Favorite and Not-so Favorite Moments

The following were written on our long journey home: (Note: no editing)

Katy

Fave Moments/Things

1. P-3 "Piece Tree" in China

2. "Spicey" beef - Deen, Curtis and everyone else thought it was spicey!

3. Curtis - Finally getting 2 see him :) :) BCFL (Best cusin for life!)
4. Shopping - sales everywhere and bargining

5. The Great Wall - great view "I'm in awe"

6. The Forbiden City - amazing the empors were the first couch potatos!

7. Aqua - cool table and no shoes! don't forget proposal!

8. Funny moments when my Dad would mess up! LOL

9. Bejing

10. The Birds Nest and the Water Cube - Huge by the way!

11. Hong Kong

12. Big "Buttie" (Buddha) - so much walking

13. Disneyland! Minime of Disneyworld but better rides.

14. Space Mountain - fun!

Last but not least

15. Most of the food!

Least Fave things/moments:

1. Macy falling :(

2. Lamb

3. The subways (fun for a little while)

4. The Smell

5. Walking - ouch

6. Most important - Curtis leaving us

7.5 - The plane rides

8. Cold weather

Mike

Favorite:

Grand Hyatt Hotel Beijing

Great Wall

Tianjin Market

P Shree

Big Buddha

Aqua Roma Restaurant

Disneyland

Least Favorite:

Nasty teeth

Nasty water

long plane rides

bad attitudes

bargaining

Sheri

Our adventure to China has been exciting, eye opening, challenging, and fun. This is a trip that I would not have taken if my darling nephew Curtis was not going to school in China. This was our chance to see a country that would not normally be on our vacation agenda. I must say I was nervous about the 14 hour flight the most. I knew would be different , but was not expecting such completely different cultures. So, this is some of my "likes" from the trip.

1. The upgraded seat to United Plus was nice. 5 inches does make a difference when you are traveling for 14 hours.

2. The service was excellent! We arrived in Beijing tired and wiery only to met by a nice Chinese man with a "Dr. Engelbrecht" sign for the Grand Hyatt. He led us through the beautiful airport and through customs no problem! We walked out and found Curtis!

3. The hotel was beautiful and the upgrade to a suite and club level sure was nice to enjoy. The pool was totally amazing! It looked like a tropical paradise. The location was wonderful. It was right in the middle for us to enjoy the Forbidden City.

4. The Great Wall: This was amazing! It was a moment in your life when you catch yourself saying "It's Tuesday afternoon and I am at the Great Wall in China!"

5. Shopping in Tianjin with Curtis and friends.

6. People watching in general.

7. Hong Kong was amazing. A tropical paradise. More than I could imagine. Disney was fun and not crowded.

8. Hong Kong City view, lights aqua dinner.

9. Mike's chinese saying

10. Big Buddha

11. Family

What I did not like:

1. Freezing cold!

2. Burping, spitting, nose picking of the locals.

3. The no-teeth locals in your face peddaling goods.

4. Seeing Curtis so far from home.

5. Taxi's in general in Beijing.

6. B-O Smelly!!!

7. Subway

8. Not emough time to do everything

9. Cable car - scarey!

10. Tianjin tummy on way to cable car

11. Food - I am all American

12. Long plane ride

Macy

By Report: Loved the most being with Curtis! Disneyland and swimming. Didn't like: People wanting to take my picture and touch my hair!

Nana

Favorite:

Hotel in Beijing
Forbidden City

Great Wall of China

Curtis's dinner with friends in Tianjin

Disneyland and hotel

Dinner in Hong Kong

Non-Favorites:

Subway and all the shopping

Bad smells

Betsy

Favorites:

Seeing Curtis at the airport when we arrived!

Watching and listening to Curtis speak Mandarin

Girls clinging to Curtis

Great Wall

Tianjin - Curt's apartment, eating dinner with his friends, his friends in general, shopping at market

Silk market

Hong Kong city

Barney song

Eating Beijing Duck

Dinner at Aqua

Disneyland

My family

And don't forget: P Shree!

Least Favorites:

toilets

smells

cold weather

leaving Curtis

Immigrations!

Final Thoughts

Curtis explained how the language can have one word that means 4 different things by it's "tones". I think we can sum up our trip with one word:

"P shree"

1. Love 2. Humor 3. Half way around the world 4. Memories

Big Buddha and Hong Kong

View from our table at dinner.

Mike, Sheri, Katy and Macy at bottom of Big Buddha.

Beautiful trees all around area.

Cable ride. Can't see Betsy because she's on the floor!

I awake in the middle of the night completely realizing my son is fluent in Chinese as he was talking in his sleep in Mandarin!

