Our Christmas vacation is coming to an end. During our break, we had the good fortune to visit Tokyo, Beijing and also spend some time here in Shanghai. Here is a short summary:
Tokyo is very big, very clean, very orderly and quite quiet. We all loved it! Perhaps we wouldn't have enjoyed the city quite as much if we hadn't been coming from Shanghai, which is very big, very dirty, very chaotic and quite noisy. We expected it to be very expensive but found it comparable to visiting a big city in the United States. We stayed in two small hotel rooms in an old neighborhood in Tokyo located near several temples. We never rode in a taxi our entire visit, walking and relying on the subway systems to get us where we wanted to go. We were surprised that the level of English the average Japanese person could speak compared to the Chinese. We did quite a bit of shopping in Tokyo, as Japan is the home of Nintendo, and also spent a few days enjoying Tokyo Disney. People watching was great fun and we enjoyed lots of decent American-style food. We were very comfortable in Tokyo, and we would go back to Japan given the chance.
After Christmas, we took the train to Beijing to see some sites. First off, I will say that I expected the pollution to improve as we left the city for the countryside, and was surprised that it just got worse as we headed north. The skies in the countryside were worse than a typical day in Shanghai. Beijing was worse than any day I have experienced in Shanghai, and there were several times that I felt like I could actually taste the pollution. But it was a small price to pay to see some fantastic historical sites. We did not stay long enough in Beijing to even scratch the surface of all that this city has to offer. Maybe we can return in the Spring when the weather is fair? We stayed in a nice Chinese Hotel in a great location near the Forbidden City and Tian'anmen Square. The highlight of the trip for me was seeing the Great Wall. We rode a cable car up to a high point on the wall, and then climbed down. It was spectacular and I consider myself quite lucky to have had the opportunity to see this wonderful piece of history. We also visited to Forbidden City and were overwhelmed by the scale of the place. Like many things I've seen in China, I think it was designed to intimidate. We also wandered around Tian'anmen Square, but all but Papa opted to skip the viewing of Chairman Mao's tomb. We tried to visit the National Musuem, but they were doing some renovations and the fumes in the building were overwhelming, so we didn't spend enough time there to see much.We spent an afternoon wandering around the Olympic Park area, without actually taking advantage of the winter sports or the indoor waterpark that are available there.
Papa has been back to work for a while now, and the boys go back to school tomorrow. We have just 2 weeks of school before we have another 2 weeks off to celebrate the Chinese New Year. We will be in China for the New Year festivities. I've heard that nothing can prepare you for the noise level, short of a combat tour. Needless to say, I am shopping for ear plugs for each member of the family. We will be taking a cruise the second week of our vacation, starting in Singapore and visiting Malaysia and Thailand. We are very excited and feeling very blessed to be able to see so many new places!
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| Our gingerbread houses -- Shanghai |
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| Inside the Forbidden City - Beijing |
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| Tokyo Disney |
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A bento box displayed at the Pokemon Center, Tokyo
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You are truly blessed! Thanks for sharing your amazing adventure with us!
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