# Trip Report!! ABD Enchanted China 6/4-15/2017 Update 8/11/18! Day 10 - Shanghai à la Carte



## sayhello

Hey, everyone!!  Here we go!  This is my Trip Report for my Enchanted China ABD!  Sorry it took so long for me to start, but the jetlag hit me harder coming home than I'm used to.  But I think I'm mostly recovered now.  PLEASE push me, because my goal is to keep posting this on a fairly regular schedule!!

*Day 0 & Day 1 & Day 2 – Arrive in China, Hong Kong Disneyland, Welcome Dinner, Hong Kong, and back to HKDL.*

So I’m going to preface this report with the fact that I came *this* close to cancelling this trip.  (Well, maybe not, but I did seriously consider it, and went as far as to call my Trip Insurance company to solidify what they required in order for the cancellation to be covered.)  You see, I found myself, a few days before the trip, with sciatica pain in my left leg.  And I could not FATHOM a 16-hour flight with sciatica.  My chiropractor was out of town (how dare he?) so I made an appointment with him for Wednesday (I left on Friday!)  I also got an appointment with my regular doctor for Tuesday.  My regular doctor didn’t hold out much hope, but he gave me drugs to get me through if necessary.  But I’m glad to report that my chiropractor worked a miracle, and the sciatica abated after I saw him.  I had my first ever acupuncture treatment also, and I think that helped calm it down, too.  That, paired with a Purple gel seat cushion that I’d purchased online seemed to do the trick!  So off to China for me!  YAY!!

*Day 0 – Arrival in China*

So after a LONG day of traveling (one leg was 16 hours non-stop from Chicago to Hong Kong!!) I arrived in Hong Kong.  I flew Cathay Pacific, a Hong-Kong based airline, and I have to say, it was not too bad for a 16-hour flight.  I sprung for Premium Economy, which actually means something on Cathay Pacific.  The general Economy cabin seats were 9-across, and the Premium Economy were 8-across, so they were a bit wider and cushier, and definitely had more leg room.  There were only a few rows of Premium Economy, so we had a nice, sort of exclusive cabin.  It was nowhere near as nice as business class, which had lay-down seats, but it was definitely better than regular economy.

It wasn’t too horrid getting through customs and all – and when I got through, there was a guy holding a sign with my name!!  I do love that part.  He introduced himself as Bruce, and said he was going to be one of the Guides on my trip.  I was a little confused, as he said he’d be seeing me on Monday, but the ABD started on Sunday.  It turned out that he was the *local* guide for Hong Kong, not an Adventure Guide.  (Hey, I was tired, I’m allowed!)  He got me and my luggage out to the curb, and in just a little bit, my car arrived to take me to the Peninsula Hong Kong!  Bruce said there was one more family coming in soon that he needed to go back for, and we said Good-bye until Monday.

The drive was pleasant, and after not too long a time, I arrived at the Peninsula.  My luggage was whisked off, and I checked in.  The room was spacious and quite lovely, but it turns out it was not the nicest room I’d have on this trip by a long shot!  I started to settle in when I realized that I did not have my gel seat cushion!!  0_o  Oh, no!!  I called down to the front desk to see if maybe I’d left it down there while registering, but they didn’t find anything.  Fortunately, Joe & Ralph, our Adventure Guides, had left a letter in my room that, among other things, had their cell phone numbers!  So I called Joe, and got his voicemail, and left him a message that I thought I’d left my cushion on the van.  Ralph called me back, and I described it to him.  A while later, I got a call from the front desk that my cushion had been found.  I wondered where they’d found it until right afterwards, when Ralph called back and said that Bruce had located it on the van, and the van driver had given it to the front desk.  Calamity avoided!!  Yay for Bruce and Joe and Ralph and the van driver!

At this point, exhausted, I checked my email (CaliforniaGirl09 said she’d use email to communicate) and then settled in for the night.   (I’ll mostly be calling her CG from here on; it’s just easier!)



I loved that they had this table with a properly-lit pop-up makeup mirror.  I really hate how most hotel rooms force you to get ready in dim mood lighting.  It was very refreshing to have a dedicated table with lots of light!


The view from my room.  Unfortunately, it was so humid out that the window was fogged up.  It never really unfogged.



*Day 1 -- Hong Kong Disneyland OYO & Welcome Dinner*

The next morning, I woke up at a relatively normal time, feeling relatively pretty good and started to get ready for the day.  I arranged with CG that we’d meet up after breakfast to see about meeting up with the Adventure Guides, and then heading over to Hong Kong Disneyland.  I finally got to meet the awesome CaliforniaGirl09 & her wonderful family (DH, DS & DD).

After working our way through a bit of a maze of rooms, we found the place where our Adventure Guides had set up shop.  They were Ralph and Joe.  Ralph is from the US (works in entertainment at Disneyland) and Joe is from China (specifically, Beijing).  They made a really good team!  They explained some logistics stuff to us, answered any questions we had, and gave us our lanyards.

We then got a bit lost trying to find our way *out* of the maze.  We finally escaped, and headed down to the lobby to arrange our ride to HKDL.  CG wanted to use Uber, which I’d actually never used before.  It seemed to work pretty well.

After an uneventful ride, we arrived at HKDL.



CG’s DS & DD.  (Yes, the castle is really that small!)


Iron Man waffle!



So, I have to mention here that the park was seriously empty this day.  Most rides had “5 minutes” as their wait time, when in reality, the 5 minutes was just walking through the queue.  We walked right onto virtually everything until later in the day!  It was really, really nice!  But it was seriously hot.  We were melting after not too long of a time.

The first ride we did was the Big Grizzly Mountain rollercoaster.  Very much like Big Thunder Mountain.  Great rollercoaster, but it turned out to be a *BIG* mistake for me.  My stomach decided it very much did NOT like the motion of this rollercoaster, and I spent most of the ride trying not to be sick.  I used to LOVE rollercoasters, but it appears my body no longer does.  I ended up skipping a lot of the “rough” rides.  It was OK; we did enough other things that I was OK.

CG & her kids on the Toy Soldier Parachute Drop in Toy Story Land.



We stopped for a quick service lunch.  This was the Mickey shaped sushi.



We did It’s a Small World and Mystic Manor.  I really liked their version of It's a Small World, and Mystic Manor was exceptionally cool.  Just really fun and imaginative.

I went through some of the lines with CG & family, but just couldn’t actually get myself to actually ride things like Hyperspace Mountain or the Iron Man Experience.  This getting old stuff is no fun!!  But I knew I’d be back the next day with ABD, so I wasn’t too worried about it.

CG's DS happily having his pic taken being "questioned" by a couple of storm troopers.



Eventually, we knew we had to start heading back to the Peninsula, so we could get ready for the Welcome Dinner.  As you can see, it was still pretty empty as we were leaving.  (Joe said a lot of this is because of Shanghai Disneyland.  Folks from the mainland have to get a Visa to go to Hong Kong, so it's just easier to go to Shanghai.)



CG could not connect with Uber, so we all ended up squeezing into a cab to go back.  (We think they may have been blocking Uber at the park.  Who knows?)

Continued in next post.


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## sayhello

When I arrived back at my room, there was a cute little tray of chocolates waiting for me.  Yumm!



The Welcome Dinner was held in a conference room (or maybe it was a private dining room?) off one of the restaurants in the hotel.  We (including the Adventure Guides) had been told it was casual, but apparently it wasn’t.  They weren’t too happy with our casual attire, and made us walk through the kitchen to get to the bathrooms!  So tip to subsequent ABDers, Welcome dinner is “Business Casual”.   I really couldn’t eat a lot that night, as my stomach was still not very happy with me, but what I did eat was very tasty.

There were 24 of us on this trip.  There was supposed to be 28, but a family of 4 had to cancel at the last minute (like the week before).  Turned out that the mother had a recurrence of her cancer diagnosed just before the trip, and she had to start treatment.  (One of the couples on the trip knew them).  So sad!!  I hope she’s OK.

Joe gave us a bit of an overview about the trip and how it was all going to work.



I also met lovely fellow DISer KarenStevan & her son (henceforth KS).  They had booked an evening rivercruise to see the light show over the river, and ended up having to leave before we ate.  (They ended up getting room service later, on the Mouse.)  The youngest kids were 8 & 9, there were several teens, and a couple of adult children.  I was the only solo traveler.  There were 3 families of 4, 2 Moms with their sons, and one Mom with her 2 daughters who had been adopted in China.  And there were 2 couples.  It was a really great Group size.  After dinner, the Guides took some photos, and then it was off to bed.

*Day 2 -- Hong Kong & Hong Kong Disneyland*

After a buffet breakfast at the hotel, the next day started with a bus ride to Stanley Market.  It wasn’t that hot yet, but it was so humid, my camera kept fogging up.  It took it a while to acclimate.



Before we hit the market, we had our first “encounter” with limited Western toilets and no toilet paper.  For those who don't know, until recently, most toilets in China are what we fondly referred to as "squatty potties".  They are actual fixtures, not just a hole in the ground, but they are designed to be squatted down over.  I, unfortunately, have a serious physical problem with squatting, and pretty much found it torture.  And even if they were nice facilities, with plenty of Western toilets, toilet paper was frequently not available.  Fortunately, most of us had been warned or learned to carry tissues, and Ralph was also there to give us the toilet bag, so we were all prepared.  (The toilet bag was one of the ABD laundry bags with a roll of TP and hand sanitizer in it.)  It saw frequent use.  And let me tell you, nothing makes a group of women bond like a lack of Western toilets and TP.  Seriously. I think it really helped the group gel pretty quickly!

We were taken to the meeting point, given a description of the area and when we needed to meet back, and then were set loose.

We had the option of heading down to the waterfront first to get family shots.



Stanley Market is a pretty typical touristy Market place, with everything ranging from junky souvenirs to some pretty high-end stuff.  We were told to haggle, as it was expected here.



We spent about an hour there, I think, shopping.  I seemed to mostly end up at the stores that refused to haggle.  I always travel with my Memory Foam pillow (otherwise I get a crick in my neck) but I’d somehow managed to pack it without a pillow case!  CG reminded me of this while we were shopping, and suggested I pick up a pillowcase at Stanley Market, which I did.  I also bought some little brocade pouches and a really cool fidget that CG’s son had haggled down to a really good price. He was a far superior haggler to me!

After our shopping outing, we headed back to the motorcoach, and off we went to Victoria Peak!  We heard a fascinating talk by Bruce about Hong Kong, and its history, and what it was like to live there.  Victoria Peak is pretty high up, and the view from there is spectacular.  Even with a bit of haze, you could see quite far, and really see how high up its buildings went.



Click!  It's a video.  (That's Bruce talking).





Our first group photo!



After some time at the viewing point, and the requisite photos, we were given some free time to explore the area, and given a time to meet up at the restaurant where we would be having lunch.  We had pre-chosen our meals earlier.

I decided to explore the mall that was right there, because it was right on the side of a cliff, and appeared to have some killer views.  You could only go so far up without paying (they had a viewing terrace up at the top) but what I could see through the windows was pretty impressive.



I eventually made my way back down to head to lunch, but it turned out to be a LOT more difficult than I thought it would be.  Because the Mall was built into the cliff, it was difficult to determine which floor was actually “ground level” where you could exit, and everyone I asked told me a different way.  “Up a floor.”  “Down 2 floors.”  I eventually found my way out & headed to the restaurant.

The restaurant was very pretty & pleasant.  There was a lot of woodwork, and the outside was full of beautiful trees.  This humongous one was out in the patio.





*OK, due to extortion from photobucket, I had to change this post to directly upload the photos to the DIS.  That' only 10 photos per post.  So I'm having to make the posts smaller.  The next few pieces of this report will be after the current comments.  I'll post a link here when I get the rest posted!

Link:  https://www.disboards.com/threads/t...hina-6-4-15-2017.3613805/page-2#post-57825733https://www.disboards.com/threads/t...hina-6-4-15-2017.3613805/page-2#post-57825733*


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## CaliforniaGirl09

Yay!!! So glad you got started and already loving the trip report--such a great reminder of a wonderful trip! And DS was a much better haggler than his mom, too  Love the pic of him with the storm troopers. I'd already forgotten how hot it was in HK, but we were seriously wilting that first day on some of the rides (the army men one in particular). Looking forward to days 3 and 4!


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## Cousin Orville

It's great to start reading your trip report.   I enjoyed this day, but I could have skipped Stanley Market.  I guess it's good to see a typical Asian Market, but as you said, there was a lot of junky stuff there considering the bus trip out there.  Victoria Peak on the other hand was lovely.  Sorry to see the tram wasn't working.  Not a huge deal, but was just nice to go down the mountain a unique way.  I'm looking forward to hear your impressions of Beijing!


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## BluesTraveler

Love the trip report.  Thank you!


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## sayhello

CaliforniaGirl09 said:


> Yay!!! So glad you got started and already loving the trip report--such a great reminder of a wonderful trip! And DS was a much better haggler than his mom, too  Love the pic of him with the storm troopers. I'd already forgotten how hot it was in HK, but we were seriously wilting that first day on some of the rides (the army men one in particular). Looking forward to days 3 and 4!


It is a fun way to remember things!  Although I'm already straining my poor, old brain!   



Cousin Orville said:


> It's great to start reading your trip report.   I enjoyed this day, but I could have skipped Stanley Market.  I guess it's good to see a typical Asian Market, but as you said, there was a lot of junky stuff there considering the bus trip out there.  Victoria Peak on the other hand was lovely.  Sorry to see the tram wasn't working.  Not a huge deal, but was just nice to go down the mountain a unique way.  I'm looking forward to hear your impressions of Beijing!


I'm hoping to have the first day of Beijing up soon.    Stanley Market was an OK intro, but I wouldn't have been heartbroken without it.  But Victoria Peak was definitely worth seeing!  



BluesTraveler said:


> Love the trip report.  Thank you!


Thank you!

Sayhello


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## MKMK

Thank you for taking the time to put this together.   I thoroughly enjoy reading it in preparation for our upcoming adventure in July.   

Laughing at your comment about the dress code/walking thru the kitchen at the Welcome Dinner.   Received an "Important Information about your Adventure" email about 2 weeks ago stating "smart casual professional attire" for the Welcome/Farewell dinners (long pants/shirts for men, pants, skirts for women - no flip flops).   At the time I found it sort of unusual... but now I know why we received it!


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## sayhello

MKMK said:


> Thank you for taking the time to put this together.   I thoroughly enjoy reading it in preparation for our upcoming adventure in July.
> 
> Laughing at your comment about the dress code/walking thru the kitchen at the Welcome Dinner.   Received an "Important Information about your Adventure" email about 2 weeks ago stating "smart casual professional attire" for the Welcome/Farewell dinners (long pants/shirts for men, pants, skirts for women - no flip flops).   At the time I found it sort of unusual... but now I know why we received it!


Yes, it totally took the Adventure Guides by surprise, but they told us all subsequent trips would be sent a message.  Glad to hear it did happen.  

Sayhello


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## Chirple

@sayhello, thanks for starting this.  While not on my list, I am enjoying seeing the different locations.  I would love to get to overseas Disney parks one day.


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## Calfan

Excited to read along with your trip report and see more pics.  I'm looking forward to seeing how your experiences compare to ours with Thomson last summer and also to re-living our trip through your eyes.


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## distravel

Will be following along. I'm interested to see the differences from our itinerary last fall. Thanks for taking the time to do the trip report - loving your narration and photos as always.


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## CAYrgem

Thanks so much for your trip report.  My 14 yr old daughter and I leave in just a few weeks for our first ABD trip.  Since I've heard such wonderful things about Country Kitchen, I decided to make reservations in advance.  Can you tell me the approximate time you returned to the hotel so I can make a reservation?

Thanks!!
Leah


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## sayhello

CAYrgem said:


> Thanks so much for your trip report.  My 14 yr old daughter and I leave in just a few weeks for our first ABD trip.  Since I've heard such wonderful things about Country Kitchen, I decided to make reservations in advance.  Can you tell me the approximate time you returned to the hotel so I can make a reservation?
> 
> Thanks!!
> Leah


I don't recall for the first night in Beijing, but for the second night, I want to say it was 5:30ish, but I really can't recall exactly.  I know I made my reservation for 6:30 so I'd have time to clean up, so that should be safe.

Sayhello


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## sayhello

Chirple said:


> @sayhello, thanks for starting this.  While not on my list, I am enjoying seeing the different locations.  I would love to get to overseas Disney parks one day.


Thank you!    Glad you're enjoying!



Calfan said:


> Excited to read along with your trip report and see more pics.  I'm looking forward to seeing how your experiences compare to ours with Thomson last summer and also to re-living our trip through your eyes.


I'll be interested to hear, also.  Please do comment with your comparisons!  



distravel said:


> Will be following along. I'm interested to see the differences from our itinerary last fall. Thanks for taking the time to do the trip report - loving your narration and photos as always.


Thanks for following along!  I think the differences were mainly order and timing, but I'll be interested to hear what you have to say about the differences.

Sayhello


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## CAYrgem

Thanks for the info on the return time to the hotel!

I have another question regarding Disneyland Shanghai.  I kinda messed up and didn't book any post trip days to spend at Disneyland Shanghai.  Can you give me recommendations on what to do the last day?  I know you were the first trip so you may have arrived a little later than normal to DL Shanghai.  Should we skip the morning and head right to DL or will we have enough time to do the Yu Garden tour in the morning with the group and still catch the highlights of DL during our afternoon there? 

Thank you so much!
Leah


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## sayhello

CAYrgem said:


> Thanks for the info on the return time to the hotel!
> 
> I have another question regarding Disneyland Shanghai.  I kinda messed up and didn't book any post trip days to spend at Disneyland Shanghai.  Can you give me recommendations on what to do the last day?  I know you were the first trip so you may have arrived a little later than normal to DL Shanghai.  Should we skip the morning and head right to DL or will we have enough time to do the Yu Garden tour in the morning with the group and still catch the highlights of DL during our afternoon there?
> 
> Thank you so much!
> Leah


In my opinion, I think you should have plenty of time to do the Yu Gardens tour and still catch the highlights of DL in the afternoon & evening.  Yu Gardens was really nice, and I enjoyed that part of the day.  You *could* skip the hour or so that we spent shopping in Old Chinatown, although that was fun, too.  The problem with skipping the morning with the group is, I don't know how you'd get your tickets.  The Guides didn't have them; we were met just outside the gates by SHDL representatives who had our tickets and our fastpasses.  And we went as a group to leave our stuff at Club 33 so that we could change later.  And, of course, you'd have to get yourself there.  I suppose you could buy your own tickets, and then meet up with the Guides later to get your fastpasses and dump your change of clothes at that time.  But as is, you'll probably have at least 2 hours more than we had, and I felt like we had enough time to see the highlights.  There aren't a lot of rides at Shanghai Disneyland, which is part of the reason the lines are so bad. 

Sayhello


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## CaliKris

We are currently on our China ABD sitting in the HK airport waiting for our flight to Beijing.  So fun to read your trip report and relive our last few days.  We were definitely warned via email and by our guides to dress nicely for our welcome dinner.  We did not have to traipse through the kitchen.  Ha ha! We have Joe as a guide as well as Christian from Cousin Orville's 2014 trip and Bruce was our local guide as well.  We have a great group of adventurers and this is the first day we are feeling less effects of jet lag.  The weather is hot and humid in Hong Kong.  We have only had a couple brief periods of rain but so far have been uneffected by it.  HKDL was very fun and oppressively humid even up until the fireworks at 9pm.

So excited for the rest of the trip.  We love ABD so far!! Already taking about where our next ABD adventure will be!


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## sayhello

CaliKris said:


> We are currently on our China ABD sitting in the HK airport waiting for our flight to Beijing.  So fun to read your trip report and relive our last few days.  We were definitely warned via email and by our guides to dress nicely for our welcome dinner.  We did not have to traipse through the kitchen.  Ha ha! We have Joe as a guide as well as Christian from Cousin Orville's 2014 trip and Bruce was our local guide as well.  We have a great group of adventurers and this is the first day we are feeling less effects of jet lag.  The weather is hot and humid in Hong Kong.  We have only had a couple brief periods of rain but so far have been uneffected by it.  HKDL was very fun and oppressively humid even up until the fireworks at 9pm.
> 
> So excited for the rest of the trip.  We love ABD so far!! Already taking about where our next ABD adventure will be!


