China? Yes, Please!

Alright. So I've had a chance to recuperate from the trip and am ready to attempt telling you all about it. As you may have read on Mullen's blog, our Chinese vacation got off to a bit of a bumpy start. But the second we landed, our awesome tour guide, David, took the reins and the trip ran very smoothly. If anyone is looking to travel from Seoul, I definitely recommend using Xanadu. Typically it's a bit difficult for foreigners to get around Beijing because their public transportation leaves much to be desired and so few people speak English, but every detail of our trip was taken care of for us - including three meals a day!

When we first left the airport we were running behind schedule because of flight delays (again, Boo Air China!) so we had to push back the Temple of Heaven and went straight to the Peiking Duck restaurant (so delicious). And for the record, to everyone from college that I ever ate Chinese food with that didn't order communal dishes. I have now BEEN to China and Chinese food is MOST DEFINITELY served FAMILY STYLE!!! So I was right (no shit, Sherlock) and you were wrong and I hope you have all of that wasted food hanging on your consciences nice and heavy-like. From there we went to a Chinese acrobat show that our tour company called a circus. I was expecting it to be sort of similar to the atmosphere of a luau in Hawaii...sort of folksy and cultural. However, this "circus" really ended up being more of a recital type show for some random acrobat school for teenagers. While it was impressive, I felt awkward being there. There was an audio-visual section of the performance that told us a story behind each performance, which was poorly translated into English warranting phrases such as "Watch how the umbrellas booms with floweriness." One of the highlights of this performance was definitely the warning before-hand letting us no that smoking, pirating and waging nuclear warfare were strictly prohibited.


Then of course there was the 10 year old tight rope walker. Saying this kid was impressive is an understatement. After he got his balance on the rope, he took to swinging it side to side and riding it like a wave. After he'd gotten that down he started to do the splits - on a tight rope up in the air, he did the splits! And then finally he started flipping on it - big deal... ! After he'd finished he flipped off and then at the last moment gave a shooter/thumbs up to the audience. Mega cute. Other than that, I'd have to say the final act took the cake for me. It was a trick bike riding segment - but don't think BMX. Like 10 kids all came out on to stage and started riding bikes in circles.... then, one by one, they all stood up and balanced on their seats, and still managed to keep their bikes under control spinning around on the stage. After a bunch of variations of that, one of the riders continued to ride in a circle, while each of the other acrobats climbed on to some part of his bike. By the end, he was riding around in a circle with probably thirteen or fourteen people configured into a pyramid on his back. Crazy impressive. After they'd finished that, all of the acts came out, the MCs asked us to "give them our hands in clapping" and sang a song called "Number One!" while jumping around on stage. It was eerily similar to "Can You Do It..."

After the circus we just went to the hotel - which was the nicest Best Western I've ever stayed in. I would say it was more comparable to an Embassy Suites. - and hit the sack so we could be up bright and early for the next day of our trip: Ming Tombs, "Jade City" (jade factory), The Great Wall, and


Anyway, Chinese circus. Check.

Stay tuned for details from the rest of the trip, probably a post a day but I'm not making any promises.


Peace,
Erica



PS: And for those of you wondering, I have fully mastered the art of using chopsticks and am not offered a fork at any dining establishments.

See? (Dinner at a Szechwan restaurant - SPICY!)