What another amazing “Staycation” in Beijing as we continue to balance the desire to hop on an airplane and travel during the kids school breaks with staying put and exploring the city we live in. There is sooooo much to see and do around Beijing and it’s been such a blast uncovering more and more about the culture in which we currently live. After some back to back to back travels, we decided Spring Break was a great time to stay put and enjoy this beautiful spring weather while exploring Beijing. So let’s do this!
In Love with Beijing Springtime!
One thing I will add since it did fall over spring break but was really just me cashing in on a Christmas gift was a super cool Tea Market Tour through The Hutong. This is a great tour company based in Beijing that does some various culinary & cultural experiences both at their house in a local Hutong as well as throughout the city. This is the 2nd part of my 2 part Christmas Gift of learning more about Chinese Tea. My first session was based at their house where I sat and learned from Sophia all about the 6 different types of Chinese Loos Leaf Tea: Green, Yellow, White, Oolong, Black, and Dark/Fermented. In that class I was introduced to the basics of each type, was able to sample each kind, and get to know the culture of a proper Chinese Tea experience setup on a table. It was super cool. This tour I just went on was at an actual Wholesale Tea Market where a group of us, led by our fearless leader Sophia, visited 3 different tea shops within the market as well as strolled around shops selling tea accessories. What a cool experience- sitting at a table surrounding the tea shop owner who guided us through the sampling of different teas. The tea was gorgeous, and we also got to buy some of whatever we liked as well. After about 3 hours of sipping tea, I felt like I was floating- haha! A weird combo of feeling super relaxed in my body while feeling super alert in my mind…..Loved every minute and continue to learn more and acquire more of a taste of different Chinese tea. I would say my favorites, in general, are Oolong, White, and Green. Now, within each category can be quite different tastes depending on where the tea was harvested and how. Pretty fascinating…..especially for a die hard coffee fanatic- lol!
A tea setting from my first class with The Hutong learning about Chinese Teas
Powerpoint on point!
Our First Stop…..loved this guy’s setup. The Tea Tables are so amazing to me….have drains and everything. And each has its own “pet”….this guy has a big frog!
The Beauty of Green Tea
Saw this guy in the hallway making his own tea bags!! So cool
Pu’er tea bricks!
This kind of a place is dangerous to me. I really don’t “need” any of it but it’s all so beautiful, haha!
Our tea tasting tour crew!
Another unexpected Spring Break experience was Easter!!! Now, this looks NOTHING like Easter back in the states…..but alas we created our own tradition and the kids enjoyed their “baskets”. We spent the day brunching at our favorite local spot Jamaica Blue, and then took a car ride out to a park on the 6th ring road that welcomes dogs (many parks int he city do not) and Wilson got to run around while we strolled and enjoyed the spring air. For dinner we put on fancier Easter outfits and indulged at our new favorite hole in the wall Mexican taco restaurant- Las Musas Taqueria, in Sanlitun. YUM!
Happy Easter everyone!
Easter Hike out by the 6th ring round
We stumbled upon many a man standing in a tree looking out at the river….fishing? No lines….observing? IDK. Provided some good laughs though.
Easter Dinner at Las Musas!
Love this little family of mine.
Ok now on to one of the stars of the show…..UNIVERSAL STUDIOS BEIJING!! We have been anticipating this day for a long time, lol! Although there are 2 hotels on sight, we decided to just make it a day trip, easier with the dog at home….plus only 35 minutes drive from our apartment, amazing! We loved every bit of this crazy day. The rides, the eats, the people watching……almost felt like we were in America (almost). hahahaha- the funniest part was Ava realizing while on the Harry Potter ride, that it was all dubbed over to be in Chinese, lolol!! Still such a great day riding alllllll the rides, and especially the crazy scary rollercoaster- Decepticoaster. We all got a little queasy after that one – proud of the kids bravery (and let’s be honest, for me and David too!). Also worth noting that we did add on the “express pass” that we could use 1 time per ride, which although was a hefty price tag, totally worth the splurge to not wait in super long rides. They also have an app so you can track wait times at each place.
Yes we did in fact stand out like sore thumbs.
Harry Potter World!
Jurassic World- a family fav!
Transformer Land!
We survived the craziest rollercoaster we’ve ever been on!
Kung Fu Panda World!
Minion Land!
Their Joy!!!
Faces of fear.
Our next BIG adventure, without argument the most breathtaking, was our “Wild Wall” hike. We hired Dom from Our Beijing (we had taken his eBike Hutong tour back on fall break) to take us 4, plus our dog Wilson, on a hike to the Great Wall of China! This portion of the wall, called Panlongshan, (or Dragon Mountain) is not a restored and tourist part of the wall, thus the name “wild wall”. We both brought our dogs and enjoyed the most amazing hike along the old ruins of this section of the wall. The kids did so great, and I could not believe Wilson did it! It was about a 3.5 mile hike, taking around 2+ hours, including some water and snack breaks at the famous 24 eye Tower. The scenery surrounding us was just beautiful, with tress just starting to blossom and turn green. We only ran into 3 other small groups so again, not touristy, and so peaceful. Hiking has quickly become our family’s favorite thing to do together- being outside in fresh air, moving our bodies, having awesome conversations…..these are the days we can’t get back!! The drive was about 2 hours so again not super close as other parts of the wall, but definitely doable for a day trip. Highly recommend, and of course always have a great time with Dom! I will say we asked for a kid & dog friendly hike and Dom delivered! However, I can also safely say that the kids could do an even harder trek….but maybe leave Wilson behind, lol!
