China, Day 12: Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and Bullet Train

Today, we visited Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. The guide told us, "This will be a very hot day and our day with the most walking and not much shade." Jia whispered, "Mama, she's not selling it well!" True. We were frankly not looking forward to trudging around in such heat, but the girls did amazingly well, especially with being sore from climbing the Great Wall the day before. A couple of ice creams brought some happiness as well.

While Tiananmen Square is famous for many things, the thing that intrigued the girls the most was Mao’s "Mao-soleum" as we learned how his body is preserved there and that he has waxy-looking skin. Thankfully, we just saw the outside of the building. We also saw the iconic Mao photo on the front gate of the Forbidden City and other monuments.

 

The Forbidden City was the imperial palace until 1912. It was constructed in the 1400's. We walked through the length of the Forbidden City from one end to the other, and saw ornate gates, admired the beautiful gardens, and were astonished by the fact that the Emperor had 300 concubines. We also dumped water on our heads because it was so hot. 

 

(Rubbing it for good luck)

 

 

We then took the bullet train from Beijing to Xi’an. Xi’an is 820 miles away and our trip was 4 1/2 hours. With boarding early, we were on the train for more than five hours. The train topped out at speeds of 140 mph. We were really looking forward to it as a cool place to relax after our very sweaty morning.

Ha! It was not meant to be. The air conditioning was not working in our car. As it was 100 degrees outside and the car was enclosed, the ride was stiflingly hot. The windows radiated heat and were burning to touch.

Despite this, the ride was fantastic and truly a high point of our trip! It allowed the girls to bond with each other and engage with local kids. The train seats turned around in the car and the girls got to know each other during the long ride by chatting, sharing food, and playing games. Our girls brought along a funny face card game that caused lots of giggling.

The game allowed them to interact with two delightful local girls on the train as well and use their Mandarin skills. It was fun to watch Jia translate and communicate. The girls had visited a museum in Beijing and were traveling home.

One of the girls, Ting Ting, hung out with the girls for a very long time. She taught them more Mandarin. She asked each kid their name and then shook their hand and said in Mandarin, “We’re good friends now.”

Ting Ting also taught them a Chinese card game. Her friend stopped by and they all played a game together. Our guide Henry spent some time with the girls helping with translation when needed.

 

This is the exact reason why we went on a heritage tour. In addition to learning about their homeland, we wanted the girls to bond with other adoptees and have authentic experiences with the locals. I love that our guide put the time in to help them communicate with the local girls as he recognized how important the experience was.

The girls had such a great time with each other and the local girls that they never once complained about the heat on the train!

We arrived in Xi'an in the evening and went straight to dinner. Our guide is from Xi'an and he ordered us "mini-spicy" local food. Wow, our lips were numb, but the food was fantastic. Our favorite dish was a freshwater eel soup.

After dinner, we were all exhausted, especially the kids. (In fact, the adults all gave the kids a round of applause at dinner for their stamina.) We finally checked into a beautiful hotel and found that our room was as warm as the train car, and when Joe tried to use our shower the faucet handle broke off! It was after 10 pm by this point and there was both laughing and cursing. Thankfully, the hotel staff fixed the shower and the room eventually cooled down. What a great day!