Beijing, China: Patrick and Brendan!

The long-awaited reunion with Uncles Pappy and Brendan, after a year apart. We were pumped up to see them for weeks beforehand. And, to reunite in Beijing!

This bronze design of Beijing's forbidden city at the Beijing Exhibition Center, with its imposing walls, shows Beijing's old world origins well.

Chinese government propoganda starts here! This is a small-scale model of the fancy state-run tv building, designed by Gehry. Gehry having a hand in creatively improving the image of Chinese propoganda was controversial, to say the least.

Please forgive my compulsive need to document Chinese signage that puts a smile on my face.

Oh my, Alice barely sees the visual depiction of Beijing under her, for all the glorious distractions of her love, Uncle Pappy.

Mutual adoration

A small-scale model of Beijing, a nice way to orient us to the overwhelming city. Truth is, all of China is overwhelming as a tourist.

I love these statues depicting glory days of old.

Xiao Wei, the kids' and our favorite guide. (Want the best guide in Beijing? Contact him at weiyilun123@126.com) He manage to engage both generations, with his passion for China. Despite growing up with a very very very impoverished, difficult peasant farm life, I think due to the neglect of the Chinese government, he is incredibly PROUD of the Chinese government, and he's living relatively high on the hog now due to Chinese international economic success. He had nothing bad to say about the government, unlike the guides in Burma who seemed like they'd been waiting for years to express their frustration with human rights abuses and neglect by the Burmese junta. This bronze depiction of Beijing and surrounding mountains was amazing since you could see all the Great Wall surrounding Beijing.

Back of a Tiananmen Square building.

Pedestrian-only road through the "old city" that, in typical Chinese style, had been completely mowed down and rebuilt to look old...the government is very conflicted over historical preservation. Much easier to move everyone out and just rebuild it all to the the same, and faux old. You can see the umbrellas -- it was oppressively hot many times of day, so we hit Starbucks for frappucinos, which had a prime corner spot!

Back holding hands, with those we love.

For real - Donkey Meat

Women love dressing up as hostesses, luring you into their stores.

Like in most of Asia, no diapers necessary! There is no modesty around baby nudity.

My favorite t-shirt, but don't let the Republicans get a hold of this!

Threshold for an old-time courtyard design home.

Girls playing a rope game, exotic to us. Click HERE to see the girls in action.

Patrick fell in love with this boy, making me take his photo, just this close to adopting him, me-thinks.

Famous steamboat soup

The soups and noodles were delish!

Chinese move as a group, not as individuals. These kids were no exception.

One of our many lazy susan, extravagant, yummy Chinese meals

Lobster a la Beijing, both cute and sophisticated at the same time

Alice got a couple stitches. She jumped off her bed at the Hilton onto the side table corner, giving her a gash in her forehead. Luckily, our guide arrived just in time, helping us stop the blood then taking us to 2 different hospitals before we found one that would take Alice at the third hospital. No one spoke English at the first two, and the expat hospital refused to take any children younger than age 10. So, we had an experience similar to when Dad needed hospital treatment in Malaysia - we found ourselves in a near-empty high-end hospital that no local Chinese could afford, just designed to lie in wait for any damaged Americans or expats. It was not cheap but their doctors spoke English and it was clean. Alice was very brave getting stitches in such a foreign environment. Everything is negotiable, it turns out, in China, where they "Ask for the Heaven, but are willing to give you the earth," but only if you have a local Chinese guide willing to negotiate hard for you. Even a hospital is not immune where we had our guide negotiate a lower price. Actually, Chinese hospitals aren't that different from American hospitals which ask the Heaven then our health plans negotiate the earth.

True love

Chinese brushes, and we bought many, at Dirt Market

Calligraphy brushes

Dirt Market antique, depicting acupuncture locales. A map of our bodies, foreign to us.

Dirt Market near-purchase

Dirt market box delivery

Amazing balancing at the Beijing Acrobatics performance.

At the top of the balancing chairs

These ladies are live in action juggling balls with their feet -- click HERE.

Entranced by the acrobatics - Alice's aspiration

Wow, that's flexible. Click HERE for another performance too.

Tiananmen Square

Communism lives large in Beijing, despite the rising capitalistic thrust. This celebrates the recent 90th anniversary of the Communist party

Mao's tomb

Note the perpetual haze - no, there's no pollution in China!

The forbidden city framing this posing couple

Wow, she sure can pose beautifully. Actually, all Asian women seem to love posing.

Cultural Palace part of the Forbidden City. Click HERE to see video of the Forbidden Palace and music played there.

Gates to the Forbidden city. You can see the start of Brendan's getting overheated and hating all the crowds. The crowds were en-masse with Chinese students out of school for summer break, leading all their families to travel to Beijing.

Marble bridges

On the corner of every palace and temple. Love these animals.

Even in the Forbidden Palace, Chinese exercise, with their fans. Chinese love exercising as a group. Click HERE for a video of the women exercising.

Forbidden Palace guards. They march through the palace often, like the good soldiers they are.

Sister-brother love at Forbidden Palace

Our rickshaw driver, giving us a tour through the hot Hutong alleyed district. Only rickshaws and pedestrians can navigate these back alleyways which have been around for centuries. And, surprise surprise, the Chinese government has decided to mow to the ground then rebuild the buildings so they all look faux-preserved. At night, Ken and I went there to eat and stroll. We've never had such an aural noxious experience with huge, competing speakers blasting live music from each bar and restaurant. We had to go to the end of the pedestrian zone to find a small funky restaurant popular with locals off the beaten path.

Click HERE for a video of Hutong old alleyways while we took our rickshaw ride.

They represent the one-child policy to me. A family bike built for 3, the max. Many Chinese parents came up to us, repeatedly, with awe and transparent jealousy over our having 3 children. It feels like an oppressive one-child policy to most, was my impression

An original, historically preserved courtyard home, with the original family living in it and renting out rooms. Lovely, but all I know is we were really really happy to return to the Hilton every night, to our air conditioned, Western rooms and lavish breakfast. Beijing can kick your ass.

Griffin and all my kids adored Xiao Wei. They still talk about him to this day.

Brendan's picture throws me back to the 70's.

The bikes that used to dominate Beijing before cars were allowed in, which now leaves Beijing covered in smog, and bikes pushed out.

At our Hilton hotel, before the

Confucious Temple

Confucious is said to have written his tomes at the top of this Buddhist temple

Xian Old City Walls - a city a short flight away from Beijing

Old City fortress walls of Xian, trying to stop the inevitable -- the advance of Genghis Khan

Click HERE for a video of old Xian walls and our walking through it.

Beware, Genghis! We have a catapult manned by a Brooklynite.

Uncles swinging Alice

Xian old city wall palace

July 7, 2011