After much deliberation, plans were to go to Big Buddha and back to Hong Kong for a nice dinner. Gathering to all get in cabs, and of course let off in different areas, we meet up and go to the landing to catch the cable cars up the mountain. Well...Nana was scared beyond belief and couldn't step past the ticket office. Curtis volunteers to take her back to the hotel and wait for us. After entering the cable car, I was without a doubt wishing I had been the volunteer to go with Nana! I quickly decided sitting on the floor of the car and not looking out was the only way I was going to make it up the mountain without passing out! The harrowing ride was worth it though, the Big Buddha was amazing and the view was spectacular.

We met back at the hotel with the rest of our group and headed to Hong Kong. We ended up at the Aqua Restaraunt to be escorted to our own room and informed to take our shoes off. We sat down under the table and had an amazing view and dinner for about 3 hours. Prior to being seated Mike created another quite quote...Curtis was explaining ShangHai meant on-sea and Mike says "what HongShree!" Quickly became the words of the evening. In our special dining room, we once again got to view the Symphony of Lights. A stroll back down the streets of Hong Kong and back to the subway to return to our hotel.

Hong Kong is very similar to NYC from what we saw. Loved it! We all wish we had another day to explore the city more, its vast size and difficulty to navigate about it with 7 people made it impossible to see more than a few sites.

Now sitting here completing our blog. What an amazing week! We are all so proud of Curtis and he was very proud to show us all he has learned and experienced while being here. Tomorrow will be hard to say good-bye, but much easier than the other times as it's only 8 short weeks and he will be home for good. China was a great experience for the Okies...but most of all spending the time with Curt was the best!!!

Disneyland and Hong Kong Symphony of Lights

I wake up to a light tapping on the door at 6:00 a.m. Upon opening the door I see Mike and Sheri in matching Disney robes with coffee in hand, singing the Barney song "I love you, you love me..." The evening before had not ended with happy feelings when Macy fell over and while walking back to our rooms down the seemingly never ending hallway, I suggested they held hands and sang the Barney song like I made Sarah and Curtis do when they were young and had disagreements! We were all relieved to feel the love again!

Off to Disneyland, everyone excited to ride the rides and see Mickey! After a few rides, I muster up enough courage, with Macy as my motivator, and ride Space Mountain. I was more than reassured with her holding my hand the entire ride and letting me know that if an 8 year old could do it, so could I! Katy was paired off with Curtis and reassuring me there was nothing to be scared about, even requesting to sit front seat with hands in the air. Then to the Golden Mickey Awards show, where Sheri was quite intrigued by Tarzan.

Lunch, then to the subway into Hong Kong. Another amazing site, huge buildings everywhere with a beautiful harbor. Curtis and Sheri were nominated chief Indians by Uncle Mike and the rest of us were to follow. After many turns and escaltors and walkways, we arrived at our desitination....California Pizza Kitchen. It was definitely an Okie in China experience. The sweet waitress finally brings us our drinks, only to drop an empty wine glass on Sheri and it brakes. After cleaning that all up, she brings the bottle of wine only to open it and splash all over my face!

With our assigned guides, we head to the harbor to watch the symphony of lights. Getting us all safely to an area was quite a feat in itself. The light show was pretty and very interesting, but maybe a little different than we had anticapated. Back to the long ride to the hotel on the subway, but funny saying of the day was Macy "Why does Curtis have to buy adult tickets when he's just a child?" Precious as usual.

Last day tomorrow...Our plans change by the minute, but seems for sure back to Hong Kong and maybe another site.

Arrival to Hong Kong

We make to the airport on time and get on our flight to Hong Kong. I am certain we all fell asleep! Everyone was excited for warm weather, we had definitely had all we wanted of the cold. It was beautiful flying in over the mountains and ocean. We gather up the numerous bags of luggage and head through customs.

Well...that was quite an experience. After waiting for several minutes as the attendant checked mine, he said "Please come with me." Curtis went into protective mode to ask what was wrong and they really didn't give much info. First, I was taken to a little booth and waited only to be told by another official to follow him. Curtis went to back to the group and I assured him I was fine. Down a long hallway and into a holding room I was told to take a seat, with only one row in the room empty I sat down, sure I was touching many germs! Needless to say, I was the only blonde fair complected person in the room. As I passed the officials they all looked up and chuckled as I passed them, obvious I was in the wrong place! Several, several, anxiety provoking minutes later, an official took me to a consulting room and explained that my name was too common for their country, etc., etc. All I wanted to hear at that time was that I was released!

I then journeyed through the long hall back to customs and entered the other side finally! Nana of course was crying when she saw me!

