Beijing 44 Years Later

Returning to China

So here is a random fact about me - my major in college was East Asian Studies and Languages, specifically Chinese. After four years of high school German and Spanish, I chose Rutgers University because it had a large language program. During my freshman year, I lived in the German House, where we were supposed to always speak German. When I saw that Rutgers also offered Chinese, I thought it would be an interesting challenge. So yes, I took three languages each semester for my first two years of college.

I always intended to study in another country during my junior year, but I met my future husband during a college ski trip in my freshman year, so I decided to do an intensive summer program instead. I showed my Chinese professor a brochure for a summer program at Middlebury College in Vermont. He told me that for that price I could go to China - and he was right!

In 1982, I traveled with the American Institute for Foreign Study to Tokyo, Shanghai, Suzhou and Nanjing, then spent six weeks in Beijing at the Beijing Foreign Language Institute.

After college, I rarely spoke Chinese, except for little snippets at Chinese restaurants. I always hoped I would return someday. In 2019, I even talked about putting together a group trip for 2022 or 2023 that would include Tokyo during cherry blossom season, Tokyo Disney, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong Disney, followed by a Mekong River cruise to see Angkor Wat. Then the world stopped in 2020, and those plans were never realized.

In February of this year, I received an email from Ensemble, the consortium that my travel agency belongs to, saying that I had been recognized as a Rising Star and invited to join an exclusive group trip called Beyond. They planned to reveal the destination during a virtual meeting ten days later. In 2024, the Beyond trip went to the French Open. In 2025, the group went to Tuscany and attended an Andrea Bocelli concert in his hometown. Where in the world were we going?

The day before the announcement, a FedEx envelope arrived from Ensemble. Inside was the news that we were going to China! The eight-day hosted trip included three nights in Beijing, a three-night Yangtze River cruise, pandas and two nights in Shanghai. Literally a dream come true.

The invitation allowed me to bring a guest. I casually asked my daughter Alyx if she was interested, but I did not expect an answer. About a week later, she asked if I had been serious. I assured her that I was, and she said that she and her husband had talked about it and agreed that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Since the hosted trip ended in Shanghai on August 25, where else would I want to spend my August 26 birthday but Shanghai Disneyland? And since we were already all the way over there, it made sense to stop in Hong Kong for its Disney park on the way home too!

I started practicing Chinese with Duolingo and had a 159-day streak before we left. I actually remembered more of the language (spoken and written) than I expected.

There were a few complications to prepare for our trip. A relatively recent change is that if you are spending 240 hours or less in China, you don't need a visa. But because we were arriving early and extending our trip, we were going to exceed that time. We applied for visas and sent in our passports and they came back in June with the visa pages added.

And then there was the weather. While I travel a lot, I prefer to stay home during the summer. It is too hot, too crowded and too expensive. But I did not choose the dates, so I had to strategize. With my Multiple Sclerosis, heat is my enemy. I packed Columbia sun dresses made from cool-wicking material, a large neck fan with several speeds and a portable umbrella with UV protection.

And just to add some more challenges, four weeks before the trip, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. That is a separate journal, but it was a blessing that my medical team agreed I could still take the trip and delay the start of treatment until I returned. I knew what would be waiting for me when I got home, but it was also a blessing not to talk or think about it as much for a couple of weeks.

Getting to Beijing

Our first flight left Denver at 7 a.m., so Alyx and I spent the night at a hotel near the airport. The flights were not fun - two and a half hours to Los Angeles, a three-hour layover, a 13-hour flight to Shanghai, a five-and-a-half-hour layover, and then a final flight landing in Beijing at 11:41 p.m. local time.

We had thought the long layover in Shanghai would be rough because we would be so tired. It was much rougher than we could have imagined.

When we got off the plane, someone from the airline was there to guide connecting passengers. I recognized one of the names on the list - Matt from AmaWaterways, who was traveling with his mom. We went through the airport together until security stopped me. My boarding pass would not load in the app, so they could not let me through.

I have never had such a frustrating airport experience. It took more than three and a half hours for me to get a boarding pass., being bounced back and forthbetween Delta, China Eastern, ans security. We even woke Trevor (my son and assistant) up to help because we could not call Delta's 800# from China. We still do not know what finally solved it - Trevor on the phone, Alyx chatting through the app, or me finding someone at the service desk who could help - but I finally had my golden ticket: a boarding pass!

