are there. Very touching ending up where it all begins.





One regret is not having visited a Chinese factory.
Maybe next time. Because we will go again.