Nihao

This isn't supposed to be a travel blog but it seems like we've done a lot of traveling recently. The boys had a 4-day weekend so we planned a somewhat last minute trip to Beijing. We realize that our opportunities to travel will come to an end in the near future so we wanted to take advantage of this school holiday. Visiting the Great Wall has been on our bucket list so we decided to book our tickets.

We woke up early to get to the Wall as soon as possible since it was a public holiday and the place would get crowded. We took a chair lift up to the Wall in an area called Mutianyu. Pretty spectacular.

Since our time was pretty limited we hired a tour guide to help us with our itinerary. Vivie was great and helped us maximize our time in Beijing. It was also nice to have her with us since she could take some family photos.

One of the coolest parts of our trip was taking a toboggan ride down from the Great Wall. Maybe not the greatest in terms of safety standards but we all zipped down and had a good time. 

We spent a little time in the Forbidden City after coming back from the Wall. Many of the sections were closed due to the holiday but by the afternoon, we were getting a bit tired anyway. 

One of the coolest buildings we have ever seen. This is the CCTV (Central China Television) building. We stayed right downtown in the central business district where there's a lot of impressive architecture.

We weren't sure what to expect when we signed up to watch a Chinese acrobatics show. These people are amazing! Seriously. Makes Cirque du Soleil seem "meh". Funny how so many people were taking pictures and video even though there was a sign saying that this wasn't allowed. This was the curtain call at the end so I decided to snap a quick picture.

Our favorite meal was a local place that our tour guide recommended. Of course we had to order peking duck (which was carved right next to our table). Yes, they had sweet and sour pork and kung pao chicken. They were both delicious and tasted nothing like what we've had before. 

In order to avoid getting a visa to visit China we had to stay less than 72 hours and then travel to another country on the way home. Hong Kong is conveniently located in between mainland China and the Philippines so we spent a little time in HK. 

The boys have been interested in jade ever since our trip to New Zealand (I had no idea that jade is commonly found in NZ). So we visited a famous jade market in Hong Kong's Kowloon district. 

We took the Star Ferry across the Victoria Harbor just for the experience. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't good for sightseeing so we didn't go on further to Victoria Peak. 

The outdoor pool at the W Hotel in Hong Kong. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's located on the rooftop which is the 76th floor. Not a bad place to relax and enjoy the sun.