We drove to the Disneyland Resort and saw beautiful mountains in the background. After a long check in, Mike and I of course had to find better rooms, so that we could have breakfast without all the hassle of millions of people, then fight over who got the ocean view room. He won!

To the pool to relax for awhile. Then off to Disneyland...the girls were precious they were so excited. But, Nana and I had to wait a bit to go because Curt decided he wanted to enjoy a massage as his birthday present. Disneyland was fun, we rode a few rides and saw a magificant fireworks display. By the end of the park adventure we were all starving and exhausted and decided to call it a night after dinner at the hotel. Macy fell asleep at the table and had quite a little accident when her Daddy thought she was awake, stood her up, then crash...she was falling into the chairs! She recovered quickly and we all headed to our rooms, only to realize we waiting for several minutes for the elevator to go, and we hadn't put our key in to go to our level.

Tianjin

Dean was quite the entertainer!

On campus at Curt's university.

Fun dinner at the Hibachi grill.

Curt's living room at his apartment.

The famous curtains we have viewed during all of our Yahoo messenger conversations with Curtis!

Our day started with an easy hailing of cabs outside the hotel and a ride to the bullet train station. What a trip...there in 30 minutes. Curtis specifically says "hang on to your tickets, don't lose them." The train stops and we all get off, only to find out Sheri can't find hers and the girls tickets! After unloading everything in every bag, backpack and purse, there are the precious tickets! Matt, Curtis' friend, meets us to help Curtis navigate us to his apartment in taxis. Boy did Curtis appreciate Matt's help, up until that moment he had complete responsibility to get all 7 of us everywhere. We were all quite impressed with the differences in his apartment and apartments we are used to at home. It only made us more proud of Curtis as to what he has endured and accomplished while he has been here. A few snacks sitting in his living room, and we were off to his university, but first a stop at the bank to meet up with Nick and Kellie. After instructions as to how to use the subway system, we got on without difficulty and everyone (Ha!) held onto their tokens.

A quick lunch at a most welcomed McDonald's and we were ready to see the rest of Tianjin. We stopped at the DVD store our tour guides frequently visited and bought all the new releases at about 2 dollars per DVD. Katy and Macy were so excited to get their favorites! Then back to the wonderful activity of hailing a cab! It was completely fascinating to watch Curtis, Nick and Kellie in action with the cabs (Matt left to see us later at dinner). At times, I feared for their lives as they stepped out to stop a driver. We safely made it Ancient Culture street to shop at the markets. James, another friend of Curtis', joined our group at that time. First stop at a purse and watch store, Curtis and Mike bargained with the people and much later we were strolling down the rest of the market.

Off to the streets again to hail more cabs! Of course we were running late as usual and Curtis was a little stressed as his friend Dean had made reservations for us and all of their classmates (25 plus) at a Hibachi grill. With our wonderful new tour guides, we made it to restaurant to be welcomed by a huge group of fanstastic college students. The dinner was a wonderful experience. Even the shark that I ate, which I thought was a pork chop! It was so warming to see Curtis with his friends. Even half way around the world, he continues to develop the closest relationships with friendly loving people.

After lots of hugs and thankyou's, we headed to the dreaded curb to hail a cab. Curtis gave a word to each of Nana, Mike and me to memorize to tell the cab driver to get us back to the train station. It worked! Boarded the train without difficulty and all fell asleep!

Off to Hong Kong early (4:30 a.m.) in the morning. We are all really tired but having a great time!

Beijing Duck Dinner

Pictures from our dinner experience!

Great Wall

First of all, sorry for not writing the last couple of days, but we've been a little busy! After our taxi experience from the Forbidden City, we were definitely excited for our private driver to pick us up and take us to the Great Wall on Tuesday. Weather was still very cold with snow everywhere. We managed to get us all in a cable car and up the mountain to the absolutely amazing Great Wall. What an absolute feeling of amazement to stand up there and think about how difficult it was to have constructed it and the years it took to do it. Katy's exact words were, "I am in awe!". It was a little treacherous because of the steep stairs and ice that was packed on each step, so Curtis stayed at the beginning with Nana and the rest of us walked the wall for a faurly long distance. Mike had a great idea to climb up this narrow stairway to a look out area. The view was spectacular and we had a nice little snack together, then tried to get back down the icey steep stairs! Ha! It was a site to be seen, but we made it.

Our driver then took us to see the Bird's nest and the Water Cube from the Olympics. Once again, another amazing site to see. Our hotel suggested a place to eat Beijing Duck for dinner that was within walking distance of the hotel. Of course, by the time we were half way there we all had a different version of the directions to the restaurant, but never the less we found it. Curtis was pleased that we were all amazingly surprised that we all liked the duck!

