Last China Adventure Part 1 - Beijing with No Passport

June was a busy time for me in Beijing. I had just organized all my belongings to be sent by boat back to California (they have now arrived at my new home), school was finishing up, and I had some visitors arriving for a last trip around China. The plan was to have them (Dad, Uncle Geoff, and Aunt Heidi) arrive on the Friday before school was out (June 10th) and we'd leave for Tibet the day after school was out (June 16th). We would arrive back in Beijing on June 25th and then all fly back on the same flight to San Francisco on June 26th. We had already paid for the trip and had our itinerary. All was good until...

Tibet got closed to tourists about a week and a half before we were planning to go so our permits were not granted. Apparently the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party is a big deal.

So, we changed plans. The crew already had their flights into Beijing and I reorganized with my travel agent friend, Hunter, for a Silk Road trip. School was finishing up and I made arrangements for a driver to pick up my family at the airport on Friday afternoon and I'd meet them at my apartment. All was good until...

I lost my passport and Foreign Expert Certificate. This was not good. When they arrived, I had my dad help me look through all my packed suitcases and throughout my apartment. No luck. I also searched my classroom with the help of several coworkers. No luck either. Nothing else was missing from my bag so it was unlikely that they were stolen. I called restaurants I had been to since I last saw them and they had not been found anywhere. My best guess is that I had them in my hand at some point and set them down and walked away. I didn't really have time to continue searching for them hoping to find them so I needed to get them replaced.

I informed my school's Government Affairs Office and they set things in motion for me to get replacements. I figured I would get things done but also show my visitors around while we were still in Beijing. At the moment, there was a possibility that we wouldn't be going anywhere due to me not having the correct identification. Hunter began planning a new alternative trip but he was waiting until we knew exactly when I'd get a new passport. I made an appointment at the US Embassy for Monday morning.

On Saturday, Dad, Geoff, Heidi, and I went to the Dirt Market in the morning where we found some things to buy.

I had a splinter in my finger that had worked its way down to the point of needing surgery to remove it. Thanks Uncle Geoffrey. Dad tried to open an umbrella and failed to do so safely - probably because he was opening it in my living room. We got matching band-aids.

In the afternoon, I went to the police station near my apartment to file a police report but it turned out to be the wrong police station to do that so I had to walk up the road to another one. There, no one spoke any English so, with a Government Affairs person on my cell, we passed the phone back and forth to get all the information they needed. They gave me a police report all in Chinese to take to my embassy.

On Sunday, I went by the photo place to get photos for my new passport, new Foreign Expert Certificate, and new visa. We also went to the Temple of Heaven.

In the afternoon, we had a driver take us to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. We were there in time to have nice afternoon light and fewer other tourists walking around with us. We took the chairlift up and rode the toboggan slide down.

While on the Wall, I began to think that the photos I got were not the correct size so we'd need to go back that evening to get new ones printed. We got them.

On Monday morning, I dropped the crew off to have breakfast while I went to the Embassy. I had to have a half-day substitute teacher for my classroom. The Embassy trip was quick and pretty painless. They apologized that it might take nearly 40 minutes for them to get me an emergency passport and I could leave and get a coffee if I wanted to. I opted to stick around and wait patiently and coffee-less.

With my new passport in hand, I picked up my family and we headed to school. Once at school, I went to the Government Affairs Office to give them my passport so they could get started on getting me my new Foreign Expert Certificate and visa. They told me that I would need to give them the money for those plus an expedited fee plus a fee for posting in the newspaper that I had lost the two things, etc. They said it all looked good until...

They asked for my new Temporary Residence Permit. Shoot. I didn't go back to that other police station to get it. I had my old one but it had my old, lost, passport's number on it. After school, I went back to the police station and got across that I needed a new Temporary Residence Permit. These are good for one year and you need to get a new one anytime anything changes, like you lose your passport. When the officer opened my new passport and saw that there was no visa, she started looking very surprised. I asked her to wait a second while I called the Government Affairs person to help again. All worked out and I was able to get my new Temporary Residence Permit.

On Tuesday, Dad, Geoff, and Heidi had a driver take them to Tian'anmen Square, the Forbidden City, a museum, and the Confucius Temple.

While they were being tourists, I went back to school to give them my new passport back plus the new Temporary Residence Permit (and also to work). By this time (June 14th) they expected to get my Foreign Expert Certificate back by June 20th or 21st and an expedited visa by the 24th. This meant that I wasn't flying anywhere until then. I let my travel guru know and he arranged a new alternative travel adventure. China by train! I was advised by some that this is not a good idea as I would still not have a passport with me. Some said even if I was able to travel by train without it, I would need it for checking in to the hotels. I was betting on my photocopied passport to be enough. Plus I had that police report saying that I lost my passport and I also had my Chinese driver's license.

Wednesday, Geoff, Heidi, and Dad got to be tourists again. Geoff got a haircut.

Wednesday was the last day of school and was a short day for the students. I gave hugs, packed the gifts my students and coworkers gave me, and headed back to my apartment to see what Dad, Geoff, and Heidi wanted to do for the evening.

Part 2 up soon. Will traveling by train without proper ID work out for me? Will I get my passport with a new visa back in time? Find out soon!

--Sarah--

P.S. Sorry this post took so long. I've been busy.

Jerilynn & Ray's Visit

On Friday, I met Jerilynn and Ray at the airport and we smooshed into a taxi. Imagine two large suitcases, two carry-on suitcases, one garment bag, one backpack, three people (plus the driver), and a good sized walker. I wish we somehow got a photo but we couldn't really move once we all got squished in. The taxi driver even had to help us get it all in. We made it though! We arrived at home just in time to catch the Royal Wedding coverage on CNN!

