April 7, 2019 Jeju Island, Korea

Today we visit Jeju Island in Korea. It is the largest  island in Korea contains the  World Heritage Site Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeju_Island

It is visited mainly by Koreans for vacation and not too much by tourists. We were warned there were not too many English speaking people.

Our guide was Kim and he explained we were going to Yongduam Park to see the Dragon Rock, the Folklore and Natural History Museum and to a local farmers market.

The highlight of the park is the Dragon's head. It is an approximately 500 step walk from the parking lot.

http://www.passportchop.com/asia/south-korea/jeju-yongduam-dragon-rock/

There was a beautiful overlook of the park where we all stopped for photos.

After the visit to the Dragon's Head we had  free time to take more photos or get a snack. We found a Dunkin donuts and stopped for a coffee and donut.

Next stop was the Folklore Museum. It was well organized and informative about life on the island.

Our last stop was at a farmer's market/central market in town. Kim never told us the name of the town so I cannot write it here.

He gave us about an hour to wander through the market and shop and have a snack.

After the visit we all boarded the coach to go back to the ship.

We had lunch on board and then later we went to the hot tub for a soak.

Very nice and relaxing day.


NOTE- If you enjoy reading my blogs please post a comment on this site or give me a like on Face book so I can see if anyone is reading them. Thanks!😀

April 6, 2019 A day at sea to recover from 3 days of tourism and reflection on Shanghai and Beijing

Today is a rest day at sea. The rest of our itinerary will be less hectic in pace and activities.

We enjoyed our breakfast and then wandered about the ship taking in some presentations and then went into the hot tub in the afternoon.

Lunch and dinner were leisurely and then we attended the 9 pm show.

During our meals we reflected on the two cities in China we visited.

Shanghai we visited on our own and with a private guide. The day tours were less rushed as the guide accommodated our requests for longer stays at a site or a change in a place to visit.
We had time on our own to explore and since we did not want to try a taxi to go to recommended places to see we saw what we could on foot.
The weather was ok but the air pollution was strong- see my Shanghai posts for the air quality index readings.
Fortunately most places we visited had at least one English speaker to help us. I used Google Translate the rest of the time.
Reading other travelers blogs on China influenced me to get a virtual private network so we could access our emails and Facebook and Google when in the hotels

Beijing we expected to have to have limited time at each site we visited and this worked out ok. We really did not need extra time at any of the sites except at the Great Wall.

Again the pollution was prevalent causing grey skies and overcast. Fortunately it did not bother our eyes or nose.
The trips to the Great Wall, Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven were better than we expected.
Tienanmen Square was huge.  The Summer Palace was like being in the country although it is in Beijing. 

I would recommend a visit to Beijing to see these sights preferably in  small group tour or a private tour.
We enjoyed this excursion as we just had to get off the ship, get on a bus and go to Beijing. No flying on a long flight from the US to get here.

April 5, 2019 our last day in Beijing - Visit to Summer Palace and Olympic park and then back to the Celebrity Millennium

Today was our last day in Beijing. It was a short one as we only have about half a day touring and then we leave for the ship.

Breakfast was early today- 6:30-7:30 AM and we had to be at the bus at 7:30 with our carryons.

Our first visit was to  the Summer Palace. Per Charlie it is a vast property comprised of 717 acres of land.

https://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/beijing/summer.htm

We entered the park and started walking past different pavilions and palaces.  We then walked past Kunming lake to go to the Long Corridor. 

Lake Kunming

We passed the Marble Boat  which was actually a wood and stone structure that was used for parties and receptions.

After the Marble Boat we entered the Long Corridor. 

Path to the Long Corridor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Corridor.

It was built to allow the Emperor's Mother to walk through the gardens during the winter and avoid the snow.
The ceilings and

Olympic Mascots

connection points are painted with different scenes and scenes of the seasons.

The long corridor is 728 meters which is 2,388 feet - about 1/2 mile.
It was a good walk to get to the end.
We spent about 90 minutes at the garden.