Yay!  So glad you're enjoying your trip.  Please say "Hi!!" to Joe for me, he's fabulous!!  He'll be your local guide in Beijing, and he's really great!!  
And ENJOY the Rosewood!!  What an amazing hotel!

Sayhello


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## Karen Stevan

Wonderful trip report, Tobi!  You really capture the spirit and essence of the experience.

I agree that the tour could skip Stanley Market because it took a long time to get there and it was a pretty lame start to the adventure.  I would much rather have had extra time at HK Disneyland.  I got to see pretty much everything there I wanted to with the extra add-on day at the park before meeting the group, but could have had another few hours to better pace myself in the intense heat.

Also, the first night meeting ABD there wasn't time to explore HK on your own.  I thought we would have all this time after the Welcome Dinner and booked the Symphony of Lights Harbour Cruise, but the dinner didn't get going until after 7:00 PM, so we had to dash out and miss the dinner in order to meet up with our cruise tour.  I heard the dinner was amazing, so I was sorry to miss it and the chance to get to know our fellow travellers.  On the other hand, the Harbour Cruise was really fun and memorable, and we didn't get the opportunity to see the Symphony any other time because we stayed out at the Park the first add-on night.


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## sayhello

Karen Stevan said:


> Wonderful trip report, Tobi!  You really capture the spirit and essence of the experience.
> 
> I agree that the tour could skip Stanley Market because it took a long time to get there and it was a pretty lame start to the adventure.  I would much rather have had extra time at HK Disneyland.  I got to see pretty much everything there I wanted to with the extra add-on day at the park before meeting the group, but could have had another few hours to better pace myself in the intense heat.
> 
> Also, the first night meeting ABD there wasn't time to explore HK on your own.  I thought we would have all this time after the Welcome Dinner and booked the Symphony of Lights Harbour Cruise, but the dinner didn't get going until after 7:00 PM, so we had to dash out and miss the dinner in order to meet up with our cruise tour.  I heard the dinner was amazing, so I was sorry to miss it and the chance to get to know our fellow travellers.  On the other hand, the Harbour Cruise was really fun and memorable, and we didn't get the opportunity to see the Symphony any other time because we stayed out at the Park the first add-on night.


Thanks, Karen.    I agree, the lack of opportunity to see the Symphony of lights was sad for me.  I arrived the first night after the Symphony was over, plus being way too exhausted to do anything anyways.  It would have been nice if they'd timed things for the Welcome Dinner to see it, because the next night we were at HKDL, and we left the next morning.  I guess you can't do everything, but I'm glad you guys got a chance to see it!

Sayhello


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## CaliforniaGirl09

CaliKris said:


> We are currently on our China ABD sitting in the HK airport waiting for our flight to Beijing.  So fun to read your trip report and relive our last few days.  We were definitely warned via email and by our guides to dress nicely for our welcome dinner.  We did not have to traipse through the kitchen.  Ha ha! We have Joe as a guide as well as Christian from Cousin Orville's 2014 trip and Bruce was our local guide as well.  We have a great group of adventurers and this is the first day we are feeling less effects of jet lag.  The weather is hot and humid in Hong Kong.  We have only had a couple brief periods of rain but so far have been uneffected by it.  HKDL was very fun and oppressively humid even up until the fireworks at 9pm.
> 
> So excited for the rest of the trip.  We love ABD so far!! Already taking about where our next ABD adventure will be!



Say "hi" to Joe for me, too! So glad you guys are enjoying so far despite the HK heat and humidity. Hopefully it will only get better as it did for us. How many in your group?



Karen Stevan said:


> Wonderful trip report, Tobi!  You really capture the spirit and essence of the experience.
> 
> I agree that the tour could skip Stanley Market because it took a long time to get there and it was a pretty lame start to the adventure.  I would much rather have had extra time at HK Disneyland.  I got to see pretty much everything there I wanted to with the extra add-on day at the park before meeting the group, but could have had another few hours to better pace myself in the intense heat.
> 
> Also, the first night meeting ABD there wasn't time to explore HK on your own.  I thought we would have all this time after the Welcome Dinner and booked the Symphony of Lights Harbour Cruise, but the dinner didn't get going until after 7:00 PM, so we had to dash out and miss the dinner in order to meet up with our cruise tour.  I heard the dinner was amazing, so I was sorry to miss it and the chance to get to know our fellow travellers.  On the other hand, the Harbour Cruise was really fun and memorable, and we didn't get the opportunity to see the Symphony any other time because we stayed out at the Park the first add-on night.



I'm divided on Stanley Market. I thought it was okay, and in hindsight I wish I'd taken more advantage of it because there wasn't much shopping later. But, if they could do a tour of the old town instead, I'd be all on board. I had the pre-day at HK Disneyland so maybe I would feel stronger if I only had that one afternoon. I wish we had a chance to see the Symphony of Lights--like SayHello we missed it. I love SayHello's suggestion of trying to incorporate it into that first night. That would be great, although I wouldn't want to miss that restaurant so it would have to be both.


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## tgeorge

Excited to be reading your trip report!  China has been on my list for sometime and I'm hoping that I get to do it someday.  The list just keeps growing and growing.....


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## Karen Stevan

Yes, it was definitely less stressful having been to HK Disneyland the add-on day prior, although I think the ABD could have had the earlier dinner Day One and even organized all of us to see the Symphony of Lights Harbour Tour as a first-night activity.  If we didn't go up to Victoria Peak and go on the Star Ferry, I'd have little idea what Hong Kong even looked like, as the best perspective is from the water (or looking over it). By having a later dinner, the group missed a fun event, and I missed the welcoming dinner - an earlier dinner solves both problems.


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## CaliKris

CAYrgem said:


> Thanks so much for your trip report.  My 14 yr old daughter and I leave in just a few weeks for our first ABD trip.  Since I've heard such wonderful things about Country Kitchen, I decided to make reservations in advance.  Can you tell me the approximate time you returned to the hotel so I can make a reservation?
> 
> Thanks!!
> Leah


We are in Beijing now.  Yesterday we went to the Forbidden City.  Due to the heat and a long lunch, we did not leave until they closed at 5pm.  We walked a mile to get on the bus and did not arrive back at the Rosewood until 6:45.  Rush hour traffic in Beijing is unreal!  I would not make reservations before 6:45 for this day.  Today is the Great Wall and our guides say we should be back about 4:30.  I will post after we get back if it is much different.


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## CaliKris

Karen Stevan said:


> Yes, it was definitely less stressful having been to HK Disneyland the add-on day prior, although I think the ABD could have had the earlier dinner Day One and even organized all of us to see the Symphony of Lights Harbour Tour as a first-night activity.  If we didn't go up to Victoria Peak and go on the Star Ferry, I'd have little idea what Hong Kong even looked like, as the best perspective is from the water (or looking over it). By having a later dinner, the group missed a fun event, and I missed the welcoming dinner - an earlier dinner solves both problems.


I agree.  We were sad we missed the Sympony of Lights.  We thought we would catch them the night we arrived but our flight landed an hour late.  

It would be better to start the dinner earlier as well because of jet lag.  It ran long and several of the younger kids left to go to bed in the middle of dinner and adults were fading fast as well.


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## CaliKris

CaliforniaGirl09 said:


> Say "hi" to Joe for me, too! So glad you guys are enjoying so far despite the HK heat and humidity. Hopefully it will only get better as it did for us. How many in your group?


Yes, we are loving this trip!  We started with 30 which is a great size.  We are now up to 35 due to a family that unfortunately missed their connection to Hong Kong and had to meet up with us in Beijing.  Will say Hi to Joe for you and @sayhello .  He is great!  Both of our guides are amazing which is helping make the trip that much more enjoyable!


----------



## AlixaLock

CaliKris said:


> We are in Beijing now.  Yesterday we went to the Forbidden City.  Due to the heat and a long lunch, we did not leave until they closed at 5pm.  We walked a mile to get on the bus and did not arrive back at the Rosewood until 6:45.  Rush hour traffic in Beijing is unreal!  I would not make reservations before 6:45 for this day.  Today is the Great Wall and our guides say we should be back about 4:30.  I will post after we get back if it is much different.



Hi there!  Here in Beijing with Kris and ABD and have to echo what she said.  Our reservation for Country Kitchen after the Forbidden City was 6:30 and we basically had to walk up to the restaurant straight from the bus.  No problem, but not ideal!  Lol.  Christian felt the traffic was somewhat worse then usual yesterday, but to be safe I would not book anything before 7.  They will give a 15 minute or so buffer on your reservation, but indicated that we couldn't be seated much later then that!


----------



## AlixaLock

Thanks, SayHello for this report!  I'm loving following along as we travel the same footsteps with our guides Joe and Christian!   We have 3 DIS people on this tour and a great group as a whole!


----------



## sayhello

AlixaLock said:


> Thanks, SayHello for this report!  I'm loving following along as we travel the same footsteps with our guides Joe and Christian!   We have 3 DIS people on this tour and a great group as a whole!


Glad you're enjoying!!  I guess I'd better get my Beijing days up soon!  

Sayhello


----------



## BluesTraveler

sayhello said:


> Glad you're enjoying!!  I guess I'd better get my Beijing days up soon!
> 
> Sayhello


Yes!  I am looking forward to the next installment!


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## acndis

SayHello!

I am in Alaska right now and ABD Guide Robyn said to say, "Hi!"  We are both excited to hear more about your China experience!


----------



## sayhello

acndis said:


> SayHello!
> 
> I am in Alaska right now and ABD Guide Robyn said to say, "Hi!"  We are both excited to hear more about your China experience!


Oh, wow!!  That is *SO* cool!  Thanks!  Please say "Hi!!" back to Robyn for me!    I should have Beijing up pretty soon.

ENJOY ALASKA!  It's a fabulous trip, and Robyn is wonderful!!

Sayhello


----------



## Ian&Diane

Hi
Thanks for writing this, really enjoying it. We're going on a similar trip in October and this is really giving us a feel for what to expect.
Unfortunately I cannot see the photos just an error message, saying please update your account to enable 3rd party viewing. Is this something I need to do?
Thanks again.


----------



## sayhello

Ian&Diane said:


> Hi
> Thanks for writing this, really enjoying it. We're going on a similar trip in October and this is really giving us a feel for what to expect.
> Unfortunately I cannot see the photos just an error message, saying please update your account to enable 3rd party viewing. Is this something I need to do?
> Thanks again.


Oh, crap.  Photobucket, after 14 years, has decided that they don't like me using my account for "3rd party viewing".  But if I get a paid subscription, it's OK.  I'm going to have to find out how much it is.  I'd HATE to have to re-host all my damned photos to another service, and change all the links on all my Trip Reports.  But I really hate extortion, too.    Shoot. Well, Beijing may not be posted for a few days until I resolve this...

Sayhello

*ETA:*   Cripes!!  The plan that will let me do "3rd party viewing", the "Plus500" plan, is $400 a year!!    No way in Hell am I paying that.  Damn!  Looks like I'm shopping for a new photo hosting site, or breaking my reports up into small enough chunks that I can embed the photos here directly.  This really, really sucks!

What photo hosting services do you folks use?


----------



## sayhello

*Continuation of Day 0, 1 & 2.  Had to break it up into smaller posts.  New stuff will be posted soon!*

Ralph, Joe, Bruce and the Paddle of Power.

 

There had been 3 choices for lunch.  I believe it was a chicken dish, a burger and a vegetable curry.  I had the chicken, but I heard good things about all 3 dishes.

After lunch, we found out, unfortunately, that the famous Peak Tram was closed for refurbishment, so we would not be riding the tram down.  It was news to our Guides, also.  So we headed back to our motorcoach, which took us to the Star Ferry Pier to catch the Ferry across Victoria Harbor.

 

It was a fun ride.  I saw this boat also crossing the Harbor, and thought it looked pretty cool.  I wonder if it’s a Pirate Cruise?

 

 

The group, looking back across Victoria Harbor to Hong Kong Island.

 

We made a quick pit stop in the terminal building, and something happened to me that has never happened before on any of the 8 ABDs I’ve previously taken.  I was one of the last ones to get to the bathroom, and waited for a Western toilet, and ended up the last one out.  Now that is hardly remarkable.  Anyone who’s traveled with me will tell you I’m frequently the last one out.  But when I got out, no-one was there.  Zip.  Zilch.  No-one.  And I wasn’t 100% sure which exit was the one we were supposed to go out of.  I ran to one exit, but I was pretty sure it was the way we’d come in, and I didn’t see anyone there.  I ran around, found the other exit, and there was still no-one there.  Panicking just a *little* bit, I pulled out my phone and started to dial one of the Guides’ phones (I’d fortunately put them in my Contacts the first night).  But just as I was dialing, Joe came running up, dialing his own phone.  He was so apologetic.  They’d apparently gotten all the way to the bus before they did a head count & realized someone was missing!  I think he was way more freaked out than I was.  I have to say, it *never* happened again!  There was always someone waiting there when I got out of the restroom, and frequent head-counting!

Our next stop was – Hong Kong Disneyland!  It was a gorgeous day, but by this time, it had gotten pretty seriously humid.  We took family photos under the Welcome sign, and then headed into the park.

 

It took a while to get all our tickets, and get through the gates, but then we were set loose.  I was really pretty hot and didn’t want to do any of the rides that would upset my stomach, so decided to do some solo touring through the park.  I caught a bit of the parade that was going on, and a few shots of the pretty miniscule castle.

 

 

 

 


Continued in next post.


----------



## sayhello

The lines weren’t quite as short as they’d been the day before, and I tried to do rides that were mostly indoors and had short lines, like Winnie the Pooh and PhilharMagic, which I ended up sitting through 3 times just because it was so cool inside.



One of the Fastpasses we got was for a show called “Mickey and the Wondrous Book”.   (I’m sorry, I don’t remember what other Fastpasses we got; I’m sure someone else will chime in here).  We were directed to a side entrance (there was actually quite a line for this show) and seated up front for the show.  It was all in Chinese, but they had a display with the translation up over part of the stage.  You could tell mostly what was going on even without the translations, though.  It was a very cute show that had Goofy & Mickey trying to find Olaf throughout the settings of various Disney movies.







One thing I started to notice though, was that I was becoming truly exhausted.  I stumbled walking out of the show, and bumped into the person in front of me.  I decided to try one last ride – Mystic Manor again, which was a very cool ride.

 
After I got off of Mystic Manor, though, it was obvious I just could not keep going.  I was literally falling asleep on my feet.  I felt it was the heat and humidity.  I suppose it was possible it was a bit of jetlag, too, but I had felt fine jetlag-wise since the day before, so I’m not so sure about that.  Anyways, there was about an hour left until the meeting time for the fireworks, which I really wanted to see, but I just didn't think I could make it the way I was.  So I took myself to First Aid and asked if there was somewhere I could lay down & take a nap for about an hour.  They took me to a cool, quiet room, where, of course, several doctors showed up, and one of them examined me, I’m sure to make sure it wasn’t heat stroke or something.  Luckily it wasn’t, and they just left me in the room to nap peacefully.  I set the alarm on my phone, and then, just to be sure, called CG and asked her to call me in time to make it to the fireworks (fortunately, First Aid was very close to the meeting point for the fireworks, which was the hub in front of the castle).  I managed to get in a nice nap, which REALLY helped, and then was woken up by CG’s text.  I got up, thanked everyone at First Aid, and headed out to our fabulous meeting point.

I had to work my way through quite a bit of crowd to get to our roped off area, but fortunately they had given us special wrist bands that identified us, and I just flashed that and one of the Cast Members raised up the rope for me to duck under.  The temperature was much more tolerable at that point, too, so we all enjoyed a wonderful view of the teeny-tiny castle and the beautiful fireworks display.



After that, we met up at the fountain just outside of the park.



We then headed out to our waiting motorcoach, and then back to the Peninsula to pack in preparation for our flight to Beijing tomorrow!



*Next:  Day 3 – Beijing or Bust!*


----------



## sayhello

Actually, I like the quality of the photos when uploaded directly to the DIS much better than those hosted on photobucket.  So photobucket can just stuff themselves.  "3rd party viewing" is the only thing I ever used that account for, so I'll be deleting it as soon as I get all my other photos re-hosted. 

Sayhello


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## tgeorge

I agree! It infuriates me when something that ised to be free all of a sudden costs a ridiculous amount! I get it, it costs money for them on their servers and it is a business with the intention to make money,but to ask $40 a month is a bit extreme. I would think you'd have more luck asking something a bit more reasonable and getting more people to use your service. 

Looks like you found a work around though and the pics do look great. Excited to read the rest


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## CaliforniaGirl09

$400 for something that used to be free? That is crazy! The pictures look great from the direct upload. So glad that worked out!


----------



## sayhello

Since I can only do 10 photos per post now, I'm going to post Day 3 here, and then will post Day 4 a little while from now.  There's no point in doubling up short (travel) days.

*Day 3 – Beijing or Bust!*

So today we left the Peninsula Hong Kong to head to Beijing!  I don’t think it was a particularly early morning.  As we all met up after breakfast to get ready to head out, CG mentioned something about her DD finding out that the really lovely carved soap container in the room actually was a gift/souvenir!  So I ran back to the registration desk, and they said yes, it was a gift, so they let me run back up to the room and grab mine.  It’s quite pretty!



The other thing I didn’t think to ask about was the little plastic ABD suitcase that accompanied the chocolates in my room.  BUT! But I discovered, when I looked through the Adventure Guides’ photos, that WHAT??  It was CHOCOLATE???  I thought it was cheap plastic!  It never occurred to me that it was, itself, chocolate!!  I don’t know if I’m happy or sad.  It’s not like I had a dearth of chocolate to eat, but if I’d wrapped it up & stuck it in my suitcase, chances are, it would not have survived for 11 days in my suitcase!  I wonder if anyone took theirs?  The staff probably would have laughed if I asked about taking it…



So we headed out to the Hong Kong Airport.  This was the only time for the internal flights that we had to check ourselves and our luggage in.  Even though Hong Kong is part of China, it’s still like a separate country in a lot of ways.  So it was full check-in with our passports.  (For the rest of the flights, “Tinkerbell”, assisted by Joe, would check us in -- we’d have to turn in our passports to him -- and we’d be handed our boarding passes and passports when we got to the airport.)

We finally found out what our Gate number was, and were given some time to shop & buy lunch before we had to meet up at the gate (which was “downstairs” from the shopping area).  I went to the Disney Store there, and bought a cute little Mickey keychain (with Mickey in a Chinese outfit) to put on my gel seat cushion so that it would not blend in with the seat, and I would remember to take it with me.



I then managed to find some food for lunch.  I then headed downstairs to the Gate.  Only it turned out, the Gate was not just “downstairs”!  The Gate was down the escalator, across the room, back up the escalator, onto a train, back up, etc, etc!  It was *MUCH* farther away than any of us thought it was.  I went from having plenty of time to panicking about just how long it was going to take me to get there.  Luckily, I got there in time, as did everyone else.

It was a relatively uneventful flight (they all were) and we arrived in Beijing!  Only once we *finally* got off our plane, after *endless* taxi-ing, we had to use outside steps to deplane, and then boarded a bus and were then driven half-way around the airport to the actual terminal where we were supposed to have deplaned.  And that bus was a real “welcome” to Beijing!  People just kept shoving their way on, and shoving their way on, until that bus was completely jam-packed.  I didn’t think they’d get the door closed!

I’m trying to remember, but I think think the flight had been delayed enough (plus all the time it took them to find a spot to unload us, then bus us to the correct terminal) that we went straight to Duck de Chine from the airport.  If I’m wrong, someone please correct me!  Duck de Chine specializes in Peking Duck.  For those of you not familiar with it, Peking duck is made from duck that has been seared in a fire so that the skin is carmelized, and it is sliced thin in a ceremonial fashion.  It is served with very thin pancakes that you put the duck, sliced leeks, cucumbers, radishes and sauce in, then roll up into a little duck burrito.







It was OK, but really not my thing.  After all the hype, I was expecting something absolutely luscious.  But the fact that it wasn't amazing didn't stop me from eating it!  After eating several little burritos, then they started bringing out more food!!  LOTS more food!  I thought the Peking Duck *was* the meal, but apparently, it was only the start!  And I don’t think I was the only person who thought that!  The food was all delicious, and of course you had to try everything, so we all left dinner that night thoroughly stuffed!

