The Great Wall & The Summer Palace

October 24th (2nd day on China trip) – After a tasty breakfast at the hotel it was time to start our adventure for the second day in China. The first stop was the Jade Carving Factory which was one of Andrew’s favorite stops. He really liked all the carvings of animals as you might guess. The carvings were incredibly intricate, elaborate, and detailed and it was interesting to learn about how to recognize real Jade. We also learned about how the different colors of Jade happen and how long it takes.
The next stop was the Great Wall which was everyone’s favorite in our family and it was even more amazing than I thought it would be. We went to the Badaling entrance of the Great Wall which is located in country providence to the Northwest of Beijing. We climbed to the top of the highest way we could go. It was just extraordinary to think of all the history we were walking on. The climb was tremendously steep, over 45 degrees at some points, and the views were spectacular. The Wall was started in the 5th century BC but its present course was determined by the first Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huangdi around 220 BC. It was not finished until the Ming dynasty and the most striking section were built during this time. As you might expect we took a bunch of pictures! After our climb it was time for lunch of Chinese food at a restaurant in a Friendship Store. At the store, we saw a demonstration on copper enameling and specifically the style of cloisonné. We were all impressed!
After lunch it was time for a tour of the Summer Palace. The palace was built during the Qing Dynasty by the notorious Empress Dowager Cixi in 1888 using money intended to build a naval fleet. The Summer Palace covers a very large area but the part we were able see in the time allowed was just magnificent, but like many royal palaces in Europe, highly excessive – one can understand the anger behind the peasant uprisings that came later. Among the many things to see is the longest walkway in the world – over 2500 feet long! The kids’ favorite part of this tour would have to be the Dragon Boat ride across the Kunming Lake. It was a relaxing ride after climbing the Great Wall and the views were gorgeous.

Following the Summer Palace tour we went on a visit to a Pearl Factory. The demonstration we watched on harvesting pearls was very interesting. The kids were all given a pearl out of the oyster they opened during the demo. There were 15 kids in our group and there were still pearls left over – I had no idea how many pearls one oyster could make! It was then time for dinner at Shu Wei Nong which served Suchuan style Chinese food that was spicy but very appetizing. Next we went on a tour of Wangfujin Street which is a place to go to eat some very unusual types of food. The most adventurous samples Andrew and I tried were the fried scorpion which was unexpectedly fine! We also enjoyed more conventional fried ice cream and caramelized fruit on a stick. Mark slept though the whole thing.

Temple of Heaven & Acrobatic Show

October 23, 2008 (1st day on China trip) – We left Osan at 0600 for our trip to Beijing, China. The bus ride and flight on Asiana were uneventful. Andrew and Mark are both super good travelers! Our first stop in Beijing was lunch at Shan Shui Jain which served Cantonese style food. We were also treated with a traditional dance performed right in the room where we ate. After lunch we headed off to the Temple of Heaven which sits in the middle of a 670 acre park that dates from the Ming Dynasty and is an excellent example of Confucian style architecture. It was constructed without using a single nail! The blue tiles that cover the roof on all three levels symbolize heaven. The four largest of the 28 pillars used to support the roof symbolize the four seasons. Twelve of the other pillars symbolize the months and the last twelve symbolize the traditional division of the Chinese day, each comprising two hours. The temple and the halls all around it were used in a ceremony for a good harvest. As we were leaving, we walked down a long open air corridor where many Chinese were playing instruments, singing, dancing and playing games.

After our visit at the Temple of Heaven we all went to watch an Acrobatic Show which the kids really enjoyed. It was pretty impressive what they could do! After the show it was time to try Peking Duck at the Hua Fu Ge restaurant along with many other traditional Chinese dishes. Following a delicious dinner it was time to check into the Best Western Premier Beijing which is a four star hotel. We ended up with a fabulous corner room with great views of Beijing and beautiful sunrises.

Happy Birthday Grandma Fletcher!