On Saturday, we had a leisurely morning and Jerilynn and I walked over to the grocery store. After lunch, we took a taxi to the dirt market where we had a great time people-watching, checking out all the things for sale, and buying things too. The air quality was not good because of a sandstorm and we had quite a bit of wind blowing us around, but we had a good time.

For dinner, we went to a restaurant that I have been wanting to try. It is called Din Tai Fung and it is on the New York Times Top 10 Restaurants in the World list for their wonderful dumplings. We thought it was pretty good too!

On Sunday, we hired a driver to take us to the Mutianyu Great Wall. It was a holiday this weekend so everyone else was going to the Great Wall as well. There was lots of traffic but lunch was tasty and we had a good time. We rode up in the chair lift and then we rode down the toboggan! We had lunch at the Schoolhouse Restaurant.

On Monday, Ray rested at home while Jerilynn and I went to the Forbidden City. But first, we had an ice cream.

I lost my sunglasses, but I found an elephant.

We had some excitement getting from the Forbidden City to the Pearl Market. We took a little three-wheeled putt-putt vehicle there!

On the way home from the Pearl Market, we had more excitement. We got in our taxi and he promptly got in a car accident. No one was harmed and we didn't see much of anything on the cars either, but we didn't stick around long. We hailed a new cab and hurried on home.

On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, Jerilynn and Ray had a driver drive them all around Beijing. I didn't get their photos from them for these days so I can't show you what they did. They went to many places though - some I haven't even been to yet! They also came to visit my school on Thursday afternoon for a little while. One day we had dinner at Pure Lotus - a vegetarian restaurant with interesting and flowery language to describe each dish. We drank tea that made our childhood memories bubble up into our pockets, or something.

In the evening on Thursday, we went to see the acrobats. We think the acrobats were tired because there were more mistakes than expected. We still had a great time though.

On Friday, I said goodbye to my lovely guests before I left for school and organized a driver to take them to Tianjin where they met up with their ship. Enjoy the rest of your trip Jerilynn and Ray! Thanks for visiting!

--Sarah--

Jon's October Visit Part II

We left off on Wednesday when the air here took a turn for dangerous with an AQI over 400. It has continued to be some of the worst air we get over here but we couldn't stay inside everyday.

On Thursday, we took the fast train to Tianjin hoping to have better air there. It was better than Beijing but still not great. Jon and I had no plan in Tianjin so we just walked around until we were starving and then found a place to eat. We walked through the financial district and looked at the old buildings while everyone else looked at us. We had our pictures taken many times - even on security guards' cell phones!

Later, we walked in another direction and ran into Italian Style Town! (Or as the sign told us Ltalian Style Town.) There were many couples getting their wedding photos taken and Jon and I had an Ltalian lunch that he deemed 'not bad' or maybe it was 'pretty good' but nothing like the food he and his family makes.

On Friday, we spent the morning walking around the 798 Art District in Beijing and then had delicious dumplings for lunch. Later, we had some photos printed and did a little more gift shopping. Jon enjoyed some pork buns from a sidewalk vendor on the walk home in the evening.

On Saturday, Jon and I went on an easy, short hike outside Beijing. We walked through the old walled village of Huang Hua (Yellow Flower), their farms, and then up to the Zhuangdaokou section of the Great Wall. This was a better way for Jon to see the Great Wall for the first time. Unfortunately, the air continued to be poor. Later, we went out for dinner with a couple friends at a Sichuan restaurant.

Here is Jon at the Great Wall:

Just kidding. Here we are:

Jon is now on a plane on his way back to California. We had a great week together but it went by entirely too quickly! We are both looking forward to December when we will see each other again!

--Sarah & Jon--

Mutianyu Great Wall with Some Snow

I made another trip to Mutianyu in November. This was the fourth trip there for me but the first time I was there when there was a bit of snow! We had a few snowy days and there was a bit left on the wall and in the hills around it.

More photos at flickr.

--Sarah--

Leah and her 'Rents Visit - Part V: Back in the Jing

After returning to Beijing, Leah and her parents had a day to explore on their own while I was at work. They checked out the Forbidden City and Tian'anmen Square - which still had all the pillars and floats from the National Day celebration.

I had a car pick them up in the afternoon to bring them up to see my school before taking a cab back home. Dinner and acrobats finished off our Friday evening. The acrobat show was the same one that I took my dad and sister to in June, but this time there was a bit more excitement. At one point in the show, two acrobats were inside giant wheels. They secured the contraption (two large wheels rotating on an axis) to the stage while they did their stunts inside and outside the wheels. At one point, I noticed that the stunt was not exactly like it was the last time I saw it. The acrobats looked like they finished early and there were more people than necessary to untie the wheels to raise them back up out of the way. The show went to intermission while they took care of the wheels. What is supposed to happen, is that they get the wheels untied and then raised up into the area above the stage. For some reason this was not happening and the wheels were beginning to swing a bit over the audience. Some people in the first few rows got up and moved out from under while others just sat and watched. Finally, some ushers had everyone move from the first few rows and the acrobats were finally able to get the wheels up and out of the way. The show went on.

On Saturday, we went up to the Great Wall at Mutianyu. This was the third time I had been up to this part of the wall. We took the gondola up and rode the toboggans down.

After the Great Wall, we went shopping. Here's Leah with one shop owner.

Sunday was the day reserved for Roger's talk about the regulation of water quality in America at a water research place here in Beijing.

After the talk, we were taken out to lunch and then on a walk in a park in western Beijing. It was the fanciest Chinese lunch I have been to so far and there was a variety of dishes that I have never seen. There were several toasts to Roger and to the rest of us. Luckily, we were not toasting with baijiu.

Monday morning, Leah and her parents left for the airport. Thanks for visiting, Leah, Richelle, and Roger!

See you in June, Leah!

More pictures over at flickr.

--Sarah--