Then we headed to our hotel – the amazingly gorgeous Rosewood Beijing!

This hotel was just beautiful, and the rooms were spacious and inviting, and just wonderful.  I told the others, all they’d have to do was add a kitchen, and you could move into it as a lovely apartment!  I think it was pretty much everyone's favorite hotel of the trip.

The dressing area/walk-in closet:



Floor-to-ceiling windows with remote-controlled blinds.







I settled in, as we would be here for 3 nights, and then went to bed.

*Next up:  Day 4 - Beijing: Forbidden Magic.*


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## Chirple

The soap dish is absolutely beautiful, and that hotel room is gorgeous.  Your experience with the Hong Kong airport reminded me of my recent one in DFW.  I was thankful I left a decent window to get through its slow security and then to my gate.

Your bathroom story reminded me of what happened to my husband on our ABD.  He is a type II diabetic and needs to use the restroom frequently in the morning.  He took forever in using the public restroom at one of our stops, and I had to yell out that he wasn't on the bus yet as we were getting ready to leave.


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## CaliforniaGirl09

My recollection is that we went straight to the DDC restaurant. I think it was one of the places where our itinerary and the book didn't line up. Hope your soap box made it home safely--DD's broke


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## sayhello

Chirple said:


> The soap dish is absolutely beautiful, and that hotel room is gorgeous.  Your experience with the Hong Kong airport reminded me of my recent one in DFW.  I was thankful I left a decent window to get through its slow security and then to my gate.
> 
> Your bathroom story reminded me of what happened to my husband on our ABD.  He is a type II diabetic and needs to use the restroom frequently in the morning.  He took forever in using the public restroom at one of our stops, and I had to yell out that he wasn't on the bus yet as we were getting ready to leave.


Thanks.  I thought they were both pretty nice, also.  And I totally empathize with your hubby.  Type 2 diabetes is one of my health challenges, also.  I was traveling solo, and I guess it was just too early in the trip for anyone to notice I wasn't with the group.  And I don't think it was that long, anyways.  But all's well that ends well, I guess!  



CaliforniaGirl09 said:


> My recollection is that we went straight to the DDC restaurant. I think it was one of the places where our itinerary and the book didn't line up. Hope your soap box made it home safely--DD's broke


That was my recollection, too.  I think it was circumstances as much as anything.  But there was definitely no room for an "afternoon OYO in Beijing".  My soap box did make it home OK.  The photo was taken on my kitchen counter.  I'm so sorry to hear about DD's.    Is it beyond repair?

Sayhello


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## Sarabi's Cubs

Tobi - what sorts of other dishes did they bring out at Duck de Chine.  Were they dishes Americans think of as Chinese food or totally different?

Laurie


----------



## sayhello

Sarabi's Cubs said:


> Tobi - what sorts of other dishes did they bring out at Duck de Chine.  Were they dishes Americans think of as Chinese food or totally different?
> 
> Laurie


They were a lot of dishes Americans would think of as Chinese.  Although I seem to remember there were some different combinations.  But not a lot of breaded/fried things.  A lot of vegetables.  Most everything seemed to be sauteed in some way.  You can see several of the dishes in this photo.



Sayhello


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## CaliforniaGirl09

sayhello said:


> I'm so sorry to hear about DD's.    Is it beyond repair?
> 
> Sayhello



Yes, sadly. When we were packing to come home from Shanghai she noticed it, so it didn't even make it back across the Pacific. 

Laurie, I'll echo SayHello--some different and some familiar. That's pretty much how it was at every restaurant. Always something new to try if you were inclined, but plenty of old favorites as well. I loved all the different greens (dry cooked green beans and napa cabbage were always favorites) the pork buns/dumplings, friend rice, etc. but I really tried to taste everything that came in front of us. The kids did as well--definitely part of the experience.


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## Karen Stevan

acndis said:


> SayHello!
> 
> I am in Alaska right now and ABD Guide Robyn said to say, "Hi!"  We are both excited to hear more about your China experience!



I wonder if it's the same "Robyn" who led our ABD Alaska in July, 2011?  If so, tell her "hello" from Karen and Michael!!  She is fantastic (assuming this is the same person).


----------



## sayhello

Karen Stevan said:


> I wonder if it's the same "Robyn" who led our ABD Alaska in July, 2011?  If so, tell her "hello" from Karen and Michael!!  She is fantastic (assuming this is the same person).


I'm pretty sure it's her.    She's been doing the Alaska trip for a long time.  (Although I had her for the ABD Mediterranean Magic cruise add-on in 2010.)  She *is* fantastic!  Studied to be an animator!

Sayhello


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## DVC Darcy

I absolutely love ABD trip reports! All of the accommodations look absolutely beautiful


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## sayhello

DVC Darcy said:


> I absolutely love ABD trip reports! All of the accommodations look absolutely beautiful


Glad you're enjoying it!  

Sayhello


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## AquaDame

I'm really interested in this trip - thank you for doing a review! 

Seems like it really was sufficient time for HK DL which is surprising... it seemed like not nearly enough time but if crowds are so low...


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## acndis

Karen Stevan said:


> I wonder if it's the same "Robyn" who led our ABD Alaska in July, 2011?  If so, tell her "hello" from Karen and Michael!!  She is fantastic (assuming this is the same person).


Sorry!  Just got back from the trip last week and am behind in my Dis-ing!  Yes, I am sure it is the same Robyn.  She will likely be in Alaska all summer (unless she's called somewhere else last minute).  She's terrific.  She's also been a guide in China.  After our Alaska ABD, we are solidly on the ABD bandwagon and will likely do this trip Summer 2019.

Thanks for the report and comments.  I can't wait to hear more!


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## markmci

@sayhello, thanks for this - we're doing the trip later in the month.  Other than the welcome and farewell dinners any other times you'd want to be a little less casual?


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## sayhello

markmci said:


> @sayhello, thanks for this - we're doing the trip later in the month.  Other than the welcome and farewell dinners any other times you'd want to be a little less casual?


A lot of us dressed up a little bit for the dumpling dinner at Din Tai Fung followed by the ERA show.  The Guides took nice family & group shots on the stairs at the Penninsula that night before we went to dinner.

 

Some people dressed up a little for the face changing opera, too.  And LOTS of people wore outfits more than once!

Sayhello


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## Burgundy Rose

I'm loving this trip report! I don't have much else to say, I just wanted to tell you that I'm avidly following, reading, and feasting my eyes on the photos. Hong Kong DL is NOT high on my priority list (though I do want to visit every Disney park at some point) but Mystic Manor has always been a favourite of mine and I can't wait to ride it. If only it'd been in Tokyo instead (which is much much higher on the list!) I know you talked a little bit about it but what did you think of the park? And did you get to visit the Shanghai one at some point?


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## sayhello

Burgundy Rose said:


> I'm loving this trip report! I don't have much else to say, I just wanted to tell you that I'm avidly following, reading, and feasting my eyes on the photos. Hong Kong DL is NOT high on my priority list (though I do want to visit every Disney park at some point) but Mystic Manor has always been a favourite of mine and I can't wait to ride it. If only it'd been in Tokyo instead (which is much much higher on the list!) I know you talked a little bit about it but what did you think of the park? And did you get to visit the Shanghai one at some point?


Thanks!  I'm so glad you're enjoying following along!  The next part should be up today or tomorrow!  

I really can't comment too much about Hong Kong Disneyland, because it was so disgustingly hot & humid there, I just didn't enjoy it much.  It's SMALL.  Seriously small, and yet kind of difficult to get around.  That probably would get better with familiarity.  It does feel nicely Disney-ish, although the theme-ing is not as good as, say, Disneyland Paris.   It's definitely worth visiting (and Mystic Manor is great!) but I honestly have no desire to return there.  Again, you really have to take into account how much the weather colors my perceptions...  I don't ever go to DisneyWorld in the summer.  

And yes, we did go to Shanghai Disneyland at the end of the trip.  I'll have details on that eventually.  

Sayhello


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## grizbuzz

sayhello said:


> Thanks!  I'm so glad you're enjoying following along!  The next part should be up today or tomorrow!
> 
> I really can't comment too much about Hong Kong Disneyland, because it was so disgustingly hot & humid there, I just didn't enjoy it much.  It's SMALL.  Seriously small, and yet kind of difficult to get around.  That probably would get better with familiarity.  It does feel nicely Disney-ish, although the theme-ing is not as good as, say, Disneyland Paris.   It's definitely worth visiting (and Mystic Manor is great!) but I honestly have no desire to return there.  Again, you really have to take into account how much the weather colors my perceptions...  I don't ever go to DisneyWorld in the summer.
> 
> And yes, we did go to Shanghai Disneyland at the end of the trip.  I'll have details on that eventually.
> 
> Sayhello




Did you feel like the summer hurt your ability to enjoy the trip overall in all locations?  The only time we can go to China is the summer due to kids' schedules, and I just don't know if I'm up for the heat.  Interested to hear your take on that.


----------



## sayhello

grizbuzz said:


> Did you feel like the summer hurt your ability to enjoy the trip overall in all locations?  The only time we can go to China is the summer due to kids' schedules, and I just don't know if I'm up for the heat.  Interested to hear your take on that.


No, I didn't.  There were several other days that were quite warm, but I don't feel like that spoiled my enjoyment of those days.  The Guides had gotten us these little electric fans, and they really, really helped.  I wish I'd had one in Hong Kong!  I really think the only days it really was so bad that it hurt my enjoyment was that afternoon in Hong Kong Disneyland and the couple of hours we spent shopping for white elephant gifts in Yangshuo after the Li River cruise.  The cruise was fine, but that time in Yangshuo - melting!  It was warm enough that I (and most of the others) spent most our OYO time at the hotels, just cooling off, swimming, etc. 

I would say that most of the trip was no hotter than it was on my Danube River cruise last year.

Sayhello


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## grizbuzz

sayhello said:


> No, I didn't.  There were several other days that were quite warm, but I don't feel like that spoiled my enjoyment of those days.  The Guides had gotten us these little electric fans, and they really, really helped.  I wish I'd had one in Hong Kong!  I really think the only days it really was so bad that it hurt my enjoyment was that afternoon in Hong Kong Disneyland and the couple of hours we spent shopping for white elephant gifts in Yangshuo after the Li River cruise.  The cruise was fine, but that time in Yangshuo - melting!  It was warm enough that I (and most of the others) spent most our OYO time at the hotels, just cooling off, swimming, etc.
> 
> I would say that most of the trip was no hotter than it was on my Danube River cruise last year.
> 
> Sayhello



Good to know.  I had been assuming that a summer China trip = too hot, too crowded and too polluted.  But may be worth considering...

And no, I would never plan a trip to WDW in the summer.


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## sayhello

grizbuzz said:


> Good to know.  I had been assuming that a summer China trip = too hot, too crowded and too polluted.  But may be worth considering...
> 
> And no, I would never plan a trip to WDW in the summer.


It's certainly not my favorite weather - I'd've rather gone when it was cooler.  But it was not bad enough for me to wish I hadn't gone.  Now, I was there the beginning of June.  I cannot vouch for other times of the summer!    For me, I only noticed some issues from the pollution in Shanghai.

Sayhello


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## carpenta

O.K. Now I'm going to repeat myself ... GREAT PICTURES and really enjoying your trip report....THANKS!!!!


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## CAYrgem

A few more questions to all the experienced ones out there.....

How strict were they on the luggage weight restrictions?  I don't plan on packing a lot but wondered if bringing a luggage scale would be helpful.

Looks like we will get some rain when we are there.  Any suggestions for light weight umbrellas and raincoats?

I don't see any guidelines on tipping the local guides.  What is recommended?

We leave on Thursday so I may still have a few more questions.  

Thanks!!
Leah


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## sayhello

carpenta said:


> O.K. Now I'm going to repeat myself ... GREAT PICTURES and really enjoying your trip report....THANKS!!!!


Aw, thanks!    More really soon!!



CAYrgem said:


> A few more questions to all the experienced ones out there.....
> 
> How strict were they on the luggage weight restrictions?  I don't plan on packing a lot but wondered if bringing a luggage scale would be helpful.


Are you talking about the internal flights or the flights to/from China?  I found the flights to/from China, they were very strict on checked luggage, but no-one actually ever weighed my carryon or personal item.  On the internal flights, except for leaving Hong Kong, all of the luggage was checked in by our Chinese Adventure Guide and "tinkerbell", so it's hard to know if there were issues or not.  I didn't hear of any, but then, I'm always VERY careful about the weight of my checked bag.  It really would not hurt to bring a luggage scale.



> Looks like we will get some rain when we are there.  Any suggestions for light weight umbrellas and raincoats?


I got a light-weight rain jacket from LL Bean, but forgot it the one day it might have been useful (Chengdu).  I carried this umbrella, which worked very well, and fit in my travel purse. 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BPEEIYY/ref=twister_B00FQAHD2C?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1



> I don't see any guidelines on tipping the local guides.  What is recommended?


The local guides (ie, not the Adventure Guides) are tipped by ABD.  So no tips are necessary.  You can, of course, tip them if you want!



> We leave on Thursday so I may still have a few more questions.
> 
> Thanks!!
> Leah


Ask away!!  You're going to LOVE this trip!  I hope you have good weather!

Sayhello


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## Cousin Orville

sayhello said:


> [Peking duck] was OK, but really not my thing. After all the hype, I was expecting something absolutely luscious.



That might have been my fault    It wasn't culinary gift from the gods?  Kidding.  In fairness it does vary in quality.  I had it on my own at Huang Ting (the best), Made in China (ok) and at some lunch place on the way out of Beijing with ABD (not great).  But Duck De Chine is pretty famous, so I suspect you got a pretty good example.  Do you happen to remember if Country Kitchen had Peking Duck as well?  I have to get duck at least twice when I'm back especially if Duck de Chine doesn't live up to my high hopes.

Was flying into Beijing from HK chaotic?  I don't know if they consider that international or not.  When we flew into Beijing from the US, getting on the airport train was a crowded, free-for-all, chaotic mess.


----------



## sayhello

Cousin Orville said:


> That might have been my fault    It wasn't culinary gift from the gods?  Kidding.  In fairness it does vary in quality.  I had it on my own at Huang Ting (the best), Made in China (ok) and at some lunch place on the way out of Beijing with ABD (not great).  But Duck De Chine is pretty famous, so I suspect you got a pretty good example.  Do you happen to remember if Country Kitchen had Peking Duck as well?  I have to get duck at least twice when I'm back especially if Duck de Chine doesn't live up to my high hopes.
> 
> Was flying into Beijing from HK chaotic?  I don't know if they consider that international or not.  When we flew into Beijing from the US, getting on the airport train was a crowded, free-for-all, chaotic mess.


Sorry, I don't recall if Country Kitchen had Peking Duck, but I suspect not, as it specializes in noodle dishes.  Maybe someone else will remember.  I think different places have different sauces, and that was the part I disliked the most.  It really just might be me, as Duck de Chine is pretty famous for it's Peking Duck...

Flying into Beijing was very chaotic.  Once we landed, we taxi'd and circled the terminal for quite a long time.  I think they didn't have a place for us to dock.  We actually ended up deplaning on the tarmac, and having to be bused a LONG way to get to the terminal where we were supposed to be.  We didn't do the train; it was a bus, and a crowded, crowded crazy mass of people.  Flying *out* of Beijing was pretty sucky, too.  (I want to say we sat waiting our turn for like an hour and a half.  Which apparently is typical at the Beijing airport.)  They are building a newer, bigger airport, but I don't recall when it's supposed to open.

Sayhello


----------



## Cousin Orville

sayhello said:


> Sorry, I don't recall if Country Kitchen had Peking Duck, but I suspect not, as it specializes in noodle dishes.  Maybe someone else will remember.  I think different places have different sauces, and that was the part I disliked the most.  It really just might be me, as Duck de Chine is pretty famous for it's Peking Duck...
> 
> Flying into Beijing was very chaotic.  Once we landed, we taxi'd and circled the terminal for quite a long time.  I think they didn't have a place for us to dock.  We actually ended up deplaning on the tarmac, and having to be bused a LONG way to get to the terminal where we were supposed to be.  We didn't do the train; it was a bus, and a crowded, crowded crazy mass of people.  Flying *out* of Beijing was pretty sucky, too.  (I want to say we sat waiting our turn for like an hour and a half.  Which apparently is typical at the Beijing airport.)  They are building a newer, bigger airport, but I don't recall when it's supposed to open.
> 
> Sayhello



Yeah the sauce makes it or breaks it.

I think the new new airport opens next year, but it will be the biggest in the world.  We didn't have to be bussed but inside the airport it was nuts.


----------



## CAYrgem

sayhello said:


> Aw, thanks!    More really soon!!
> 
> Are you talking about the internal flights or the flights to/from China?  I found the flights to/from China, they were very strict on checked luggage, but no-one actually ever weighed my carryon or personal item.  On the internal flights, except for leaving Hong Kong, all of the luggage was checked in by our Chinese Adventure Guide and "tinkerbell", so it's hard to know if there were issues or not.  I didn't hear of any, but then, I'm always VERY careful about the weight of my checked bag.  It really would not hurt to bring a luggage scale.
> 
> I got a light-weight rain jacket from LL Bean, but forgot it the one day it might have been useful (Chengdu).  I carried this umbrella, which worked very well, and fit in my travel purse.
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BPEEIYY/ref=twister_B00FQAHD2C?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
> 
> The local guides (ie, not the Adventure Guides) are tipped by ABD.  So no tips are necessary.  You can, of course, tip them if you want!
> 
> Ask away!!  You're going to LOVE this trip!  I hope you have good weather!
> 
> Sayhello


Thanks


----------



## CAYrgem

Thank you, Sayhello!!


----------



## christannj

Dusty Atha,one of the ABD guides, posted on Facebook recently that the flights out of Beijing were canceled when the group was scheduled to leave and they had to spend an extra night at the Rosewood hotel and then needed to take a train the next morning to Shanghai.  Apparently the ABD guides had to arrange alternative travel, my guess is that they couldn't get another flight  in a timely manner.  He has not posted anything since the plan was announced so not sure how that all went.  The train was scheduled to take about 5 hours and was going to impact the time available in Shanghai.

Chris


----------



## Cousin Orville

christannj said:


> Dusty Atha,one of the ABD guides, posted on Facebook recently that the flights out of Beijing were canceled when the group was scheduled to leave and they had to spend an extra night at the Rosewood hotel and then needed to take a train the next morning to Shanghai.  Apparently the ABD guides had to arrange alternative travel, my guess is that they couldn't get another flight  in a timely manner.  He has not posted anything since the plan was announced so not sure how that all went.  The train was scheduled to take about 5 hours and was going to impact the time available in Shanghai.
> 
> Chris



Ah, painful... Those poor guides.


----------



## sayhello

christannj said:


> Dusty Atha,one of the ABD guides, posted on Facebook recently that the flights out of Beijing were canceled when the group was scheduled to leave and they had to spend an extra night at the Rosewood hotel and then needed to take a train the next morning to Shanghai.  Apparently the ABD guides had to arrange alternative travel, my guess is that they couldn't get another flight  in a timely manner.  He has not posted anything since the plan was announced so not sure how that all went.  The train was scheduled to take about 5 hours and was going to impact the time available in Shanghai.
> 
> Chris


This must have been the DVC special itinerary, which started July 6th, so probably would have been flying Beijing to Shanghai like on this past Saturday or Sunday.  Shanghai is not the next destination on the regular trip, Chengdu is.  The DVC trip is in Shanghai for like 5 days, so it's not as bad as on a regular China trip, but that's still got to be rough spending a day on the train that you were expecting to spend at Shanghai Disneyland.  Hopefully this was just an aberration!  But you know, this is why I travel ABD.  If you were dealing with this on your own, you could end up in Beijing for an extra 3 days, paying who knows how much for the Rosewood, and who knows how much for your alternative transportation.  ABD took care of this all.

And if they had to spend an extra night somewhere, the Rosewood is the place to do it.  I hope they all got reservations for the Country Kitchen...

And I hope they were nice to their poor Adventure Guides!!