Our last stop is the Olympic Park which was close by.

Charlie warned us that the wind and dust storms may come upon us and urged us to bring masks if we had any and to take photos and sight see quickly.

The park was vast and had the olympic stadium, convention center and the water cube.



There were trailers inside the park that sold food and souvenirs.

The park complex covers 680 acres.

As predicted the winds and dust came up and we got on the bus to go to lunch.

We had our last lunch with our fellow travelers and and hour later we boarded the bus at 1pm for the drive back to the ship.

Charlie announced we would have one rest stop along the way. 
The rest stop consisted of some gas pumps and bathrooms and a combo store and restaurant.

At 4 pm we arrived at the pier to join our ship. It was a bit sad to say goodbye to Charlie as he was very knowledgeable, friendly and entertaining.

However it felt good to be back on board where we could rest the next day which was a sea day.

April 4, 2019 Visit to the Great Wall and a tour of Hutong

Today we visit a section of the Great Wall of China.

Our day started with the usual early breakfast from 6:30 AM-8AM.
We were on the bus at 8:30 for the trip to the Juyongguan section of the Great Wall.

The bus trip will take a little over one hour from our hotel.

https://www.chinadiscovery.com/beijing/juyongguan-great-wall.html

Charlie gave us two hours from when the bus stopped in the parking lot. A short walk and we were near the the stairway of the wall. Most everyone stopped at the public bathrooms before going to the wall. Long lines at the handicapped/disabled toilets as there was only one in the Mens and the Womens.

There were short flights of stairs before we reached the ones to the wall. What made climbing the steps challenging was that the were not all of equal height. The steps varied in height going from short to high to medium with no pattern.

We climbed one flight and then stopped to take photos of the surrounding area and of each other. There were lots of people so we had to contend with them walking up and down the stairs as well as for space to take photos.

About an hour here we went down to the shopping area to look for souvenirs- mainly for a t shirt for me and a drawing of the wall for Sophia.

I had to go to almost all the gift shops before I found a t shirt my size - 5XL. I knew when I tried it on that it will shrink once washed but that was ok. I just wanted to wear it for photos at the wall and the rest of the day.

Shopping was difficult because there was usually only one English speaking clerk in each shop and that person was in demand because of the numerous tourists.

We boarded the bus around 12:30 to go to a restaurant for lunch. 

Part of the stop was to visit the large gift shop attached to the restaurant. The time allowed for the shopping was too long.

Now we were on the way for a visit to a Hutong.

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/a/nar/477297cd-88c5-4a3e-824b-33758d50f80b/355905


The Hutong was a traditional Chinese neighborhood that was one of many before the redevelopment of Beijing.  Our tour included a rickshaw  ride through the Hutong with a stop at a traditional house to visit a local homeowner.

We arrived at the home and was greeted by an elderly woman who told us a little about her family and life in the Hutong. 

She then showed us some artwork that was supposed to have been painted by her husband. One of our fellow travelers wanted to buy a painting and she agreed to sell it to him. He paid in US Dollars and she packed it in a cardboard tube for transport.

I thought about this later and figured she sold paintings on the side for extra money and they were not her husbands.

We got back on our rickshaws to go back to the bus. Charlie advised us before we got on the first time to tip only $2.00. The ride was pretty fast and sort of thrilling as the driver weaved aroung other rickshaws during the way back.

We got back to the hotel around 5:30 and had a rest until getting on the bus at 6:30 to go to dinner.

On way back we passed the brightly lit pedestrian mall anchored by the Apple store but we were so exhausted we decided to skip the group dinner and have dinner at the Italian Restaurant in the hotel. 
https://www.regenthotels.com/regent-beijing/dining/daccapo

The restaurant was not too crowded and quiet and we had a delicious dinner. The service was good as well as the surroundings.
We had planned to walk to the pedestrian mall which was only a block away but we were so exhausted we went to the room and to bed early. 
This was our last night in Beijing. Tomorrow we go on another tour and then back to the ship.