We came, We Saw and We Conquered

We had a jammed pack day of sightseeing on our last day in Beijing.

We saw the Birds Nest Olympic stadium from a distance. This seems to be a similar experience to the locals as the Olympic facilities are virtually abandoned and unused. The Birds Nest is now only used in summer for some music concerts and in winter they occasionally build an indoor ski slope with man made snow. The elegant choice of mascots however is timeless.....

We had our koala equivalent moment at the Beijing zoo. Ahh how sweet...

However we were shocked to see that a Panda is not so friendly when he feels access to his bamboo is under threat......

Pandas have a very high fibre diet and have no need for prunes, Metamucil or slippery elm tablets- they consume 40-50 kilos of bamboo each day. They don't just nibble on the leaves, they are shredding the stalks with those teeth as well. Many local Chinese also visit the pandas as they are an important part of Chinese culture and a critical part of Chinese diplomacy. It seems the Chinese generously donated a pair of giant pandas to Russia just before the IOC vote for the 2008 summer Olympics. 

This local however was determined to be photographed with Kylie - eventually grabbing her arm- she was more taken with the rip-off panda on Kylie's head than the real thing!

Today's establishment photo came courtesy of the zoo's facilities:

(P.S. The Pool is referring to the traditional squat facility...... Haha)

Thank goodness we were able to attend a Chinese tea ceremony run by the engaging Keith who is 2 years into his tea training.

We sampled teas with incredible qualities: one variety of 10 year old fermented black tea (which had been buried in the ground on the South East side of a remote Southern mountain by a spring etc etc you get the picture although sadly resembling an above ground cow pat) promised improvement of wrinkles, blood pressure, diabetes, kidney function, sluggish functioning, heart health and even dramatic weight loss as well. Briony promptly sacked Liz and Zoe as her medical advisors, given their manifest inadequacy in the face of the benefits proffered from just this one product pictured here

Louise was shattered to discover that she knew absolutely nothing about how to make a cup of Jasmine tea and is very concerned about she will find the necessary 20 minutes of preparation time to do it properly when she returns home. We suggest she just uses the time she previously devoted to her race training.......

The Mongolian hot pot lunch was delicious and we really enjoyed the ingredients we recognised. 

Kylie didn't get a single rogue microbe after boiling the white ball for 20 minutes although we never confirmed the protein source. But she didn't care anyway what it was after sampling the local 68% proof alcohol.....

Note to Zoe: it's called Mongolian HOT pot for a reason so next time maybe don't lean over so far for the mushrooms.....

Beijing has done a great job of restoring part of its traditional area for tourists. The hutong area is now full of trendy cafés and sight seeing opportunities.

 We survived dodgem rickshaw riding 

and were entertained by stories from a local resident who carefully described the traditional allocation of bedrooms to members of the family in terms of their heirarchy. All this centred around the courtyard which is the focal point of family interaction.

Turns out upon incisive questioning by one FGM after the public messaging that this girl and her Mum and Dad lived in three rooms off a secret corridor with their own yard out the back. Ahh well as they say in China never let a business opportunity pass you by. We did verify though that the rooms were traditionally built around a central square courtyard from our run through the villages on Race day.....

Last night we frocked up (although really the humidity plays havoc with the hair here) and went to the Gala dinner at the convention centre next to the Birds Nest.

We felt awesome and basked in the glory of our achievements again, were entertained by the statutory Chinese dragons, 

drank local Chinese red wine and ate from the incredible banquet. 

Yep that's all chocolate.

We never did establish the culinary substance that this patriotic sculpture was made from!

However the scope of our heroics paled in comparison to the elaborate carved cucumber and dessert bar.

Note to Louise: this is getting awkward take the medal off now....... 

So that completes our Great Wall adventure. We are glad that you have enjoyed sharing our adventures with us and we have been delighted to receive those few congratulatory messages from some of our readers. Although frankly given the global reach of our blog, after Bee posted it on her face book, we are surprised the Oprah offer hasn't come through yet.....

So what can we possibly do next to top this adventure? Despite being photographed in front of the Birds Nest there is no suggestion of masters or representative sport being planned. 

