Traveling the world with my mom for 4th grade...

Being Blonde in Beijing 

Being blonde in Beijing is like you are a celebrity. People are constantly asking to take your picture or they are secretly taking your picture.  I didn’t get use to it at all and I was there for a week!  But I did smile and pose. 


Beijing, China is a big city with lots of cars.  Crossing the street was terrifying.  Cars don’t actually listen to the green light for people to go and people don’t listen to the green light for cars to go.  It was crazy! 


Our first day we ran into a teacher and his student. They were artist and some how we ended up going to their art exhibit and touring around the rest of the day with them. Their art was so pretty.  We bought lots of their pieces.  I got a great one from the student of a little girl and a pig.  I am the year of the pig too! She said that means I will have wealth. I want to have an art exhibit of all the things I have bought around world. Anyway, they brought us to  Tiananmen Squate but the security line took too long so we left.  They then brought us to a Hutong.  That means old house.  It was like a real little Chinese village. It was so cool.  They brought us to a restaurant and we got to try some very interesting things. They even brought us to a Chinese doctor. He felt out pulse and looked at our tongue. Mommy had the most problems.  I had none! Yea! That night we went to a really really cool, I couldn’t look away, Kung Fo show.  I don’t think I blinked 3 times the whole night!  It explained how Kung Fo started and what Kung of is.  It isn’t just fighting. It is so much.  It is a martial art that is peaceful and meditating but also deadly!



Day 2 was the Forbidden City.  That is the Emporors’ house. If you enter from the side, you skip the 2 hour security line! I have never seen security lines like they have in China.  Chinese emporerors had a lot of space.  It was beautiful and so big!  Lots of details. Everything was pretty and guess what!? The sewarge covers were the same as my daddy’s ring! Funny, right?! I tried to peak through one of the closed doors, but couldn’t see anything. On our walk home, we saw so many great things.  We saw actupuncture offices, cool people, shops and yummy desserts.  Walking around is very interesting in Beijing.

We went to the Great Wall of China the next day.  It is a great adventure that you shouldn’t miss. It was so cold but so fun.  It was so cold, we saw a frozen waterfall!!! We went up to the wall by a ski lift.  Really cold too. And we went down in a tobogen. It was so fun and it took us 10 minutes to go all the way down.  You could go as fast as you want.  I forgot how cold it was because it was so fun.  But back to the Wall.  We got their first and had the Wall all to ourselves which was awesome. We got to explore the watchtowers and pretend we were soldiers picking our place to sleep. I picked the best one because it was like a fireplace and I imagined I was cozy but I think they must have been so cold up there.  After the Wall, we went to a jade factory and my daddy got my a great dragon necklace. We even got to go to a tea house. We tried all kinds of teas.  Some of them were so good!!! On our way home we saw the old Olympic grounds and they had the coolest buildings! I forgot to tell you, when we were leaving the tea house, I got photo bombed by our tour guide! She was the best! 



The night market in Beijing was so much and fun.  You could eat live bugs! We didn’t. It was seahorses even! What!? Daddy drove us crazy because he took forever looking and tasting everything but the bugs.  The best thing is the sugar covered fruit. I thought I would stick my dessert on people because there was so many people shoving. There was even baby peogeons to eat. How sad is that? After all that, I stayed up late playing with my daddy. I loved that the best. 


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One of my favorite memories, besides playing with daddy, was going to this great restaurant where we cooked our own food and had so much fun.  They even gave me a present. The people we met in China were all so nice to us but the people at this restaurant were the best of all.


Next we went to Tiananmen Square.  Security is so hard.  The line is crazy.  Lots of pushing and shoving.  I loved it though because we got to see this huge meuseum filled with great things like old Chinese money and great art.  It really is just a big square with the museum of China and government building.  I had to take lots of pictures that day. My mom likes to go to places we are going to have a little bit of knowledge about what we are seeing guess what? You can not google in China. No one really even could tell us what Tiananmen Square is all about. Crazy! Anyway, for us, it was Mardi Gras night so we found a New Orleans restaurant called NOLA and they were celebrating Mardi Gras with a bunch of other people who loved New Orleans too. It was so fun!





On our last day we went to Temple of Heaven which is a really cool park. Everyone hangs out and plays games like dominos, cards and chess. They also do tai chi and we did too.  We met a tai chi master who taught us a little about the martial art.  It was fun to watch mommy and daddy do it.  


China was amazing and I loved it.

Well, bye!!!! Thank you for checking out my blog. 

6 Comments

  1. Sandra Latino

    I am sorry that I missed this post but I am glad I went back and read it because it certainly was very interesting. I would love to visit the Great Wall. It was the only man made thing that the astronauts saw from outer space. I don’t think I would eat the bugs either but I would enjoy the teas. Have fun! Love, Aunt Sandra

  2. Sheila DeMars

    Hi, Cricket. I would love to go to Tokyo one day. If I don’t get to though, you have done an excellent job of describing it to me. Almost your birthday Love, Aunt Sheila

  3. Sheila DeMars

    Hi Crucket. You adventures are awesome. Hope you publish them when you are finished. It’s almost your 10th BIRTHDAY.

    • Cricket

      Thank you!!

  4. G

    Hi Cricket,
    What a spectacular place to stay a week. I was glad to see the pictures of the Great Wall and can imagine how lonely the guards must have been on their watch. Sounds like fun to take a toboggan down.
    If memory serves me, Tiananment Squre was highlighted in the late 80’s by students protesting the current form of government. I have always wanted to stand in that square. Thank you for such a vivid picture with words.
    Two things that stayed in my mind–scorpions and the crowds.
    You were a real trooper to accommodate the people that wanted a picture with you. I can just see that big smile. Happy you got to share China with Daddy and Mommy together. Graff family rocks😍

  5. Annie Heumann

    Hi, Cricket,
    Wow! China sounds amazing! I know having your dad there made it extra-special. Your experience at the Great Wall is unbelievable. Leave it to the Graffs to find a Mardi Gras celebration (with coconuts, no less) in China. Thanks so much for taking the time to share your travel experiences with us…Heidi and I wake up to your Instagram pics and comments every day…like the morning news😍
    I can hardly wait for the Cricket travel collection to be on display in New Orleans! In the meantime, I’ll see you in your next city, country, continent, hemisphere, planet🌎…
    Hugs,
    Annie

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