By the time we got through security and grabbed a quick bite, we reached the gate about 20 minutes before boarding began. Matt looked relieved when he saw us walking down the aisle of the plane. We were equally relieved to see my suitcase at the Beijing airport. With all the confusion in Shanghai, we had not been sure it would make it. We found the driver I had reserved and headed for the hotel.

We were staying at the China World Summit Wing for the three nights with Ensemble, and I had added the extra night so we would not have to change hotels or rooms. We got into bed around 1 a.m. after being awake for 30.5 hours. We had napped off and on during the flights, but we were very happy to see that bed.

Tuesday August 18 Temple of Heaven

We set the alarm for 9:30 so we could make it to breakfast before they closed, and so we could start adjusting to the 14-hour time difference. That morning, Alyx realized she was missing two things: an AirTag that had been in her checked bag and still showed as being at the Shanghai airport, and her wallet with her one credit card.

After breakfast, we decided to visit the Temple of Heaven because it was not included in the Beyond itinerary. We had been told that everyone in China uses the Alipay app for mobile payments, Didi Travel (their "Uber"), currency conversion, and lots more. Didi Travel would not work for me because I could not receive the confirmation text on my Google Voice number, so Alyx ordered the ride.

The Temple of Heaven was a bit different than I remembered and much more crowded. I had come prepared for the heat with the sun dress, neck fan and UV umbrella. I needed all of them and was still dripping in sweat.

Alyx had brought two little stuffed animals that the boys had given her so she could photograph them at different places. As we headed toward the last part of the park, she realized she no longer had them. We frantically retraced our steps but sadly never found them.

While we were at the Temple of Heaven, around 4pm I received a WeChat (the Chinese version of text messaging) message saying there was an Ensemble welcome gathering at 4:15 p.m. It had not appeared on our schedule before, so we missed it.

Alyx and her husband Nick had bought the little toys in Belgium the year before. She found a store in a mall that might sell replacements, so we took another Didi. The store did not have them. When we went back outside to request a ride to the hotel, I suddenly realized where we were.

We were on the street beside the Beijing Hotel, where my friends and I had frequently stopped for a cold drink in 1982. The hotel was still there, although it was closed. This was also the street where I bought my chop - the stamp with my Chinese name - and several Chinese-language books. It looked nothing like it had then. In 1982, it was a smaller street lined with little shops. Now it is a large shopping area filled with brand names we recognized, and looked more like Times Square.

Wednesday August 19 Forbidden City and Hutong

Wednesday was the first day of the official Beyond itinerary. Each day included several excursion choices, and I had selected ours as soon as they were announced: the Forbidden City, lunch at Hua's Restaurant and a visit to a hutong, one of Beijing's traditional neighborhoods.

We had to meet in the lobby at 7:30 a.m., which meant eating breakfast first. Early start! On the bus, our Century Cruises guides shared information about Beijing and the Forbidden City. They told us that almost all vehicles are electric and described stations that replace an electric vehicle battery in about three minutes. They also told us Beijing has about 21 million residents and that the Forbidden City, which once received as many as 80,000 visitors a day, now limits attendance to less than half of that.

I had pictured entering the Forbidden City the same way I did in 1982, from Tiananmen Square. Instead, the bus dropped us on a street to the side and we walked around to the entrance. We had no view of the square, which is now a contained area requiring its own security screening.

We entered the enormous courtyard I remembered, but my old photographs show a relatively quiet space. This time it was filled with people and security queues.

Just inside, our guide pointed us toward the toilets: squat toilets with no toilet paper. I was prepared with packets of tissues. Squatting brought back plenty of memories. It is a little harder now than it was when I was 18, but there was not much choice - lol.

We continued through the courtyards and deeper into the palace. At each building, we either could not see inside or could only stand at the entrance and peek in. In 1982, I had been able to enter more of them.

We also saw many women and little girls wearing traditional costumes. Evidently, it is popular to rent the clothing, have hair and makeup done, and then visit the ancient sites for photographs. The buildings themselves were going through renovation, so their colors were much more vibrant than in my old photographs.

