Bali Hai!

So, I kind of thought that this was how you said hello in Balinese or something clever like that.  But as it turns out, the phrase has nothing to do with the real Bali.  Instead, it was the name of a fictional Polynesian island made up by Rodgers and Hammerstein and used in "South Pacific."  It is now the name of the local beer in Bali, Indonesia -- the gorgeous island where we were lucky to spend 8 days. Although part of Indonesia, the Balinese have their own language and follow Balinese Hinduism.  Margaret Mead and some other cultural anthropologists apparently headed to the island in droves in the 1930s and tourists descended also after the anthropologists described it as " "an enchanted land of aesthetes at peace with themselves and nature." The Balinese are known for their arts, including dancing, music and woodworking.  You can purchase a dazzling array of "tat" like t-shirts, sarongs, inexpensive jewelry, etc. in the markets, as well as some genuinely lovely artwork.

October 1 marked the beginning of the National Holidays in China aka Golden Week.  This date marks the founding of modern China.  It is also the time in which the entire country decides to visit the monuments and capital cities. Like, you know, Beijing perhaps. My language teacher recommended either leaving China completely or staying in our house. Apparently Beijing during Golden Week looks something like this. Since Chris had time off work and the kids were off school, we were happy to oblige.  For our first foray outside of China, we chose Bali.  It seemed like it would have the best combination of beachy fun and interesting opportunities for cultural exploration.  It also has some of the best weather this time of year when Thailand, Vietnam, etc. are firmly entrenched in their rainy seasons. 

Our journey started with a 9 hour flight that left at 2 am so I was a bit nervous about how the kids would do.  It was on a budget carrier where they didn't even serve food and there was NO in-flight entertainment.  Fortunately, they were too tired to protest much and slept much of the time on the way to Bali.  When we got to the island, security was tight and it took a loooong time to get through customs and immigration. We inadvertently planned our visit to Bali for the same time the Miss World finals happened on the island -- and right before the APEC convention, which is attended by numerous heads of state and important officials.  In fact, the airport was due to be closed for several days and we just missed getting caught up in the closings and stuck in Bali.  Gosh, that would have been heartbreaking;)

We actually spent most of our visit lounging around the beach and pools at our hotel. We agreed before we left that this would be a "chill" vacation versus an "explore" vacation. I will admit to getting a bit carried away in excitement when confronted with lots of things to see and do.  Hong Kong was really fun, but really exhausting so we were trying to move at a much slower pace in Bali. We did spend two days looking around the island so that gave us a bit more of the flavor of the place. I'd love to go back and stay inland away from the beach areas so that I can explore more of those parts of Bali.

Adventures in Driving

So, this was a big week for me.  I (finally) worked up the courage to drive solo from the Embassy back to my home in the suburbs 30-45 minutes outside the city.  And it was a success.  Which means I didn't hit any other cars or people or tuk-tuks or bicycles or scooters or motorbikes or any other permutations of the not-sure-what-they-are-but-they-definitely-aren't-cars that populate the roadways here.  I've "only" had my car since June (ha) so clearly some solo city driving was well overdue.  Chris has been doing this somewhat regularly since June so it was definitely time for me to do so. The good thing is that having done it once, I do think I can do it again.  And honestly, it wasn't as bad as I feared. I've been a passenger in a lot of cars at this point and driven enough solo around my neighborhood that I'm not completely shocked by the behavior on the roadways here. There don't appear to be many rules governing traffic flow here. There are, however, zillions of cameras watching you so you don't want to break any of the non-rules on camera because you WILL get a ticket.  Got that?  The main thing to remember is that your goal is to go from Point A to Point B without hitting anything or anyone. If you get that part down, everything else seems to fall into place.

