China Day 3

On the third day we hired a guide to walk us through the Forbidden Palace (aka Palace Museum- since it's not forbidden anymore). Our guide's name was Lilly and she was great. If you go to Beijing I would recommend her.

This picture was taken by Elyse. It's the best one we got of our tour guide.

The Forbidden Palace was HUGE! and had stairs, stairs and more stairs. One reason there were so many stairs is because the buildings were built 3 levels up. The first level represents hell, the second represents earth, and the third level (where the buildings were placed) represents heaven. So the Emperor was on the level of heaven.

In addition to the stairs it had a small barrier (6 inches or so) that you had to step over when going through the doors. It was believed that it kept the ghosts out. Since ghosts don't have knees and therefore couldn't step over it.

There were so many building that I forget what each one was, but it I do remember that the emperor would enter through the center most door/bridge, the emperor and the official wife lived in separate building that represented the ying/yang philosophy, and the concubines had a separate area where they lived out the rest of their lives.

I also learned that you could tell the importance of a building by the number of animals on the roof. The eunuchs had no animals on the roof of their living quarters so you know they were the lowest of the low in the system.

I can't remember the real name for this building (something like heavenly harmony), but it's where conflicts were resolved.

After the Forbidden City, Lilly walked us through "the real Beijing" (where the normal people lived) to a restaurant for lunch.

People living in this area paid a lot for their small houses since it was in the heart of Beijing. Many didn't have an indoor kitchen or a toilet. There was a public toilet that people would que up for in the mornings.

After lunch we walked to a lake. The area surrounding it reminded me of Clarke Quay with restaurants and little souvenir shops. Here is a Starbucks :)

Megan and Anastasia admiring the view:

After the lake we walked home, had dinner and went to sleep. Another fun-filled, tiring day.

China: Day 1 and 2

On the 25th of September we got up around 6 am and headed to the airport. We met Megan (who had arrived early in the morning from Indonesia) at the gate and took our 6 hour flight to Beijing. The flight was uneventful and both girls did well.

After arriving in Beijing we took a taxi to our hotel: Days Inn Forbidden City and settled in. Elyse shared a room with Megan and slept in a big girl bed for the first time (she only fell out 1x). Anastasia, Toby and I shared the other room. This is the first time we all slept in the same room together (A didn't like sleeping in our room in Singapore, even when she was just born).

The following day we walked to Tiananmen Square and then went on to the Temple of Heaven.

Tiananmen Square was not how I pictured it. For whatever reason I pictured in more enclosed and much bigger. It was still huge, but it was just different. Anyway, when we got to the square we made our way through the crowds (and Uncles selling Mao watches) and I found a place to nurse Anastasia. Elyse, Toby and Megan wandered around and made some friends.


I Knew I was in China when I saw the big portrait of Mao.

After I fed Anastasia we walked around the square looking for an exit (it was fenced in). As we were walking we saw the line to go in and see Mao's body. Although ti was a fast moving line, we decided to skip it and head to our next destination: The Temple of Heaven.

We had a map and it looked like we could walk straight there, but we encountered some closed streets. As a result we got a scenic tour of the area.

When we did get to our destination we went into the Temple Park and got to watch people dancing. They had music playing different types of songs and they paired up and danced. Some people were more serious than others.

After a snack of Ice Cream and a Frozen Soybean popsicle (I thought it was lime when I picked it out - Elyse still ate it) we got to the Temple of Heaven. From Wikapedia: The Temple of Heaven was visited by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest. It is regarded as a Taoist temple, although Chinese Heaven worship, especially by the reigning monarch of the day, pre-dates Taoism.

It was beautiful and very ornately decorated.

Megan and Elyse walking around the base.

By this time it was time to fed Anastasia again and then head back to the hotel. Meagan chose to walk back while we got a taxi (I think we got ripped off).

For dinner we went to a restaurant just down the road from our hotel. The menu was in Chinese with no pictures, so we handed it over to Megan (who know a bit of Chinese) and she ordered. She did a very good job :) It turned out that this place was known for its pancake/tortilla type wraps- no rice at this place. It was very good.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel. Unfortunately on the way home Elyse fell and cut her lip. Luckily no teeth were chipped and the bleeding stopped quickly. Although it ended with crying, overall it was a good and busy day. Tomorrow we would be heading to the Forbidden City.

Our Girls are Rock Stars!

I was going to give a day by day account of our trip to China, but got overwhelmed by all the pictures that we took. Instead I wanted to share something we learned while in China: the Chinese love taking pictures of our girls and little kids love playing with Elyse. Here are a few pictures (in no particular order) to prove my point.

This little girl and Elyse met at the Forbidden City. You can kind of see that the girl has her butt cheek hanging out of her pants. Kids wear pants with a slit in the crotch so they can just squat and pee where ever. No need for diapers. This girl happened to pee sometime during this picture taking session.


People wanted their picture taken with Anastasia too. This meant that Toby or I got our picture taken depending on who was carrying her.


If you look at the bottom left of this picture, you can see all the people looking in one direction. They are all looking at Elyse. This is in the Forbidden City in front of one of the opening gates.

If we stood still for a moment this is usually what happened:

Cute girl with Elyse at the Temple of Heaven:

These girls were playing a game of copycat with Elyse. E would do something and they would copy it, then they would do something and she would copy them.

Again at the Forbidden City. E is trying to do the peace sign for the camera. This seems to be the way the Chinese take pictures. PEACE!

Elyse was a good sport about it all. We would ask her if she was ok and if she wanted her picture taken. Most of the time she would say yes. Some people tried to pick her up and we put a stop to that pretty quickly. Elyse and Anastasia were rock stars in China. I'm glad that we don't have people following us around daily. I know my girls are cute ;), but it gets pretty old pretty fast.

Anyway, I will give a blow by blow of our trip soon. Here is one preview picture of us at the Summer Palace:

Dress Up

Elyse and Anastasia got a great package from Grandma and Grandpa today. It was full of dress up clothes. They both looked so cute!

Barbie got some clothes too (that match Elyse's dresses).

This wasn't in the box, but I wanted to show you Anastasia's "Made in Singapore" outfit.

Sesame Street Live

The family went to Sesame Street Live over the weekend and it was a hit! We weren't too sure about how Elyse was going to react because in the past she has not liked stage shows or anything that is loud. We took a chance and it turned out well.

Elyse kept asking where everyone was before the show started. We kept telling her they were behind the curtain.
Waiting for the show to start.

When the lights dimmed and the show started Elyse sat back and enjoyed the show, clapping after the song and pointing out her favorite characters. I am so glad it worked out. Anastasia even got a nap in the middle of the show, falling asleep in Toby's arms.

After the show we met up with the Willertons for lunch who happened to be at the show too.

For the Grandparents

... and anyone else who wants to watch a baby laugh and grab at things.

Got My Toes

Anastasia's new pastime is grabbing her toes. They haven't made it to her mouth yet, but they are close.