The hotel arranged for all the staff to travel to some tourist sites in Beijing. My group went over the weekend. I had SO MUCH FUN! It was my first experience to travel in China, with Chinese people, traveling China-style, complete with our tour guide carrying a flag and our travel agency issued yellow hats.
We left EARLY Saturday morning to drive the 7 ish hours there. It turned out to be longer because we sat parked on the interstate for a good hour and half. Who knows why.
The first stop was the Great Wall. I had been before, but not to this portion of it and it's always just as impressive as the first time. It was WINDY and cold, but still fun to take a million pictures with the other staff. We were all cold so we didn't stay long.
We went from there to a zoo. It was a drive-thru zoo where the animals are not in cages and you sit in a tram like thing and listen to the tour guide introduce each animal.
From there we went to have dinner and then an after-dinner party. This was an outdoor bonfire/dancing/karaoke/fireworks party. At this point, I was so tired I just wanted it to be time to go to sleep. One thing that cracked me up about the dancing...you know how we have "dances" that are like starting the lawnmower or a sprinkler or other motions from life? Well, their version of that was to "pull noodles." I was definitely enterntained by that cultural similarity, but with a twist.
Finally, time for sleep. I stayed with 3 other ladies, only 1 of whom I knew well so it was good to chat and laugh with them.
The next day was my favorite. We went to a place called Long Qing Gorge or Valley or something. I'm not sure how to translate. It was really beautiful, but definitely a tourist trap kind of place. When you first arrive there is a huge dragon escalator that takes you up the mountain so you don't even have to hike. This place is complete with: a boat tour, bungee jumping, zipline, ski lift, temples, souvenir shops, two men riding a bike across a tightrope strung between two mountains, an electric bull, a bobsled type thing to ride down the mountain, and horseback riding back to the parking lot. Whew! A long and fun day!
We ate a late lunch and started back for home. I had really good conversation on the ride home, but was definitely frustrated with my lack of ability to communicate about issues that are important to me or to be able to clearly answer questions about America. 2 days of nothing but Chinese was mentally taxing and a reminder of how much I need to be finding a tutor and getting back into formal study.
We got home about 10:30, exhausted, and I had to be at work the next morning. Back to normal life.
Enjoy the pictures!
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