My readers back home in America might wonder why on earth driving solo is a big deal. I mean, I've been driving (gulp) about 25 years.  That said, I've spent much of it driving my large, safe car around a fairly orderly city that I know really really well. I do have my large safe American Toyota minivan here, but the rest of the game has changed. China shockingly isn't the worst place I've ever driven -- Naples, Italy still holds that honor -- but it is definitely a tricky place to drive. Plus, I spoke enough Italian to manage the situation if I had ended up in any type of car accident in Naples. I was also a LOT younger and didn't have 3 kids in tow. Here in Beijing, while my Mandarin has improved a great deal, it remains very toddler-like. Knowing my numbers, colors and phrases like "where is the bathroom" or "I don't eat meat" is all well and good, but of little use if I end up involved in a traffic accident. And we have been warned that hitting another car or a pedestrian or a biker can result in a confrontation with an angry mob that might potentially encircle and trap you.  Gulp.  That scenario remains my biggest fear whenever I hop in the car and head into the city proper.

If you are curious, here is a clip of what Beijing traffic looks like.  Seriously.  Pretty much every intersection has folks desperately trying to cross the street in their conveyance of choice.  This clip is filmed from a pedestrian standpoint, which is absolutely terrifying.  It is also pretty terrifying to be in a vehicle since pedestrians and scooters and motorbikes come within inches of your car. Oh, and there is the fact that if you don't pretend like you are going to hit these people by inching into the intersection, you will never ever ever move.  You'll just sit there until you grow dusty and die.  Or something like that.  

Perilous driving aside, our car has been here for 3 months and I will tell you that driving is worth the trouble.  Since I was very young, my car has embodied freedom for me.  Freedom to leave a situation I don't like, freedom to get things I want, to go where I need to.  Freedom to get outside of the crowded city.  This remains the same here in Beijing.  I really feel a lot more settled with my car along since I can easily pick up the kids from school no matter what the weather is like or visit restaurants I like or bring home my own groceries. The best part -- although we still use shuttles and public transportation some -- I haven't been in a Beijing taxi cab in several months.  That, my friends, is something worth celebrating!

Hou Hai and the Hutongs

In today's post, we revisit old territory.  We have been to Hou Hai before, back in February when it was about 20 degrees and we had been here for 2 weeks.  Today, we had a high of around 90 and were able to take advantage of the boats and other types of summer fun available in the Back Lakes district of Beijing -- although we did not swim there as many Beijing residents apparently do!.  Hou Hai is the largest of the 3 man-made lakes in this region.  In the winter, you can go ice chair skating here while in the summer, the area is filled with teahouses, bars and cafes where you can sit al fresco and enjoy the lake breezes.  The area also has a large swatch of well-preserved hutongs, which are now filled with shops and even restaurants.  We had lunch at Hutong Pizza, a pizza joint that was indeed located in an old courtyard area.

Since it was a lovely day in Beijing with good air quality, there were tons of other people also enjoying Hou Hai.  Once we managed to park our monstrous beast of a car (always the most challenging part of any excursion), we had a very nice day here.  I highly recommend it for visitors to Beijing since, whether in winter or summer, there is plenty to do here.  Chris and I like to browse the many shops lining the hutongs, but the kids not so much.  There are several preserved Imperial Palaces in the area where you can get a sense of how the wealthy families lived in pre-communist China. You can also hire a bicycle here and tour the hutongs on bike. Chris and I have this on our agenda for a day when we do not have the kids along. Mostly because there are many, many other kinds of traffic -- including cars in places one might not expect them -- and I wouldn't feel good about every one's safety.  It was perilous enough walking through the streets.  We were all a bit twitchy as we listened for the honking of a horn or the almost-silent sound of an electric motor.  You can easily get pedicab rides of the hutongs here as well.  We chose a boat tour since it was high summer and we thought it would be cooler. We hired a boat that came with a pilot, but you can also pilot it yourself.  The crowded lake resembled a bumper car venue in some places since there were lots of inexperienced boat captains trying to squeeze through narrow channels. 

This chicken was right outside the pizza restaurant.  We didn't touch it;)

The Altar of the Fire God is a daoist temple located right by the lake

The boat provided this giant duck to lure us in....

