Anniversary Date - Part One
Labels: Beijing, home life, out and about
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Nine years get you the following itinery on Anniversary Day at Cookalot: Climb walls and defy gravity until you (okay, me) vomit and almost pass out, wake the dead, visit sacrificial temples and tuck into a scrumptious teppanyaki meal at the end of the day.
We hired a private driver and started out at 8am. He was smartly dressed, polite and knowledgable, the car was spacious and plush. We were happy. Halfway to our first destination, I whipped out breakfast I prepared just before leaving. Assorted croissant filled cheese, nutella and marmalade; bananas, cereal bars and juices exchanged hands coupled with warnings gentle reminders to Sonny-boy pertaining crumbs.
So this is how the day went.
GREAT WALL OF CHINA
Words fail me. It was awe inspiring and grand and made me feel proud to be Chinese, if only ethnically. And they were not kidding about climbing it. You really do climb. Not walk, not stroll but honest to goodness climb. At some parts, the wall was so steep and the steps so high, I had to hang on to the railing or the steps itself for some leverage. I cringed at having to touch the steps (people were spitting left, right and center of me) but I was desperate. Better dirty hands than a sore rear end or worse, from tumbling down.
Dutchess Wutchess had a great fall,
All the Emperor's horses and all the Emperor's men,
Could not put Dutchess Wutchess' pride back together again.
Anyhow, I digress.
The Wall should come with a health warning. No, really. It should warn people who are medically unfit, elderly, have a fear of heights and motion sickness to think twice before attempting the climb. You get such a work-out on the lungs and legs.
We were almost at the end of our first leg to the second tower, when I suddenly felt dizzy. I put it down to the steep incline. So I stopped to center myself. I looked back. Big Mistake. I am not only the queen of motion sickness, I suffer from heights as well. I had no idea we were so high. I began to feel really sick and clung onto the Wall for dear life. My stomach churned and I began retching. I had my mouth covered and leaned over the Wall just in case breakfast wanted to make a re-appearance. Hubs and Sonny-boy who were way ahead of me, came back down and asked if I was okay. I got sick some more, which kind of answered the question. Then I felt faint and thought I was going to pass out. I took tiny sips of water and breathed deeply. Better. When I finally recovered, Hubs, in loving fashion wanted to know if for once we could visit any historical site without me vomitting all over it. He was alluding to Pompeii but hey, I was three months gone and had morning sickness. If a pregnant woman needs to hurl, she needs to hurl, 2000 years of historical value nothwithstanding.
We climbed up a couple more towers but I surrendered at the last two. It was much too high for the already high-strung me. I told Hubs and Sonny-boy I would meet them at a certain tower halfway down the bottom. Hubs was rather doubtful but I assured him I would be okay, now take my camera and get some pics from up there.
When they were done, we got off the wall and explored the surrounding areas. There were shops and stalls aplenty and we picked up a few items. We are after all tourists.
THE MING TOMBS
We made a pit stop for lunch here just before entering the grounds proper. We made it a simple and light affair bearing in mind what was in store for dinner that evening.
While the place was beautiful and serene, we didn't find it that captivating. The only sights of interest was the museum which housed relics from the enearthed tombs and going into Dingling Tomb, the underground palace of Emperor Wanli and his two Empresses, Xiao Duan and Xiao Jing. That was quite a sight. The ancient emperors knew how to live in style. They also knew how to go in similar fashion.
Sonny-boy (all excited): Really?! Where?! Where?!
Me: Here - sit on one of these stools and there's your elephant ride.
Sonny-boy wails: MUMMMMEEEEEE!!!!!
THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN
This is a must-see if you're ever in Beijing. It is just a 10 minute drive from the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. The Temple is where the Emperor would offer up sacrificies to Heaven to ensure a good harvest for the year. This is very important as you don't want millions of your loyal subjects starving. It would be bad for business. I'm just saying.
Travel blogging is not one of my forte so here are more photos to do the talking for me.
Well, take away my squeaky toy and super-size me! Everything in there was huge.
Dinner will be served shortly.
The Dutchess of Cookalot whipped this up at 10:25 pm