By now, Macy is really tired of all the attention to her blonde hair, and sticks like glue to Curtis, knowing that he is her only hope to tell these people that they can't touch her hair or take pictures of "your little child".

Back to the hotel fairly ealy as we were off to see Tianjin the next day! Tomorrow we will update you on our trip to Tianjin, which was so fun, and Betsy's exciting adventure entering Hong Kong while getting detained in immigrations!

Second Day in China; Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City

Uncle Mike falling asleep by the pool after the long day

Towards the end of our stay at the Forbidden City

Beautiful Scenary at the Imperial Garden

Our long, freezing walk back to the hotel

The beginning of our journey through the Forbidden City

After a short walk to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, we began our sight seeing adventure in China. The weather was a bit cold but spirits were high. We had a great time seeing the more than 600 year old city that housed emperors and concubines. Walking up and down the icey stairs was a bit scarey with Nanya and company, but we made the walk safely from the entrance to the exit. After we completed our journey through the forbidden city we encountered our first experience of Beijing taxi cab drivers. We were rejected from three or four rides before we decided to walk back to the hotel. The walk back to the hotel was a bit longer than anticipated. Upon our arrival to the hotel, we decided to go to lunch at a magnificant Chinese restaurant in the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Curtis ordered our "questionable dishes"(speaking in Mandarin, we have been so completely impressed with his proficiency of the language! He is amazing!) and like the troupers we are, we ate. After eating we went to the market and shopped. Hours of bargaining left us without money and forced to head back to the hotel. Everyone was satisfied with their purchases and quite tired of the chaos. We decided to go to the club lounge for drinks and appetizers to settle everyone down. We headed back down to Pee Schree (Uncle Mike's Mandarin term for Hotel Floor P3) to finish off the evening pool side. We ate a little bit of dinner and the kids swam. Tomorrow we are going to see the Great Wall of China and maybe to one other sight. Everyone is having a great time!

First Day in China

Standing in front of the Grand Hyatt pool

Complimentary robes and panda bears

Katy and Macy snuggling and comfy with sleep pockets & stuffed animals

We finally arrived. Only to discover a gigantic city with millions of people that was completely covered in snow. Either way, seeing my baby boy made all right again. We loaded up in our Benz with a half ton of luggage and headed to the hotel. We were suprised upon arrival to see a magnificant hotel that reminded us of a cross between Ceasars Palace and the Bellagio. The city we all thought was Beijing was indeed not quite what we expected. We all dreamed and imagined that there was going to be pagaodas everywhere with Chinese roof tops. Instead, there is skyrise buildings and modern architecture. We decided to begin our evening by cleaning up a bit and heading to our complimentary happy hour lounge. After a few satisfying drinks and appetizers, we headed to Da Giorgio, a delicious Italian restaurant. We ate our dinner and headed to the pool. The pool is magnificant indoor pool. The ceiling looks similar to that of the malls in Caesar's Palace. The stary skys above the jungle esque features provide a feeling of complete tranquility.

We are off tomorrow to see the Tiananmen Square/Forbidden City, shop at the silk market, and possibly the zoo. Ending our evening with a delicious Da Dong trip to eat the world reknowned Beijing Duck.

Sent from my iPhone

Our Trip Has Begun

We made it to Chicago! Breakfast at Chili's and a few beverages...now
the fun flight to Beijing. Instead of matching pj's like we had at
Christmas, we all have matching sleep pockets. In case u aren't
familiar with those...they r like silky cocoons that u get in for
comfort or in my case to avoid the germs!

The Okie's Itinerary

Sunday, March 14th:

 

    Arrive Beijing 4:30.  Curtis meets us and off to hotel in our Mercedes Van.  Dinner at Ritz Carlton.

 

Monday, March 15th:

 

    Silk Market for suits

    Forbidden City

 

    Dinner:  Beijing Duck

 

Tuesday, March 16th:

 

    Great Wall Tour

    Beijing Zoo to see Pandas

 

    Dinner:  Relaxing dinner at hotel?  Evening by the pool?

 

Wednesday, March 17th:

 

    Train to Tianjin:  Curtis to show us the sights of the city.

 

Thursday, March 18th:

 

    7:30 a.m. flight to Hong Kong

    11:15 a.m. arrive Hong Kong

 

    Day and evening at Disneyland, maybe pool or beach time also?

 

Friday, March 19th:

 

    Ferry or train to Hong Kong

    Go to the Peak

    

    p.m. Victoria Harbor Symphony of Lights either by ferry or Chinese Sailing Junk

 

    back to Disneyland Resort

 

Saturday, March 20th:

 

    a.m. Visit Big Buddha and Polin Monastery

    p.m. Disneyland

 

Sunday, March 21st:

 

    Leave Hong Kong 12:30 p.m.