It is not mandatory to “do Beijing” when adopting a child from
China. However, I strongly recommend
that families adopting children from China take the time to do this. Adopting a child is stressful, both on the
parents and the children. An extra 2-3
days to adjust to the time/climate differences makes a difference in your level
of resilience and ability to handle a new child. I absolutely cannot imagine flying halfway
around the world and passing on the chance to experience Beijing. For those in the “this is not a vacation”
camp…I say to each their own. To say our trip to add our newest family member was not a pleasure trip would not be quite right, would it. It was not like being at an all-inclusive resort by any means and the paperwork and adjusting to a new child was...well, work, but there were many
vacation-like aspects to our travel. If
you are traveling to adopt and you don’t take advantage of how close you are to
a fantastic cultural experience…well, you’re really cheating yourself. I really enjoyed our visit to Beijing and
could have easily done more than 2 days.
For adopting families, more than a short visit is not feasible, but I
really think it is a shame that more Americans do not get to this part of the
world. Since we’ve completed our
adoption, we’ve actually talked to two families who are planning to visit China
purely for the purpose of tourism.
It is expensive to get there – it is pretty darn far away from
most everywhere – but the in-country costs are actually pretty reasonable. Americans traveling to China need a visitor
visa. A visa will cost between 90 and
140 USD, depending on the number of entries you want to make. I have included a link to the visa form –
pretty basic – that has to be submitted to the Chinese Consulate. Most adoptive families use some type of visa
courier service, either independent or through their adoption agency. I don’t know how to go about submitting the
visa directly to the Chinese Consulate or how you’d go about doing this if you
are not located near one. The visa for
China is a sticker visa that goes in your passport, so you do have to give up
your passport for a period of time. We
processed our visas through our agency’s courier and had our passports back
with visas in just over a week. There is
a visa courier website called “There’s Always Hope – Denise Hope” that I used
as a resource when filling out our visa applications.
From London, it is about an 11-12 hour flight to Beijing. Most people traveling to mainland China will
enter through Beijing or Shanghai. We
did not take a direct flight, although they are widely available from
here. We flew Emirates and had a layover
in Dubai. The airline is very (very,
very, very) nice, there were some upsides to having the flight broken up
(roughly 2 6-hour flights) and the deal sealer for us – about a $900 per person
savings doing it this way. Sold. We used a travel agent that specializes in
adoption travel – Sue Sorrels, email me if you ever want her contact info,
she’s wonderful. She was able to beat
any rate we found on our own, plus, she was able to easily book the one-way return
for Zack – who did not have a passport at the time we booked his ticket. We spent about $1300 per round trip
ticket.
We booked the majority of our travel through Sue Sorrels. Our agency, Wasatch Adoptions booked most of
our domestic China travel. Sue booked
our Beijing and Guangzhou hotels (the rate she was able to get was much better
than what we could get on our own or what our agency could get), our train
tickets from Beijing to Taiyuan, and our Beijing tour services, in addition to
booking our international flights. We
were picked up at the airport by our Beijing tour guide, Michael and our driver,
whose name I can no longer remember. We
had the same guide and driver our entire time in Beijing. They were great and really made a lot of
effort to show us their city.
We did not land in Beijing until after 10PM. We got upgraded to business class on our
Dubai to Beijing flight at the gate – so awesome and I am forever spoiled. It really sucked to fly coach on the way
back. It was totally wonderful except
for the guy who sat next to me…he was Stinky McStinkerton. Yuck.
Those cushy looking seats we look longingly at as we trudge back to the
cattle car are as awesome as they look.
I actually had to stretch to reach my seat pocket and I am a tall
girl. We got cozy, plush velour
blankets, there were fresh flowers in our cabin, and we were served a glass of
champagne and a dish of warm almonds before takeoff. We had several choices of food and I actually
got brought a wine list. The flight
attendant kept coming by and refilling my glass out of a real wine bottle – not
a serving sized plastic bottle accompanied by a plastic tumbler. My butter was molded in to the shape of a
little flower, and we were brought a little box of Godiva chocolate after our
meal. I accidentally ate Lee’s. So, after not sleeping very much on the
London/Dubai leg (although Emirates coach is very nice and roomy) and a stressful
layover in Dubai (we thought we’d had a snafu with our travel arrangements and
we couldn’t find any place to sit down because the airport was really that
crowded), I had my meal, my wine, my chocolate and I slept most of the way to
Beijing.