Let’s do this hike!
So fun to hike through al the old watch towers
Spring breaking through at the Great Wall of China!
Wilson did so great- he was dirty beyond belief but man he was a champ!
Just mesmerizing!
Chinese dumplings at the wall!
Boys continue to be boys
Quickly becoming our family’s happy place!! The Great Wall of China
She wanted a pic solo for her “social” LOLOL
Our kiddos and pup just running along the Great Wall, no biggy
A super cool and random huge playground at the foot of the trailhead
Our most delicious Spring Break experience was our Hutong Evening walking Food Tour, led through the amazing Lost Plate Tour Group, who we had also used back in Chengdu for a food tour there. We knew we would enjoy it because we have once again picked a tour company we knew was awesome. And they did not disappoint. It’s so fun at the Lost Plate Food Tours- we all meet at a subway stop, and this time our group was 10 people total. We are always the only ones bringing kids, but I love that because our kids are learning not only to stretch their culinary knowledge by trying things they never would otherwise, but also conversing with adults from all parts of the world. It’s so cool. Lost Plate always supplies you with both alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages for you throughout the tour. So fun! We stopped at 4 unbelievable hole in the wall local establishments in hutongs, servings everything from Chinese style “tapas” plates, to noodles, to meat buns, to a variation of hot pot. The challenge is to pace yourself otherwise you will never be able to eat another bite by the last stop- haha! And they always end the tour at a local watering hole- this time a Hutong Brewery for a beer. Loved this tour so much!!
As we enter a Hutong…..and the sun sets.
Crazy hol ein the wall- amazing tapas and ambiance inside!
YUMMY
haha crazy little nook
Next stop- Beijing Noodles!
HUGE hit!
3rd Stop….a variation of Chinese Hot Pot
YUM
Kiddos are such great adventurers!
Street scenes!
the guys
Final food stop….
Meat Buns! so yummy
The final stop- brewery!
Super cool courtyard ambiance. Def need to go back . Kids loved their sodas and they had a great not too sweet cider for me~
A belated birthed gift to Mac from all the grandparents, and something we just could not wait to do as a family, was to attend a Pro Football (ahem, soccer) match…..Beijing Guoan’s football club is right here in the city, in fact the stadium is only about a 30 minute walk from our place, so nice! We have learned a lot about ticketing, and how it’s done. For instance, they only opens tickets to the general public (non season ticket holders) 3 days before the event- isn’t that crazy!?! Anyway, David’s admin was amazing and helping us get tickets for the event and she and her husband, who are season ticket holders, even met us early at the gates to help us through and to find our seats. The game (sorry, “match”) was against Shanghai, who apparently won the championship last season. We ended up with a tie- 2-2, so I’d say we did pretty good! We heard that 53,000 people were in attendance! Such a crazy fun atmosphere and fun time for all. We will definitely be back!! Oh, and we did walk early and grab a pizza at a place near the stadium we heard offers gluten free crusts- GungHo Pizza. It was AMAZING. Highly recommend- atmosphere, food, drinks, loved this experience!
We are so excited!
No clue but had to snap a picture!
The Guoan mascot!
This Stadium was HUGE
The opposing team gets a section and they put tons of security in a parimeter around them to diffuse any possible fights. Side note- they also do NOT sell alcohol in the stadium, to help prevent fights.
TEAM GREEN!
Mac loved every bit of this!
That’s a wrap!
So yea, those are our “Spring Break Highlights”….but what else did we do? Well, we had lots of down time and also some work. We still had baseball practices and piano lessons……I finally learned how to scan one of the million bicycles around town available to rent and ride to and from instead of getting a Didi (for basically pennies). We had numerous playdates/hangouts with other friends who stuck close to home, we had sleepovers, we took many city walks with Wilson, we stopped and admired all the spring blossoms. Side note, EVERYONE here stops and literally smells the roses. The amount of people I have witnessed just stopping and taking pictures of all the blooming trees is astounding. I would never see people doing this in the states. Kind of amazing, the appreciation of springtime. The end of winter, the beginning of spring. I do have to admit, it is truly beautiful and just smells amazing. But it is sooooo different to see everyone here literally slowing down to take picture after picture of flowers blooming. A rebirth. An awakening. Like Easter.
Me braving the Beijing crazy drivers and roads on my first bike ride! I used the Alipay bikes but there are also Meituan and Didi bikes to rent. My roundtrip cost 3RMB, that’s about $0.40 USD, haha.
Blooms around the city
I am a sucker for a tulip!
Sleepover girls dragging me shopping, lol!
Fun at Chaoyang Park!
The Central Park crew!!
Thanks for reading friends!
xo,
Kimbra
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