Zoe actually suggested that she wants to attempt the full marathon on the Great Wall. This surprised us as we were all watching the same slide show as her of broken and spent bodies clinging to the top stairs being treated by handsome Danish doctors and none of the rest of us had a response anything like that. We can only attribute it to the Chinese wine. This is a truly magnificent ambition but not really a starter for a group adventure - we hope she has a great time.....

Liz who hardly had time to change her watch to Chinese time (incidentally it's the same time zone across the whole of China so the sun rises in Beijing at 4.30) was so taken by having a girls holiday that she suggested we reconvene for an adventure every 5 years. She is taken by the 50 km run across 5 days through 3 countries in Scandinavia - seems a lot of effort just to get the attention of a Danish doctor. We are surprised that Liz found it so relaxing and wants to do it all again so soon, given that she spent such a lot of time diagnosing each of us with life-threatening illnesses. Who knew that the constant imbibing of water and the failure to eat regular full meals and a slightly hyperactive tendency could be symptoms of such serious diseases.

Kylie totally taken by the "halfie" vigorously cross- examined our lovely tour organiser Felicity from Travelling Fit about which of the majors holds a concurrent half marathon. The cognoscenti among our readership will immediately recognise the reference to the 6 major annual marathons: Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and NYC. Sadly it turns out that none of these events host the quickie at the same time so some extra planning is now involved, particularly given that she still maintains she doesn't like running that much. (We are wondering if she realises how this makes us feel......) Kylie says she will be in any future adventure we can agree on so long as it doesn't involve too long sitting in a bus and isn't one she has ear-marked to do with Rob.

Louise just keeps pinching herself to make sure it hasn't all been some wonderful dream. She continues to wear the tortoise moniker proudly. Keen to influence the choice and avoid the need for a pedometer for any future event, she was going to suggest a nice girls week in Paris. Realising that this wouldn't qualify as any stretch to anyone's comfort zone and certainly not her own, she boldly suggested we walk part of Machu Picchu! This suggestion was short lived as Kylie instantly declared that it's on her list of adventures to do with Rob. (We are wondering if Rob is aware of this...) In any event Louise it seems to us you have other ways to practise your Spanish. For those of you who have been wondering since our first day in Beijing what it was that Louise actually bought at the Silk Factory (refer to previous silk worm post) - it turns out that it's 2.2metres of fabric to make a copy of this young acrobat's outfit which Louise apparently plans to wear out when she next goes dancing...... sigh - we wish we were joking.

Briony says she has had a ball and could never have done this without us. However none of us is surprised that she is leaving now for 5 weeks of solitary sabbatical in order to recover from such intense bonding! We also think that she might be ready to go again in five years but then we couldn't be sure as Briony doesn't like to give too much away and certainly not that far in advance.

Here's her reflection on the trip: "I remember reading once about 'the gift of the ordinary day' - about the preciousness of hanging with those you love, and not taking a moment of our lives together for granted. While nothing about this trip or the friendships we have fostered and developed, for some over our lifetime, could be considered 'ordinary', I love that we are of an age where we don't take each other, or the opportunities that life passes to us, for granted. This trip has been a reminder to live in the moment, to enjoy the gift of others in our world, and to stand in awe of humanity and it's capacity to build Great Walls to keep out the invading Monguls".

So we came as 4 of the Fairy Godmothers and we missed Bee. We were blessed to be joined by Zoe (who  happened to have been on Paddy's first exchange trip to Germany and knew her so well...) We leave as 5 friends, 4 of the Fairy Godmothers and one honorary fairy godmother. 

As one of our Mums emailed us the other day "....have a simply wonderful time with your friends. Having friends like this is how one gets through trials and tribulations with a sense of humour intact." To our beautiful god-children, Jess and Ben, may you be continually surrounded by dear friends as you travel through life, may you have many wild (but safe and responsible!) adventures, and remember, all your 'fairy god mothers' are always watching out for you! And to any of our own precious children who are bothering to read all the way to the end, we share these thoughts with you too....

Life is good.

Bai Bai (chinglish for see ya).

Just like in a Pixar movie buried deep in the credits here is a surprise. We have one more post coming to the blog which will include a random series of observations we have made about China and a few fabulous last pictures................watch this space.