Beijing Bloggers

This was purely a relaxation and family retreat holiday. No adventure needed or wanted. Thailand can be sort of sketchy place so we chose the most family oriented places on the island. We chose well, yes very well. JW Marriott Resort and Spa was the ultimate….and cheaper then a hotel in Winnemucca, Nevada. For reals!!! The pools, the ponds, the patios…ahh what pleasure. Since it rained, no typhooned, we spent much of the time lounging on Thai style lounges in the open hotel lobby as the rain pelted the reflecting pools. We kept comfortably busy watching movies on the computer or Skype family as smiling ladies brought us tropical drinks with lemon grass straws. Of course we swam in those luxurious pools whilst the rain kept on. Wet is wet. We also enjoyed The Laguna Beach Resort which had a lovely and safe beach and an awesome pool!

Sometimes there would be a break in the storm and we would head for a grocery store to stock up on treats and snacks, mainly see weed, chips and chocolate. All Thai food is delicious! Resort food expensive, busy town food cheap, beach shack food the best, and cost right in the middle.
But when the buffett breakfast is included in the package then you can go crazy and eat twice as much because you have to take care of the lunchtime hungries. The Morris family loves buffets.

Okay, when was the last time you walked out of your hotel room and ran into a baby elephant? Totally normal occurrence right? Yeah, totally. Everyday “Mina” and several other brothers sisters go on little walks to meet the excited guests at the pool, the breakfast patio, or in the hallways. She is a friendly little beast with her trunk excitedly checking out all your belongings and searching for food. She grabbed the top of my water bottle and I ended up having to bottle feed her which was the coolest animal interaction I have ever had. She gave all my kids real suction cup kisses after she wrapped her heavy trunk tightly around their fragile little necks. It seemed like she thought she was just one of the kids. She’d be a heavy playmate. Later, we were able to actually ride mama and papa elephant while they strolled along a forest pasture. Do you realize how powerful elephants are? They grabbed bunches of bamboo growing from the ground with their massively strong trunks like it was grass blades. Their power sort of freaked me out!

Phuket is all about spa. Its a giant spa resort. Messages, smells, lotions, and water. Sun salutations to Phuket!!!

I think Inner Mongolia sounds soooo far away and sooo deep in the bowels of the Asian continent, yet of all the places we have been to in China, it is the only one we have arrived at by driving a car. The drive, I must say, has beautiful scenery but also a constant lineup of big diesel monsters clogging the motorway. Love hate love hate. You can’t stop to admire the gorgeous vista because you’ll lose your place in line, but you can stop when nature calls, as we witnessed often.

The crazy congested Beijing city highway abruptly changes from flat valley to craggy mountains with peeks of the Great Wall. Then you start to notice little villages all neatly in rows squeezed tightly between the highway, the small stream and the foothills. Rice paddies and other beautifully bordered vegetable gardens fill any unused spaces. You see young and old mostly, with woven straw hats and bent backs, gleaning their harvest, stacking on little carts, and poking at ditches. Sooo picturesque!! Then, slowly but surely everything changes and realize you are on one of the holes of the U.S. open. Wow!! Is this the biggest golf course in the world with these perfectly planned sand traps? They could really turn this into something big and if it weren’t so late in the evening I would have run forever.

Now getting to Inner Mongolia is the easy part, but getting IN TO it is a carefully strategically, and patiently put together plan, that will eventually go completely bust. So be ready for anything and just try to enjoy the experience because that is why you’re there. With that said, we could easily have freaked out and been miserable. Maybe some of us were but when you are dealing with two different cultures and you are the third and everyone wants their share of the deal then, there are bound to be some hangups. I actually think it really helps to be the dumb american sometimes. Ignorant bliss.

So, while we waited and waited for who-knows-what, we ran around the hills, scattered sheep, rolled down mountains, picked flowers, contemplated the universe, and thought about using the toilet which would have to be au-natural. We watched Chinese tourists in full cowboy regalia hang on for dear lives to their pony horse’s saddles and watched the real cowboys ride their motorcycles to herd their flocks. Whose land is whose…big question. It was like a factory belt on large scale. Every 15 or so minutes a shepherd with staff, motorcycle, or sometimes horse would herd his flock of sheep, or goats through the little valley to a watering hole. Then, after a spell, he would move on through a bunch of forest like tree groupings and up the hill to the next munchable section. It was loads of fun to be right in the middle of their animal highway and the kids loved having the animals rush by them with their bahhings and bleatings.

