Eight Boots Abroad

In the summer of 2017, we undertook our family’s most logistically challenging adventure – a trip through mainland China. At the time, the kiddos were 6 and 4 years old, and we spoke absolutely no Mandarin and/or Cantonese – during our time there, we ended up mastering 3 total words. Navigating rural areas of mainland China required very detailed planning before we left, and then relying heavily on hand gestures and amusing drawings for communication once we arrived.

Our trip was actually built around random landscape/mountain photos that Howie would find on the internet with instructions for me: “Do you think you can figure out where this is, and then how to get us there?” As a result, I ended up emailing a great many landscape photographers to figure out exact locations/trailhead access and then built our plans from there.

Our journey began in the southern city of Shenzhen, and we made our way north by train (one memorable train segment was 24hrs in duration) until we reached Beijing. Along the way, we explored the ancient town of Xingping along the Li River, climbed Xianggong Peak, hiked through the Longji rice terraces, visited Zhangjiajie National Park (of Avatar fame), and ended our trip with a two-day backpacking adventure on the Great Wall of China (unrestored Jiankou and Mutianyu sections – with a night of camping in one of the guard towers).

We hopped on and off public transport for the majority of the trip – mostly trains and busses. At one point we realized we were on the wrong bus, headed in the completely wrong direction (20 very remote miles from our intended destination), unable to communicate with the driver or any other passengers on the bus. Not seeing many other options, we decided the best thing to do was to stand up, start yelling and waving our arms frantically. This of course was pretty alarming to the driver who promptly pulled over. We finally convinced him to let us off the bus to stand on the side of the road… in the hopes that we could wave down a different bus headed in the proper direction. As luck would have it, we flagged down the very last bus of the evening headed to the nearest city.

Something we were surprised by was how much of a novelty our family was to many people we met along the journey. It seemed that most people assumed the kiddos were twins and that Howie (at 6’4) must be some sort of basketball super-star. As a result, Howie and the kiddos often found themselves unwittingly at the center of some amusing, impromptu photoshoots.

I was definitely the least intriguing member of the family.

A huge challenge for us on this trip was not having access to our usual travel lifelines – Google Maps, Google Translate, or reliable internet/email. We carried a large wad of ¥ (yuan) in cash to get us through the trip, and found only a single ATM that took our Visa debit card during our entire visit. Despite the language barriers and logistical challenges, both Howie and I agree that we would love to return to China some day. The natural beauty and cultural experiences made the trip unforgettable. In many ways, I think this crazy adventure solidified our vision for a future family sabbatical year.