Trip Ideas By Activity
There are so many ways to vacation with your children.
City explorations, museum sleepovers, condo-style rentals, road trips, mountain and lake cabins, beaches, cruises, and all-inclusive vacations stretch budgets. Resorts run the gamut from moderate to pricey. Staying midweek or during shoulder season saves money.
Dream trips—African safaris, Galapagos treks, polar bear watches—deliver the thrill of wildlife encounters but at a hefty price. Farmstays, state and national parks, and hikes through Costa Rican rain forests let you enjoy animal encounters at a fraction of the cost.
Time travel fascinates kids. At living history parks, march with the militia and meet pioneers. In Europe, tour centuries-old castles, climb atop medieval walls, and stroll streets laced with 18th-century buildings. Go back millions of years to the dinosaur era. Satisfy your kids’ curiosity by going on a dinosaur dig, walking in dinosaur footprints, and ogling fossils of these fierce critters in museums.
Build sandcastles at the beach, canoe and fish at a lake, get tossed, twirled, and dropped on rollercoasters at an amusement, ski downhill, or snowshoe through snowy woods.
Stay overnight, for a few days, or a week. Plan carefully, allow for spontaneity, know that things will go awry, and maintain your sense of humor. Have fun.
Shopping in Shanghai and Beijing, China
Great Family Vacations||by Candyce H. StapenCategories: Adventures, Asia Destinations, Destinations, Family Travel Tips, Trip IdeasFor those who consider shopping a trip essential, China is magic. The vendors at Shanghai’s and Beijing’s markets hawk everything—tea pots, Buddhas, pearl necklaces, scarves, jade bracelets, cheap watches, “designer bags,” silk shawls and more.
But you need to know where to look and how to shop.
And if you want to buy clothing—and that includes knock-off designer and name brand goods– then you must get over the size difference. My 25-year-old daughter Alissa, wears a two or a four in the U.S., but she could wriggle only into pants marked “large.” I am a size six or an eight (okay, more often an eight). When I examined a silk robe marked “medium,” the saleslady ran over to me, pulled the garment out of my hands, shouting “No, no, no. Chinese sizes. You– extra, extra large.” It felt like something out of a shopping nightmare.
The saleswoman, however undiplomatic, was correct. Despite the extra, extra large label, I purchased the robe at $45 since a similar one in a department store near me sold for $160. My daughter’s pants: $7; however, the chances of those being real North Face are slim to none. However, at $7 the pants were perfect for yet another bicycle trek.
We found the best buys on uniquely Chinese items to be those made from silk. In Shanghai, start at the Jiangnan Silk Shopping Center, Yu Gardens Bazaar. Since bargaining is forbidden at this government run store, come here to assess quality, prices, and sizes.
My son found a king size, hand-spun silk duvet as well as a silk duvet cover with a traditional dragon medallion print. Total cost for the two items: $210. In the U.S the duvet cover alone would have been $800 or more.
China is getting known for its cultured pearls. In Beijing, a popular place to purchase pearls is at the Hongqiao Market, not far from the Temple of Heaven. We headed here for what we were assured were good quality pearl shops on the top floor, but we never made it passed the clothing on the second and third floors.
At the Hongqiao Market, shopping is a contact sport not for the faint-hearted. Vendors grabbed us, shoving pocketbooks, shirts and cheap watches in our faces. The sellers yelled one price to us and after we walked away, cut that by as much as 80%. My son found a leather jacket and my daughter and I discovered a teenage vendor selling beautiful silk shawls who did not harass us. We purchased several for holiday presents. My husband couldn’t handle the hollering so he sat in a chair on the ground floor and pretended to be deaf. In Shanghai we made it to the Jinhao Pearl Village recommended by my Asia Transpacific Journeys’ guide. After the store manager gave us a lesson in judging pearls, I purchased a double strand of black pearls from the Yangtze River for $350. A similar looking piece at a jewelry store in D.C. was tagged at $1200. Unless you are an expert, you really don’t know what you bought. So don’t spend more than you can afford and buy the piece if you like it. Jinhao Pearl Village has four locations in Shanghai.
Both Beijing and Shanghai have famous shopping streets. Beijing is known for Wangfujing Street, part of which is a wide pedestrian area. Along with stores and eateries, the street has a shopping mall where we found authentic Beijing Olympics 2008 hats, T-shirts and other souvenir.
Food is fascinating in China. The Wangfujing Snack Street intersects the main shopping area. We watched as locals bought skewers of fried starfish, scorpions, cicadas and other critters for munching. In Shanghai, each day nearly 20,000 people walk along Nanjing Road, whose pedestrian only section stretches for three miles. On the east side find the trendy, teen centered shops and on the west side, the more classic European name brands. Not everything sold here is less costly than in the U.S. and some items are certainly knock-offs or of poor quality.
Be careful: Along Nanjing Road young men offer to sell you watches at very special prices. All you have to do is follow them. Don’t. Invariably, they lead you down a side street where you may be robbed.
Hiking China’s Great Wall
Great Family Vacations||by Candyce H. StapenCategories: Adventures, Asia Destinations, City and Cultural Vacations, Cruises & Resorts, Historic, More Lodging, Trip IdeasAt Mutianyu, about 56 miles north of Beijing, the Yan Mountains appear as a series of dramatic crests and the Great Wall’s ancient stones snake their way up and down the green ridge tops. The ramparts, dotted with watch towers in this section, form a path between the peaks.
At times for brief stretches it’s just us–my husband, two children and I– hiking.
For the first time in days of exploring Beijing, we hear the wind in the trees as well as chirping birds.
