Sunday, Jan. 30 – departure to Beijing, China. Or so we thought, until we arrived at the check-in counter to find out we actually needed VISAs to enter China as tourists…..had to turn our Excited butts around. Sigh!
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| VIPS @ Incheon w/ family :) |
Thankfully, we had amazing family in Incheon who took us in until our visas came through…. Even took us out as it was Michael’s birthday! We took this opportunity to do the tourist thing around Seoul, Korea too. Seoul rocks!!
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| Seoul, Korea |
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| trying to scare the guard at GyeongBok Palace @ Seoul, Korea muahaha |
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| Spirit Way @ Ming Tombs |
Tuesday, Feb. 1 – departure to Beijing, China II. We made it. Our driver arrived at the airport and took us to our hotel. He no speakee Engrish and we no speakee Chinese…..
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| Ming Tombs |
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| Great Wall of China....EEK!! |
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| Jade Carving Factory |
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| Chinese Tea Ceremony slurp slurp |
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| our cabin |
We were dropped off at a train station, where we would ride a train all night to Luoyang. And saw Fireworks from our room in the train…..pretty romantic. And gross….the beddings provided were deadly gross. Sigh!
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| bridge next to the Beijing Train Station (yeah, that huge thing on the right!) |
Luoyang was perfect in every sense. Except that part on Lunar New Years day where we were in our car for 5 hours and gave up to turn back, because apparently in China, most people (population 1 billion+) go to the Buddhist/Taoist Temples on the 1st or 15th of every month. Lunar New Year being the 1st of the month, 1st of the year – it was chaos. A 10 minute stretch of highway took us 5 hours and we still had to turn back……..Sigh!) soooo……
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| incense burning at White Horse Temple |
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| incense so big you can't see this man.... |
Thursday, Feb. 3 Luoyang, China <Happy Lunar New Year> – White Horse Temple, Shaolin Temple (not quite). White Horse Temple was the first Buddhist Temple in China (and Korea and Japan etc.). Experienced how the Chinese celebrated their Lunar New Years. Spectacular. Mind-boggling. It’s similar to that religious day back in the U.S. called Black Friday…. Just replace temples for Walmarts. Also while on the insane traffic jam going to the Shaolin Monastery, we hung out at the streets with other local Chinese waiting for our car to budge…..wasn’t so bad since we got to see how the Chinese folks in Luoyang didn’t get angry or had much road rage. They just went with the flow and chillaxed at the streets. And littered. Oh yes, it was incredible how in China, you could throw out(of your car) a BAG full of trash and it was no big deal. Even so, you should’ve heard my scream as it landed at my feet while I was taking a break enjoying the view of the traffic jam from the sidewalk…….Sigh!
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| traffic jam. and this will never be well received in the U.S. |
Friday, Feb. 4 – Second attempt at Shaolin Temple, Longman Grottos, & Chariot and Horse Pits. SHAOLIN TEMPLE!!!!! Oh how we love kung-fu. HAHAHA. Amazing temples. Mysterious monks. Such history!! We were absolutely soaking it up!
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| Pagoda Forest @ Shaolin Temple |
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| Shaolin Temple!! (& the imfamous toddler pants w/ built in split for convenience) |
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| Shaolin Temple Performance Hall :) |
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| Longman Grottos |
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| Longman Grottos |
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| Chariot & Horse Pit (770 B.C. ... that's like 3000 years old dudes) |
Saturday, Feb. 5 – Beijing, China: Summer Palace, Forbidden City, Tianenman Square, and Temple of Heaven. Chinese Medicine Consulting + foot & neck massage J, Beijing Duck Banquet Dinner, Pekin Opera Performance. Phew!
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| Forbidden City |
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| Temple of Heaven |
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| Peking Opera Performance |
Monday, Feb. 7 – Departure to Incheon, Korea II. Plane delayed for 3 hours. At this point, we were at the airport for 30 hours. Vowed NEVER to take China Southern Airlines again. They really were rude people…. Sigh!
Overall, we enjoyed all the unbelievable sites and adventures and experiences. But we were SO VERY glad to be back in Korea. And probably won’t be headed to China anytime soon…..maybe.
Although looking back, I’d do it all again…and wouldn’t change a thing. Ha!
Toodles,
- YJ
Thank you 민정언니!! For helping us get our visas and saving my atm card when the machine ate it….. Sigh! Shoo black cloud Shoo!
Looks like you guys had a blast! Love the pics!
ReplyDeleteChina was something else entirely! entirely different from any of our travels, but it is one of the most memorable :) Thanks for stopping by!
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