China had never really been on our list of places to go.  But both boys had been studying Chinese (Mandarin) in school, as they each had a language requirement, and this is what they chose.  So in 2014, which would have been after Porter's sophomore year in high school, and after Nico's completion of 8th grade, we decided to go during summer break.

Traveling to China required visas, which meant two trips to the Chinese embassy in San Francisco.  And booking flights that had us land in Beijing and head out from Seoul, Korea about 3 weeks later.  The trip mainly was stops in 3 large cities (Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong), with on overnight layover in Seoul on the way back to SF.

Some of the highlights: the food of course, which was very good wherever we went, and the people, who were surprisingly nice and friendly.  As we traveled from north to south, the number of people we encountered that spoke English went up significantly, from Beijing (hardly anyone), to Shanghai (quite a few) to Hong Kong (many, maybe most even).

In Beijing we went to the Beijing Zoo, the hutong (old neighborhoods which are quickly disappearing), Tiananmen Square, and a trip to the Great Wall.  Chinese people in Beijing didn't seem too accustomed to seeing foreigners, especially ones that didn't look like themselves. Nico, who had long curly hair at the time, was quite an attraction, and we had many Beijing citizens come up to try and touch his hair.  

In contract to Beijing, which has a very old and traditional feel, Shanghai is a big modern city.  There are sleek skyscrapers and modern apartments, one of which we stayed in, hosted by a couple Chinese-Americans now living there.

Hong Kong..

Seoul...