We shot this on your birthday October 26th Grandma Fletcher. Sorry, it is a bit off key! We hope you had a super day! Love, Joseph, Jennifer, Andrew & Mark

October 23, 2008

Dance performed after our first lunch at a Cantonese Style restaurant called Shan Shui Jian in Beijing.

Osan AB Air Power Show

Sunday after church we met Moonja, Jong Gun and their two kids Cindyjo and Jonnie at the Osan AB Air Power show. We all had hotdogs for lunch and then watched the F-16 demo. Joseph was able to explain a lot to Moonja and Jong Gun about the F-16 demo since it was the plane that he used to fly. We walked around and saw the airplanes on static display and then watched a search and rescue demo that was done with A-10’s and helicopters. It was a very impressive display. After the last demo, we spent some more time walking around the planes on static display. By now we were all getting hungry for dinner and Jong Gun had heard about a restaurant that he wanted to try. So, off we went to find the restaurant. It was not more then a ten minute drive and located in an old traditional style Korean home. The name of the place was Cucina Restaurant. If anyone is looking for an out-of-this-world meal this is the place to go! It would be a great date night place but also kid friendly if you want to bring the family. Along with the amazing food the conversation was exceptional. We always enjoy our time spent with Moonja and Jong Gun and family. The kids all had a ball playing together not only at the Air Show but also at the restaurant.

Monday and Tuesday we have been settling into our what we like to call our “vacation home.” Our friends the Evans are on a ten-day vacation to Thailand and Malaysia and offered to let us use their place in Hallasan while they were gone! Thank God for such thoughtful and kind friends you have blessed us with here at Osan AB! It is such a blessing to us to have the gift of space for these ten days. We had a hiking trip planned for two days this past long-weekend but once we settled in we did not want to leave!

Wednesday, Mark got his first round of the DTaP vaccination. Most of you know we decided not to vaccinate Mark until he was over two and that he would only get one vaccine at a time of the ones we are allowing him to have. He has had the Typhoid and Hep A and Hep B vaccines since it is recommended for travel in China. We are all very excited that we leave in six days for China! Joseph, Andrew and I can’t wait to see the Great Wall! Mark can’t wait to ride the bus, big surprise! But right now we are just enjoying our vacation at the Evans’ family home! Thank you Amanda and Brian!

Seoul Forest and Seoul Tower

It has been a busy holiday weekend. Saturday, on the way up to the Seoul Forest, we stopped at the Flower Market so Joseph could see and experience it, and so I could pick up some needed ribbon. It was overwhelming in all its smells and outstanding in all its colors! After trying and giving up a few weeks ago, we finally made it to the Seoul Forest. I have read that the Seoul Forest is the Central Park of Seoul. It has only been around for five years but is an attractive park and popular with the Koreans. Parking was a bit of an issue but not being able to speak the language does have its advantages. We spent some time at the wood playground area then found a big open green area to kick around the soccer ball, sit under a shade tree, and relax. After relaxing, it was time to find the sculpture park, which was enjoyable to walk through, but we were all getting hungry. So, we made our way to Yongsan Army Base and the Dragon Hill Resort for a late lunch/early dinner at the Mexican restaurant there.
After our meal we decided since it was such a lovely clear day that it was time we did the Seoul Tower. Seoul is usually not clear. The adventure to get to the top of Seoul Tower took quite a bit more time than we thought it would. We parked at the National Theater as the tour book said to do and found the bus stop to wait for the number 02 bus to take us to the top of the mountain and the entrance to Seoul Tower. At least five #02 buses went by packed and then finally one stopped with just enough room for us the squeeze on to, and let me stress we really squeezed! It was kind of like how many clowns can you stuff in a VW Bug! Luckily, we stood at the very front of the bus looking out the big front window and praying the driver did not make any sudden stops. To our surprise and relief, Mark LOVED the bus ride and was not thrilled when it was time to get off at the top. He did calm down when told he would get to ride the bus back down again after we went to the top of the big tower. Joseph bought our tickets to the top and then we waited for our number to come up to ride the elevator to the top. There were a lot of people there! The view from the top was worth all the effort. We even saw fire works coming from the Seoul Forest area. At the base of the tower along the fencing we saw sets of two locks locked together and attached to the chain-link fence. This is a tradition that newly married people do to ensure their marriage last and symbolizes their unending love for one another. You will see a few pictures of the locks…there are tens of thousands of them! They make the fence look and feel some how hopeful by their symbol of love. The light show that is put on at the base of the tower is pretty spectacular and I would recommend staying to see if you have the time. By then, we were all getting tired so it was time to get in line to take the #02 bus back down to the National Theater. Mark loved the bus ride and as you can predict he did not want to get off and made sure everyone knew how he felt about it! Andrew talked with a few Korean’s wanting to practice their English and handled himself very well. By the time we got home and got the kids in bed it was around 2230 and we went to bed shortly after the kids. It was a wonderful adventure! Thank you LORD!

