China- Escorted Tour
We planned the China part of our trip before we left the States for our year long trip. With the long visa process and us not speaking or being able to read any Chinese, we knew we would need all the help we could get in China. This was the perfect time for us to use an escorted tour company that would take care of all the details. We went with Gate 1 Travel because they met most of our must sees and they were priced reasonably.
Our tour manager was beyond amazing. She shared her life story with us: she was the second daughter of two children (listening to her tell about how badly her father wanted a son was so heartbreaking), her changing Chinese traditions (college educated), teaching her family how to share their feelings, learning about her work at an adoption agency, and hearing about her life in Beijing now. She's hands down the sweetest and nicest woman you will ever get to know.
Great Wall of China
We started the trip visiting the 2000-year-old Great Wall of China, one of the most amazing structures ever built by man, and nearly 4,000 miles long. We arrived and began the hike up the very uneven steps. We hiked up two or three watch towers before being satisfied with the views. It was unreal to see this wall span across the landscape and we were only looking at a very small portion of it. Major highlight and it was only day one!
Peking Duck Dinner
We were treated to a welcome dinner with Peking Duck. Who knew I Iiked roasted duck?!? The chef brought in multiple roasted ducks and began carving it right in front of us. We were then given a demonstration of how to enjoy it. You wrap the duck, veggies, and sauce in a super thin pancake and roll it like a burrito. It was perfect. After we stuffed ourselves with duck they began bringing out the other course. We had to tell them to stop we were so full. This was a reoccurring theme during lunches and dinners on the trip. Our tour guide Rose always took care of ordering our meals for us. When she was ordering the meals, which were usually served Lazy Susan style, she would always order one more dish than there are people eating. 2 people? 3 dishes. 9 people? 10 dishes.
Forbidden City & Summer Palace
We spent the day at Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace. Tiananmen Square is the largest public plaza in the world, built at the height of the Ming Dynasty where the Chinese emperors once lived.
The Summer Palace was not far for Tiananmen Square. The palace was surrounded by lakes and beautiful gardens. The walkway surrounding the lake had some of the most beautiful details and story tellings.
Dumpling Dinner in Xian
We decided to partake in the optional dumpling dinner offering 20 delicious varieties of dumplings. No one needs to eat that many dumplings but we did. Thank goodness we didn't have anything else to eat besides dumplings. We had vegetable, meat, and sweet filled dumplings. Dumplings that I have never even heard of. We now have some great ideas to bring back to the States with us.
Exercise at the Park
One morning we visited Xingqing park. We joined the locals in their morning exercise of Tai Chi. Some of the ladies were in their 70's coming to the park each morning to do their exercises. We then made our way towards the music where we found a band set up and a large group of men and women were dancing with fans and umbrellas. We then ran into a singing group who invited us to come sing a song with them. We were pulled to the middle of the circle and introduced and told they had a special song they wanted to sing with us: Jingle Bells. A fun morning hanging out with the locals.
Terracotta Warriors
We visited the archaeological site of the Terracotta Warriors, a collection of life-size soldiers, horses and chariots that were entombed with China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. The site is still being excavated today but there were still 9,000 warriors to visit. These warriors were each more the 200 lbs, 6 foot tall, different facial expression, and different hair style making them all unique and resembling his actual army.
Tang Dynasty Show
We attended a dance performance by the Tang Dynasty Troupe along with dinner. The show was perfect for anyone of any language. The side monitor displayed what each act was about. While there were no words exchanged during the show the actors easily portrayed each act through dance and the band.
Leshan Stone Buddha
We took a short ferry ride to the famous stone Buddha which stands at nearly 230 feet high and dates back to 713 AD. Huanglongxi. Stop here to explore the stone paved streets and ancient, wooden houses of this traditional village, constructed during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Chengdu Panda Research Center
The Chengdu Panda Research Center is a facility dedicated to the preservation and protection of the pandas. Due to many factors, including habitat destruction, pandas have become an endangered species. These pandas were beyond adorable. We also saw a few red pandas. These red pandas look more like large raccoons and less like pandas.
Yangtze River Cruise
I was really excited for this part of the tour for a few reasons; it was my first river cruise, we were going to get a chance to rest our feet after days of walking, and we were going to get to visit the dam and take the ship elevator down. The ship had lots of fun activities throughout the day. Rose even taught us how to play mahjong one rainy afternoon. The ship made its way through the three gorges. The views were unbelievable.
The ship elevator was hard to imagine till you were in it. Simply speaking the ship drove into the elevator, was locked in, they reduced/increased the water in the elevator to bring us to the water level on the other side of the dam, they unlocked us, then we cruised out. The process took a hot minute but was super cool to be part of. Once we took the ship elevator through the dam we proceeded to take a tour of the Dam site. The three Gorges Dam is almost six times the size of the Hoover Dam. It was neat to see it from both sides.
Shanghai City Tour
We had flight issues the night before on our way to Shanghai and did not arrive till the wee hours in the morning and decided to cut our Shanghai tour short. We took a walk along the Bund where we saw old Shanghai buildings and across the river was new Shanghai buildings.
We also visited the Jade Buddha Temple, built during the Qing Dynasty to enshrine two beautiful jade Buddha statues given as a gift from Burma.
China was by far one of my most favorite countries on this trip. Gate 1 Travel was amazing as well. I know for a fact we wouldn't of seen half the stuff we did if we planned on our own. The language difference and the lack of google maps/internet would have been too difficult to get around. I would recommend this tour to anyone thinking of going to China.