Sayhello


----------



## RebelHawk

christannj said:


> Dusty Atha,one of the ABD guides, posted on Facebook recently that the flights out of Beijing were canceled when the group was scheduled to leave and they had to spend an extra night at the Rosewood hotel and then needed to take a train the next morning to Shanghai.  Apparently the ABD guides had to arrange alternative travel, my guess is that they couldn't get another flight  in a timely manner.  He has not posted anything since the plan was announced so not sure how that all went.  The train was scheduled to take about 5 hours and was going to impact the time available in Shanghai.
> 
> Chris



That certainly happens. On our Peru trip last year our in country return flight was canceled and before we even got to the airport that morning our guides already had everyone booked on a new flight. We were scattered around the plane but I suspect that couldn't be helped. This is one of the main reasons we are booking ABD for more exotic destinations. I would hate to have to deal with last minute travel arrangements on my own in more remote locations. Anywhere in the US or Europe would be a simple fix but not so much in some of areas.


----------



## Cousin Orville

sayhello said:


> This must have been the DVC special itinerary, which started July 6th, so probably would have been flying Beijing to Shanghai like on this past Saturday or Sunday.  Shanghai is not the next destination on the regular trip, Chengdu is.  The DVC trip is in Shanghai for like 5 days, so it's not as bad as on a regular China trip, but that's still got to be rough spending a day on the train that you were expecting to spend at Shanghai Disneyland.  Hopefully this was just an aberration!  But you know, this is why I travel ABD.  If you were dealing with this on your own, you could end up in Beijing for an extra 3 days, paying who knows how much for the Rosewood, and who knows how much for your alternative transportation.  ABD took care of this all.
> 
> And if they had to spend an extra night somewhere, the Rosewood is the place to do it.  I hope they all got reservations for the Country Kitchen...
> 
> And I hope they were nice to their poor Adventure Guides!!
> 
> Sayhello



I didn't even think about the unusual Beijing -> Shanghai flight.  That's the same itinerary as the DIS/Dreams ABD I'm going on in Oct.  HK -> Beijing -> Shanghai.  Hope that cancelled flight was a fluke.


----------



## CAYrgem

I've got one more luggage question. 

I like to travel light (says the girl with a couple of luggage questions!) and was planning on only bringing one carry on size bag for each of us and one briefcase size bag for our electronics.  Now I'm considering also checking a "carry on" size bag that would be empty except for maybe a backpack that we could use during the day. I want to bring this extra bag along in case we want to buy some things since our other bags will be very full since we are packing two weeks of clothes in carry on size bags. 

For the internal flights would all the carry on size bags be considered "checked" luggage?

Thanks!
Leah


----------



## sayhello

CAYrgem said:


> I've got one more luggage question.
> 
> I like to travel light (says the girl with a couple of luggage questions!) and was planning on only bringing one carry on size bag for each of us and one briefcase size bag for our electronics.  Now I'm considering also checking a "carry on" size bag that would be empty except for maybe a backpack that we could use during the day. I want to bring this extra bag along in case we want to buy some things since our other bags will be very full since we are packing two weeks of clothes in carry on size bags.
> 
> For the internal flights would all the carry on size bags be considered "checked" luggage?
> 
> Thanks!
> Leah


For the internal flights, I carried on my normal carry-on sized bag (which is a smaller International sized carry-on) and my rather large personal item (which fits under the seat in front of me).  I carried both of these onto all the planes (which was really only a pain when I had to carry them up/down tarmac staircases).  I had a separate checked bag that I sent with Joe & tinkerbell.  The day we had to have our bags out the night before (the Chengdu -> Xi'an -> Guilin day) I actually also carried on the duffle bag that ABD gives you.  It was a pain to shlep it all, but the airlines did not complain.

I'm not sure if this answers your question.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that everything was pretty much the same.  Carry-on/personal item in cabin, checked bag in the hold.

If that didn't answer your question, please let me know, and I'll try again!

PS, I travel much lighter than I used to, but not enough to not have a checked bag!

Sayhello


----------



## CAYrgem

Sayhello,

Yes, that absolutely answers my question.  Thank you SO much.  I was starting to panic that I had to rethink my packing strategy but I think we are all good. 

I want to try and squeeze a massage in during the trip.  I'm sure that is just wishful thinking.  Do you think I would be too exhausted to get a massage at the Rosewood Beijing after dinner on the second night there (the day of TS and Forbidden City)?  I may be just a little too aggressive with my planning.  My daughter and I travel a lot but this is the first "tour" type trip we have taken.  I usually do all the planning myself and I'm able to build in some "mommy spa time" in the schedule.  

Thank you again for all your help.  

Leah


----------



## sayhello

CAYrgem said:


> Sayhello,
> 
> Yes, that absolutely answers my question.  Thank you SO much.  I was starting to panic that I had to rethink my packing strategy but I think we are all good.
> 
> I want to try and squeeze a massage in during the trip.  I'm sure that is just wishful thinking.  Do you think I would be too exhausted to get a massage at the Rosewood Beijing after dinner on the second night there (the day of TS and Forbidden City)?  I may be just a little too aggressive with my planning.  My daughter and I travel a lot but this is the first "tour" type trip we have taken.  I usually do all the planning myself and I'm able to build in some "mommy spa time" in the schedule.
> 
> Thank you again for all your help.
> 
> Leah


That's hard to say.  I was pretty exhausted that evening, and just got a light dinner & went up to my room.  I felt much better/less exhausted the next night after the Great Wall.  And I *think* we got back to the Rosewood earlier that day than the Forbidden City day (I'll double-check times when I get home).  I did not manage any Spa appointments, but it sure would have been nice.  I'd find out how late the Spa is open, and go from there.  Dinner both nights at the Rosewood are on your own.

Sayhello


----------



## belle41379

Loving the report so far!  Is there anything you didn't pack that you wish you would have?


----------



## sayhello

*Day 4 – Beijing Forbidden Magic*

Today was our first full day in Beijing.  As I was getting ready, I opened the blinds to see the city view that I had from my room.  I was very surprised to see that at 7am, there really wasn’t that much traffic out there.  We did encounter more as we drove around the city.



Breakfast at the Rosewood was a dizzying array of food, many of which I just couldn’t even look at that early in the morning (regular dinner-type food, it seemed).  But don’t worry.  I was always able to find something that appealed to me, like yogurt and cereal and various breads.  And the fruit was always delicious, particularly the watermelon!  Oh My Goodness, was the watermelon good!  Juicy and sweet!

Our first stop of the day was at the Temple of Heaven.  It sits in a lovely Park.

Joe pointing out where we’d be going, and what we’d be seeing.  Because Joe was from Beijing, he served as our "local guide" there.  He was excellent, and really did a wonderful job telling us about the history we were seeing, and letting us know what it was like growing up and living in Beijing.  It was a really great thing!



As we walked through the park, you could see all sorts of folks, mostly seniors, working out in various ways (stretching, dancing) and playing games.



We walked through to one area, the Seven Meteorites, where the area behind it was, basically, a spouse marketplace.  Parents would set up with a flyer describing the child they were trying to marry off, and others would walk around, and if the child sounded promising, they’d stop, share photos, maybe setup a meeting, etc.  You weren’t supposed to take photos in there, but someone (not me!) did.



It was fascinating, although I obviously could not read any of the flyers!

Then we made it to what most people call the Temple of Heaven.  It’s actually the “Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests”.  Yes, if it looks familiar to you, this is the temple that inspired the China Pavilion at Epcot.  But this is the real one.  Really!  It was used by the Emperor to worship the god of Heaven and perform a ceremony to pray for a good Harvest.

Me and CG’s family at the Temple of Heaven.



Inside the Hall of Prayer








Continued in next post.


----------



## sayhello

Joe & Ralph explained to us that you could tell how important a person was who worked in a place by the number of beast figures on the corner of their roofs.  The more figures, the more important the occupant was.  This person was fairly important.   He has 5 beasts (you don’t count the dragon at the back, and the man riding a phoenix at the front).  The maximum is 9 beasts, which would be for the emperor.





After a bunch of photo-taking, we made our way across a large courtyard to the exit of the park.  There, I found out the hard way that not all big tourist spots would have Western toilets.  The bathroom at the exit only had squat toilets, so I finally had to break down & use one.  It wasn’t too horrible for a quick pee, but it did take me a while to figure it all out.

From the Temple of Heaven, we headed to lunch at a cute little place called Hua’s Restaurant, tucked back into the courtyard of a building off a covered alley.



As we were walking in, we saw that they were roasting sweet potatoes.  I was really looking forward to that, as they are one of my favorite foods.



We had an area to ourselves in the back that was really quite pretty.  The food was similar to what we’d had the night before; Peking duck and a humongous array of different Chinese dishes.  Plus the roasted sweet potatoes.  It was all quite good.



After a very pleasant lunch it was off to – Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City!  You could definitely feel the sun, but it wasn’t too bad, and definitely not as humid.  A lot of us had brought umbrellas today to keep the sun off, plus we’d gotten a pleasant surprise from Ralph & Joe – little battery-powered hand-held fans!  I think they felt bad for how badly we’d broiled in Hong Kong, and the fans were much appreciated!  We braved the very wide and busy street we had to cross to get to the Square.  There was a lot of metal fencing, so they forced you to cross and enter the square at specific points.  We then found ourselves in Tiananmen Square.  The place is *massive*.  Seriously massive.  We listened to Joe as he told us about the history of the area & about some of the politics surrounding it.  There are a few monuments strewn around the square and its perimeter, as well as Mao’s Mausoleum.  There were also a few guards standing at attention, here and there across the square.  It did not feel threatening, though.







Joe told us that the portrait of Chairman Mao that is hanging on the Tiananmen (“The Gate of Heavenly Peace” – yes, I looked that up) is replaced every year.  They have a competition to decide who will get the honor of painting this year’s portrait.  I have to admit, I’d never noticed a difference…

As we were making our way across the square towards the Tiananmen, the gateway that separates the Square from the Forbidden City (that and another *very* wide & busy street), music started to play, and fountains started to spray and dance.  We weren’t sure why, or what they were celebrating, but it was very interesting to see!



We took a very long pedestrian tunnel under the road, and then crossed through the Tiananmen, into the Forbidden City.

We saw some very regimented young soldiers drilling on a lawn area off to the side as we headed in towards the buildings of the Forbidden City.



Continued in next post.


----------



## sayhello

We did some walking around, and then had a quick bathroom/refreshment break.  CG’s daughter managed to stack a pretty good number of water bottles while we relaxed in their small coffee shop.

 

Joe showed us an area where we could see the “mortar” they used up close.  It was made of, if I remember correctly, sticky rice, lime and egg whites!  Pretty amazing to have lasted that long!

 

A stately lion.  We saw pairs of these lions all over china.  We were shown that you can tell this one is the male because he has his paw on a globe (the world).  The female has her paw playing with a cub.

 

Our private tour of the Forbidden City.

 

OK, it actually wasn’t a private tour of the Forbidden City, but it may as well have been.  It was freakishly empty!  Joe & Ralph were both flabbergasted.  They told us it was normally wall-to-wall people, and they had no explanation for why it was so empty.  It *was* the week that High School seniors took their exams to see if they can go to college or not, but neither of them thought that was enough to explain just how amazingly empty it was.  *NOT* that we were complaining, mind you, but it was startling!  I can tell you, we really loved it, and it made the experience just that much more enjoyable!

 

 

Nine beasts.  The Emperor’s rooms!

 

 

 

Continued in next post.


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## sayhello

The white pagoda in the background is in Beihai Park.  Ralph told us the significance of it, but, alas, I’ve forgotten.  Maybe CaliforniaGirl09 or Karen Stevan remember.

 

 

Part of the gardens.

 

 

I think this was like part of the Emperor’s concubines’ dormitories or something like that…

 

The “Exit” to the Forbidden City

 

The Moat.

 

We headed out and waited for a while for our bus to show up to take us back to the Rosewood.  Once we got back, it was the rest of the evening and dinner OYO.  Some people made reservations for the Country Kitchen restaurant at the Rosewood, some went to check the Night Markets.  I was pretty pooped and really not that hungry, so I went down to the little café in the lobby and had some Soup & Salad & some really delicious fries.  It just hit the spot.  



 

I headed up to the room after that, and pretty much chilled & caught up on things, and took a photo of Evening Beijing.  

 

I then went to bed pretty early, knowing the next day was going to be amazing – The Great Wall of China!!

*Up next:  Day 5 – Beijing Great Wall Glory. *


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## AquamarineSteph

OMG, this is such a brilliant tour report!  Your photos are wonderful!


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## sayhello

belle41379 said:


> Loving the report so far!  Is there anything you didn't pack that you wish you would have?


So glad you're enjoying it.  Boy, I'm going to have to think about your question.  I'm sure there was.  But there was actually more that I *did* pack that I really needn't have.



AquamarineSteph said:


> OMG, this is such a brilliant tour report!  Your photos are wonderful!


Aw, thanks!!  I'm glad you like it!  I enjoy both taking the photos and sharing them!  

Sayhello


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## Ian&Diane

Hi, really enjoying the trip report, fantastic photos and descriptions, if possible it's making me look forward to our Dis China ABD in October even more.
One question, can you remember roughly what time you finished lunch at Stanley Market, we are trying to see what time we have spare in the afternoon, as on our tour we are let loose
Thanks again
Ian&Diane


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## sayhello

Ian&Diane said:


> Hi, really enjoying the trip report, fantastic photos and descriptions, if possible it's making me look forward to our Dis China ABD in October even more.
> One question, can you remember roughly what time you finished lunch at Stanley Market, we are trying to see what time we have spare in the afternoon, as on our tour we are let loose
> Thanks again
> Ian&Diane


Thanks!  So glad you're enjoying it! 
We didn't have lunch at Stanley Market.  After Stanley Market, we headed to Victoria Peak on the other side of Hong Kong Island and spent a couple of hours up there, looking around & having lunch.  We were done at Stanley Market some time after 10:30am, and I believe we finished lunch around 1:30pm.

Sayhello


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## CaliforniaGirl09

Your memory is MUCH better than mine (or your notes, LOL), but I don't remember the significance of the little tower. Love reliving this wonderful trip through your photos. Such great memories. I'd totally forgotten about DD's water bottle tower. None of us thought she'd be able to do it, LOL.


----------



## sayhello

CaliforniaGirl09 said:


> Your memory is MUCH better than mine (or your notes, LOL), but I don't remember the significance of the little tower. Love reliving this wonderful trip through your photos. Such great memories. I'd totally forgotten about DD's water bottle tower. None of us thought she'd be able to do it, LOL.


  I guess it's a combo of good memory and thousands of photos.    I never, ever remember to take notes!  It would make things easier, but I just never think to do it!  And I was pretty impressed with DD's water bottle skill!   

Glad you're enjoying!  It's fun for me, too, reliving the trip as I write it, and really looking at all my photos to narrow them down.

Sayhello


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## Cousin Orville

I'm so glad they added the Temple of Heaven.  I really enjoyed seeing that especially with the Epcot connection.  That's fascinating about the marriage market.  I wonder how the parents decide who would make a good match.


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## sayhello

Cousin Orville said:


> I'm so glad they added the Temple of Heaven.  I really enjoyed seeing that especially with the Epcot connection.  That's fascinating about the marriage market.  I wonder how the parents decide who would make a good match.


It was really cool.  I'm glad it was included also.  I meant to ask, though.  Where is the 9 dragon screen in the Forbidden City?  I don't remember seeing it, and realized long after we'd left that we hadn't seen it.  Unless I was blind and everyone else did...

I have no idea with the marriage market how that works.  I guess the "resume" is a conversation starter for the parents, and they decide amongst themselves?   

Sayhello


----------



## Cousin Orville

sayhello said:


> It was really cool.  I'm glad it was included also.  I meant to ask, though.  Where is the 9 dragon screen in the Forbidden City?  I don't remember seeing it, and realized long after we'd left that we hadn't seen it.  Unless I was blind and everyone else did...
> 
> I have no idea with the marriage market how that works.  I guess the "resume" is a conversation starter for the parents, and they decide amongst themselves?
> 
> Sayhello




If you're in Tienamen looking at the Forbiddin City it's on the far right side probably 2/3 the way back.  I'm surprised they didn't point that out.  I do remember hearing from Jennae yrs ago that sometimes it's closed or not accessible for some reason.  There's also another 9 Dragon Screen in a Beihei Park.


----------



## sayhello

Cousin Orville said:


> If you're in Tienamen looking at the Forbiddin City it's on the far right side probably 2/3 the way back.  I'm surprised they didn't point that out.  I do remember hearing from Jennae yrs ago that sometimes it's closed or not accessible for some reason.  There's also another 9 Dragon Screen in a Beihei Park.


Maybe that was it, that it was closed.  Ah, well.    If that's the worst thing we missed...  !

Sayhello


----------



## sayhello

*Day 5 – Beijing – Great Wall Glory*

So I’m starting this day with an incident I totally forgot to mention, that happened on Day 4.  I’d actually woken up at a reasonable time, and was not only on time, I was running a bit early!  Which is pretty unheard of for me, and I should have suspected something would happen.  I went through my usual routine, then went to plug in my flat iron for my hair when *Whammo*!!  A *huge* spark flew out between the adaptor I’d already plugged in, and the plug for the flat iron.  Then everything went out.  The lights, the TV, the whole room went dead.  Yep.  At the very least, I’d blown a fuse.  My hair (obviously) was not done, I didn’t have any makeup on yet.  Yes, first world problems for a high-maintenance person!  Plus, that spark had kind of freaked me out!  So first I called Ralph to let him know what was going on, in case I was late (thank goodness I was running early!)  Then I called the front desk and let them know what had happened, and they said someone would be right up.

I went back into the bathroom, and the adapter and the wall plug were pretty charred.  Maintenance came up pretty quickly to check everything out, and flip the breaker back on (which happened to be in a locked cabinet in the dressing room/closet.)  Then, the management type who came up with them tried to explain to me that my flat iron needed to be dual voltage to work in China, because they had 220 voltage there.  I tried to explain to him that I knew that.  That the flat iron *was* dual voltage, and that I’d used it in for at least 2 previous European vacations and had just used it in Hong Kong for 3 days.  It took him a long time to believe me (I finally got out a magnifying glass and showed him the tiny lettering on the inside that showed that it worked in both 110 and 220v.)  He pulled out a new adapter from one of the night stands, and then tried the flat iron in another plug in the main room.  It worked just fine.  Hair crisis averted!  But I’ll tell you, once I started thinking about it, it was pretty scary!  I don’t know if the wall plug was bad, or the adapter was bad, or if maybe I’d tried to plug the flat iron in upside-down or what.  All I knew was, it didn’t work!  Anyways, I managed to get myself together, grab some breakfast, and make it out for our trip to the Temple of Heaven with another story to add to my tales!

Anyways, onwards to Day 5!  Today was one of the days I was really looking forward to:  The Great Wall of China!!

ABD goes to a section of the Great Wall called Mutianyu.  It’s a bit more remote & farther from Beijing, but that means it’s less crowded.  And we seemed to still be in our freakishly un-busy tourist time in Beijing.  (NOT that any of us were complaining!) So it really was remarkably uncrowded.  That really added to the enjoyment!





We were set free for a short period of time to shop the many vendors that lined the walkway leading up to the Wall.  We were to meet at the end of the walkway at the appointed time.  There were a lot of different vendors, selling a lot of touristy stuff.  I saw CaliforniaGirl09 and her DD at a stand where a man was carving your name in both English and Chinese onto the bottom of a soft stone stamp.  They were pretty cool, and had your Chinese Zodiac animal carved on the top.  They’d bartered a pretty good price, so I decided to join in on the transaction, and get one for myself.  But then the guy started to talk about us picking it up later in the day as it would take him a couple of hours to do.  We’d been told we weren’t returning this way, so told him we couldn’t do that, and started to walk away.  Suddenly, it would only take him 5 minutes.  They really did turn out very cool!



After we all met up, we headed up the hill to the gondolas.  It was a *really* steep walkway!  You can get a sense of the angle from this picture.  (I actually took this picture because I thought this scooter cover was pretty darn cute.  They were actually fairly common!)



This was our first view of the Great Wall as we headed from the walkway up to the gondolas.



After more of a workout than I’d expected, we got to the gondolas.  I guess getting up there could have been a LOT worse without the gondolas!!





The excitement was growing as we got peeks of the wall on our way up!



