Cut short by illness………
Final destination in Asia for us, we were feeling all sorts of emotions. Wow! that came quick, we are going miss Asia, some of us were thinking thank goodness China is nearly at an end and one of us was thinking Yipee, next stop Harry Potter Studios (wonder who that was). Two years of planning Asia that seemed to have gone in a heartbeat. One
Now if you’re going to China to see the “little men” you have to go across the country to see some of the best bits of the Great Wall. However, like America, China is vast. The distance between Xi’an and Beijing is over 600 miles (1078K’s) so how is this easiest traveled we thought? Fly? Nah we decided let’s go by via high-speed train. The boys would enjoy it, the parents would enjoy the relaxation over navigating through and waiting at airports and Lara would love it, because fewer interruptions meant more reading time.
Arranging a flight is easy. The high-speed train, however, was a little harder. Firstly the one and only direct booking website
We found an agency website in English that for $6 a person booked our tickets and we were off. We had to pass through passport control (not sure how that was necessary) and we were in as much of a modern station that you will ever see. An hour later the platform was open for our train and being second in line we suddenly found ourselves in six, no seventh, no eighth. You know what I mean here. China has zero social graces, no one stands in line. We could not believe how folks were squeezing and shoving, it was the worst example we had ever seen. Well, when in Rome we thought, even Lara. Off we went, seventh, six, fifth and back to fourth, and not one person complained to our power shoves.
The train was awesome, super fast at over 300K’s (180mph) an hour, quiet, and ultra clean and comfortable. In the 4 1/2 hour trip we must have seen the cleaning lady cleaning the floor of the coach ten times. Coffee and snack trollies coming through every 15 minutes or so. British rail I thought could learn a thing or to here. Now the bad bits……..
At least two of our family of five were coming down with some sort of illness, high fever, drained of energy and obviously not wanting to do anything but sleep. Our five day trip to Beijing was going to be cut short by three days and even then the two days we did have the girls still felt ill. Ashton then decided he was going to catch a dose of it and ended up in hospital on the last day with 102+ temperature.
Before Ashton went down with illness and while the girls were sleeping on day two I decided to explore the local area and see if we could find a park. We did and as it was Sunday so did literally 1,000’s of locals.
Dancing away to Sunday blues 
Is this latino? 
Boys were excited to see a dragon flying around
Now the parks here are somewhere that the entire population of the city seems to go to. There is always a fee to get into a public park and no one seemed to care. The boys and I felt the atmosphere was exciting and with lots to see, we took off to find a playground.
We did and for another extortionate fee the boys could play in it. They were happy as, so therefore I was too.
Now, from our last blog about Xi’an’s park activity, Beijing was no different. The locals were really enjoying their free time. Dancing in traditional costumes, singing in groups, more Tai Chi, dragon kite flying and more. I was again admiring how the locals enjoyed their free time. This was complemented each night in the square by our hotel. Full of similar activity, all based around music. It was strange to see but equally calming and pleasing to see.
Now on the last two days, the girls were feeling better, not perfect but better. Ashton was not however looking good now, so we canceled our trip to the Great Wall and opted for a lower key trip to Tiananmen Square.
Those of you that are 30+ will remember the massacre here in 1989. Funnily enough, no one here under 30 knows anything about it. It is simply wiped off Chinese history and is not part of any local history lesson at school. I am guessing discussing a fart in a space suit is more popular than this topic in any Chinese home. It is a sad event that should always be remembered.
Other than to stand where once was one of the greatest massacres of a country on its own people, there was little else to see or do here. It was hot and crowded. We witnessed what would be called in London a changing of the guard. The guys were actually guarding the flag, apparently one of the highest honors ever given to servicemen. That made it kind of cool to see honor in its full glory.
The girls were not feeling great so we tiptoed out of the square to walk the 3 k’s home. Where were we going to grab a snack now we thought?
Well just around the corner we found a fashionable pedestrian zone with a Starbucks at the head of it all. We were happy to order and sit down to refreshments. The area was very artsy and we enjoyed the walk back.
Who says they are so sick???
Our last day we had booked a tour to the Great Wall. We had to leave it to the last day because of illness. The day came and Ashton was not good at all. We decided because of this and the fact that he had a long haul flight the next day he needed to see the Doctor. So we arranged for the tour driver to stop via the hospital and we would assess the situation after Ashton had been seen about going to the wall.
About 3 hours later and somewhat frustrated by the bureaucratic crap that she had gone through and money she had forked out for not a lot of help, Kristi emerged with a couple of things and a very tired looking Ashton.
We decided the two hour trip to the wall in his car seat would let him sleep, and all we would do was have a quick look and come back. He slept the entire way.
Now I had been lucky enough to see it before on a business trip to Beijing but to see it again was no less awe-inspiring. The wall goes for over 21,000,000 million
We were able to park close and thankfully saw a cable car that took us almost to the wall. The boys were strapped into their carry harnesses and off we went exploring. This section of the wall was beautifully preserved and well worth the fee to see it. It stretched for about 4k’s but the up and down contours following the hills around meant steep climbs. Even I was not up for too much of this so we captured our memories courtesy of Nikon and Apple and decided it was time to head home to pack and let Ashton sleep more.
Not before however trying out the current Chinese government’s addition to the wall, the awesome wall toboggan run, all the way down.
The ride back was painless and quick and we were glad to be back, tucked up in bed early ready for our final night in Asia.
I had mixed feelings about China. I didn’t like the feeling that everyone was watching me or I wasn’t allowed to be free using Safari but I did want us to stay a little bit longer to soak up some of that local culture that I found so fascinating. Oh well, be grateful for what we have done, not upset for what we have not. It was a great experience.
We did not take to many photos in Beijing because of illness but you are welcome to view the rest, click here.
SUPER BONUS. Next stop England!! and of course first stop in England is Watford for The Harry Potter Studio Tour so we had one excited girl on our hands.
So the next blog is going to be written by Lara herself on her experience, I didn’t get to attend as I was
A final bye bye from Asia……..