The "BEFORE" shot of us...outside of London Heathrow
Best.Airline.Ever.
This is how I roll (or at least how I rolled that day).
I was just so impressed by the little butter mold...I know, I am easily entertained.
It was pretty easy to clear Chinese immigration. I wanted to take pictures, but I was kind of
afraid to. The immigration officers did
not look like they wanted to put up with any tomfoolery. They took our picture (for their files?) and
we were on our way. We got our bags and
went out to the entrance, where our car and driver were waiting to take us to
our hotel.
We stayed at the Novatel Peace Hotel in Beijing. It was in a great location as far as being
close to places to eat and shop and it seemed a short distance away from many
of the sights we visited. It was
recommended by other adopting families as a nice place to stay. The lobby was very nice (posh, even) but the
rooms were kind of…well, below average.
There was a really funny smell that I can’t really put my finger on and
the shower door leaked. The mattress was
super hard…I’m actually not convinced there actually was a mattress. I slept well
the 3 nights we were there, but my back was sore in the mornings…it felt like
sleeping on the floor. There was WIFI in
the room, but it was not a great signal…actually, the only place we could get a
really great signal was standing in a certain spot in the middle of the
reception area. The room was clean
enough and quiet, though. The breakfast
was not included…it ended up being about $20 per person…we had it once and it
was extensive. The other days we
skipped/ate the emergency cereal bars from the backpacks. We were rushed/had early days and didn’t want
to spend $20 if we had to hurry and just grab a piece of toast and a cup of
coffee. We ended up eating the dinner
buffet at the hotel one night as well.
It was actually rather good although it was not super cheap…I think it
cost about $70 for both of us, which included a bottle of wine. The buffet was really extensive – there was
not much you could have wanted to eat that they didn’t have out, and it was a
good combination of Chinese and Western food…really pretty deserts, too! I didn’t think to get any pictures of the
hotel.
Our first day of touring started at 9AM. We visited Tiananmen Square…which I was really
excited to do. I have no idea why…it is
really just a big square with a lot of people milling about. It is right across the street from the
entrance to the Forbidden City, though, so it’s not really a separate
stop. The Forbidden City is WAY COOL. We spent about 3 hours walking through and
really…we could have spent the entire day there. It just goes on and on and I really don’t
think I have ever seen more people in one space. We went on a Friday morning and it wasn’t as
crowded as it could have been. Not
annoyingly crowded but there were a lot of people. Our guide was really attentive and
knowledgeable but really, a lot of what he was saying was going out my other ear. I was tired and I kept thinking “wow, I’m in
China! I’m on the other side of the
world!” and just looking at all of the people and taking everything in. There are a ton of Chinese tourists that come
to Beijing and there were a lot of organized tour groups going through. We would have been content to spend the
entire day at the Forbidden City, but time did not allow, and we kind of rushed
through. Late August is a wonderful time
to visit…it was hot but not unbearably so.
Wear good walking shoes for this – there are lots of steps and
cobblestones.
Lee and I in the square, entrance to the Forbidden City in the background
Entrance to Forbidden City
Inside Forbidden City
So many people...can you imagine this place packed?!?
Love the detailing on the roofs
We went to the Hard Rock Café Beijing for lunch. We collect pins and thought this might be a
nice addition to our stash. This was
about a 30 minute drive from the Forbidden City, give or take, and at
lunchtime, the place was totally dead.
We looked online before we traveled and 3 Hard Rock Café locations in
China have closed within the past few years – if lack of business was a reason,
I sure believe it. It was lunchtime and
there were only 2-3 other table occupied.
It was the typical Hard Rock- we have been to a bunch and they are all
pretty much the same. I ordered
something “local” – a noodle dish with shrimp and squid with some spicy chili
paste. It wasn’t too bad, although it
was heavy on noodles and light on the seafood.
