Monday, January 20, 2014

Beijing - Jan 2014

We caught the fast train up to Beijing to see the sights and stay with with friends who we had only previously meet through Skype.  Crazy Stuff.  Michelle and Bruce were awesome hosts and tour guides.

Beijing is a fantastic city full of some amazing sights of which we barley touched the sides.  We loved going to The Great Wall (Mutianyu).  It was freezing cold and as such we had this major tourist meca practically to ourselves.  Words fail me to describe just how fantastic this wonder of the world was.  It was icy and pretty treacherous, when you look at your four year old hanging over the side of a section of the wall with a shear drop that takes your breath away.  We were lucky to enjoy some NZ milo at the top compliments of Michelle. Unfortunately much to Samuels disgust we were unable to Toboggan down due to ice on the track.

The Forbidden City was massive - building upon building upon building.  A very impressive journey which was preceeded by the almighty Tianamen Square.  We then wondered through some Hutongs and around the streets which was very exciting and least we mention the Peking Duck for dinner which was very delicious.

We LOVED Beijing and can't wait to go back again







The Great Wall of China - Mutianyu







Tianaman Square



Forbidden City




Sunday, January 19, 2014

Lantern Festival

Around Chinese New Year there is a Lantern Festival.  In Suzhou it has a different location every year.  This year for the year of the horse it was at Suzhou Amusement Park.  The Lanterns where most impressive although it was a pretty chilly excursion on a Sunday night with some of our SSIS friends.  The food on offer was very typical chinese fair - crabs on a stick, squid on a stick and a range of other perculiar fair.