Celebrations in the South

We've spent the past week or so in Guangzhou (Southern China) with J's family and Laolao (grandma) to ring in the Chinese New Year.

New Years dinner

Ni Hao (Hello) from Guangzhou

Last night we landed in Guangzhou (Southern China) to ring in the Chinese New Year and soak up the warmer weather (and if you're me, stuff your face with as much fresh fruit as humanly possible). Today is our first day here-updates on adventures to come soon!

Image sourced from here

Central China

We spent last week in Wuhan (central China), visiting J's grandparents and family.

It was a lovely few days staying with Yeye (grandpa) and Nainai (grandma) and consisted of lots of thumbs-up and sign language, as well as a few nights out on the town with J's cousin Tom. 

We walked along the Yangtze River, released lanterns into the night sky, and tried out the pubs in Wuhan (surprisingly many, but we only tried two).  Of course - most importantly? - we also got to experience the local food. A lot of the local food! 

Lanterns and the night skyline along the Yangtze River

Inside the Courtyard

Day 4 of Beijing was a nice contrast to our previously busy days. We were invited to have lunch with some family friends who own a typical Beijing courtyard house.

From the street, the house is completely hidden save for a large, brightly painted door that opens into a passageway and into the courtyard.

The setup of courtyard houses are interesting, with several detached rooms (a kitchen room, dining room, lounge room, etc.) each separate and bordering the courtyard. It was really interesting to see, so different from many of the types of buildings and houses I'm used to.

Front door (from the inside, not street side) of the courtyard house

The Great Wall

We conquered the Great Wall! Well a small part of it (but details, details).

We woke up early(ish) and headed for the subway, which would take us to a bus, which in turn would take us to... the Great Wall, about an hour from the city. Foolproof! After making a quick detour for breakfast, we were soon on the subway and bound for the bus station.

We managed to figure out where the bus station was (on the other side of a very busy overpass) and sprinted (literally, sprinted) between breaks in the traffic in order to make it across the road in one piece (I've seen people sprint across the pedestrian walk on a green pedestrian light just to make it across the road). We arrived just in time to find out that the last bus had already departed and there weren't enough people leftover to fill another bus. Uh oh. Fortunately, all was not lost and we were able to organize a ride to the wall. 

We ended up going to a part of the Great Wall that's less well-known/touristy (albeit a bit steeper). It was pretty surreal to be driving along the highway with the Great Wall snaking up and around the mountains in the distance ahead.

When we arrived, we bundled up, bought our tickets, and set off. We climbed from the entrance (Beacon 8) to the very top (Beacon 13) of that section of the wall. Despite missing the bus, the day turned out perfectly; the sky was clear and sunny, it wasn't too cold (except at the top, where the wind cut like a knife), and there were only a handful of other people around (fewer and fewer, the higher we went). By the time we reached the 13th beacon, we had the place to ourselves, sitting on top of the Great Wall, peering out over the mountains, and taking it all in.

We took our fair share of photos and began the descent back down (maybe grumbling about the number of stairs). By the time we got back on the subway for the long ride home, we were tired, but happy, reminiscing about the day's adventure.

Forbidden City, Beijing

Yesterday we hung out at the Emperor's palace (AKA The Forbidden City by Tiananmen Square).

Bright eyed, we excitedly made our way over to Tiananmen, where we were stopped in our tracks at the sight of the security line (security in and around Tiananmen is insane!) just to get into the Square. Sandwiched amongst the hoards of other eager tourists, we debated whether to grab breakfast and come back, but by that point, we were already halfway to the security checkpoint and decided to sit tight.

The front half of the security line, from our viewpoint.  You get herded between the railings and once you're in, there's no getting out from there.

Hello Asia; Hello Shanghai

Note: sporadic internet access (and laziness) prevented me from posting these in real time, but maybe we can just pretend they were posted throughout the trip and not six weeks after the fact. Apologies in advance as most of these will be very photo heavy posts; much of the photo credit belongs to J.

你好 (Hello).  We're in China! We booked last minute tickets and a week later, we were Shanghai-bound to spend Chinese New Years with J's family. So far, we've spent our first few days in Shanghai recovering from jet lag (16-hour time difference) and eating our weight in delicious food (lucky for us, and unluckily for our respective BMIs, J's uncle is a chef).

A Temple in downtown Shanghai (old world meets new world), which we visited during one of our first days in Shanghai