We also tried some locally brewed-in-Beijing beer. I am pretty sure it was really Lone Star –
ew. Lee went more traditional and had a
pulled pork sandwich. After lunch, we
went to the Rock Shop – and they were OUT OF PINS. Sheesh!
We bought a couple of souvenirs, had our picture taken out front and
moved on.
World Rockers!!!
We spent the afternoon at the Summer Palace. We were in to the heat of the day, and the
grounds of the Summer Palace really did seem to be about 10 degrees cooler than
the rest of Beijing. This was a
beautiful and tranquil park that I could have easily spent the entire day in,
just walking around, people watching, and maybe having some ice cream…I think I
spotted green bean flavored popsicles, which I sadly did not get to try. Rushing through like we did trying to “cross
it off the list” did this great place an injustice. Michael was great and informative, but this
would have been the kind of place I would have enjoyed just hanging out with
Lee in for a quiet afternoon. We saw
more Chinese tourists and family groups just enjoying being out together. I took several pictures of one little boy
walking around bare-assed with everything hanging out. In China, diapers aren’t used on toddlers
like they are in most of the Western world – well, every part of the Western
world I have been in, anyway. Children
wear “split pants” that allow for convenient squatting without the hassle of
removing a diaper (!) and in fair weather, they apparently go for the “no
pants” look. He really was a cute little
boy and was having the time of his life hopping around with his friends and
family. An aside – I just got the photos
from the disposable cameras we sent the foster family back. Zack is “posing” in several photos with no
bottoms on. I think I will save these in
the event I need some ammo to really embarrass him when he is a teenager.
This is NOT Zack.
I enjoyed the Summer Palace, but walking along the streets to
get in and out of it was just as fun.
There was so much life going on; so much hustle and bustle. People were coming and going and doing their
errands...the setting was a little more rustic than what I am used to in my
day-to-day, but it struck me that these people really aren’t so different than
us, fundamentally. They go about their
day – they shop, buy snacks; hang out with their families, just as we do. I got some pictures of Chinese street life
that I am really happy with…just candid stuff to give my little snapshot in
time of what was happening outside of Beijing on a hot August day.
They day would not have been complete without a trip to the
“state sanctioned” pearl market. We went
for some “pearl education”. We saw a
quick presentation on pearls – I actually did learn some stuff – and then we
were invited to shop in the pearl store.
We were saving our shopping for Guangzhou, but we did buy a couple of
“lesser quality” drop pearl necklaces. I
have one purplish color pearl on a sterling chain that I have been wearing
quite a bit of and really like it.
Day two of touring started early with a 3+ hour ride to the
Great Wall (Mutanyu area). We were told
to expect an hour to an hour and a half but the traffic was bumper to bumper
most of the way. Apparently there are
some restrictions on how many cars that can be on the road during the week (not
sure how that is set up) but anyone can drive on Saturdays. We also noticed a lot of cars pulled over on
the highway and people just “hanging out”.
Michael explained that these people were “waiting on their
friends”…WTH? Using the highway as a
meeting point? Michael seemed a little
surprised that we found this odd. To
pass the time on the long drive, Michael gave us a lesson on Chinese counting
and numerology. Essentially, the numbers
6, 8 and 9 are very lucky and the number 4 is not lucky. If you have lots of 6’s, 8’s and 9 in your
phone number, that is a good thing…if you have a 4 in your phone number, your
service is free…
We stopped at the “state run jade museum” on our way. We got to hear a presentation about jade,
watch some artisans carving jade and – shocker – got the opportunity to
purchase some jade. As with the pearls,
we opted to wait until we got to Guangzhou, but they really did have some
amazing and beautiful items…many of them way too big to bring home in our
luggage. And I really did learn a lot
about jade!
This man is carving a jade "Family Ball"...it is 4 balls, intricately carved and nested inside one another. Each ball represents a generation of a family.
The Great Wall really is awesome. We rode a cable car up to the top and then
hiked/walked around for about and hour and a half. I had thought the Great Wall would just be
some strolling around on the wall – NOT.
It was a warm day and it is actually kind of physical…there are a lot of
uneven stones and steep steps. I wore
Columbia skort and my sturdiest shoes – just dumb luck that I had this on – and
this well-suited to climbing around on the wall. I was “THIS CLOSE” to wearing a summer dress
and my sandals which would have not been good.
