A night at the Peking Opera, Beijing, China

I'm going to eat you with octopus

This week we went along to or first traditional Chinese theatre show which is a combination of music, song, mime, dance a little bit of acrobatics! The show has predominantly always been performed by men, dating back to 1790 and is based on Chinese history, folklore, and increasingly, contemporary life. As mentioned, this was our first visit and we didn't really know what to expect! 

Getting settled in and waiting for the show to start

We found the little venue relatively easily and once inside were ushered to one of the many red clothed tables. The building was very beautiful and the inside was decorated with long dark burgundy and golden yellow drapes. The large stage, which dominated when centre of the room had carefully carved and painted wood depicting faces and maybe trees? The theatre slowly begun to full and we were bought an array of 'opera snacks' to munch on. Some watermelon and prunes, with a pot of hot green tea. The venue didn't seem very touristy like we thought it might have been and in fact we were the only foreigners there.

Warrior dance! 

As the show got underway we were all greeted by a well dressed and elegant hostess who outlined the show and set the scene. 

Although we didn't understand, we got the grasp that we were going to watch a story about a King and Queen and in the end she kills him. 

We sat back and enjoyed our tea as the show got started and the colorful characters danced around on the stage. There was lots of movement, including hula hoops and the throwing of sticks! Every so often the dance would break and a singer or two would continue the story in a very high pitched song. The song was actually translated into English on the side screen but as English speakers we didn't understand a sentence and so we never really understood why the Queen killed her husband, but he sure died a dramatic death! We loved how active the audience became and would ohhhh and ahhhh at intervals. Many times the older groups would join in the songs or even shout 'buhao' (no good) at the villains.

Where has the fair maiden gone?

Come again, he said ... what?

The actors themselves had fabulous face paint and masks on, it was clear that a lot of time and detail had gone into preparation. The costumes were elaborately designed but also simple enough to move and jump around in. For they certainly moved around, if not jiggled a lot! It was very difficult to get a clear photo.

Then the Queen ran away

In total the show last an hour and half and we watched three stories. It was a great evening and we really enjoyed ourselves poking fun at what they could have been saying. 

The highlight would have been when the lights went low and the white dragon breathed fire! 

After the show we met up with some friends for dinner and tried our best to explain the show. Below we've included some photos but they can't really depict the atmosphere, sound or vibrancy of our action packed performance.

Tot siens,

John and Kara

I, the gallant hero will seek her

The Great Wall of China, Badaling, Beijing, China

Hiking at Badaling Great Wall

Very, very early this morning, earlier than the sunrise, we woke and set off for our second trip to the Great Wall! Our plan was to be on the very first subway, allowing us to take the very first commuter train to the closest section of the Great Wall. This area is called Badaling and is renowned as being quite a tourist hotspot as well as an area that has been fully restored (it's probably far better in stature and size than it ever was).

However in a city of 24million + a large influx of tourists on bus's, we weren't alone in our thinking. At the train station we merged like a title wave into a sea of people. When the gates opened it was a mad rush for the train which was waiting 200 meters down the platform.  Here is an excerpt we took when we saw the wave coming up behind us. In the clip Kara says 'Their running for seats!  Go, Go, Go!!'

John is super fast though and his long European legs far out ran everyone, after locating him we had a nice and peaceful ride to Badaling enjoying some tuna sushi for breakfast. At the train station in Badaling almost the entire train boarded buses to be transferred to the cable cars, we weren't sure what was happening, everyone was moving so fast. Like stragglers, we took our time and wandered to the ticket office (for our AUD$7 tickets) that allowed us to walk up the wall. 

Entrance to the Badaling section 

We were very pleased with ourselves by the time we walked up to the entrance of the wall and saw the long line of people waiting to buy their tickets at the second ticket booth! Except they weren't! They were waiting to enter the wall. Doh! We didn't wait long however and soon were through with the option to go left up the South Wall or right to the North Wall. We went South and walked up a very steep section of the wall.

At this stage there was a mass of tourists (all Chinese) standing around in absolute awe! There is an old Chinese saying 'bu dao changcheng fei haohan' or in English 'you're not a real man, if you haven't climbed the Great Wall'! So there they were early this Wednesday morning waiting for their turn to be 'real' men. Funnily enough the cable car sign actually also said ' Your still a man if you take the cable'. 

The jandal breaking jump!

To our disadvantage the Beijing air was fairly poor today and limited our visibility. 

We motored on past all of the slowbies until we reached a nice a quiet section. It was here that Kara's jandal decided it had, had enough and broke! 

The horror! 

In China you wear shoes and you wear socks (even with sandals) but with no other option the broken jandals went in the backpack and Kara walked the remained of the Great Wall barefoot (you can take a kiwi out of New Zealand, but you can't take New Zealand out of the kiwi). There was a lot of pointing and some strange looks for sure! 

Trees under the watch tower

Tourists on the wall

Further afield 

A lonely part of the wall

Kara climbing in the bad air

Resting by a watch tower

Exploring the South side of Badaling

Looking back Northwards

From the top we slowly meandered back down the wall and decided to leave the North side of Badaling with the thousand others venturing up.

All the people! 

Overall we really enjoyed ourselves and it is always great to get out of the city centre however we found this section of the wall much too touristy. The wall has been overly restored and since has been subjected to a substantial amount of graffiti carving into the stone face.

Coming back into Beijing on the train

In the area there seems to be a flurry of new tourist monuments being built into the hillside but we think it would be better if they just left the beautiful trees so people could enjoy a more natural and scenic outlook.



