Trump can't touch this wall
Ben loves waffles so much he eats them right off the fork. No time is spent cutting them, that would be uncivilized.
Bono, you in there?
After an authentic Chinese lunch from Burger King we returned to town for a quick nap, and then a solo family adventure searching for laundry soap. We managed to navigate two underground crossings, two malls, and a non-english supermarket, but we did it. I even managed a few bites of really real food from Mr. Lee’s (Guide approved) for dinner. Benjamin held out for a granola bar, but with my two futile chop sticks I pushed through. Kristi on the other hand mastered the chopsticks and ate quite well. Show off.
I ate all of that with chopsticks. Actually I ate some of it... but all that I did eat I ate with chopsticks. #roomforimprovement
Ah sweet sleep. Normally I’d whine about a double bed to share with my beautiful bride but last night was an exception. After 20 hours of travel having a place to take my shoes (and socks) off and sleep was quite welcome. I chose my side of the bed (Actually it was chosen for me while I was in the powder room and came out to two sleeping humans - Ben had his own double) and fell asleep for the night. As tired as I felt sliding into the sheets it was bit fitful for all of us considering we went to bed at 8:00am local Michigander time. At any rate we were up to enjoy breakfast and make our way to the Great Wall.
We’ve been told that the sunny high 60’s weather is quite rare in Beijing, but it made for an incredibly beautiful day to explore a piece of history. My details are sketchy, but with the sea on one side of Beijing the Emperor felt it necessary to build a wall on the other three sides of the city to keep him safe, hence the Great Wall. Even though we were on restored pieces ofthe wall it was clear how much disdain there was for the Mongolians, right down to the channels for rain run off dumping the water only on the Chinese side of the wall. Portions of the wall were noticeably tilted towards China and away from Mongolia. We walked long enough to see multiple watch towers, signal towers, and Ben even tried to find what he was looking for in a canon. I guess he and U2 have something in common.
We made our way back down from the wall via the slowest slide I’ve ever been on. If you can manage the 40 seconds, you’ll see why. LEAN FORWARD LADY!
Well that about wraps the day, here are a few more photos. Some exciting captions might include:
- Men's room at the great wall?
- Ben races a girl and ties.
- Two butts and a no smoking sign.
- Room with a view.
- Flash Benny's post BK workout.
Not the Jefferson's Airplane
After a few hours roaming about the terminal we finally boarded our plan and raced out to the runway only to wait. The pilot said in much nicer words that perhaps we were “too heavy” for take off on the short runway, and due to the wind it was necessary to take the XL sized runway leaving Detroit. I guess the guy was right because up up and away we went (Unlike the UM basketball team, poor guys. I can’t imagine getting on a plane hours later to do it all over again).
Upon our safe arrival we breezed through customs and were met by guide Judy and our driver for our stay in Beijing. I should point out that by driver I mean well meaning maniac. Driving in Beijing is an art form I’m not sure I’m up for. There seems to be little mutual respect between cars, bikes, mopeds, and people. I’m not sure what fuels road rage in the United States, but after being a passenger in Beijing my advice is lighten up, Francis.
Our friends in Holland who also happen to be Ben’s teacher has friends in Beijing who were kind and patient enough to take three jet lagged visitors to dinner. I was prepared for something of a mix between Chinese and Western food, but instead we got Sizzler. Truth be told itwas a welcome relief after airplane checkin. It also gave us a quick lay of the land in case we needed to escape the confines of our hotel later in the trip.
Bags packed and we are ready to go.
The flight was long but uneventful. I do need to share a picture of the peanuts on the air plane as they were Squirrel Brand peanuts. What a great name for peanuts. It gave me a good chuckle as just last week I was in a meeting with a good client and they kept having (self described) squirrel moments during the meeting in which the attention quickly changed from subject to subject, once it even included a live squirrel. I think if the marketing team got towork Squirrel Brand could be the official sponsor of meetings everywhere.
Airport: Where dreams go to...
Chick-fil-a? Yup
Express train? Uh huh.
Fountain? You betcha!
Starbucks? Why. Not.
Underground tunnel to a terminal we don't even need? Physcadellic.
Pointless "I'm expecting" pose?
I'd say we've packed in quite the morning at DTW.
The Windy City
It is the end of night #1 and after a busy few days I think we are all beat... although no one is sleeping yet. It's 8:20pm in Chicago and my alarm is set for 2:00am so I can put my face on and be ready to look good for the 20 hour trek to Beijing. (p.s. I'm now done writing the post but I wanted to mention the wind is strong in Chicago. That's pretty meta right? Windy in the Windy City. Ok now I'm done)
We dropped the ladies off after work and school this afternoon and had a slightly tearful goodbye. I don't know that it was quite Rocky and Adrian tear filled, but it was a healthy see you later with an eight and four year old. Kayleigh and Madeleine have never been without one of us for more than a weekend so a 17 day trip is going to be an experience for all of us. We are thankful for good caregivers for them while we are gone.
For those of you who don't have kids, or who have teenagers who don't speak. Let me reintroduce you to the joy of a 6-year old boy coming into all the facets of being a boy. Who knew eating and drinking was a full body exercise? Along the way to Chicago we were blessed with a constant chatter of questions, solutions to math problems, and things he'd do in certain situations. It was a good reminder of who our little buddy is and Kristi and I shared many quiet chuckles on the drive.
Well really that's about it for now. I had high hopes for my first post but the most important thing is I blogged and Kristi doesn't so the score is 1-0 which is awesome for me. It's going to be rough when the final tally is who hit the highest total word count. Ugh.
Thanks for reading. Hopefully there will be more tales of adventure in the morning. Let's make that adventures in people watching as opposed to real travel adventures. I'm not ready for those until we land in Beijing. OH and before I forget... if anyone reading this decides they need to scope out my house for my killer 80's style boom box... I left my killer kitty at home and he's watching you.