Chinese New Year Holiday in China

Chengdu

Chengdu is busy and smoggy but has a more authentic Chinese feel than either Shanghai or Suzhou. The people are busy, the roads are chaotic and the restaurants are full of interesting sights, smells and tastes. Only a three hour flight from Shanghai and it feels like a totally different country. Not having anyone around that speaks English apart from ourselves also adds to the adventure. There were two main attractions we visited, The Giant Buddha and The Panda sanctuary. Both were equally as impressive but both Samuel and Mackenzie definitely preferred the pandas. The set up at the Panda sanctuary was very impressive, clean and even the enclosures for the pandas were spacious and looked pretty comfortable for the pandas. Chengdu is definitely worth the effort to see, seeing real China never gets old.  The Giant Budha is actually in a place called Leshan which is a 2 and a half hour drive but worth it although the mini van I ordered ended up being the size of a Mazda 3 so Bev was a little tight for leg room in the back with his kids.

We stayed at the Flip Flop Lounge Hostel which was just perfect and for $40 a night we thought it was great.  Put the kids to bed then trott along a few doors and sit in the lounge for a beer.  Our original hostel cancelled at the last minute due to unscheduled building work resulting in no power or hot water however they orgainised this hostel for us no worries.

A memorable part of this trip was the airport transfer driver who must of been filling in for a friend as he didn't even know the way to the airport and there was an aroma in his car suggesting that he was maybe under the influence not to mention his driving style.  He turned the car off when going through a tunnel and was driving in third gear most of the way.  The other funny thing was the size of car was a Peugeot 206 - lucky we packed light and only had one suitcase and the pram which only just fitted.

Xian

The most famous site in this city is of course The Terrocotta Army which was extensive and interesting.  As you do in a country of over a billion people we bumped into a friend Mary -Beth who was also travelling around.

Our driver Jack (jackchen1971@vip.163.com) was great and also took us to Ban Po Neolithic Village and The Big Goose Pagoda.  Jack is a published poet so had a few tricks up his sleeve and we got to enjoy some poetry recitals. The price was good to at 500RMB for the day.  The Big Goose Pagoda was good to see and the views from above were great.  Bevan deserved a medal for carrying Samuel to the many many places which are just not wheelchair accessible.  We had fun along the side street admiring the statue art.

Big Goose Pagoda

View from top of Big Goose Pagoda

Muslim quarter

Muslim quarter

We stayed at the Citadines Central which was handy to the city wall and muslim quarter, had two double beds plus a room divider and McDs and Pizza Hutt just down the road.

The City Wall was very impressive.  It is 14km long although we only did about 2.5km to be honest.  You can hire bikes if you don't have small children or take a trolley tour around the entire loop.  We explored the muslim quarter which was a bustle of activity and plenty of food.  It was very interesting not to mention the Mosque.  We took a flask of Milo out with us on these cold days which kept the troops going.

City Wall

City Wall

City Wall

I must confess we made a McDs stop for dinner that evening before making our way to the trian station to catch the sleeper train to Beijing.  This was a great night as it was the eve of Chinese New Year so we saw a lot of fireworks along the way.  Unfortuately the new hat you see Samuel wearing (crazy frog we call it) got left on the train.  It was a one of a kind which we haven't seen anywhere else.

Beijing

We arrived a little tired at 7.30am straight off the sleeper train then navigated the metro to get to our first hotel.  The Marco Polo Parkside.  This is only a 20 min walk from the Olympic stadium and really close to a metro.  Because it is a 20 min metro to the city centre the price was awesome for the quality.  

It was freezing in Beijing and snowed while we were here this time.  Bevan and Samuel went to The Cube for a swim which is now Chinas biggest indoor water park.  Mackenzie couldn't go due to her broken wrist.  It was a bit pricey but worth the experience.

Lama Temple

We visited The Lama Temple which was impressive but having lived here for a year and a half we have now seen our fair share of temples.  We attempted to go to some markets but due to the Chinese New Year Holiday they were closed so we managed to save alot of money.  We then caught a taxi to a popular Hutong area called Nanluogu Xiang where we had dinner before heading home on the metro.

Our third day in Beijing felt like the coldest.  We went to The Summer Palace which was vast not to mention impressive however my feet were freezing and there was a bit of a breeze.  While the lake was not frozen completly there were spots where it had frozen over.  The Summer Palace is a really nice tranquil place and in the warmer weather would be good with a picnic.  Lucky we had the flask of milo along for the ride again.  We spotted a chap taking a swim in the lake (obviously not quite right in the head).  Not far from the metro stop there were some characters from the Rio movie which was probably the kids highlight of the day.  The kepts saying theres Nigel - I had no idea who they were talking about so this required explaination for me.

We moved into a really really nice hotel this day so while Bevan went back to get our bags I took the kids to the new accommodation which was called New World.  They didn't have an appropriate room with twin beds available so after some chatting and me explaining that my husband would be very angry when he arrived if they couldn't sort the room out they offered us an upgrade which was amazing, big and luxurious.

Bevan took us out for dinner down walking street and once he orientated himself in the freezing freezing cold he found this restaurant he knew about.  The que was massive giving an indication of how good it was but I managed to que jump somehow and before you knew it we were sitting down to duck pancakes.

The breakfast at the hotel was awesome and the kids were standing at the waffle and pancake counter keeping that chef very occupied.  On our last day in Beijing we met up with a couple of friends who live there and went to Behai park and Jingshan Park.  Jingshan Park has a man made hill from all the excavation in developing The Forbidden City.  You get a really good birds eye view of The Forbidden City in addition that it is a really good people watching spot.

Behai Park

Jingshan Park