. . We (Nicki, Mark, Stan and I) decided to take a "Fantasy Cultural" tour of Beijing, China for Thanksgiving. It always gives me a kick that I end up doing all of my trips over normal holidays, so I took 4 days of leave over a 4-day weekend, but of course, catering to the military, a lot of folks can only get those days off, and I suppose I would be one of them anyway. We began our journey from just outside Osan AB at 0400, and while we had been assured that there would be cabs "around," the street looked pretty desolate and we didn't look forward to walking the mile+ hill in the cold with our luggage, a taxi finally drove past us about a block up. Because the scheduled military bus system would have taken us almost 2 full days to get from Kunsan AB to Incheon Airport/Seoul, we were heading to a local bus station. We purchased the tickets almost out of pure luck and slept most of the way to the airport. Once we checked in, there was thankfully more sleeping upstairs in the "relaxation" area for the airline. Our 3~4hr flight touched down without incident in China.
. . Our fir
st day had a few stops but thankfully we got fed in a timely manner and the tour didn't rush us from exhibit to exhibit. The tour staff automatically had our room alarms set to get us up at 0600 every morning, allowing us to have a fabulous breakfast in the hotel before we started our day, and I'm sure to keep us off the streets at night. The stops were longer than some tours I've been on through military ticket and tours, and the tour guide Sherry/Shelly (Mongolia native) was exceptionally fluent and knowledgeable on both current tmes/statuses as well as the history of Beijing and China.
. . Our fir
st day had a few stops but thankfully we got fed in a timely manner and the tour didn't rush us from exhibit to exhibit. The tour staff automatically had our room alarms set to get us up at 0600 every morning, allowing us to have a fabulous breakfast in the hotel before we started our day, and I'm sure to keep us off the streets at night. The stops were longer than some tours I've been on through military ticket and tours, and the tour guide Sherry/Shelly (Mongolia native) was exceptionally fluent and knowledgeable on both current tmes/statuses as well as the history of Beijing and China. . . The second day we went to a park where the "older generation" hung out. To make room in the job market, depending on the gender and type of work, Chinese retirement occurs when they
are 40-55 years old, as opposed to our 60-year standard. The people there weren't very old at all and so engaged themselves in song and dance, card games and a version of hacky sack. We proceeded along to the Temple of Good Harvest and the Temple of Heaven. We went to Tiananmen Square in the afternoon and saw the Monument of the People's Heros and were reminded that were indeed in a Communist country (though you really wouldn’t' notice it in most cases). A Jade factory finished off the day. I may have bought a life-long green and purple bracelet that only I can wear... mostly because its so darn hard to get off ;-0 But there was a tour on the history of jade in China as well as some amazing pieces as a part of the museum side, before we were led to the gift shop area. 
. . We did the Great Wall that next morning
and boy what a morning! The hike was challenging -1748 steps - the view amazingly beautiful. All the steps were made of rocks cut the same height, but that meant that some steps were one layer and others were six layers tall, being a stretch for even my long legs! On such a beautiful day, it was very worth it. After a filling and much needed lunch, we went to the Summer Palace. This includes the 2400'+ 
Long Corridor ending at a life-size marble ship to party on in the manmade lake, and just beyond that a town built that looked like the set for Mardi Gras or a priate's port on the water. The servants were paid to come and pretend to sell their wears to the royal family. This third night we went to a market street where you could find pretty much anything for sale in a easy grilled or carmalized on-a-stick version... shrimp, fruit, scorpions, seahorses, and a lot of other things I didn't recognize or didn't want to.
are 40-55 years old, as opposed to our 60-year standard. The people there weren't very old at all and so engaged themselves in song and dance, card games and a version of hacky sack. We proceeded along to the Temple of Good Harvest and the Temple of Heaven. We went to Tiananmen Square in the afternoon and saw the Monument of the People's Heros and were reminded that were indeed in a Communist country (though you really wouldn’t' notice it in most cases). A Jade factory finished off the day. I may have bought a life-long green and purple bracelet that only I can wear... mostly because its so darn hard to get off ;-0 But there was a tour on the history of jade in China as well as some amazing pieces as a part of the museum side, before we were led to the gift shop area. 
. . We did the Great Wall that next morning
and boy what a morning! The hike was challenging -1748 steps - the view amazingly beautiful. All the steps were made of rocks cut the same height, but that meant that some steps were one layer and others were six layers tall, being a stretch for even my long legs! On such a beautiful day, it was very worth it. After a filling and much needed lunch, we went to the Summer Palace. This includes the 2400'+ 
Long Corridor ending at a life-size marble ship to party on in the manmade lake, and just beyond that a town built that looked like the set for Mardi Gras or a priate's port on the water. The servants were paid to come and pretend to sell their wears to the royal family. This third night we went to a market street where you could find pretty much anything for sale in a easy grilled or carmalized on-a-stick version... shrimp, fruit, scorpions, seahorses, and a lot of other things I didn't recognize or didn't want to.. . The
Forbidden City was quiet lovely - and expansive. There is this one part that would have been the size of a small town on its own, grown up or cut down from a rock garden. The paths and decorations were rock, the doorways fell under natural rock arches, pretty amazing all around. At the silk factor, for the multi-cocoons
(double pupae+), first the bugs were pulled out then 7 sets were pulled over the small frame, then that was taken out and combined on the larger frame on the right 10 times... so 140 or more silk worms just to finish one "layer" off the large frame. This single layer (~140 silkworms) was pulled over the size of the quilt they are making, twin to cal-king, and these ladies do a wonderful job with speed... a lot of folks from the tour tried and found it to be almsot impossible to get it to 1) pull, and then 2) pull evenly... but I was impressed by the quality. There was a silk fashion show then following that between the main part of the silk factory and the clothing sales area.
Forbidden City was quiet lovely - and expansive. There is this one part that would have been the size of a small town on its own, grown up or cut down from a rock garden. The paths and decorations were rock, the doorways fell under natural rock arches, pretty amazing all around. At the silk factor, for the multi-cocoons
(double pupae+), first the bugs were pulled out then 7 sets were pulled over the small frame, then that was taken out and combined on the larger frame on the right 10 times... so 140 or more silk worms just to finish one "layer" off the large frame. This single layer (~140 silkworms) was pulled over the size of the quilt they are making, twin to cal-king, and these ladies do a wonderful job with speed... a lot of folks from the tour tried and found it to be almsot impossible to get it to 1) pull, and then 2) pull evenly... but I was impressed by the quality. There was a silk fashion show then following that between the main part of the silk factory and the clothing sales area.
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