Adulting

Once we got back from China, we knew it was time to get back to reality and do adult things again. So that’s when we went to Incheon and rode bikes, rented a mini boat, and played in the mud. We are just so mature like that. Better yet, we decided to do all this when Mark’s parents were in town visiting so that we could show them how ready we are to become parents ourselves.

If you’ve ever looked into traveling to Korea, you may have noted flights into Incheon. Well the city itself, just west of Seoul, is relatively new and not yet overrun by tourism, traffic, and litter. It’s got plenty of freshly opened restaurants and shops as well as some lovely hotels and spacious parks. So much room for activities!

Wind in our hurrr, don't currr.

We found ourselves wandering around Central Park (yeah, I didn’t know there was one in Korea either) and quickly decided that renting a 4-seater bicycle was an excellent idea. Better yet, the bike had not one, but two bells on it so we were always prepared to alert the local pedestrians that four boisterous Americans were barreling through their peaceful park.

The same park offered mini boat rentals, so of course, we hopped on for a water adventure. The boat was much slower than expected, and for some reason it only turned left. But we still managed a relaxing self-guided tour amongst the park’s man-made islands and small exhibits of deer and bunnies in captivity.

Hope I can get my land legs back after this boat trip!

Oh, and then there was the real reason we traveled to Incheon – Mark and some of his co-workers had signed up for a 10K Spartan Race to complete together. The event involved some obstacles, some burpees, a fire pit, and a lot of mud. As a spectator it looked like fun; not sure if it was a pregnancy-friendly event, but I’m guessing the answer to that is at least a soft ‘no.’

Ever heard of the shower?

Spread 'em

Little facts that are pretty much common knowledge: Beijing is a huge city with a huge population (over 11 million). It contains many significant landmarks, buildings and historical sights.

The Bird's Nest

But for as massive of a place as Beijing, we were surprised by how spread out and spacious many areas were. Still, tourists were everywhere and would pretty much stack on top of one another just to get one inch closer to whatever monument or performance was in front of them. But with all the space available in and around the city’s sights, they could have chilled out a little more and enjoyed the comfort of a little something known to westerners as “personal space.”

And our next destination, which was just as spacious as any of Beijing’s other bustling sights, was the Olympic stadium where the 2008 games were held.

My advice if you visit this place: wear sunblock and a hat, be prepared to walk a lot, and don’t bother visiting the Water Cube unless you have a really good reason. Sure, it’s a cool place. And we can say we stood in the stands where people watched Phelps take 8 gold medals. Plus the Water Cube also contains a massive water park, which looked like great fun for children of all ages. But for the price of admission just to get in and walk around, it’s really not worth it to just see a pool.

But it's cool.

The rings aren't the only round thing in this picture

Gettin' his swole on

The Water Cube

Just pretending we're watching the Olympics and not a
bunch of workers covering up the pool for some other event.

Our final Chinese tourist stop was at the Summer Palace. We somehow decided that we hadn’t seen enough palaces and temples yet, so this final site really rounded out our vacation. Again, this was a wide-open space that demanded a lot of walking out of us. One of the tour guides milling about the entrance mentioned that place was four times the size of the Forbidden City…and that was almost the size of 180 football fields. Needless to say, we did not see every corner of the Summer Palace.

But we walked about, rented a boat, fought the current on the way back (don’t underestimate the appearance of calm-looking water!), got ripped off for Chinese theme park food, hiked a few more flights of stairs, and overall had a very enjoyable time looking at the beautiful ancient designs of all the buildings and objects at the Summer Palace.

We're going on an adventure. I'm on a bridge.

Show me some more leg!

Boats 'n hoes

Prestige. World wide. Wide. Wide.

The "Marble Boat." How does it float? Not really sure.

It was one excellent Beijing trip for the books…and now I can update you on more of our recent whereabouts and life events in Korea!

Ex-er-cise...eggs-are-sides...for bacon!

McD's was just fancy like that!

I have a dirty little secret to confess. While in China, we ate at McDonald’s more frequently in one week than we had in the past year. It was only for breakfast that we did this, but as a dietitian (my “real-world” profession) I still kind of felt like a big fat hypocrite when we were there.

What is this delightful breakfast you make, good sir?

Hot and fresh off the street!

So after discussing some local breakfast options with fellow tourists we had met at the Great Wall, we ventured away from the red and yellow sign and towards a local food cart to try the Chinese breakfast options. We found our first food cart rather quickly and after ordering we were left with just three words that kids are still using these days: Oh. Em. Gee. Whatever this pancake/egg/wafer/spice/burrito-shaped thing was we had purchased was too good to be true. Then we bought coffee and Chinese doughnuts (which, we believe, far exceed the quality of Korean doughnuts) and we headed off for more local adventures.

First plan: take the subway and go to the Temple of Heaven. Now if I have one recommendation for you, should you choose to go to Beijing, it is, take the subway! It is simple to navigate. Maps and announcements are in English and Chinese. And it usually costs less than $2.00 per trip to get to almost any destination in the city. Sure, it could be crowded at some times and you may have to re-assess what you normally consider “personal space,” but it’s still worth what little effort it takes to figure out.

An impromptu concert, apparently.

When we got inside the gates of the Temple of Heaven, but before reaching the temple itself, we encountered quite a sight. From what I perceived, it was a playground for adults. We saw a paved courtyard area filled with various pieces of built-in exercise equipment such as high bars, monkey bars, and ladders. And this place was packed. Adults of all ages were in the courtyard just working out. Have you ever seen a 60+ year old man with a 6-pack do continuous push-ups? ‘Cause I have. And outside of the circus, have you seen a person rotate around a high bar so many times you thought you might vomit? Yup, seen that too.

Do any of you bros even lift?

Well, we finally did make it to the Temple of Heaven, despite the many distractions on the way there. Kind of cool that it was built as a place to worship to heaven for a bountiful harvest. And kind of cool that it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site too.

When the local tourists want to take a picture with the American tourist, you smile and nod.

Strolling through the lovely temple grounds

Next on the agenda: find our way to the Pearl Market. This place is really just a mall with exceedingly expensive items on each floor. I don’t think I’ve ever heard “Hey lady, you want handbag? Louis Vuitton? Michael Kors?” so many times in one day. But the floor with the pearls (sorry, you do have to pass through the handbag floor to get there) was pretty great. We learned a thing or two about the qualities of pearls, picked a strand for a customized necklace, plus we grabbed a few pairs of earrings for dirt-cheap prices.

I'll bead in my happy place.

It was like a mix-n-match game! But prettier and more expensive.

I like shiny things.