Finally, a plan!! Not far, five minutes!!! Really???? An hour later through unknown hills and roads, a little farm house, a beautiful lake, blue sky forever, green rolling Montana landscapes, and wandering cows and a few bulls. Wow for reals!!! Set up camp….ahh! Icey cold dips in the lake were the first order of business, then “run off and get lost but watch out for the bulls” for the kids and sit back, relax, and enjoy Inner Mongolian conversation with the grownups. Our Chinese friends thought we were crazy to let our kids out of site. But the Beijing environment is so invasive that running away, way away into the freedom of space is the only medicine to cure their claustrophobia.

To top of the evening, a whole lamb sliced right down the middle, eaten only with hands and a big knife. It was all very macho. Then an evening campfire with songs and stories and smores, which our Chinese friends found to be very interesting and I could tell they loved the singing time.

After hearing other’s less then pleasant adventures, I feel like we were really lucky to have gotten away with our special camping adventure. An Inner Mongolian trip is a tightly controlled vacation aimed at milking you to the max and you ask no questions, you just do what they give you and stay where they say. Real camping is very rare because the yurts are there to bring authenticity and give you a sense of entering another world. Yes, they are fun but tightly controlled. So we were all thrilled with what we experienced. A good time, a beautiful and trying place, inexpensive and definitely worth it!!!

I think this place is Disneyland in real life. Castles, fairy tales, rides, food, and tomorrow land. I never thought of Germany or the Germans as being something I could relate to but after being here for the second time and this time just by ourselves to wander I came to the serendipitous conclusion that we really are from the same family. We both love nature, chocolate, icecream, and bread with jams and cheeses. What else does a happy family need.
We spent a whole week in Munich while Kent was at a work conference. So the kids and I just rode the subway and visited parks and museums everyday. It was fun because everyone assumed we were German and spoke to us in German even when I told them we don”t sprecken deutsch. I thought Germans were strict and fierce but everyone was so friendly and helpful. The kids decided that they wanted to live in Germany and I don’t blame them.
After Munich we visited Neuschwanstein castle and a beautiful church way out in the country. Then off we went back in time to medieval Rottenburg. This was a place of magic…… Our own corner of the castle wall with its private church yard and situated 90 feet high safe from enemy intruders. All to ourselves with spring wild flowers and wild grasses underfoot and grand wooden gates with gruesome gargoyle knockers. No one but us to share the whole place, except the little granny in durndle to show us our rooms–cackle cackle. We felt a little bit like Hansel and Gretel hoping not to get eaten by next day. No worries I think but we did have our own chef to prepare what ever we wanted for breakfast, besides all the fruits and berries and yogurts and sausages and cheeses and juices and hot chocolate and…PASTRIES! Were they fattening us up for the kill?
To keep us from slinking into slumber we walked the coblestone streets, peering into antique diamond shaped windows of stores selling quaint old school wooden toys and and traditional German treats. The kids loved visiting the torture museum and Anthea loved the flower boxes in every porch, doorway, and windowsill. We loved our big breakfasts, our bread and sausage lunches, and ice cream cone dinners. Gelatos everywhere for a buck. I am telling you it was all pure magic!!

So you think that you have seen an awesome fireworks display in the US, right?  Well guess again..

Stadium of Fire eat your heart out.  Beijing and the rest of China seems to lose all sense of sanity when it comes to pyrotechnics.  Everyone is buying fireworks – and no, these aren’t these little dinky spinners or bottle rocket guys that we used to get in Wyoming.  These are boxes that you have to lift with both arms, with a massive fuse, that when lit, sends a sequence of MANY fireworks a hundred feet in the air. And EVERYBODY is doing it.  Not just in open places, but in the middle of the street with the exploding sparks hitting the apartment building on both sides.  Nothing like this could be seen in the US, because it would never be allowed.

But it is absolutely something to experience.  These videos can’t capture what we experienced on the night of February 2, 2011 (Chinese Lunar New Year Eve), but it might give you a taste of what we saw…