Adventure Singapura: Peking at Beijing!!! December 15-18th

Our Christmas vacation started off with a stop in Beijing, the capital of China, on the way back to Canada. Beijing is a large and amazing city with much history- much more than we had a chance to discover which is why we will probably return this summer. During our short 3 day visit, the original plan- which included a day trip to Simatai, a small town about 4 hours from Beijing (Simatai is home to one of the few relatively untouched and accessible portions of the Great Wall)- had to change because it was SO UNBELIEVABLY COLD!!!

We didn't realise that going from 30 to -5 degree celsius (a 35 degress change) would be so painful. It's embarrasing to admit but it was far too cold to travel out to the exposed countryside to explore the Wall, knowing full well that we'd never be able to last longer than 20 minutes. We decided we would return to the Wall under more favourable conditions and enjoy it rather than spending quite a bit to journey out there only to freeze to death. We're certainly privileged to have the luxury to make a decision to see the Wall another time.

The cold, however, didn't stop us from trekking through the city, stopping into shops to browse and for Chinese tea

when we could no longer stand the cold.

On day one we hit a market first thing and bought brandname- okay, knockoff- winter coats, hats and gloves for a ridiculously low price. Although it took a bit of time to warm up to, we loved haggling and bargaining with some of the sales people- several of whom had a good sense of humour and enjoyed the "100 Yuan", "20 Yuan", "85 Yuan", "30 Yuan", "70 Yuan- sir, I couldn't possibly sell it for less", "40- last offer"...in the end just turn your back and if they can afford to make the sale they'll make it- "Fine 40, but this is a very bad deal for me. You drive a tough bargain sir". All the while we were smiling and laughing with one another. It was good fun. The Chinese local currency is the Yuan or Rmb and currently trades $1 Cdn = 6.6 RmB.

Okay, so we got all bundled up- we were literally wearing two layers of pants, socks, tops and then our winter gear- and we headed off to Tianiman square and the Forbidden City- both of which are very impressive.

The square is alive with history and it really is huge- hence why it's the largest public square in the world. We returned on day two- nice and early so I could beat the crowds- to vist the Memorial Hall of Chairman Mao. Craig waited for me patiently (carrying our backpack and camera- which are not allowed in the Hall- while I lined up with a bunch of others (primarily Chinese paying respects) who quickly and silently filed passed Mao's corpse under glass.

I found it to be a unique experience and have since had many discussions with students asking them to explain the Chinese wonder, awe and reverence for a man who is said to be responsible for the deaths of 38 million Chinese. Visit http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/mao.html to learn more about Mao and the changes (for better and for worse) that came to China under his leadership.

The morning before we left, we walked through the Temple of Heaven,located in Tiantan Park.

The park was beautiful, particularly because it was busy with locals practicing Tai-chi, playing board games, cards, and chess. We even came across a large group of locals singing Chinese opera. It was so much fun to see such a sense of traditional community.

We were reminded of our own family and community of friends back home and before we knew it, we were on a plane, flying to Canada to surprise our families! We had what will go down in history as one of the best Christmas breaks ever!

And to add to the excitement, mom Snell flew back to Singapore with us and visited for four weeks.

We stopped in Hong Kong on the return flight and the three of us tore up the city. More on Hong Kong and mom's visit in our next blog. Stay tuned for more adventures!