Andy, our guide, is right. It’s worth the nearly two-hour drive to explore here instead of at Badaling, the most visited section. However, there’s a gauntlet of vendors to get by before entering the cable car that lifts us to the wall. As we walk by the merchants wave us over, yelling “good price for you.” They’re hawking cherries, hats, tablecloths and T-shirts. Even the faux Mongol warrior and his camel posing for photos try to snare us.
But by the time we climb the steps to the ramparts and walk through the lookout tower, we see only a few other hikers. This is a good place to start on a day outing along the Great Wall. From here in about a third of a mile, the path climbs steeply uphill to the next ridge.
A Chinese sentry pacing out his watch hundreds of years ago savored much the same view as we enjoy–except for the haze, of course,—a result of Beijing’s pollution. Blue sky images of the Great Wall, we learn, are either rare or Photo Shopped. Beijing, gearing up for the summer Olympics, is a fascinating if frustrating city. Traffic swarms, main avenues stretch ten lanes wide, hordes of bicyclists, many with children propped on the handlebars, dart around parked trucks, and the air tastes acrid, a result of the ever-present pollution.
With 11 million people and an urban sprawl covering 10,450-square miles, Beijing initially overwhelms us. Think Manhattan (about 23 square miles) multiplied 400 times—taller skyscrapers, denser crowds, a constant stream of buses spewing exhaust, few tree-shaded sidewalks plus an-ever present, eye-burning grit. Connecting to Beijing requires work.
That’s why we’re glad we chose a guide, private car and driver for our 12-day family trip arranged by Asia Transpacific Journeys. Not only do we gain freedom from getting lost in Beijing’s endless traffic, but we find out about the culture from a local. The favorable exchange rate of 7.3 Yuan to the U.S. dollar makes the splurge more affordable.
A good place to stay in Beijing is the Raffles Hotel. Well-located a block away from the pedestrian shopping street Wangfujing and not far from the Forbidden City, the hotel includes the façade and marble lobby of the former 1900s Peking Hotel plus a newer wing.
The property, on Conde Nast Traveler’s Gold list, offers over-sized rooms, an indoor pool and work-out facility, plus exceptional service. The business center provides laptops as well as snacks and in-room massages are available. After a long day of walking, treat yourself to the 45-minute foot massage for about $30.
Hiking China’s Dragon Spine Rice Terraces
Great Family Vacations||by Candyce H. StapenCategories: Adventures, Asia Destinations, City and Cultural Vacations, Cruises & Resorts, Family, Historic, Nature Vacations, Trip IdeasWhile Beijing mixes modern skyscrapers with ancient icons such as the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace, the Chinese countryside in the Longji region delivers natural scenes of legendary beauty as well as a chance to see how traditional people live.
For hundreds of years the Zhuang and Yao people have built mud banks into the side of the steep mountains to create the Longji rice fields known as the Dragon Spine Rice Terraces. The tiered gardens follow the shape of the slopes, creating a dramatic landscape of undulating curves, suggestive of the pointy ridges on the mythic beast’s back.
To reach the Li-An Lodge in the village of Ping An, where we are staying, we must walk 30-minutes uphill.
There are no roads. Sherpas—tiny women with large woven baskets on their backs—meet us at the bottom of the mountain and insist on carrying our luggage uphill.
In the morning we hike the slopes. The mist forms a band of low clouds hanging over the peaks and butterflies follow us uphill. Walking here makes us feel as if we have entered an ever-changing, three-dimensional sculpture of outsized proportions and beauty.
Along the slopes we encounter farmers tilling the soil with water buffalos and carefully planting seedlings by hand. Another day we meet Yao women from a nearby village. Known for their beautiful, long hair, they smilingly agree to unwind their tight braids to reveal their Rapunzel length locks.
Higher up the mountain, the soft gurgling sound becomes louder as we near the spot where water floods each terrace, spilling onto the plots beneath. From the ridgetops, the fields float below us. In early June they appear as a quilt of soft brown mud and new green shoots. By October, the mountains blaze with yellow as the rice is ready to harvest. Li An Lodge is a four-level, traditional style cedar wood building like the Zhuang houses that hug the mountainside. The owner, Keren Su, a photographer in Seattle, WA, who grew up in China, also operates China Span, a tour company. He designed the property to blend with the local homes.
“Before the Cultural Revolution,“ says Keren Su, “I had an ambition to be an architect, but the Cultural Revolution destroyed my dream. I was sent to northeast China to a labor camp to cut down trees to make more fields to plant. All stupid things.”
In designing the lodge, both the exterior and the interior, Keren Su fulfilled his goal to create a dwelling as well as to preserve the style of the farmers’ houses that were being torn down. Inside Keren Su mixes western creature comforts such as private bathrooms, queen-size beds and contemporary furnishings with Chinese antiques, local items and his photographs of the region.
Each guest room has a different theme. In the Harvest room, a grind stone serves as part of a desk, a sculpture of a pumpkin sits atop a bureau and a pole employed once employed by farmers to carry baskets of goods hangs from a wall. In the Melody room ancient bronze bells and an Imperial musical score hang on the wall and the Celadon room, which has one of the best views of the terraced fields, displays a collection of celadon vases.
Although the food is average, the staff is friendly and the views, magical. Longji’s Dragon Spine Rice Terraces are one of the most memorable places we visit in China and the Li An Lodge serves as a welcome spot from which to enjoy this dramatic setting.
Asia Transpacific Journeys, the company that booked our custom tour of China, suggested the Li An Lodge and the Dragon Spine Rice Terraces, when we told them that we wanted to experience the countryside. The agency offers group departures as well.