We arrived at a small plaza, with a commemoration stone, and a chance to steel yourself before the last steep stairway up to the Wall.  Ralph gave a short speech, told us where to stop once we got up there (for pics, of course!) and then set us loose!





*Continued in next post*


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## sayhello

And then there we were!  On the Great Wall of China!



It took a while for it to sink in.  I was at the Great Wall of China!  It’s hard to really grasp how big it is until you start walking, and just see it unfold before you.  The perspective changes as you walk and see just how far away the surrounding mountains actually are.  It was amazing!





Figures on the corners of the Guard towers.





One of my favorite shots of the Great Wall of China!





Some parts were really steep! 



There were also areas that had the opposite issue.  They were long flights of stairs that were maybe an inch deep, if that.  We called them the “invisible stairs”, and you had to be really careful walking down them!

We all were gathered together by Ralph & Joe for a bit of a talk (the mortar used on the wall was the same mixture of sticky rice, lime and egg whites used in the Forbidden City).  After a fun photo op, we were given a timeframe to meet back at this location, and then set free to explore the Great Wall of China.





*Continued in next post*


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## sayhello

Around each turn, and past each tower, the view changed.  It was really a gorgeous area, with sweeping views of the countryside.



The further out we got, our numbers did start to dwindle.  I think there were 5 of us who decided to do “one more tower”.  Karen Stevan & her son, one couple, and I.  Karen & her son had hit that last tower & turned back, as I came up on that last tower.

 





This is the point at which I tell folks that I went “one tower too far”.  As I turned around to head back to the meeting point, I apparently never saw a short flight of 2 “invisible stairs”!  They really lived up to our nickname.  I felt myself falling, and there was NOTHING to grab onto (the battlements at this part were higher than my head).  Someone, thankfully, a long time ago taught me that if you find yourself falling, just go with it, and roll.  So that’s what I did.  I ended up in a sitting position, with my legs out in front of me.  The wife of the couple from our group came running back to help me.  She apparently thought I was actually rolling down the wall, and was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get up!  I took a few minutes to take stock, and fortunately found that I wasn’t badly injured.  I’d scraped my right forearm near the elbow, and my left knee, but other than that, seemed OK. (Those were the contact points as I’d rolled).  I had had visions flash through my head of having to be air-lifted off the Great Wall of China!  It could have been so much worse.  A few scrapes & bumps I could live with!  (Although the scrape on my arm was a pretty serious scrape!  It took two weeks to heal, and my biggest worry was that with all the airports & planes, that it might get infected.  Luckily, with some helpful meds that Ralph had, and some large bandages, that totally didn’t happen, and it healed cleanly.  It did scar, but now I have another interesting story to tell…)



And yet, even despite my tumble, it was a fabulous, fabulous experience.







*Continued in next post*


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## sayhello

The Guides pointed us to a side “shortcut” back to the plaza area, where we were to meet up.  It was still pretty steep, but nothing compared to the way up.



Next was lunch at a place called the Old Schoolhouse.  It was nothing fancy, but it was pleasant and bright and the food, which we’d pre-ordered, was good.  There’s not a lot of choice in this area it seems, but I thought it was just fine.







On the way home, we had a “surprise”, where the motorcoach stopped and we ran up onto a bridge where we could see the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium, and get a photo of it, as well as family photos with it in the background.  There was this crazy building there, also.





The down side of this stop was that I really, really needed to pee, and thought we were almost to the hotel.  But NO!  We were running up stairs for pictures, and then still had some time until we were back to the hotel.  I pleaded with Joe, and while folks were still up there getting photos, he ran me around the corner to a hotel that let me use their bathroom.  Crisis averted!!  It’s a long drive back; they really need a potty stop in there somewhere!

Once back at the hotel, I was able to secure a reservation for the Country Kitchen restaurant at the Rosewood.  Several people (including CG) had eaten there the night before, and raved about it.  It did not disappoint!  I told the waitress I had no clue what to order, and she worked with me to figure out what sounded good to me.  I had the hand-cut noodles with an eggplant sauce, and a side of okra.  It was all delicious!!





The only sad part was, it was way too much food for me to eat, but I knew I wasn’t going to have the opportunity to eat it the next day before leaving Beijing.  It killed me to leave those leftovers behind!  I can highly recommend this restaurant!  Delicious food in a lovely setting!

After that, it was back to my room to pack, because the next day, we were heading to Chengdu after lunch, and had to have our bags out before we left for our morning activities in Beijing.

*Next up:  Day 6:  Beijing Pedi-cabin’ the Hutong & on to Chengdu!*


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## CaliforniaGirl09

So fun to relive these memories. I want to go back! Country kitchen was so good. DD teases us that if she goes to Beijing for a dig, she's going to eat there and send us taunting pictures lol. And I agree about the need to work a comfort stop in there on the way back from the wall--DD had to go so badly, too!  She went with Ralph well we were all taking pictures  to some secret location, which I guess you experience too! As always, fantastic pics!


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## sayhello

CaliforniaGirl09 said:


> So fun to relive these memories. I want to go back! Country kitchen was so good. DD teases us that if she goes to Beijing for a dig, she's going to eat there and send us taunting pictures lol. And I agree about the need to work a comfort stop in there on the way back from the wall--DD had to go so badly, too!  She went with Ralph well we were all taking pictures  to some secret location, which I guess you experience too! As always, fantastic pics!


Aw, thanks!    Glad you're enjoying my Report and my pics!    Be sure and share the taunting pics from Country Kitchen with me.  We can suffer together!  That's funny that I ran to Joe & DD ran to Ralph for a potty stop!  I guess they knew we were serious about needing to pee!

Sayhello


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## CaliKris

Your trip report is bringing back great memories of our trip to China, just a few weeks after yours.  It was such a surreal experience to actually be standing on the Great Wall.  I had to pinch myself several times and remind myself to savor every moment of the experience.  Glad you were okay after falling.  That had to be scary!  At least every time you see the scar on your arm you will be reminded of the Great Wall and your trip to China.


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## Jess_S

Your great wall pictures are amazing.  I love all the different perspectives. I am sorry you fell, but intrigued by your rolling technique. It sounds like it avoided what could have been a bad injury. It's going to be a lot of years before I make it to China, so I am really enjoying visiting vicariously through your report.


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## tink1970

Amazing photos! It looks like everyone was having such a good time. Worth the wait


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## sayhello

CaliKris said:


> Your trip report is bringing back great memories of our trip to China, just a few weeks after yours.  It was such a surreal experience to actually be standing on the Great Wall.  I had to pinch myself several times and remind myself to savor every moment of the experience.  Glad you were okay after falling.  That had to be scary!  At least every time you see the scar on your arm you will be reminded of the Great Wall and your trip to China.


That's a good word for it.  Surreal.  It really was.  Awe-inspiring, but you really have to stop and go "OMG, I'm *here*!  I'm on the Great Wall of China!"     The fall was scary.  In that split second where I felt myself falling, until I'd stopped & realized I was OK.  Your brain goes into hyper-drive and you imagine all sorts of things until you know what the situation is.  I don't remember who it was, but someone on the trip said "You just wanted to leave a little bit of yourself on the Great Wall."    But you're right.  I do think about China every time I see the scar!



Jess_S said:


> Your great wall pictures are amazing.  I love all the different perspectives. I am sorry you fell, but intrigued by your rolling technique. It sounds like it avoided what could have been a bad injury. It's going to be a lot of years before I make it to China, so I am really enjoying visiting vicariously through your report.


Thanks!  So glad you're enjoying the pictures!  The perspective really did change as I walked, and I just kept taking pics hoping at least one of them would show what it was like there.    I think a few of them together, do!   As for the rolling technique, I wish I could remember who taught me that move.  They've saved me from more than one bad injury!



tink1970 said:


> Amazing photos! It looks like everyone was having such a good time. Worth the wait


Thanks!  I think everyone did have a good time.  It was a great group, and great Guides, and a great itinerary!!  Couldn't have asked for more.  (Except maybe cooler weather in Hong Kong!   )

Sayhello


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## Rapunzellover

Omg, sayhello, your fall story reminds me of my Italy trip.  I climbed the leaning tower of pisa, the dome at st. Peter's, the dome at the Florence duomo, giotto's bell tower, the bell tower at the palazzo vecchio, and the clock tower and terrace of st. Mark's.  No trouble.  Everyone said before I left for Italy, "don't fall!"  I was so pleased I made all those treacherous climbs with no trouble.  Then, on my second to last day, in a Milan post day, I fell and chipped my tooth following the guide at the cathedral.  On flat ground.  Just tripped over a cord.

Fortunately it was no biggie.  But I feel your pain.


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## sayhello

Rapunzellover said:


> Omg, sayhello, your fall story reminds me of my Italy trip.  I climbed the leaning tower of pisa, the dome at st. Peter's, the dome at the Florence duomo, giotto's bell tower, the bell tower at the palazzo vecchio, and the clock tower and terrace of st. Mark's.  No trouble.  Everyone said before I left for Italy, "don't fall!"  I was so pleased I made all those treacherous climbs with no trouble.  Then, on my second to last day, in a Milan post day, I fell and chipped my tooth following the guide at the cathedral.  On flat ground.  Just tripped over a cord.
> 
> Fortunately it was no biggie.  But I feel your pain.


  Definitely sounds like something I'd do!!

Sayhello


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## Cousin Orville

Great pictures of the Wall!  I like the story of the guy carving your name into the stamp.   A couple of hours down to 5 min... classic!
Country Kitchen looks great.  We've got 1 month before our China ABD.  Getting excited.  It will be nice to see Hong Kong in the Fall.  The summer was indeed brutal.


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## sayhello

Cousin Orville said:


> Great pictures of the Wall!  I like the story of the guy carving your name into the stamp.   A couple of hours down to 5 min... classic!
> Country Kitchen looks great.  We've got 1 month before our China ABD.  Getting excited.  It will be nice to see Hong Kong in the Fall.  The summer was indeed brutal.


Thanks!    Glad you liked the pics!  It was hard not to laugh when the guy suddenly changed his tune!

I'm so interested to hear about you guys' trip.  And whether Hong Kong in the Fall is any better.  I've heard it's humid pretty much all the time.  

Sayhello


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## Cousin Orville

sayhello said:


> Thanks!    Glad you liked the pics!  It was hard not to laugh when the guy suddenly changed his tune!
> 
> I'm so interested to hear about you guys' trip.  And whether Hong Kong in the Fall is any better.  I've heard it's humid pretty much all the time.
> 
> Sayhello



Hopefully it will be a bit cooler.  Unfortunately today the high was still 96 (low 81).  That's hotter than Houston right now. Painful.  Still have one month to go.  Google says the average high in Oct is 82 (low 73) which I can deal with.  Fingers crossed!


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## sayhello

Cousin Orville said:


> Hopefully it will be a bit cooler.  Unfortunately today the high was still 96 (low 81).  That's hotter than Houston right now. Painful.  Still have one month to go.  Google says the average high in Oct is 82 (low 73) which I can deal with.  Fingers crossed!




I'll keep good thoughts for you guys!

Sayhello


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## calypso726

Just catching back up. Love the photos and the trip report! Makes me even more excited about doing this trip next year!


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## sayhello

calypso726 said:


> Just catching back up. Love the photos and the trip report! Makes me even more excited about doing this trip next year!


So glad you're enjoying my trip report & the pics!  You're going to love this ABD.  It's really something special! 

Sayhello


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## heaven2dc

What an amazing adventure!  I'm so glad you didn't get more injured than you did on those steps!  I've always wanted to visit Beijing and the Great Wall of China but don't think I'd have the stamina especially to climb those steps.  Your pics are amazing!


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## ILDisneyfan

Thanks for the great report!  I am scheduled for a trip next year, this makes me very happy I booked it!


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## sayhello

ILDisneyfan said:


> Thanks for the great report!  I am scheduled for a trip next year, this makes me very happy I booked it!


So glad you're enjoying my Report!  There should be another post up later today!  

You're going to love this trip!  It's really amazing.  Just be sure you're well rested heading into it!  

Sayhello


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## sayhello

*Day 6: Beijing Pedi-cabin’ the Hutong & on to Chengdu*

So today was an interesting mix, as we actually had activities all morning through lunch, and then were flying out to Chengdu after lunch.  It was nice, because it wasn’t a normal rush to the airport type of day.

Suitcases had to be out for pickup before breakfast.  Then, after breakfast, we headed out to the area of Beijing called the Hutong.  We were dropped off by our bus by a beautiful Gate, where we met a local Guide who was to help us navigate the morning’s activities.



We walked back to where seemingly hundreds of Pedi-cabs were sitting waiting for customers.  We were shepherded into Pedi-cabs in twos.



Once everyone was situated, and the requisite photos taken, off we went, on our way through the Hutong.



The Hutong in Central Beijing is made up of centuries-old homes set in small courtyards along narrow alleyways.  I have to admit that I had some big misconceptions about this.  From things I’d heard, I’d somehow imagined the Hutong to be slums, and that we’d be winding through narrow, bedraggled areas of the city.  It totally wasn’t true.  The areas are old, and the roadways in some parts *are* narrow, but it’s a beautiful, bustling and well-maintained area.  In fact, it’s going through some gentrification right now, and according to Joe, it’s one of the most expensive places to live in Beijing.





As we wound our way through the roadways of the Hutong, my amazement (and embarrassment) grew!  Some of the homes were downright opulent, and it was all quite pretty.  So much for pre-conceived notions!  (This is one of the things I love about traveling.  Having those notions knocked away!)





We finally stopped, walked a bit further, and ended up in the first home where we would be doing one of our crafts set up for the day.  But first, several of us needed a potty break.  It took us a bit to get the man who was guiding us to understand, but once we conveyed what was needed, a rather desperate group of us were led through the roadways to a central area, and the community bathroom.  Boy-oh-boy.  These folks must *really* get to know their neighbors well!  Because apparently the homes in the Hutong do not have their own bathrooms.  They all share a common bathroom for each little courtyard community.  The bathroom had squatty potties only, no doors, and walls about 3 feet high between each potty.  At this point, modesty went out the window, and we just took care of business.

When we got back to the home we’d been led to, we were split into two groups, and would rotate which activities we’d be doing.  My group found ourselves in a room with two large, round tables, with paper, ink and long brushes set out.



A very patient young lady, with the help of Ralph, showed us how to properly hold the brushes, and how to draw some Chinese characters.





*Continued in next post.*


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## sayhello

Some of the characters they taught us were the evolution of a word, I believe it was “Home”.  It was way difficult!  I’m sure after a while you get used to how to how much pressure to use, etc.  I don’t know that I did that well (I doubt what I wrote was actually what it was supposed to represent!)  But it was fun trying, and fun seeing who actually *did* have the knack of it!





When we finished with our calligraphy lesson, we gathered our sheets up, and went on to the next house.  There, we learned the art of paper cutting.  The first ones we did were not too hard, because the lines were drawn on the paper for us.







The next one, however, she just gave us step by step instructions, and we had to cut our figures out of a blank piece of paper!  That was definitely more of a challenge!





When we were done, we were given a very intricately cut paper design.



This was the woman who taught us paper cutting.  I’m assuming this was her dog?  But with the way the Hutongs are, it could have been a neighbor's dog, or a community dog, too.



Next up, was knot tying.  This one was way more complicated than I’d thought it would be.  It was hard to see what it was we were making.



*Continued in next post.*


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## sayhello

But then, suddenly, it took shape.  Pretty cool!



The fun part about all these activities, besides the fun of trying something new, and using your hands, was that the teachers told us things about their lives in Beijing, and in the Hutong, as they were teaching us their traditional crafts.  I really loved this morning’s activities!

After this, we walked to a Park, where we saw a woman giving haircuts out in the open.



For our last activity, the whole group was reunited in the park, and taught the Chinese yo-yo.  Man-oh-man, was that *HARD*!  Some people took right to it, but I barely managed to get it to even spin, let alone any tricks like throwing it in the air.




Honestly, just getting it to spin felt like *quite* the accomplishment to me!!





After we’d all had some time to practice with the yo-yo’s, and Ralph & Joe got a group shot, we turned in our yo-yo’s and walked around the corner to the restaurant where we were having our lunch, the Noble House Restaurant.  It was another pretty place, with a ton of very delicious dishes served family style.  You’d think by now that we’d all have learned to take it easy and only try a few dishes, but of course, we hadn’t, so most of us left totally stuffed, but happy!

During lunch, one of the women in the group decided to go back out to the park, and get her hair cut by the woman we had seen when we walked in.  She got a really cute haircut!  That woman really knew what she was doing.





After lunch, we walked past a lake and along a portion of the Grand Canal that cuts through Beijing, on the way to our motorcoach. 





We were then driven to the Beijing airport, to catch our flight to Chengdu!

*Continued in next post*


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## sayhello

Our experience at the Beijing airport was not great.  It was not any better flying out of there than it was arriving.  For me, it started out badly, because something about me or my personal item flagged as suspicious going through security, and the guy made me pull all sorts of things out of my bag so that he could look through them, and re-run my bag through the scanner.  Things like my makeup bag and my travel umbrella.  This was, unfortunately, a circumstance that only got worse as the trip progressed.  Once I *finally* made it through security, the airport itself was insane.  I don’t remember all of the issues we had, but recall it was not the best experience, especially as our flight ended up leaving an hour and a half late, and much of that time was spent sitting on the plane waiting for our turn to take off.  Apparently this is pretty typical for the Beijing airport.  It’s just too small for the amount of air traffic that goes through it.  They’re building a new, MUCH bigger airport; hopefully that will help once it opens.

I can’t recall if this was one of those days where we landed, and went straight to dinner or if we checked into the hotel first.  It was another nice meal with lots of yummy dishes served family style.  There were a lot of really nice vegetable dishes with this meal, plus an opportunity to try the Szechuan mouth-numbing pepper.  I didn’t try it, but apparently it’s not that it’s so hot it makes your mouth go numb, it just has some sort of numbing property.  It made for some entertainment watching people try it!



This was right outside the restaurant.



After dinner, we headed to our hotel in Chengdu, the Ritz Carlton Chengdu.  The hotel is way up on an office building.  I think it started on something like the 23rd floor.  The hotel had some spectacular views of Chengdu.



It was a very nice hotel room (although you know you’ve stayed in some fabulous hotels when you describe the Ritz Carlton as “very nice” or, in some cases, as “OK”!)






The “highlight” of these rooms was, believe it or not, the toilet.  When it sensed you entering the room, the lid raised and lights came on.  It was also heated.  It had all sorts of controls next to it for all the various functions it was capable of.  It was a novelty for about the first 15 minutes, but was more of an annoyance than anything, because I had to keep the door to its little enclosure closed or else it would do its thing whenever I entered or exited the bathroom.





The next day was another activity I was really looking forward to – PANDAS!!

*Next up:  Chengdu Panda-monium!*


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## Cousin Orville

I enjoyed riding along in the Hutongs.  The neighborhoods were very pretty.  I was awful at the arts and crafts activities, but we didn't have calligraphy.  Can't quite remember what we had instead, but I'm pretty sure whatever it was, I wasn't very good at it.


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## sayhello

Cousin Orville said:


> I enjoyed riding along in the Hutongs.  The neighborhoods were very pretty.  I was awful at the arts and crafts activities, but we didn't have calligraphy.  Can't quite remember what we had instead, but I'm pretty sure whatever it was, I wasn't very good at it.


I was really bad at the calligraphy!  The paper cutting and especially the knot tying were a lot more forgiving!!  

Sayhello


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## BluesTraveler

Love the report!!  Thank you.


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## sayhello

BluesTraveler said:


> Love the report!!  Thank you.


Thank you!  I'm so glad you're enjoying my report! 

Sayhello


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## CaliforniaGirl09

Thank you for bringing back all these fabulous memories. I was LOL'ing at the bathroom in the Hutong--I remember that VERY well. I couldn't believe how difficult the calligraphy was. I actually took calligraphy when I was young but none of those old skills came back  DS Special Needs was NOT a fan of the "magic" toilets at the Ritz, LOL, but I loved them. It is funny how we got the Ritz and were like "this if fine." So spoiled by the hotels on this trip!


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## sayhello

CaliforniaGirl09 said:


> Thank you for bringing back all these fabulous memories. I was LOL'ing at the bathroom in the Hutong--I remember that VERY well. I couldn't believe how difficult the calligraphy was. I actually took calligraphy when I was young but none of those old skills came back  DS Special Needs was NOT a fan of the "magic" toilets at the Ritz, LOL, but I loved them. It is funny how we got the Ritz and were like "this if fine." So spoiled by the hotels on this trip!