Longqing Gorge: Nature, Chinese-style

In the past 2 weeks, temps have definitely warmed up in ye old Beijing.  They are definitely nowhere near Texas levels of heat, but it is pretty toasty.  We wanted to take the kids out for some nature, but preferably nature in the mountains outside the city where cooler temps prevail.  I have a fabulous new book called the Beijing Excursion Guide, which details day trips and weekend trips around the city.  It includes basic driving and travel directions, descriptions and pictures.  This is pretty indispensable since most travel guides about Beijing are written for tourists, not for folks who live here and can wander a bit farther afield. We chose Longqing Gorge for this excursion because it is relatively close to the city, has water and promised to be about 10 degrees cooler than the city itself.  Located in Yanqing County about 85 kilometers outside Beijing proper, Longqing Xia is known for its limestone karsts.  It is supposed to resemble the famous Three Gorges along the Yangtze river in the south.  I can't speak to that resemblance, but it was very beautiful.

The trip there was pretty uneventful as far as Chinese road trips go.  We brought along an extra child whose parents were crazy enough to say OK when we suggested we bring him along on a trip to possibly nowhere, but hopefully somewhere. Of course we didn't know exactly where we were going, but we had a decent idea and a GPS unit and there was a highway going most of the way there.  Along the route, we passed several relatively small sections of the Great Wall as well as the very famous -- and insanely crowded -- Badaling section.  It was thrilling to drive along the highway and then see the wall clinging to the tops of the mountains surrounding us.  We stopped at a building labeled "Beijing Tourist Information" to attempt to use the restroom -- fail since it was apparently not working or closed or something -- but we were encouraged to see pictures of the Longqing Gorge on brochures in the waiting area.  Encouraged because we did appear to be heading the right direction.  Using a combination of the brown road signs that identify cultural or historical attractions and our GPS, we did finally end up in the parking lot of Longqing Gorge.  Once there, things were a bit iffy since there were plenty of people, but no clearly identified entrance or place to purchase tickets for the attraction. Well, it was clearly identified in Chinese perhaps, but not English.  We wandered around a bit and attempted to ask at an information kiosk but they didn't speak English and we reach the limits of our Chinese quickly.  At this point, one of my children who shall remain nameless, got a bit irate and wondered loudly why on earth we go to these places without any type of advance planning. I pointed out that clearly I had planned enough to get us here, but that the details such as where you enter, how much it costs, etc. are just something you have to figure out as you go along.  After watching the crowd for a few minutes, we figured out that we needed to buy tickets for some battery cars that would then drive us to the entrance of the attraction.  That is, indeed, exactly what happened.  When in doubt, follow the throngs.

At the Gorge, you get on a giant escalator encased in a dragon.  This takes you to a boat where you cruise the river for 20 minutes or so.  It then stops and you get out to look around at some temples or do bungee jumping if you are extremely brave (i.e. foolhardy -- Hello, this in CHINA!).  We hiked a wee bit up the mountain, but my son's friend is clearly not used to the breakneck pace at which our family rolls.  After hiking for a few minutes, he suggested that he was tired and asked if we could call it a day. Of course NOT since we had just gotten there, but we did cut him some slack and stopped actively climbing up the mountain.  We didn't get to see the famed Illusion Pavilion, but we did purchase ice cream and shore up everyone's morale. We also took our first Chinese cave tour.  Caves in the United States are a very serious affair.  They put a lot of time and effort into preserving their natural state and the guides admonish you constantly not to touch any part of the cave. Um, not so much in China, where the entire cave had been turned into a giant diorama full of stuffed pandas, peacocks, cheetahs, tigers, elephants and winter cabins.  I think the theme was the 4 seasons.  Whatever it was, it was brilliantly hilarious and we all enjoyed it. Then, we all took a toboggan slide down the mountain and finally called it a day.

The Gorge really was beautiful and relatively uncrowded.  It was also very kid-pleasing.  I mean, who doesn't love boat rides, giant dragon escalators, trippy psychedelic caves and slides? I highly recommend this excursion for folks who want to see a bit more of the Beijing environs. I'm always stunned by just how scenic it is and how quickly it all turns pastoral when you get just outside the city.

Lovely temple in the park dating from the 11th century

Yes, this park included a petting zoo of sorts.  There was also a squirrel on a leash?!

How awesome is this Chinese tiger?

Psychedelic peacock!

Everybody in the boat had a parasol up to protect them from the sun.  They were quite pointy.

Awesome dragon escalator.

They had a guy on a motorcycle with another dangling below him just randomly happening up above us.