In China we had 3 stops. We visited Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong. We were only in Shanghai for a day, but we had tons of fun walking around the streets, watching preparations for the Chinese Lunar New Year. We stopped for coffee at this little corner shop, that was just a window in the wall where you could order. We started to chat with the man working. Turns out that he owned the place. He asked us where we were from. We told him that we were from Seattle, Washington, USA. He was familiar with the area and he even knew a couple local coffee shops in Seattle. (Zoka, Blue bottle, Stumptown, Lighthouse).
After our one day. In Shanghai, the next morning, we woke up very early and took a plane to Beijing. The days in Beijing were so full of temples, and food, it’s hard to keep everything straight. However, every meal was at least 15 courses. Every time you thought you were done, another plate of Peking duck would come out. One of the cultural differences that stood out to me during the meals is that there was always fruit as dessert. In the USA, a sugar-heavy dessert is almost always customary. I think that the US has a lot to learn in terms of health, and that we should take the examples of many countries throughout Asia. Another example of this, is that in Beijing, they have exercise parks, mainly meant for the elders. There are brightly colored bars, Tai Chi classes, bars that swing back and forth for running. You have to pay a small fee to get in, but then you are free to use the park as you please. Everybody was so kind, and they were always willing to help, even if the information that they gave wasn’t always correct. We also took a trip to the Great Wall Of China. We took a small shuttle ride up the the mountains, and then a ski lift up to the wall. It was incredible to see it in person. It was over 13,000 miles of impressive architecture.
Next, we took a flight to Hong Kong. One of my best friend used to live in Hong Kong for 7 or 8 years so we had lots of cool suggestions from her on what to do in Hong Kong. However, many of places that we tried to go were closed because it was the last night of the Lunar New Year.
The sky was filled with smog from the fireworks being shot off in celebration. We climbed up the narrow stairs of a double decker bus and shot through the streets. We turned corners filled with lights, laughter, and lanterns. We climbed off the bus looking for the restaurant. We arrived at a restaurant, however it had heavy gray bars over it. This women came over and asked us, “Are you lost?” My mom replied with, “well, the restaurant we intended on going to is closed…” “Ah! Follow me!” She lead us to a place, with a wood awning. We ate a delicious meal of chicken, fried rice and pickled chicken feet.
The next night as we boarded the World Odyssey to begin our journey to Vietnam, there was a light show, coordinated across the entire city of skyscrapers. We stood on Deck 9 watching the city of Hong Kong shrink until we could no longer see it in the darkness.