Our Family's First Real Trip Around China

My wife and I had always wanted to visit China properly. Although we're both Chinese descendants living overseas, most of what we knew about the country came from our parents' stories and videos online. We wanted our eleven-year-old son, Daniel, to experience it for himself instead of just hearing about it. So we decided to book a family trip through Beijing, Guangzhou, Zhangjiajie, Chongqing, and Shanghai.

We found China Comfort Travel online, and the consultant who helped us was a man named Fancy He. He was friendly, patient, and made planning the trip surprisingly easy, especially since we were traveling with a child. Our guide throughout the journey was Mr. Chen, who was calm, knowledgeable, and always seemed to know exactly what our family needed before we even asked.

We arrived in Beijing in the afternoon. After checking into the hotel, we were too excited to stay inside, so we walked around the neighborhood looking for dinner. We found a small family-run restaurant where Daniel tried zhajiang noodles for the first time. At first he thought the dark sauce looked strange, but after one bite he finished the whole bowl. My wife and I shared steamed dumplings and a plate of stir-fried vegetables, and the owner kept smiling at Daniel every time he asked for more noodles. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a convenience store. Daniel was fascinated by how many different snacks and drinks there were. He spent almost fifteen minutes deciding which chips to buy.

The next day we explored Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Daniel had endless questions about the emperors. "Did they really live in all these buildings?" he asked. Mr. Chen answered every question patiently, even the funny ones. Later we climbed up Jingshan Park, where the view over the Forbidden City was absolutely worth the walk. We ended the afternoon at the Summer Palace, strolling beside Kunming Lake while watching families paddle little boats across the water. Before heading back to the hotel, we bought candied hawthorn from a street vendor. Daniel loved the crunchy sugar coating but made a funny face after biting into the sour fruit inside. He quietly handed the rest to me.

The Great Wall was probably Daniel's favorite place in Beijing. Standing on the Mutianyu section, we could see the wall stretching over mountain ridges as far as our eyes could reach. Daniel challenged me to a race up the steps. Five minutes later, he was the one asking for a break while Mr. Chen calmly walked past us with a smile. He took some wonderful family photos, and one of them has already become the wallpaper on my phone. That evening we boarded a high-speed train to Guangzhou. Daniel slept through most of the journey with his head resting on his backpack.

Guangzhou felt warmer the moment we stepped off the train. The highlight was definitely Chimelong Safari Park. Daniel had been talking about it for weeks before the trip, and it completely lived up to his expectations. Seeing pandas, giraffes, elephants, and white tigers up close made him so excited that he barely stopped talking all day. During one of the animal shows, he laughed so loudly that the family sitting next to us started laughing too. 

The following day we slowed things down a little. We visited the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall, wandered through Yongqing Fang, and spent some time on Shamian Island. Mr. Chen took us to a local Cantonese restaurant for lunch instead of a tourist place. We ordered roast goose, shrimp dumplings, rice noodle rolls, and steamed barbecue pork buns. Daniel, who usually eats very slowly at home, somehow finished three baskets of shrimp dumplings before any of us noticed. The owner brought us a complimentary bowl of double-skin milk dessert and told Daniel it was something every child should try in Guangzhou. He finished that too.

The scenery changed completely when we arrived in Zhangjiajie. Riding the cable car up Tianmen Mountain felt like floating through the clouds. My wife refused to look down while crossing the glass skywalk, but Daniel thought it was hilarious and kept trying to convince her to open her eyes. At Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, the sandstone pillars looked exactly like something from a fantasy movie. We spent hours walking through the forest before stopping at a small café inside the park. We shared grilled sausages and cold drinks while enjoying the fresh mountain air. It was one of those simple breaks that somehow became one of my favorite memories.

Next came Chongqing, a city unlike anywhere we had ever been. Watching the train pass through Liziba Station was fascinating, and Daniel insisted on filming it from three different angles. In the evening we wandered around Hongya Cave after the lights came on. The buildings glowing above the river looked almost unreal. Of course, we had to try Chongqing hot pot. Mr. Chen wisely suggested ordering a split pot because Daniel couldn't handle spicy food. My wife and I bravely tried the spicy broth and immediately started reaching for iced soy milk. Daniel just laughed and said, "I told you the white soup was safer." Later we shared bowls of icy jelly dessert from a street stall, which turned out to be exactly what we needed after all the chili.

Shanghai was our final stop. Walking along the Bund in the evening, looking across at the bright skyline of Pudong, was the perfect way to finish the trip. The next morning we visited City God Temple and found a small restaurant selling soup dumplings and pan-fried buns. Daniel bit into a soup dumpling without waiting for it to cool down, and the hot broth splashed onto his shirt. The lady working at the restaurant quickly handed him some napkins and laughed as she showed him the proper way to eat one. He got the second dumpling right.

Throughout the trip, the hotels were comfortable, the private car was always clean and fresh, and Mr. Chen made every day feel relaxed instead of rushed. Looking back, what we'll remember most isn't just the famous landmarks. It's Daniel discovering new foods, laughing at silly moments, and asking questions everywhere we went.

As our plane took off from Shanghai, Daniel had already opened the route map on the screen in front of him.

"What about Xi'an next time?" he asked. "Or Chengdu? I want to see the pandas again."

My wife laughed and told him we should get home first.

He nodded for about five seconds before asking, "So... can we start planning after dinner tomorrow?"

I have a feeling this won't be our last trip to China.