We're on our way to Hong Kong!
We said a prayer that US/China relations were good for the next nine days.
We arrived at 6:00 PM on July 1st, completely skipping June 30th.
On the plane, we stayed awake as much as we could so we could go to bed on our new time.
It worked pretty well and we adjusted to Chinese time the first day.
In the morning we met our guide, Ashley.
With only had one full day in Hong Kong, we decided on a private tour to make sure we saw everything. She first took us to the top of Victoria Peak to look down on the city.
8 million people live in a very small area as Hong Kong Island is mostly mountains. They bring land from other places in the area and add it to the harbor to make more livable land.
We took a car up the mountain but the people originally used this funicular which still carries tourists.
Lucky us, it was Handover Day!
It's the day Hong Kong was handed over to China despite the majority voting to stay a British colony.
Pretty much everybody was just hanging out at picnics and such.
The Filipino nannies have picnics on the sidewalks every holiday.
There must have been thousands of them.
Nobody was wearing the colors of the Chinese flag like they do on our patriotic days.
Luckily the government puts up banners so the people know what they're celebrating.
The government was also having a boat parade to "celebrate".
Our next stop was Hong Kong Park to visit the largest aviary in Asia.
My favorite bird was this rather exotic looking pigeon.
Next we were onto a well preserved Anglican cathedral.
The city is trying out this new technology - as the people walk on the walkway the pressure from their steps is converted to usable energy. Genius.
Most of the scaffolding in Hong Kong is bamboo rather than steel.
They have a lot of it and apparently it is very strong.
Hong Kong has the longest escalator system in the world,
with over eighty escalators getting you up and down the hills.
Next stop was the Jamia Mosque, built in 1890, the oldest one in Hong Kong.
We could not go inside but walked around the outside.
We next had a traditional dim sum lunch of which no one has a photo.
Here is our guide, Ashley, on the right. We took a ferry across the harbor...
...so we could see Victoria Peak from the other side.
Our last stop was the Chi Lin Nunnery.
None of the buildings are built using nails. The joinery used is quite amazing.
The next day we spent relaxing and flying to Beijing.
Our first full day in Beijing started with an outing to the zoo to see the Giant pandas.
It was very hot but the beautiful weeping willows everywhere cooled things off.
The pandas looked like pandas so we didn't spend a ton of time there.
This Asian black bear was fascinating to me because its face was like no bear I have seen before.
The oldest panda was going to be 11 the next day so the zoo was getting the celebration ready.
After the zoo we went to the Hutong area of Beijing,
the narrow older streets lines with traditional courtyard homes.
We got to eat a home-cooked lunch in one of these families' homes.
After lunch we rode in rickshaws!
Next stop, Tiananmen Square. It was 104 degrees so no one was thrilled. The place is HUGE!
Our guide insisted I get a picture in front of Chairman Mao's portrait which is an actual painted portrait they change out every few months.
This building is the Great Hall of the People.
It's the meeting place for the People's Congress and the legislature.
This is Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall. Chairman Mao is buried here and people
come to worship him here, according to our guide.
This last building is the Zhengyangmen Gate Tower, built in the 15th century. There was certainly a lot of history in Tianenmen Square but we just wanted to get back to the air conditioned hotel.
Our second full day in Beijing was Great Wall day!
And once again our guide insisted we take a photo in front of Chairman Mao's famous saying, He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true hero.
After this we broke up into two groups. Anna and I decided to climb as far as we could.
Anna went about 2/3 up the mountain. I went about 1/2.
Dan and Mia stayed back and she sketched the wall.
This is Anna's photo from the top.
We next went to a jade store/museum for a lunch buffet.
It was not the best lunch but the AC was on and we were hungry!
Our last stop in Beijing was the Summer Palace, a place for the Qing Dynasty rulers to go to cool off in the summer. Anna and I were very very sweaty after climbing the wall and the palace was very crowded so it wasn't super enjoyable. But I'm glad we saw it.
Below is the Longevity Star Stone, a natural stone that looks like the God of Longevity.
Here is the statue of Qilin, a mythical beast in Chinese folklore.
Thank you Google Lens since I didn't write any of this down.
Once you pass the sculptures you enter Yunhui Yuyu Paifang, or entrance to the lakeside retreat.
We walked down the Long Corridor which was very very long. This section of it has been refurbished.
At the end of the Long Corridor is this Marble Boat, made of marble and wood.
Obviously, it is not floating.
We took a ferry across Kunming Lake.
Our guide, Vivian, is the one with glasses.
From the ferry we got a look at the Tower of Buddhist Incense.
We were all exhausted after two sweltering days in Beijing. We got Mcdonald's for the girls for dinner and Dan and I went to the hotel French restaurant which had very good food.
The next day was a day of travel to Shanghai on the bullet train. .
We had the morning free our first full day in Shanghai so we took a walk. This store was down the street from our hotel and we all loved it. It's a Japanese store with the most interesting stuff.
I hope it comes to our area some day.
Shanghai is obsessed with large cat sculptures. This is just one of the random ones we saw on our walk.
Our guide picked us up after lunch and we headed to Shanghai Heraling Home, the place where Anna lived most of her life before coming to America.
On our way we passed this building which was the site of the first meeting of the Chinese Communist Party. We did not realize it all started in Shanghai.