Andong International Maskdance Festival

It was another exciting weekend for the Fletcher adventure. After Andrew’s soccer game (which he played really well in and I lost count of all the goals he scored) we went to the Andong International Maskdance Festival with Moonja, Jong Gun, Cindyjo, and Jonnie. The drive to Andong was gorgeous. The Korean countyside is bursting with beautiful valleys complete with rice paddies, rolling hills, and mountains. It is all still very green this time of year here. The weather has changed to fall and is just perfect in the low 70’s during the day and low 40’s at night. We are looking forward to all the marvelous fall colors to come out next month! Once we arrived in Andong we went and found a nice little place to eat. The kids and I tried some mussels and Mackerel. Andong is famous for its Mackerel so I wanted to give it a try. Joseph stuck with the pork BBQ! It was all yummy! After dinner we went and watched performances from all over the world in the special event part of the evening. The masks and costumes were elaborate and brilliant in all their colors. Mark’s favorite part was the dragon! Andrew’s favorite was the Tae Kwon Do mask-dance. He was very impressed as were the rest of us. Andrew and Mark both really enjoyed the whole evening. The final performance Saturday evening was called Good morning Mr. Heo. It depicts the legend of how the Maskdance started in Korea. It was a tremendous help to have Moonja and Jong Gun to translate the performance for us. I read about it last week but it was just fantastic to see it in person. We checked into our room around 11:30p and all collapsed into bed.
Sunday we got up and walked around Andong for a few hours. The little narrow alleyways reminded us of Europe. We also went through the large outdoor market. The kids were back to their superstar status here in Korea. One very nice lady gave each boy two chestnuts. They both attracted a lot of attention on this trip. It seems the father away from Seoul we go the more attention the boys attract. We made our way back to the Maskdance Festival and the kids all made their own masks. Our boys each picked out the nobleman mask. Joseph was far braver than myself and was in charge of helping Mark paint his mask. After a promising (cooperative) beginning, Mark became more and more determined to paint in his own way, which unfortunately included flinging paint on Joseph and everyone/everything around him. So, I ended up finishing Mark’s mask and cleaning up Joseph! Andrew did a super job on his mask! There were many other hands-on activities for the kids to do but we just picked that one. We then went over to the Maskdance Theater to watch the Sooyeong special performance. It was another incredible performance complete with “tigers.” We then went to the Puppet Theater to watch the Tears of God performance. We enjoyed the performance and were able to understand most of it. We then did a little souvenir shopping and ate a Korean style snack before it was time to make the journey home. We got home around 9:30p after a fun adventure to Andong. The festival is very large, has three different sites and lasts for ten days so we only saw a very small part of it. We thought about going back next weekend to see more but I think we will pass because we all need to recover. We might go back down in the next two months to the Hahoe Village because it was one area we did not get to see that we wanted to on this trip.