You are welcome!    Your calligraphy skills were better than mine, so there!  

I can just see your DS not appreciating the "magic" toilets!  I had enough problems with them myself.  And I agree with how spoiled we were by the hotels on this trip!  I have a feeling Iceland is going to be a rude awakening for me after China.  The rooms really aren't any cheaper than China -- but totally not the quality.  Supply and demand, and all!  I'm amazed how much more expensive Iceland is compared to when I went just 2 years ago...

Sayhello


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## Cousin Orville

sayhello said:


> You are welcome!    Your calligraphy skills were better than mine, so there!
> 
> I can just see your DS not appreciating the "magic" toilets!  I had enough problems with them myself.  And I agree with how spoiled we were by the hotels on this trip!  I have a feeling Iceland is going to be a rude awakening for me after China.  The rooms really aren't any cheaper than China -- but totally not the quality.  Supply and demand, and all!  I'm amazed how much more expensive Iceland is compared to when I went just 2 years ago...
> 
> Sayhello



I'm curious how you would rank the hotels in China.  I loved the Ritz, but I know it wasn't as loved by others. 
I would have ranked them Shanghai Peninsula, Chengdu Ritz, Guilin Shangri La, [Beijing Peninsula], and [Hong Kong Shangri La].  I was excited to hear they removed my 2 lowest (which were still ok) and added the Beijing Rosewood and HK Peninsula.  Yeah, Iceland may be a rude awakening.  At least the landscape will be spectacular.


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## sayhello

Cousin Orville said:


> I'm curious how you would rank the hotels in China.  I loved the Ritz, but I know it wasn't as loved by others.
> I would have ranked them Shanghai Peninsula, Chengdu Ritz, Guilin Shangri La, [Beijing Peninsula], and [Hong Kong Shangri La].  I was excited to hear they removed my 2 lowest (which were still ok) and added the Beijing Rosewood and HK Peninsula.  Yeah, Iceland may be a rude awakening.  At least the landscape will be spectacular.


The best (#1) was definitely the Beijing Rosewood.  Most everyone on our trip seemed to agree with that.  The rooms were just beautiful, as was the whole hotel, and the service was wonderful.  Next for me was the Hong Kong Peninsula (although I was not a fan of the iPad controls).  Shanghai Peninsula was #3.  Although it really should have been #2, I found the bedroom area to be worn & tired looking.  It really needed an update to bring it up to the standards of the rest of the Suite.  The rest of the Suite was spectacular, if a bit too spread out.  #4 was the Chengdu Ritz Carlton.  There was *nothing* wrong with it, and on any other trip, it would have been fabulous, but it was just a bit out-classed.  #5 was the Shangri-La Guilin.  The Shangri-La was actually a nice room, the best in Guilin, I'm sure, but it just wasn't up to the standards of the rest of the trip.    Again, on any other trip, it would have been great.

I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of the Beijing Rosewood.

And you are correct.  The landscape in Iceland is what you go for.    I'll survive "utilitarian" hotels!

Sayhello


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## CaliforniaGirl09

sayhello said:


> The best (#1) was definitely the Beijing Rosewood.  Most everyone on our trip seemed to agree with that.  The rooms were just beautiful, as was the whole hotel, and the service was wonderful.  Next for me was the Hong Kong Peninsula (although I was not a fan of the iPad controls).  Shanghai Peninsula was #3.  Although it really should have been #2, I found the bedroom area to be worn & tired looking.  It really needed an update to bring it up to the standards of the rest of the Suite.  The rest of the Suite was spectacular, if a bit too spread out.  #4 was the Chengdu Ritz Carlton.  There was *nothing* wrong with it, and on any other trip, it would have been fabulous, but it was just a bit out-classed.  #5 was the Shangri-La Guilin.  The Shangri-La was actually a nice room, the best in Guilin, I'm sure, but it just wasn't up to the standards of the rest of the trip.    Again, on any other trip, it would have been great.
> 
> I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of the Beijing Rosewood.
> 
> And you are correct.  The landscape in Iceland is what you go for.    I'll survive "utilitarian" hotels!
> 
> Sayhello


My rank is exactly the same! The first three were neck and neck for me, but there was just something about the rosewood that really hit it for me. Loved the HK Peninsula as well, and maybe it was because the the shanghai peninsula was oversold on the technology but I was disappointed with that aspect--I loved the iPads in the Hong Kong peninsula and though the shanghai was dated in comparison. I was also annoyed that we couldn't set our room to a specific temp at the shanghai. The service there was also a little on the pretentious edge of stuffy. The shangra la was just ok--the meh breakfast kind of killed it for me.


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## CaliKris

Our China ABD group rated the hotels differently.  We went with #1 Hong Kong Peninsula, #2 Shanghai Peninsula, #3 Rosewood Beijing, #4 Chengdu Ritz Carlton and #5 Shangri-La Guilin.  Maybe this speaks to the fact that the hotels are all really spectacular.  I think our group liked the service and locations of the two Peninsulas.  The rooms at the Rosewood were huge and amazing, but several of us had trouble getting coffee at breakfast and one older couple in our group encountered a rude concierge.  I think this may have affected the rating of the Rosewood.  Our guides felt they all had something special to offer:

HK Peninsula - best breakfast
Rosewood Beijing - best room
Chengdu Ritz - best toilet
Shangri-La Guilin - best view
Shanghai Peninsula - best bathroom

These hotels all are really fabulous and I am now forever spoiled!


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## sayhello

CaliKris said:


> Our China ABD group rated the hotels differently.  We went with #1 Hong Kong Peninsula, #2 Shanghai Peninsula, #3 Rosewood Beijing, #4 Chengdu Ritz Carlton and #5 Shangri-La Guilin.  Maybe this speaks to the fact that the hotels are all really spectacular.  I think our group liked the service and locations of the two Peninsulas.  The rooms at the Rosewood were huge and amazing, but several of us had trouble getting coffee at breakfast and one older couple in our group encountered a rude concierge.  I think this may have affected the rating of the Rosewood.  Our guides felt they all had something special to offer:
> 
> HK Peninsula - best breakfast
> Rosewood Beijing - best room
> Chengdu Ritz - best toilet
> Shangri-La Guilin - best view
> Shanghai Peninsula - best bathroom
> 
> These hotels all are really fabulous and I am now forever spoiled!


I can't comment on the breakfast at the HK Peninsula, because I was still dealing with stomach issues, and couldn't really appreciate what they had.    And I apparently got pretty ripped off in the view department at the Shangr-La Guilin.  Couldn't tell until I woke up, but my room overlooked the inner courtyard, and didn't have much of a view.  And yes, the bathroom at the Shanghai Peninsula was pretty impressive!  Just the bathtub alone was amazing!  Although, honestly, one of my favorite things about that hotel was the free VOIP calls to anywhere in the world!  I called my friend in Las Vegas, and we had a great chat!

I'm surprised and saddened by your experience at the Rosewood.  

I definitely agree that the hotels on the China trip are fantastic, and have really spoiled me!

Sayhello


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## CaliforniaGirl09

CaliKris said:


> Our China ABD group rated the hotels differently.  We went with #1 Hong Kong Peninsula, #2 Shanghai Peninsula, #3 Rosewood Beijing, #4 Chengdu Ritz Carlton and #5 Shangri-La Guilin.  Maybe this speaks to the fact that the hotels are all really spectacular.  I think our group liked the service and locations of the two Peninsulas.  The rooms at the Rosewood were huge and amazing, but several of us had trouble getting coffee at breakfast and one older couple in our group encountered a rude concierge.  I think this may have affected the rating of the Rosewood.  Our guides felt they all had something special to offer:
> 
> HK Peninsula - best breakfast
> Rosewood Beijing - best room
> Chengdu Ritz - best toilet
> Shangri-La Guilin - best view
> Shanghai Peninsula - best bathroom
> 
> These hotels all are really fabulous and I am now forever spoiled!



I agree completely. The fabulous hotels were a big part of what I loved so much about the trip. It really took the trip to another level for me (just like when the Balmoral was included in the Scotland itinerary). The HK, Shanghai and Rosewood in particular were all so outstanding that I can see any of them ending up as a top pick. I'm bummed to hear about the service issues at the Rosewood though. I loved my room there, but it was also the food that made it #1 for me. They had my favorite breakfast--the noodles were incredible--and the country kitchen might be my favorite hotel restaurant of all time


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## CaliKris

CaliforniaGirl09 said:


> I agree completely. The fabulous hotels were a big part of what I loved so much about the trip. It really took the trip to another level for me (just like when the Balmoral was included in the Scotland itinerary). The HK, Shanghai and Rosewood in particular were all so outstanding that I can see any of them ending up as a top pick. I'm bummed to hear about the service issues at the Rosewood though. I loved my room there, but it was also the food that made it #1 for me. They had my favorite breakfast--the noodles were incredible--and the country kitchen might be my favorite hotel restaurant of all time



The restaurants at the Rosewood were amazing!  We loved Country Kitchen and ate in the lobby one evening and were surprised by the quality of the sandwiches and delicious noodle soup.  Unfortunately, I had a bit of Mao's revenge after Country Kitchen but everyone else was fine so who knows.  Some of our group did not like the location of the Rosewood (being in a business district) and would have preferred the location of the Peninsula (which I understand is undergoing renovation).  Anyway, I think this is one of the reasons why it rated #3 with our group.


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## sayhello

*Day 7 – Chengdu Panda-monium*

This day, we woke up to rain.  It was not a heavy rain, in fact it was pretty light.  But it rained on & off for most of the day, so this was the one day that a rain jacket, or at least an umbrella, was totally necessary.  We had our local Guide for Chengdu with us.  I have to admit, I’ve forgotten his name.  Hopefully someone can remember his name!

We were met at the panda-shaped front gate of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding by a person from the Panda Center who was going to be our docent once we were inside.





After some discussion of logistics, we headed inside to start our tour.  Some folks who had not brought umbrellas got them from our docent.

There was a kind of funny moment once inside, because there was a statue of Kung-Fu Panda inside. The Guides didn’t take pictures there, well, because it’s not a Disney character.  Besides, there was a great, large bronze statue of a Mama panda cuddling her baby panda that was just beyond there.  The Guides got family shots there, getting the Moms who were there to wrap their arms around their “cubs” like the Mama panda was.  It was very sweet!





We walked past some of the buildings of the research center, and then made it to the habitat for the red pandas.  It had started raining again, so I have to admit, I didn’t get any really good pics of the red pandas.  But they’re very cute, although they look more like a red raccoon than a red panda.



We then made it to the outdoor enclosures where the pandas were.  There were several pandas, out in several different enclosures.  Happily, they didn’t seem to mind the rain at all, and were out having a good time, eating, laying around, and playing with each other.





Previously, folks were allowed, for a large fee, to have their photos taken holding a Panda.  This activity was not officially a part of the ABD, but was made available by the Panda Research center.  Unfortunately, they don't do that any more.  Apparently the pandas were catching human diseases, so they stopped the practice.  We had to content ourselves with seeing these adorable, fascinating creatures.  And that was more than enough!

We all had an amazing frenzy of picture-taking.  The pandas were most cooperative, mostly just totally ignoring the presence of the throngs of people and their cameras, and just chilling out.





This is actually one of the Guides’ photo, but I thought it was just so hilarious, how she was just lounging there, chowing down, and obviously enjoying herself.



*Continued in next post*


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## sayhello

The pandas seemed to really enjoy their time up in the trees.  It’s amazing that such a large animal seemed to have so little trouble both getting up into the trees, as well as hanging out there on what seemed to be relatively thin branches compared to them!



This was near the entrance to an area that had some indoor enclosures.  As we went to enter the building this young man came out with a ton of what I though was food, but it turned out to be just a portion of the leftovers from what the pandas had eaten that day!



The few pandas in this enclosure were just hanging out the same as the ones outside.  A few of us got to an area where there were some seats, and took advantage of the spot out of the rain & sat & waited for the rest of the group to catch up with us.  Suddenly, we heard a commotion from the area we had just gone through, and someone came and told us “Babies!”   We headed back to one of the enclosures that had previous been empty, and there was a baby panda, who was soon joined by its sibling!  We were told this was a special treat, because they were just 45 days old, and this was their first day outside of their incubators!  They were SO ADORABLE!!  I mean, *seriously* adorable!





We watched the babies for a while, and took turns up front by the glass so that everyone could get a good look at them, and take some photos.

As we were waiting for everyone to finish looking at the baby pandas, and congregate together again, CG’s family became celebrities.  They are all, especially Mr. CG, very tall, and it apparently was quite the novelty for some of the women there.  They were quite giddy getting a photo with CG’s family.



When we got back out, the rain had pretty much stopped.  It took a while to actually dry up, but at least we didn’t need our umbrellas any more.  Considering how crowded it was around the enclosures, people were really, overall, pretty considerate with their umbrellas.

More treed pandas.  They were really high up there.  Amazing!







After we had seen all the enclosures, we hit the gift shop, which had a nice selection of panda goodies.  I bought a small stuffed panda, and a small panda keychain to hang at work.

Outside the gift shop.





Once everyone was done shopping, we headed down to the bus to head to lunch.  On our way out, we gave a ride to a friend of Ralph’s and he passed out our pins to us.  He was a funny guy, and that’s all I’m going to say about that!

*Continued in next post.*


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## sayhello

Lunch was at a “Hot Pot” restaurant.  Every table had a heating element for each person embedded in the table top.  You choose what kind of broth base you want, heat it up, and then start cooking the array of vegetables and proteins placed on the lazy susan.  You could also build you own sauce from various ingredients to dip your food in.  It was pretty tasty, and did have the advantage of making you slow down in your eating.  It was a really yummy lunch.  I don’t remember there being anything *really* crazy on the menu…





After lunch, it was back to the hotel for some down time, dinner OYO, and getting ready for that evening’s event – The famed Szechwan Face Changing Opera.  I also packed up most of my stuff, because we actually had to have our suitcases out in the hall before heading to bed this night, since we had SUCH an early flight the next morning, heading to Xi’an.

I’d seen some different travel shows about the Face Changing Opera, and was really looking forward to it!   Our motorcoach took us to the opera house, and did some really crazy maneuvering to park in a parking lot that seemed way too small for such large buses!!

We walked across a square to get to the opera house, and passed some women in a dance class.



Ralph & Joe let us know about the traditional “Back Massages” and “Ear Picking”.  I’d seen Anthony Bourdain do this on his show, and thought it sounded intriguing.  So I signed up for both.  For a small fee, you go to a chair off to the side, and they give you a short massage, and if you want, clean out your ears.  They actually both felt really good!



The opera house has a stage and a seating area with very comfortable wicker chairs, and little tables where they serve you tea (some folks even ordered some munchies).



Ralph, Joe, and our Chengdu local guide.  I still don't remember his name!  Any help CG or Karen?  [Mystery solved!  @CaliKris remembered it was Kun!]



There was a bit of a gallery around the outside of the seating area, where they had some displays, and this place where you could have your photo taken in traditional costume & makeup.  Apparently this is a thing at the facing changing opera.  If we’d had time, I think this would have been a really cool thing to do!





Pretty amazing, aren't they?





*Continued in the next post.*


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## sayhello

Karen enjoying her ear cleaning!



The Face Changing Opera itself is sort of a variety show.  There was a singer who paraded around with much pageantry and acrobats.





The Master of Ceremony in a positively *gorgeous* dress!



I’m not sure what this stringed instrument is called, but he was very good.



This woman was an amazing puppeteer.



This woman did fascinating shadow figures.



This was sort of a Fred-and-Ethel kind of a sitcom skit, where, I believe, the wife catches the husband doing something he shouldn’t, and he ends up trying to prove his innocence by performing a bunch of acrobatic tricks.  It was cute, but it went on WAY TOO LONG.  I found myself nodding off towards the end of the skit, so I got up to walk around the perimeter of the seating area to try & wake up.



Unfortunately, as I made my way back to my seat, the Face Changing part of the show started (actually, the fast clothes changing), so I missed the beginning of that.  But I did see the Fire breathing and the Face changing part.



For the Face changing part, several performers wear masks, and as they wave their hands or their fans in front of their faces, the masks change seemingly instantaneously. It's really quite astounding, and fascinating to watch.  Unfortunately, a couple of the performers weren't quite as good as this guy was (he was phenomenal) and you could sort of see how they were doing it.  It was still very, very cool.



The *only* problem with this evening’s activity was that it was fairly late (hence the falling asleep) and we had a REALLY early morning the next day.  CG & her family decided to stay at the hotel and rest.  But I really wanted to see the Face Changing opera, and I’m glad I went.

Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel, I finished packing, except for what I’d need the next morning, and put my suitcases out in the hall.  Then it was off to bed for like a 5am call – tomorrow was our marathon day to Xi’an, and then on to Guilin.

*Next up:  Terra-ific Xi’an*


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## CaliforniaGirl09

I love reading along and reliving all these wonderful memories. I was bummed to miss the show but we all needed sleep desperately. It's fun to see what we missed though. Oh gosh, I can't remember his name either! I'm sure DD would but she's at Uni! I love that picture of my family with our new friends in the panda enclosure! You have to send that one to me. We are basically famous in China now . I may have to get my family t-shirts that day that for Christmas!


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## sayhello

CaliforniaGirl09 said:


> I love reading along and reliving all these wonderful memories. I was bummed to miss the show but we all needed sleep desperately. It's fun to see what we missed though. Oh gosh, I can't remember his name either! I'm sure DD would but she's at Uni! I love that picture of my family with our new friends in the panda enclosure! You have to send that one to me. We are basically famous in China now . I may have to get my family t-shirts that day that for Christmas!


CG, so glad you're enjoying the report!  It's fun for me, sifting through all my photos for the right ones.  I'm glad I went to the show, but I was very jealous of you for the sleep you got!  That next morning was *really* rough!  (Although, again, totally worth it!)  Check your email.    I've sent the photo of you and your fans!!

Sayhello


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## CaliKris

What a great report of a fabulous day!  I love reliving the memories of our ABD China trip.  I must say I am a bit jealous you got to see the baby pandas.  Our group did not.  We went to the face changing opera as well.  Several of the families with younger children skipped it or had one parent go with the older children.  We even had one little girl from our group get made up in the traditional make up and costume.  Although we were definitely sleep deprived the next day, I think it was worth it.  I found myself nodding off on every plane and bus ride the next day.  

Oh, and the local guide's name was Kun, pronounced coon (like ra-coon).  He was our youngest local guide and spoke excellent English.  We thought he had lived in the US, but he said he had learned English at the university.


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## sayhello

CaliKris said:


> What a great report of a fabulous day!  I love reliving the memories of our ABD China trip.  I must say I am a bit jealous you got to see the baby pandas.  Our group did not.  We went to the face changing opera as well.  Several of the families with younger children skipped it or had one parent go with the older children.  We even had one little girl from our group get made up in the traditional make up and costume.  Although we were definitely sleep deprived the next day, I think it was worth it.  I found myself nodding off on every plane and bus ride the next day.
> 
> Oh, and the local guide's name was Kun, pronounced coon (like ra-coon).  He was our youngest local guide and spoke excellent English.  We thought he had lived in the US, but he said he had learned English at the university.


Kun!  Yay, thanks!  I'm glad your memory is better than mine!  I keep meaning to write things like the local guides' names down, but I never remember to do it!   

We were really thrilled about seeing the babies!  It really was a rare treat.  

Thanks!
Sayhello


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## Cousin Orville

Sorry to hear sitting with the Pandas had to end, but I'm glad they're ultimately doing what's in the Pandas' best interest.  It was a crazy amount of money anyway.  I really enjoyed the day in Chengdu including the opera.  That was one of those activities I had no interest in before going on the ABD and it turned out to be great.


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## CaliforniaGirl09

sayhello said:


> CG, so glad you're enjoying the report!  It's fun for me, sifting through all my photos for the right ones.  I'm glad I went to the show, but I was very jealous of you for the sleep you got!  That next morning was *really* rough!  (Although, again, totally worth it!)  Check your email.    I've sent the photo of you and your fans!!
> 
> Sayhello


Got it! Thank you so much. That's a keeper! 