At the healing home, Anna showed two of the nannies pictures of her in the home.
The one on the left pointed to herself when she saw a picture of herself holding Anna and said,
That's me!
That was the best day for all of us.
Our guide showed us an area with lots of restaurants which had a European flavor.
Dan and I ended up having a nice Italian dinner there.
It was about a 25 minute walk from our hotel so the girls opted for McDonald's again. lol
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The next morning we went on a tour of Shanghai. The girls were pretty tired of historical tours in 90 degree heat with humidity so we asked him to make it a minimalist tour.
Our first stop was the third largest building in the world, Shanghai Tower.
In the lobby, there is a photo of Shanghai in 1840. There's just a few fishing boats.
And then we see 2026, a megalopolis.
We hopped into the elevator and made it to the 118th floor in less than a minute.
My ears popped three times.
The view was incredible. I don't remember it being as hazy as this photo appears.
Next, historical gardens which we told the girls would be quick.
Anna still wasn't too happy.
Our last stop was The Bund. The Bund is an area with historic European buildings.
Across the river from The Bund is the Shanghai skyline.
I can't explain how spectacular and beautiful it was.
The Shanghai tower is the tallest on the right. Just to the left of it is "The Bottle Opener". The rectangular hole at the top was originally a circle. But people complained that it would look like the Japanese flag. So they changed the design and with the rectangular hole in it now it looks like a bottle opener.
The large tower on the left is the Oriental Pearl Tower. Is is not considered as tall as the Shanghai Tower because the top part of is just an antenna.
We walked around a bit and saw these chocolate sculptures of these very same buildings.
That night the girls ate ramen in the room and Dan and I went to
the revolving restaurant at the top of the hotel.
I don't remember what my dessert was but I do remember the fake fish in it.
We had a great view of the Pear Tower.
That's it for China! The next day we flew to Tokyo!
For our first full day in Tokyo we decided to check out all the sites in Shibuya, the area our hotel was in. This was the number one place they wanted to go.
And they were both disappointed that they were out of Pokemon cards.
We headed to the owl cafe next to have a soda and play with the owls.
We got to feed the owls.
Next on the list was Shibuya Crossing, the busiest intersection in the world.
We had to stop and see the Hachiko statue memorializing the dog that went to the train station to wait for his owner every day for over ten years. The dog did not know that his owner had died at work.
On day 2 we hired a driver to take us the 2 1/2 hours out of Tokyo to see Mt. Fuji.
It was quite spectacular but there was only a small patch of snow visible.
We stopped at a ramen place in the middle of nowhere for delicious ramen.
This needs no caption.
All the area around Mt. Fuji is a Unesco World Heritage Site
The white hanging papers were everywhere.
Our guide said they were like prayers to the ancestors that people write and then hang.
Everywhere you go in Tokyo you see elderly people working. Our guide said that is because there is a program that makes sure they have jobs if they want them.
Our last stop was the Cherita Pagoda.
After about 100 steps up the mountain the rest of family decided to call it quits.
I climbed all 460 steps (I counted them on the way down) and somehow messed
up taking a picture of the small pagoda at the top.
But I got the sign and the view. lol
Our third day is Tokyo was for Disney Sea but none of us enjoyed it that much. It was hot, the lines were incredibly long and there were no restaurant reservations left by the time we tried to make them. Couple that with the fact that none of us are really Disney fans anyway
we only spent about 5 hours and then went back to Shibuya.
I have one picture of Disney Sea.
Everyone was gung ho to go to Don Quixote Mega Store when we got back. It's an eight story massive discount store that is open 24 hours a day and packed with people!
Tokyo is the place to play Pokemon Go!
Our last day in Tokyo started with a tea ceremony.
First we had a history lesson on the art of the tea ceremony.
Then we went into another room where we got to participate.
Everyone got to make the tea in the correct manner.
I found out I don't like macha tea at all.
In the afternoon we went to make ramen.
First we made the dough.
Then we ran it through the noodle maker.
The broth was made ahead of time as it took more than our two hour time frame.
We got to blow torch our chicken.
We added spices to three different bowls and then all the add-ins.
It was fun and good!
We were home for a week and half when it was time to head out again.
This time it was a 24 hour turn around to Big Bear!
Mia spent her first night alone at the house.
We met our neighbors (they'll always be called that) at the hotel and enjoyed playing cards by the pool.
There was a massage place next door so I got me one of those.
Happy Hour was spent watching this fun duo play all kinds of music.
We then walked a block to Captain's Anchorage for a lovely dinner.
The next day we rented a cabana for a couple of hours at the lake.
Anna and Riley went out on the floating water park.
We walked over for lunch at Tropicali's.
And then we dropped these three off for a week of Cross Country Camp in the high altitude.
The next day we headed out again, this time to Sacramento.
Mia did fine by herself Saturday night so she stayed home again.
In the morning was a beautiful funeral Mass for Aunt Helen.
The reception was held on the patio of Tofanelli's, a restaurant she loved.
We will miss you beyond words!
A couple of days later we headed down to Oceanside for a happier occasion -
the wedding of Andrew Nevarez, son of Dan's friend Gregg.
It was like a mini high school reunion for Dan.
But who knows...