We walked back to our buses and they took us to Hua's Restaurant, reportedly one of the best in Beijing. The entrance wall was filled with photographs of famous people who had eaten there. Thankfully, the restrooms offered both squat toilets and regular toilets.

Lunch was great! Traditional Chinese dishes were served family style, and the food just kept coming. Our guides explained each dish, and so much of it felt familiar. The only things I skipped were the spicy dishes. I had come prepared - bu la means not spicy! :-)

After lunch, we visited a hutong. These neighborhoods once filled Beijing by the thousands, but only several hundred remain and they are protected historic areas. We walked through the neighborhood to a multigenerational family home. The family actually owns the land, and it is worth millions.

They showed us how to make dumplings and then served them with vinegar. They were delicious. I had forgotten how good dumplings taste with vinegar! If only we had not just eaten such a huge lunch, we would have enjoyed them even more.

We then walked to an area near a bell tower, where a man demonstrated tricks with what looked like a large yo-yo and a rope. He invited people to try it, but only a couple people did.

Back at the hotel, we changed and returned to the buses at 5:45 p.m. Somehow, we were assigned to the last bus to leave. We hit heavy traffic and did not arrive at Longfu Temple until almost 7 p.m. The Temple was on the rooftop, and there was a small courtyard with a robotic dog, a paper-cutting activity and displays from different tourism organizations. We only had a few minutes before being told to go inside and find our assigned seats.

Alyx and I had not been seated together, but we were able to swap. There were presentations and speeches from Chinese officials before we were finally invited to the buffet, which offered mostly Western food and very few Chinese dishes. After we ate, we noticed some tables were already partly empty, so we found a bus back to the hotel.

Thursday August 20 Great Wall and Imperial Dinner

Thursday began with another early breakfast and a 7:30 a.m. meeting time. Our choice for the day was the Great Wall at Badaling, another place I had visited in 1982 that is now completely different. We were assigned to buses again, so we could not ride with our friends, and the trip took about two hours.

Our guide explained that we would take a funicular to the south side, and handed us all VIP lanyards to wear. Most visitors either walk or take the cable car to the north side, which is where I had climbed before. We had been given VIP access to the funicular and a special area of the wall.

We went up around 10 a.m. and were told to meet at the bottom of the funicular at 11:45. In the VIP section, in the closer sections new stones had been laid so it was easier to walk on. You still had to watch your step, but it was nothing like the older, steep and uneven section I remembered.

I had brought a photograph of myself standing on the Great Wall in 1982 so we could recreate it. We could not match it exactly because we were visiting a different section, but the new photograph still turned out pretty well. Alyx took the 2026 photograph for me.

Alyx and I climbed a good distance together before she decided to continue farther and I stayed behind. As our meeting time approached, Alyx called and said she had made it all the way to the farthest point and was heading back. She told me later that the floor and stairs became much older and more uneven there, with steps as steep as I remembered.

We agreed that I would start back because I am a little slower and she would catch up. I realized I had forgotten to take the video I wanted, but I was afraid to backtrack because I did not want to be late. While we waited for the buses, we enjoyed popsicles shaped like the Great Wall.

We drove to lunch at the Hilton Beijing Badaling. On the return drive, we passed several of the Olympic sites from the 2008 Summer Games and 2022 Winter Games.

We did not have much time at the hotel. Dinner was at the Kairui Yuxianu Royal Cuisine Museum, and we had signed up for the Hanfu Costume Experience, for which we had to be back in the lobby at 4:40 p.m. At the restaurant, we chose our costumes and then waited while the ladies did our hair and added the headpieces.

Dinner included a show representing imperial dinners of the past, with actors, dancers, elaborate costumes and acrobats. A large group of ladies served the food throughout the performance.

Most of the food was very good, although some of it was quite different. The dish everyone talked about afterward was the sea cucumber. It looked like a giant slug. A few people in our group either tasted it or ate the whole thing. Not us!

We returned to the hotel around 10 p.m. and had to work quickly. The bags we were checking on the flight tomorrow morning needed to be outside the room by 11pm because they were being taken to the airport before our morning flight. We had been told that the weight limit was 44 pounds for our one checked bag. We finished packing at 10:59 p.m. and were about to put the bags outside when someone knocked on the door looking for them.