CaliKris said:


> Oh, and the local guide's name was Kun, pronounced coon (like ra-coon).  He was our youngest local guide and spoke excellent English.  We thought he had lived in the US, but he said he had learned English at the university.



Whoo hoo!! That's it. How could I have forgotten? He was wonderful--as were all the local guides.


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## sayhello

Cousin Orville said:


> Sorry to hear sitting with the Pandas had to end, but I'm glad they're ultimately doing what's in the Pandas' best interest.  It was a crazy amount of money anyway.  I really enjoyed the day in Chengdu including the opera.  That was one of those activities I had no interest in before going on the ABD and it turned out to be great.


Yes, it's probably better all around that they don't do the photos any more!  Best for the pandas, and best for our pocketbooks!  The opera was one of those cultural things I really enjoyed experiencing!  



CaliforniaGirl09 said:


> Got it! Thank you so much. That's a keeper!


You're welcome!  



CaliforniaGirl09 said:


> Whoo hoo!! That's it. How could I have forgotten? He was wonderful--as were all the local guides.


I've had a lot of great local guides on the ABD's I've done, but the local guides on the China ABD were consistently excellent, and some of the best I've had!

Sayhello


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## buteraa

Really great trip report!


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## sayhello

buteraa said:


> Really great trip report!


Thanks!   I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Sayhello


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## sayhello

*Day 8 – The long trek… Terra-ific Xi’an*

Today was a day I was both dreading and totally looking forward to.  I really wasn’t totally on board with taking this ABD until they added the terra cotta warriors to the itinerary.  Once they added that, (plus having read pxlbarrel & Cousin Orville’s trip reports) I was convinced I would do this trip someday.  It's long been a dream of mine to see the terra cotta warriors!!

But it’s a LONG day.  (*TOTALLY* worth it, but LONG).  Our luggage had to be out by 11:30pm the night before, and we had to be up and out *very* early in the morning.  I forget exactly what time it was, but it was *really* early.  The hotel packed us boxed breakfasts to have on the plane to Xi’an.  Things for me were a bit awkward, because I had my carry-on, my personal item, the boxed breakfast, and the ABD duffel bag with my memory foam pillow in it, since I hadn’t been able to pack the pillow in my checked bag as I normally did, since I needed it to sleep on.  It was a lot of stuff to schlep.

Once again, I had some issues going through security.  They pulled all sorts of ridiculous things out of my personal item again.  My glasses case.  My makeup bag.  I can’t even remember what all, because they made no sense whatsoever.  And each time they pulled something new out of my bag, they then took it back, and ran it through the machine, over and over again.  It seemed like I was there forever.

The last item kind of did me in.  I’d brought along some medical tape and a small pair of scissors to get someone to help me put some sort of bandaging on my arm before getting on the plane.  It’s awkward & very difficult to bandage your own right arm!  I’ve had no problems carrying these scissors before.  They’re very short (_well_ under the allowed 3 inches) and blunt ended.  In Hong Kong, and Beijing, they’d just taken them out and measured them, then let them through.  Well, these guys decided they didn’t like them at all, and took them.  I didn’t know how I was going to bandage my arm now.  I finally got cleared to go through after about the sixth or seventh round, and when I got out of security, and walked past Ralph, I just started to cry.  He was, of course, concerned, but I said “I’m just tired.  I’m really, really tired.”  Then I told him about my scissors being confiscated.  In the grand scheme of things, it really wasn’t that big a deal, but at 6 or 7 o’clock in the morning, it just seemed ridiculous.  I caught up with the rest of the group, then went to find a bathroom.  I *really* needed to pee.  I finally found the bathroom, and the *one* western toilet was out of order.  I didn’t know how far it was to any more bathrooms, so I ended up having to use the squat toilet.  I was tired, I had long pants on, my legs just ached and I just really lost it.  I figured things had to go up after this.  I want to reiterate here, I was *_really_* tired.  In retrospect, nothing that happened was that bad, but at the moment it happened, I just didn’t have a single ounce of resiliency left.  It all improved vastly as we got to Xi’an, I got lots of tea (blessed caffeine!) and the day’s activities actually began.  And as rough as the start of this day was, I would not have missed it for anything!!  (And KarenStevan gave me a tiny pair of travel scissors she had, so I was able to get my arm bandaged.  So it was all good in the end!  And Ralph and Joe also offered me a tiny pair of travel scissors, too!)

When we arrived in Xi’an, we were transported to the area where the terra cotta warriors are.  But first, we stopped in a Tea House.  We were sat around a few tables, and had a tea demonstration at each table.  We sampled several different types of teas, and watched as the demonstrators used traditional methods to brew the tea.  I really enjoyed this.  The teas were all delicious.



They also entertained us with figurines that changed color when the boiling water was poured over them.  I’m not sure if the original purpose was to show the water was still hot enough or what, but they were cool, and several of us purchased color-changing figurines in their zodiac character.  There was also the infamous “pee-pee boy”, who yes, peed when you poured water in him.



Here in Xi’an, we had our very fun, exuberant local guide, David.  He was quite the character, and very knowledgeable. He's the smiling guy in the red shirt.



While we were going through the tea demonstrations, one confusing thing occurred.  Our lunches were passed out to us.  It wasn’t really clear if we were meant to eat them then (still pretty early) or carry them with us through the terra cotta soldiers, to eat at some later specified time, or what.  We were told we’d have a meal later, after we’d seen the soldiers.  The lunch consisted of a pre-packaged sandwich we’d chosen earlier, a fruit cup, and muffins.  A lot of folks ate the fruit cup, and maybe the muffin while we sat there.  We were given grocery-type plastic bags to put them in.  (Honestly, I ate the fruit cup and the sandwich, but the muffin ended up getting thrown away).  It wasn’t a problem or anything, just odd.

We finally got ourselves together, and headed out to the part that was the highlight of the day – the terra cotta warriors.  David led us over to the entrance area where we would catch trams up to the dig site.  I got to hold the Paddle of Power to show folks where to congregate while David procured our tickets.



David just had the best smile!



We then hopped on the trams, and off we went!



Finally, it was time for what we’d all been waiting for – the terra cotta warriors!  We walked into the building that contained the main excavation pit, and I was totally amazed at how huge it was.  I just don’t think photos prepare you for the sheer scope and size of what you see.  And this is only a small portion of the number of soldiers that were buried at the site.  Way more are yet to be unearthed!



They quickly maneuvered us so that they were able to get family shots in front of the massive pit – it was quite a feat!



David gave us an excellent history of the era and the emperor and the finding and excavation and repair of the soldiers as we walked the perimeter of the pit, and it was all just amazing and awe-inspiring.  The sheer number and age of these soldiers is mind-boggling.





The building covering the main excavation pit (Pit 1) looked HUMONGOUS from the entrance.  And as you walked along the side from front to back, you realized it was even more huge than it seemed from the end.  Rows upon rows upon rows of these amazing sculptures, then rows upon rows of areas yet to be excavated, then rows upon rows of figures in various states of repair.  And this was only one pit.  There were others, too!  I’ve read that there are estimated to be 6000 warriors just in Pit 1, of which only 2000 have been excavated so far!  One reason for that is that they realized that the figures had still had paint on them when they were unearthed, but it very quickly faded away.  So they have halted excavation until they figure out how to preserve the paint.  You *can* still see traces of colors on some of the figures.

This video doesn’t even vaguely convey the vastness of this place!






*Continued in next post.*


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## sayhello

Each warrior is unique, with different hair, faces, uniforms, etc.  Amazing considering how many of them there are!



These guys must have been Guards of some sort.  The outer rim of what we could see was lined with these guys facing the wall for all eternity!





The condition of the pits and the figures as they are unearthed.







These pits, although unearthed, have not been dug into yet.



Here you can see a lot of the warriors in various stages of re-construction.  Apparently a lot of them were relatively intact.







*Continued in next post.*


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## sayhello

You can faintly see some traces of the painted colors here.



The group exiting the main building covering Pit 1.



We were then given some free time to visit the other areas of the museum site.  One of those areas was Pit 2, which also has tons of warriors that have been uncovered, but not excavated yet.



The very cool windows surrounding the buildings.



The building covering Pit 2 also had an area with 5 figures (in glass cases) that you could get up close to, and really see the detail of these amazing statues.

There was a horse soldier and his horse



A high-ranking officer



A middle-ranking officer



A standing archer



And a kneeling archer



It was really great being able to see them up close and from all sides, and really take in the great detail with which they had been made.  They were all very cool, but I think the kneeling archer and the high-ranking officer were my favorites.

*Continued in next post.*


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## sayhello

As I finished up walking around Pit 2, I met up with KarenStevan and her son, and we headed over to the exhibition building to see the bronze horses and chariots.  There were also bronze accessories, such as arrows and harnesses.  It was very cool.  I didn’t know about the bronze figures before this!








After that, we headed over to the building that housed the gift shop and a short film about the Warriors, and the discovery of the site.  The film runs in a continuous loop. It’s actually pretty interesting.  After seeing the entire film, I joined the others out in the gift shop.  I was hoping to get a jade statue of a warrior, but they only had figures that were way too large.  I ended up buying a much smaller brass version.

They had large-scale reproductions of the warriors and the horses that you could purchase for a small fortune!



After that, Ralph treated us to ice cream in the little cafeteria they had in the gift shop.  It was nice to sit and relax for a bit, and the ice cream was good!

Eventually, we headed back out of the building, and with Daniel in the lead, walked back down to the tea shop where we’d started the day.  I had one of my favorite moments on this walk, as we were walking away from the amazing experience we’d just had, CG’s son ambled up to me, and started a conversation about the cool things we’d just seen.  Just take my word for it that this was something special, and was a really nice topper to the day!

Once folks hit the restrooms at the tea shop, we headed back to our motorcoach, and off to the Xi’an airport for our flight to Guilin.

I’ve read in multiple reports that the meal this day has been a real struggle for everyone, including ABD.  Finding a clean place with decent food that didn’t take hours to feed everyone was apparently a challenge in Xi’an.  I think ABD has found a really good option.  We had an early breakfast, the bagged “lunch” or whatever you want to call it that we were given in the tea shop, and then, around 3:30pm-ish, we were taken to a lovely buffet restaurant in the Xi’an airport.  It was a large, very nice restaurant with a great selection of food.  I don’t know if they opened it just for us, or if it was so empty because it was the middle of the afternoon, but it worked wonderfully.  Folks could sit pretty much anywhere they wanted, either at their own tables, or a bunch at a larger table.  We could select anything we wanted, and the Guides made sure we got drinks.  It was pretty much the same typical dishes we’d seen so far, and nothing super fancy, but it was good food and I don’t think anyone left hungry.  It was a nice way to spend our time waiting, and a good meal.

Eventually, we headed off to our plane, and flew to our next stop, Guilin.  (You can see the Mickey that I bought to put on my gel seat cushion in this photo!)



Once we arrived in Guilin, we met our next local guide, Jenny.  We then had a bit of a walk to our motorcoach, and rather a long drive out to our hotel, the Shangri-La Guilin.  On the drive out, Jenny started giving us some history of the area, and it was really fascinating stuff.  I *tried* to stay awake, because I really wanted to hear what she had to say, but I did nod off from time to time.  As we got close to the hotel, you could vaguely see some of the “gumdrop” mountains in the dark.  It was quite the tease for what was to come!

When we arrived at the hotel, we were met by greeters in exquisite local costumes, and they presented us with these delicate cloth-covered “balls” that were beautifully embroidered.  They placed them around our necks, Hawaiian Lei-style.  According to Google, they’re called “Xiu Qiu” and were hand made by young girls who either gave them to their intended love, or threw them into a group of eligible boys, and the one who caught it was to be her love.  I was afraid mine would be squished during the remainder of our travels, but it arrived home in perfect condition!



After that, I headed to my room to unpack and then relax & go to bed.  As you can see, the Shangri La was a perfectly nice hotel, and I'm sure the nicest in Giulin, and the room on another trip would be great, but we all kind of admitted that after the hotels we’d stayed in so far, it was just a bit of a let-down.  Spoiled we were!









After I’d unpacked and settled in, it was off to bed.  It has been a LONG day, and I was really looking forward to the next day, and our cruise on the Li River amongst the Gumdrop Mountains!

*Up next:  Day 9 – Lijiang River Riders*


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## CaliforniaGirl09

sayhello said:


> Eventually, we headed back out of the building, and with Daniel in the lead, walked back down to the tea shop where we’d started the day.  I had one of my favorite moments on this walk, as we were walking away from the amazing experience we’d just had, CG’s son ambled up to me, and started a conversation about the cool things we’d just seen.  Just take my word for it that this was something special, and was a really nice topper to the day!
> 
> *Up next:  Day 9 – Lijiang River Riders*



I love re-reading this trip!!! Thanks so much for bringing back the awesome memories. That was a very long day, and I agree about the weird timing of the boxed lunch. I think I ate my muffin and the fruit and tossed the sandwich. And you know you have a lifelong member of the SayHello fan club in my son


----------



## sayhello

CaliforniaGirl09 said:


> I love re-reading this trip!!! Thanks so much for bringing back the awesome memories. That was a very long day, and I agree about the weird timing of the boxed lunch. I think I ate my muffin and the fruit and tossed the sandwich. And you know you have a lifelong member of the SayHello fan club in my son


  So glad you enjoyed!  It's a real joy for me to bring back memories for you guys (and me!) and share our story with everyone else!  Give my love to your DS!    He and your whole family are definitely a big part of this trip for me! 

Sayhello


----------



## AlixaLock

Thank you for bringing back such fond memories of our amazing China trip just a couple weeks after yours!

Xi’an was such a special place, but because of the crazy pace of the day, I think that I didn’t fully appreciate the magnificence of it until we arrived home.  Now, when we reminisce about our trip, my 9-year-old daughter always recounts the “Amazing Race” day through Xi’an as one of her favorite and she remembers it in minute detail from the tea shop to the oppressive heat and everything in between!

I was also so glad to hear that you had Jenny as your local guide.  Our trip to Guillin was somewhat marred because of extensive flooding the days before we arrived.  However, Jenny (along with Kun in Chengdu) really enriched our trip and brought the experience to another level.  The personal stories she shared added tremendously to the experience of visiting China.  ABD really does an amazing job of finding quality local guides.


----------



## Cousin Orville

Lovely photos from China!  I’m looking forward to hearing how your Guilin day went.


----------



## Jasrhon

I am loving your trip report.  We are considering ABD China this summer and I am happy to hear that the heat didn’t ruin the trip for you.  I enjoyed reading your Danube trip report before we went in July 2017.


----------



## CaliforniaGirl09

Yay! Another installment. Totally forgot about that conversation with DS--so cute! So many great local guides on this trip. I love remembering them all.


----------



## sayhello

AlixaLock said:


> Thank you for bringing back such fond memories of our amazing China trip just a couple weeks after yours!
> 
> Xi’an was such a special place, but because of the crazy pace of the day, I think that I didn’t fully appreciate the magnificence of it until we arrived home.  Now, when we reminisce about our trip, my 9-year-old daughter always recounts the “Amazing Race” day through Xi’an as one of her favorite and she remembers it in minute detail from the tea shop to the oppressive heat and everything in between!
> 
> I was also so glad to hear that you had Jenny as your local guide.  Our trip to Guillin was somewhat marred because of extensive flooding the days before we arrived.  However, Jenny (along with Kun in Chengdu) really enriched our trip and brought the experience to another level.  The personal stories she shared added tremendously to the experience of visiting China.  ABD really does an amazing job of finding quality local guides.


I totally agree!  Jenny's personal stories of growing up in post-Chairman Mao China really changed my whole vision of today's China, and was simply fascinating!  I think she's the best local guide I've had on an ABD *EVER*, and I've had some amazing local guides!  



Cousin Orville said:


> Lovely photos from China!  I’m looking forward to hearing how your Guilin day went.


Thanks!  I'm hoping to have the Guilin day up soon!!



Jasrhon said:


> I am loving your trip report.  We are considering ABD China this summer and I am happy to gear that the heat didn’t ruin the trip for you.  I enjoyed reading your Danube trip report before we went in July 2017.


Thanks, so glad you're enjoying.  I was *not* a fan of the heat, but it definitely did not ruin the trip.  It's that fabulous of a trip!  I *highly* recommend ABD's China trip!  Truly amazing!



CaliforniaGirl09 said:


> Yay! Another installment. Totally forgot about that conversation with DS--so cute! So many great local guides on this trip. I love remembering them all.


 
The guides on this trip were uniformly spectacular!  I love remembering them, too.  As I said above, I still think Jenny was *the* best local guide I've had on an ABD!  Hopefully that day will be up soon!

Sayhello


----------



## CaliKris

sayhello said:


> I totally agree!  Jenny's personal stories of growing up in post-Chairman Mao China really changed my whole vision of today's China, and was simply fascinating!  I think she's the best local guide I've had on an ABD *EVER*, and I've had some amazing local guides!
> 
> Thanks!  I'm hoping to have the Guilin day up soon!!
> 
> Thanks, so glad you're enjoying.  I was *not* a fan of the heat, but it definitely did not ruin the trip.  It's that fabulous of a trip!  I *highly* recommend ABD's China trip!  Truly amazing!
> 
> 
> The guides on this trip were uniformly spectacular!  I love remembering them, too.  As I said above, I still think Jenny was *the* best local guide I've had on an ABD!  Hopefully that day will be up soon!
> 
> Sayhello



Good news!!  Our ABD China guide, Christian, just posted that Jenny will be an ABD China guide this year!  This is so well deserved.  She will be great!!


----------



## AlixaLock

CaliKris said:


> Good news!!  Our ABD China guide, Christian, just posted that Jenny will be an ABD China guide this year!  This is so well deserved.  She will be great!!


Just saw this on Christian's Facebook!  I was so excited... her stories were the most touching and enlightening and I'm so excited for her.  She will be amazing!


----------



## sayhello

CaliKris said:


> Good news!!  Our ABD China guide, Christian, just posted that Jenny will be an ABD China guide this year!  This is so well deserved.  She will be great!!


Oh that's fabulous!!  Thanks for letting me know!!    I saw photos of her at WDW with Adventure Guide Dusty.  She must have been out for training!  SO well deserved!!! 



AlixaLock said:


> Just saw this on Christian's Facebook!  I was so excited... her stories were the most touching and enlightening and I'm so excited for her.  She will be amazing!


Exactly!!  ABD made an excellent choice!

Sayhello


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## CaliforniaGirl09

sayhello said:


> Oh that's fabulous!!  Thanks for letting me know!!    I saw photos of her at WDW with Adventure Guide Dusty.  She must have been out for training!  SO well deserved!!!
> 
> Exactly!!  ABD made an excellent choice!
> 
> Sayhello


That is awesome awesome news!!! We loved her, and her stories were fantastic. So happy for her and for future ABD travelers.


----------



## sayhello

CaliforniaGirl09 said:


> That is awesome awesome news!!! We loved her, and her stories were fantastic. So happy for her and for future ABD travelers.


  I wonder if she'll still do the local guide piece for Guilin like Joe did for Beijing?  Talk about the best of both worlds!  

Sayhello


----------



## CaliforniaGirl09

sayhello said:


> I wonder if she'll still do the local guide piece for Guilin like Joe did for Beijing?  Talk about the best of both worlds!
> 
> Sayhello


That would be my guess! She is such a great add to the team. DD18 was just talking about how much she loved Jenny and recalling some of the stories she told about travel and prejudice (remember her parents with Japan?). Talk about resonating with a powerful message!


----------



## cynditech

Thank you for sharing your trip report!  It looks amazing.  We are in the process of booking a trip to China for next year, and your report has really been helpful to me!


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## happy wanderer

We have traveled to China twice (2005 and 2014)...it has been a joy reading your report and reminiscing. Can’t wait to read more!


----------



## Theta

We are heading to China on this trip in July.  Many people have made comments about the pollution in China, comments like, "Better bring your respirator." I am actually getting tired of having to defend my choice of vacation destinations.  So how was the pollution when you all went? 

Do you recommend any steps to help with breathing cleaner air?


----------



## sayhello

happy wanderer said:


> We have traveled to China twice (2005 and 2014)...it has been a joy reading your report and reminiscing. Can’t wait to read more!


I'm hoping to have the next day up soon.  Life has just gotten away from me.  