After exiting again, through the crowds waiting to enter, we caught the next train back into Beijing (in a somewhat less diabolical manner) and were home for lunch! A very successful morning! 

Tot siens,
John and Kara

Beijing Life Part 3

Class graduation! 

A very large proportion of our day, week and time in China has been work! So this blog update centres around our current roles as English Teachers in Beijing. We thought it would be a great idea to include some of the highlights and challenges of working in China and hope we might inspire you!

Playing on the computer

Many people who know Kara, realise that her English isn't great. She struggles with spelling... its awsum right? Where does that pesky comma go? Or she might drop words from a sentence because "my brain thinks faster than my mouth can talk"- better still, she has an amazing ability to join all the words in a sentence to form one massive word 'doyawantsomebread?'. Additionally, John's native language is also Afrikaans not English! So challenges were a plenty!

Book time

Therefore working as English Teachers was an opportunity we both jumped at to advance our interpersonal skills, gain experience in a new culture and broaden our skills with children but most importantly to improve our English. In Australia last year, we both started and completed a TEFL course (teaching English as a foreign language).

An exciting three letter word Go fish game! 

As useful as it was, we never ever imagined being a English teacher to young learners would be the most tiring or exhausting thing we have ever done! We teach on average 20-25 class hours per week ranging from one to two hours and most recently three hours during the summer.

John's adjective worksheet

The rest of the day consists of lesson planning and administration. John's work schedule is a little more flexible and allows him to come and go more regularly.

For Kara, weekday evenings usually consist of coming home, eating and sleeping, there isn't much energy left after a full day of jumping around! AND there is lots of jumping, falling and playing. We throw balls, we make letters out of blue tak, we hop to different letter sounds, we pretend to be... dogs, lions, jellyfish......

Teaching students and parents!

Although teaching is tiring and often you need a lot of coffee to get through the big days (Saturday and Sunday we do nine+ academic hours), teaching children is also very rewarding. The children give unconditional love and half way through a lesson it's not uncommon for a small child to stand up, walk over to you and just give you a cuddle or a kiss.




Working with children is different from working with adults because you must build a relationship with the family. You meet the father, mother and grandparents. Although Kara works only with children, John works with children and adults! John needs to cater for and juggle such diverse learning styles and capabilities.

Although teaching is hard work, extremely exhausting and tiresome, we have had an amazing ride thus far! We have learnt so much about how children think, how to teach effectively and have built many precious relationships. We wouldn't have traded this experience for anything!

Tot siens
John and Kara

Picture of Kara by Thomas (4 years)

Foot five!! 

Bejing's City Wall and Hutongs, Beijing, China

Hutong experience

In Beijing there is plenty to do and see! 

We have recently been out to explore a few treasures within the city during the warm summer evenings. 

Beijing is well known for its old Hutong's, which are small old courtyard houses joined in a messy maze-work of windy lane-ways (or alleyways). Traditionally entire families would live together in a courtyard property called a 'siheyuan'. 

John relaxing outside a Hutong shop sign

Groups of families would all live beside one another creating the 'Hutong'. This would form a neighbourhood. The original word hutong was actually Mongolian and means 'water well'.

Hutongs were first designed by Chinese city planners during the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) and were meant to separate different classes of citizens. Depending on where your hutong was in relation to the Forbidden City would tell stories about who you and your family were.



Also during the Yuan dynasty, Mongols placed great value on water so the family siheyuans were traditionally built around a well. 

Looking down a lane way

Unfortunately many of Beijing's Hutongs were destroyed over time, through wear and tear or destruction for new roads. However the remaining ones are now protected by the government and are considered historical settlements. In some parts of Beijing, there are still large families living in Hutongs but they are also a very large tourist attraction.

Interestingly, no family had their own bathroom. Rather the hutong (or neighbourhood) would share a communal washing and defecting area which is still in effect today. This means there are plenty of public toilets available for everyones use. 

Dinner on the roof top

One of our favorite Hutong's, are the Beihai Park Hutong's (north of the forbidden city). In the Hutong there are lots of small, unique shops, restaurants and bars, it is a great place to come and relax on a roof top and watch the hustle below.  

We have a few more to explore yet but might wait for the tourist season to slow down a little.

We also recently and accidentally stumbled across a remaining section of Beijing's old City Wall. Much of the City Wall was removed long ago for road development as the city grew and also after the collapse of the last dynasty in 1911. However a long southeastern section remains heading northward from Chongwenmen (our current suburb). 

Playing by the ancient Beijing City Wall

The Beijing City Wall at sunset

This section was part of the inner City Wall built between 1400 - 1553 and currently it is 1.5 kilometers in length. After this unique discovery we did some research into the old Beijing City Walls and found there was an inner City Wall and an outer City Wall. Our home sits within the outer City Wall so theoretically if there was a mongol attack we may have been safer... 

Kara playing on the grass by the Beijing City Wall 

Today, there is a wide path that slowly winds its way down the length of the remaining section of the inner Wall. In the evening this part of Beijing is a lively hub for groups of Chinese elders who gather to dance, play cards or sit together while their young grandchildren run around. During the day it is popular with walkers and used for practicing a multitude of different varieties of martial arts. We quite enjoy the sword waving! At the end of the wall there is a large watch tower which you can climb up, for a minimal fee, the wall and check out the view from a height of 15meters! Something which is still on the 'to do list'. 

Tot siens,
John and Kara