I guess we were out of the city or above the smog…something…because the
air was really crisp and clear. We had a
good time and saw a lot of interesting people.
I wished for more time…we could have climbed a little higher.
Our guide took us to a restaurant outside of the Great Wall
and ordered lunch for us. We had some
type of spicy chicken with peanuts, some eggplant and potato dish in a sweet
glaze, and a savory leek dish served with wontons. We like Chinese food a lot, but this stuff
wasn’t really the sort of stuff we’d normally order. Boy was it YUMMY! This was our first meal eaten exclusively with chopsitcks. I am not
going to lie – I did try to ask for a fork.
They gave me another serving spoon.
We just toughed it out with the chopsticks and did so for most of the
trip. I actually “acquired” some
“sporks” from Taco Bell and took them to China.
However…I kept forgetting to put them in to our bag when we went places
and most places outside the hotels did not have forks available unless you
asked…and asking was really not super easy.
So, we’ve come away from China fairly proficient with chopsticks. Fairly. We didn't starve! Yay us!
That evening, we went to an acrobat show. It was neat and lasted about an hour (no
pictures, sorry). The performers are all
really young and the things they can do are pretty amazing. Interestingly, I saw a piece on Sesame Street
just recently about the life of a child acrobat/student. It was on Global Grover…who knew Grover had
gone global by the way…long time since I watched Sesame Street! After the show, we went to a traditional
Chinese restaurant and had some traditional Peking duck…well; I guess it is Beijing
Duck now. Hopefully everyone does know
that Beijing was once called Peking. It
was actually very good, and I am not a fan of duck. I had a bit of a meltdown in the restaurant,
though…I was tired and emotional. Add
jet lag and the fact that I really had to go and the only thing that was
available was a squat toilet…not my best moment. But the restaurant was nice. If there is a place to try Peking Duck, this
would be it.
I’ve left out our trip to the tea shop and our rickshaw ride
in the Hutong area. We went to the tea
shop at the suggestion of our guide to “learn about tea culture”. Afterwards, we got the opportunity to
purchase tea – I know, shocking! But
seriously, the tea ceremony was one of my favorite parts of Beijing. We actually did buy some tea and have enjoyed
a cup here at home in the tea set we brought home from China. The Hutong area was amazing…although the
rickshaw ride was a little bit scary. If
I ever go back to Beijing again, I think I would like to stay in the Hutong
area and spend more time hanging out and just soaking up the atmosphere – it
seemed much more “real China” than the other stuff we saw in Beijing.
Our host at the tea house.
Ladies hold their tea like a lotus flower....
This is party tea! It's actually realy good!
Do I look tense? I thought this rickshaw driver was going to get us killed!!!
Man-oh-man, we really did a lot in just two days. At the end, I was completely exhausted and
ready to go meet our son in Taiyuan. Our
guide and driver were first class…we were chauffeured around in a very nice,
air conditioned sedan, and we were treated like rock stars. We got curb service, front row, jump the line
level service every place we went.
Michael and our driver were very attentive and we came away from our
whirlwind in Beijing knowing a little bit more about China than we did when we
arrived. I know about lucky numbers and
I’m going to find a way to get free phone service, I swear I am – our home phone
number has a “4” in it. I learned how to
count to 10 in Chinese. I learned what
the yellow stars on the Chinese flag mean.
I was ready to move on, but the trip to Beijing definitely left me
wanting more and I really think this part of the world is something everyone
should jump at the opportunity to experience, if you get a chance. One thing to note – Michael really did tout
the “Chairman Mao” party line. He had a
deep reverence for his country’s government and it wasn’t what I thought it
would be. His chats with us were
peppered with remarks about what was “good for the people versus what an individual
wanted”. The Chinese overall are very
loyal to their form of government but they are very respectful, tolerant and
curious about ways of doing things that aren’t their cup of tea. They are also not as heavily restricted to
travel outside China as I’d imagined. I
think they might have a few more wickets to jump through than Westerners if
they want to travel internationally, but they are actually not discouraged from
experiencing more of the world than just China.
If you have a chance to go to Beijing, go.
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