Theta said:


> We are heading to China on this trip in July.  Many people have made comments about the pollution in China, comments like, "Better bring your respirator." I am actually getting tired of having to defend my choice of vacation destinations.  So how was the pollution when you all went?
> 
> Do you recommend any steps to help with breathing cleaner air?


In general, I didn't have much problem with the air.  Our last day in Shanghai, I noticed my chest seemed a little tight, but that was it.  Now I was there the beginning of June.  But I hear the pollution is worst when it's cooler.

Sayhello


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## CaliKris

Theta said:


> We are heading to China on this trip in July.  Many people have made comments about the pollution in China, comments like, "Better bring your respirator." I am actually getting tired of having to defend my choice of vacation destinations.  So how was the pollution when you all went?
> 
> Do you recommend any steps to help with breathing cleaner air?


As @sayhello says, the air pollution in China is worse in winter.  Summer is the rainy season which helps clean the air, plus coal is burned in the winter.  We went on the ABD China trip in late June/early July last year.  The only place we encountered noticeable air pollution was Beijing.  It really didn't get to me until the last day there.  We did pack masks but did not use/need them at all.  Here is a link to the masks we purchased on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-Ma...eywords=cambridge+military+air+pollution+mask


----------



## Theta

THat is good to know about pollution in the winter being worse.

Thank you!


----------



## sayhello

Oi!  So here we go!  Next installment!  I got reminded today that I have other unfinished reports, and I *SO* want to finish this one *before* I go to Iceland!  Let's see if I can do it!

*Day 9 - Lijiang River Riders
*
So, today was another day that I had really been looking forward to, thanks to pxlbarrel and Cousin Orville’s Trip Reports.  Their photos of the mysterious Gumdrop Mountains along the Li River were just spectacular and intriguing!

The day started out a bit rainy and wet, but Jenny, our local Guide assured us that the Gumdrop Mountains looked much better in bad weather than in good.  

Breakfast was still the typical mix of breakfast foods and entrees I just couldn’t face.  This day, I actually found my normal cereal that I eat at home, so that was kind of nice.  The dragon fruit they had was spectacularly delicious.  Here’s the view I had during breakfast.  It wasn’t *too* hot, but the rain definitely made it humid!



After breakfast, we drove a bit of a distance to where we were to pick up our boat for our cruise down the Li River.  We unfortunately were missing a couple of people today, due to illness.

Boarding our boat.  We were not the only folks on this cruise, but we had a large area for our group.



It had stopped raining, but the clouds still looked ominous.  It *did* give the area a cool, mysterious look!



Inside the ship *was* air-conditioned, which made it nice, although for a period of time, the windows were all fogged up until things equalized a bit.

We were provided tea while on the cruise, but apparently the kitchen didn’t pass muster, because we had box lunches from the hotel that we had ordered ahead of time.  The box lunches were very good – sandwiches and fruit and chips and such, but some things, like the chips, had a very different sort of seasoning to them.  Some people liked it, some did not.  But there was enough in the boxes that I don’t think anyone went hungry.

Joe, me and Ralph, enjoying some tea.



Ralph and the amazing Jenny (who is now an ABD Adventure Guide!  SO well deserved!)



This part of the trip was a *VERY* welcome interlude from the overall pace of the trip.  We just floated down the beautiful river for around 3 ½ hours.  You could sit inside, or head outside or up to the roof, take photos, watch the river and people go by, listen to Jenny talk about what it was like to hike some of the Gumdrop mountains, listen to Ralph or Joe or Jenny tell us about the various areas we were passing, and take a kajillion photos.  It was quite peaceful and lovely, and a wonderful way to pass the morning.

The gorgeous Gumdrop Mountains definitely do look cool and mysterious shrouded in clouds and mist.



Occasionally we passed some horses and small buildings along the banks.





The mists did start to lift as we went along, although it hung on in the background for a while.





Continued in next post.


----------



## sayhello

This would be a cool place to vacation or live.



Waterfall!







Joe & Ralph bought some deep fried teeny-tiny crabs for us to try.  Most of them were smaller than this. They were actually pretty yummy, like chips.







Just so beautiful!!



Continued in next post.


----------



## sayhello

Our area of the boat.

 

 

The sun did finally come out, but unfortunately, the settings on my new camera accidentally got changed, and the sun didn’t really show.  The pictures are still cool.  But I do think it looks better cloudy!

 

Coming up on an area that is depicted in the picture on the 20 yuan bill.

 



The group in, literally, “the money shot”.

 

Continued in next post.


----------



## sayhello

This building is actually draped in green colored netting stuff to kind of make it blend in better.  I don’t think it worked...



Back inside the cabin



This little boy apparently was fascinated by me.  Whether it was my white hair or not, I’ll never know, but it was kind of fun playing peek-a-boo with him.





We eventually docked just outside the small town of Yangshuo.  We had to walk through a long, mercifully covered, market area to get from the dock to the town.  It was oppressively HOT here, and seriously humid.  We rode part of the way into town in these little trams.





The area we were dropped off in was a shopping area.  Here, we were to do the shopping for this evening’s activity – the White Elephant exchange.  Everyone was given a red tote bag and 20 Yuan.  You were to spend that 20 Yuan on a gift or gifts that you either thought people would like or that would be a good gag gift.  You could not spend more than the 20 yuan.  You then put the gift(s) into the red tote bag so that it would be anonymous.  I think we had about an hour and a half here to shop, and we were to return to our drop-off point to head back to the bus after that.



It was HOT.  I mean, seriously HOT.  Thank goodness I had my small umbrella with me, or I’d never have made it!  There *was* one point at which, however, I was SO wet with sweat, that I actually suddenly felt almost fine.  There *is* a reason we sweat!  That brief respite didn’t last nearly long enough.  The smart shops had fans or A/C.  You’d go in just to cool off!

I ended up buying some small things.  A fish keychain and a small figurine.  I also bought a beautiful, small glass bottle for myself which had a scene of the Gumdrop Mountains painted in ink on the inside.  The woman who was painting them painted my name, in both English and Chinese, on the inside, also.  It was fascinating watching her do it!

 

Continued in next post


----------



## sayhello

Finally, it was time to head up to the meeting point.  I passed CG & her kids on the way there.  Only we had a much more difficult time finding our way back than any of us had expected.  I’d even taken careful note of landmarks, and it didn’t help.  We finally *DID* manage to find our way back, but it was a bit crazy, considering the area wasn’t *that* big.  The streets just all kind of looked the same.

We headed back to the motorcoach, which was still in the process of being cooled down, but was still better than being outside.  And there was blessed water!!  (I’d taken some with me, but had gone through it fairly quickly).

We headed back to the hotel, with Jenny regaling us with more stories of her childhood in Guilin.

 



Here is one of the workers at the hotel in her gorgeous native costume.

 



The view from my room.  Not the best view, but still cool.

 

After cooling down and cleaning up, we all met outside in the pool area for our “BBQ Dinner”.  The food was OK – nothing special.  At least the weather was cooperative!

Afterwards, we headed to a conference room in the hotel for the White Elephant Gift Exchange.  It was good fun, with some hilarious gifts, and some serious stealing of gifts (poor CG!) and some fun demonstrations of some massagers on Ralph’s back!

 



I ended up with one of the massagers (the rolling-pin type one being used on Ralph’s back) but at this point, I *literally* had *NO* room in my suitcase to take it back with me (I was starting to consider what I could abandon when I headed home…).  I ended up swapping it with the father of the 2 young boys for a cool ink picture of Guilin.

Everyone with their loot.

 

We had an enjoyable performance by Ralph (no details here – it was fun!) and then it was time for the Junior Adventurer’s movie night.  Some of the Adults stuck around, but I was exhausted, and headed to bed.

Coming up the next morning – Day 10 - our transfer Day to Shanghai!


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## CaliforniaGirl09

Such great pics and awesome memories! I forgot about us getting a little lost. I missed the tiny crabs! Never saw those. The gumdrop mountains have been on my list since I saw the movie the painted veil. They were a highlight for me and hauntingly beautiful!


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## sayhello

CaliforniaGirl09 said:


> Such great pics and awesome memories! I forgot about us getting a little lost. I missed the tiny crabs! Never saw those. The gumdrop mountains have been on my list since I saw the movie the painted veil. They were a highlight for me and hauntingly beautiful!


Some people wouldn't go near the tiny crabs, but I really liked them!    And I'd never heard of the Gumdrop Mountains until I read pxlbarrel's trip report.  I think I'd seen images of them before, but never knew where or what they were.  So lovely, and a highlight for me, too!

Sayhello


----------



## Jasrhon

Yay, thanks for the additional posts.  I am actually reading this from The Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong.  We just arrived last night after a 13 hour flight from Vancouver.  We were so exhausted we went right to bed before 8pm.  As a result, I have been up since 3am surfing the web and checking social media.  Our ABD officially starts in 3 days but we have a few pre-days in HK before it all starts.  Your trip report has been very much appreciated.


----------



## sayhello

Jasrhon said:


> Yay, thanks for the additional posts.  I am actually reading this from The Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong.  We just arrived last night after a 13 hour flight from Vancouver.  We were so exhausted we went right to bed before 8pm.  As a result, I have been up since 3am surfing the web and checking social media.  Our ABD officially starts in 3 days but we have a few pre-days in HK before it all starts.  Your trip report has been very much appreciated.


Yay!  So glad you're enjoying it!  Have an AMAZING time in China!!  But how could you not?  

Sayhello


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## starrzone

Your trip sounds amazing!! I am from Eastern Canada and had the privilege to travel to China back in 2006 with my friend who is an employee at a major airline; we went Beijing--> Xi'an--> Guilin--> Shanghai--> Hong Kong. My favorite memory from our stop in Guilin was our Li River cruise; I'll never forget the souvenir vendors who would come right up to our tour boat in their small wooden (canoes? I know that's not the right term!) to peddle their wares!


----------



## sayhello

starrzone said:


> Your trip sounds amazing!! I am from Eastern Canada and had the privilege to travel to China back in 2006 with my friend who is an employee at a major airline; we went Beijing--> Xi'an--> Guilin--> Shanghai--> Hong Kong. My favorite memory from our stop in Guilin was our Li River cruise; I'll never forget the souvenir vendors who would come right up to our tour boat in their small wooden (canoes? I know that's not the right term!) to peddle their wares!


Sounds like your trip covered similar ground to ours - just with Hong Kong last and no Chengdu.  China *was* amazing!  This trip was very special and very spectacular.  I consider it a real privilege to have taken this trip!

Sayhello


----------



## sayhello

*Day 10 – Shanghai à la Carte*

Today was another travel day, from Guilin to Shanghai.  We had a choice this morning, to participate in a Tai Chi Lesson, or sleep in and meet a bit later to head to the airport.

I really wanted to do the Tai Chi Lesson, but it didn’t happen for a few reasons.  First off – extra sleep = a good thing.  But more than that, the timing was just off.  I’d have to get up, shower, do the lesson, and then run back to the room to change, and fit breakfast in there at some point.  It was still *really* humid at that point.  If I could have done the lesson first, then headed back to my room to shower, then have some breakfast, I would have been more likely to participate.  But the timing was just off for me.  The folks who participated seemed to really enjoy it!  But honestly, it was just really nice at this point to have a bit of a sleep-in!

I *did* watch a bit of it from my room, while getting ready!



Guide's pic:



After breakfast, we headed out to our motorcoach, to head to the airport.  Our lovely Guide Jenny accompanied us to the airport, and told us some last stories.

I don’t really recall anything really out of the ordinary with this flight.  Maybe @CaliforniaGirl09 will remember.  Our flights rarely left on time.

Anyways, when we arrived in Shanghai, we were met by our next local guide, Flo.  She seemed to be a pretty modern woman, and very knowledgeable about Shanghai.  She led us through the airport to the Maglev station, where we were going to catch the Maglev High-Speed train into Shanghai.  It doesn’t really go that far, just from the airport into town, but it’s definitely a bit of an adventure, and quite the experience.  On this day, the train made it up to 300 k/h (186 mph).  Which isn’t even the top speed the train is capable of!  They curved the windows so that you couldn’t actually focus on the outside scenery.  Apparently, at that speed, watching the scenery go past would be too disorienting!









When we arrived in Shanghai, it was raining.  We had to wheel our carry-ons a bit of the way in the rain, so I, of course, stopped to pull my umbrella out of my carryon.  By the time we got to our motorcoach, it had pretty much let up, though.



That's Flo, with the black umbrella, in front of the motorcoach.



As we rode to the Shanghai Peninsula, we were given a bit of a run-down on how things were going to work once we were there.  Apparently there was going to be some sort of multi-media presentation to explain all the workings of the rooms to us!  This turned out not to be the case, though.  They brought us all up to this one magnificent room that had its own conference table, and we all signed the paperwork and got the keys to our rooms.  One of the workers led me to my room, and briefly showed me around it, but there was no presentation.  But that was OK, I think I figured most of it out!

This hotel room was really something else.  It really kept going on forever.  It had a long, winding hallway.



First off the hallway was the bathroom.  OMG, this bathroom was beyond gorgeous.  I honestly think I’ve had whole hotel rooms smaller than that bathroom was!



Continued in next post.


----------



## sayhello

Next came the dressing room.  Tons of closet space, and a dressing table with music, and a nail dryer and just all sorts of gadgets.





Then, on the way to the bedroom, was the dry bar, where the minibar, the booze, the water, the very fancy coffee maker, etc., were.



Then, finally, came the bedroom.  While it was nice, and large and comfortable, I have to admit, it was just a tad of a let-down compared to the rest of the room.  It was dated and rather worn (as if the rest of the room had been up-dated, but they hadn’t gotten around to the bedroom yet).  It was still very nice, but a bit in-congruous with the rest of the room.  NOT that I was complaining!  It was still an absolutely wonderful room!





The view of the Bund and Pudong from my bedroom.



Honestly, for one person, it felt almost *too* big.  Having to go back and forth from the bathroom to the dressing room to the bedroom to get ready kind of made it take me longer to get ready in the morning.  Which is, of course, exactly something that I *don’t* need!!

We had time to settle in to our rooms, and a time was set to meet in the lobby for family pics.  Most people had brought “nice” outfits to wear for this night, so the Guides took advantage of that to get some lovely family and group pics on the lobby stairs of the Peninsula.






Continued in next post


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## sayhello

After that, we headed out to our motorcoach to go to dinner at Din Tai Fung, a restaurant that specialized in soup dumplings.  This restaurant, which has a Michelin star, is a totally un-assuming little restaurant in a shopping mall!  It’s very ordinary looking.  But the food is far from ordinary!  I’d never had soup dumplings before, but, oh my! were they delicious!  When I heard “dumplings”, I imagined the heavy bread-like bao I’d had before.  These were *nothing* like bao!  They were delicate little pouches of soup-filled dough that you picked up with your chopsticks, put on a spoon then pierced to release the soup.  After drinking the soup, you ate the dough and the insides which were things like minced chicken and shrimp.  It was all quite delicious! 

 



The area where the dumplings were being made was behind glass, where you could watch.  If the workers saw you taking a photo, they’d all stop and pose.  It was pretty cute!

 

 

We then drove through considerable Shanghai traffic, to see the acrobatic show, ERA.

On our way there, we were all quite impressed by the Shanghai infrastructure, much of which, like the ultra-modern Pudong area across from the Bund, did not exist 20 years ago.  China is definitely investing in its infrastructure!

 

ERA is a Cirque du Soleil-like show of amazing acrobatics and performers.  But the venue is small and way more intimate than any Cirque show I’ve been to!  Loved it!!  They had trick bike riders, balance artists, hoop jumpers, a man who spun & balanced large porcelain vases, and many other spectacular acts.  We were running a bit late, but luckily managed to get there and in our seats before the show started!

 

 

I think everyone really enjoyed this show!

 

 

 

Continued in next post


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## sayhello

After the show, it was time to head back to our hotel.  It was really too late to check out the lit-up view of Pudong across from the Bund.  (Many of the lights were already being turned off).  I did manage to get this view from my room.



One of the cool things they had in the rooms at the Peninsula was unlimited free internet calling from the room phone to anywhere in the world!  So I took advantage of this to call a good friend in Las Vegas (the time difference worked out) and chat with her, across so far away, about the wonderful trip I was on.  It was really cool!

After that, I headed to bed to rest up for our next day in old Shanghai – and Shanghai Disneyland!

Oh!  I almost forgot to post these photos the Adventure Guides took of us with the Maglev train!  They moved the little rope stands so that we could get closer to the train for a better shot. 

 

Apparently the local authorities didn't think that was a good idea! 



The rest of the shots were taken with the rope in place, and from a nice, safe distance!!!

*Coming up next – Day 11 – Shanghai Noon and Night *


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## OhanaCuz

It's funny you mention Din Tai Fung because I've been meaning to check out one of their California locations!


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## sayhello

OhanaCuz said:


> It's funny you mention Din Tai Fung because I've been meaning to check out one of their California locations!


It was wonderful!  I wish we had them here!

Sayhello


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## CaliforniaGirl09

Yay!!! Love the next installment but I shouldnt have read it hungry! Now I’m craving soup dumplings! Thank you for not mentioning how my family pigged out, lol. I think the waiters were shocked at how much we were putting away. I can’t remember the flights but was that the one with the last minute changed gate?


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## sayhello

CaliforniaGirl09 said:


> Yay!!! Love the next installment but I shouldnt have read it hungry! Now I’m craving soup dumplings! Thank you for not mentioning how my family pigged out, lol. I think the waiters were shocked at how much we were putting away. I can’t remember the flights but was that the one with the last minute changed gate?


Believe me, you were NOT the only ones putting away tons of soup dumplings!  You could have rolled me out of that restaurant!  

That might have been the flight with the last minute change.  The internal flights were, in general, pretty crazy!  

Sayhello


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## Cousin Orville

Flo was one of my favorite of the step on guides in China.  We had her on both trips.  She even helped us with a restaurant reservation on the Bund.  I loved Shanghai.  Too bad ABD can't spend more time there.  I'll be interested to hear your experience in SDL.


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## sayhello

Cousin Orville said:


> Flo was one of my favorite of the step on guides in China.  We had her on both trips.  She even helped us with a restaurant reservation on the Bund.  I loved Shanghai.  Too bad ABD can't spend more time there.  I'll be interested to hear your experience in SDL.


Flo was excellent.  She took me and some others shopping in the government silk and jewelry shops in Chinatown, and was very helpful in navigating them.  I did enjoy her commentary about Shanghai and how it has progressed post-Chairman Mao, and also the very interesting history of the area near Din Tai Fung, which looks distinctly European, as does the Bund area.  I'm hoping to have our SDL day up soon, as I'm determined to finish this report *before* going to Iceland!!

Sayhello


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## ILDisneyfan

Loving the updates to the report!  I'm a little less than 2 weeks out from leaving, this is making me even more excited.


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## sayhello

ILDisneyfan said:


> Loving the updates to the report!  I'm a little less than 2 weeks out from leaving, this is making me even more excited.


Glad you're enjoying it!  You are going to *love* this trip!!

Sayhello


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## Jason Martin

Just read this report and it’s amazing.  I am looking at this trip for December 2022-January 2023 for myself my DW and 2 DD (would be 14 & 12). Have done two ABDs previously.   DW and I went to China on 2006 for our honeymoon but only saw Beijing, a little bit in Shanghai and the Terra Cotta museum.  We did it through Viking River which was nice but looking forward to the ABD difference.


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## sayhello

Jason Martin said:


> Just read this report and it’s amazing.  I am looking at this trip for December 2022-January 2023 for myself my DW and 2 DD (would be 14 & 12). Have done two ABDs previously.   DW and I went to China on 2006 for our honeymoon but only saw Beijing, a little bit in Shanghai and the Terra Cotta museum.  We did it through Viking River which was nice but looking forward to the ABD difference.


Wow!  Thank you.  I'm really glad you enjoyed my Trip Report!  It's so wonderful that people are back to planning travel again.

It's a spectacular trip!  China is fascinating, and this trip covers a wide spectrum of locations and activities.  I always warn people to be well-rested when they start this trip, because the internal flights can mean early and/or long days, but it's TOTALLY worth it!  Let me know if you have *any* questions!

Oh, man!  I didn't realize I'd never finished the last day of this Trip Report (or my post-day at SHDL).  I'm going to have to fix that!

Sayhello


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