Category Archives: Travel

This isn’t a travel blog, but I do occasionally travel and blog about it!

Day 3 – Military Parade, Grand Banquet & More

Today was a very memorable day. We woke up extra early to make it out to the Forbidden City from which we observed the military parade. It was pretty awesome to be in the Forbidden City under these circumstances – it was largley empty, and completely devoid of tourists.

Forbidden City, Sans Tourists
Forbidden City, Sans Tourists

My grandfather and I had some of the best seats in the house, literally front row. It was a strange feeling having all these Generals (from a variety of countries, not just Chinese) sitting behind me – there was an awkward moment where a Russian General (or at least some kind of high ranking, heavily decorated officer) sitting behind me had set his hat on my seat and I had to ask him to move it. Fortunately he didn’t seem too miffed about it.

My Grandfather & I Before the Parade
My Grandfather & I Before the Parade

The military parade was impressive, and I got a lot of amazing photos and videos… and that’s all I’m going to say about that for now.

Nukes on Parade
Nukes on Parade

Afterwords we went to the Great Hall of the People and enjoyed a fabulous meal in the most impressive dining room I’ve ever seen. The novelty was greatly enhanced by the presence of very high level politicians and world leaders, including Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin seated just a few tables away. At first there seemed to be a distinct lack of security personnel, until I realized that one of the people eating at my table was actually on security detail and there was one of them seated at nearly every table. Once the rest of the table caught wind of that, we had a nice chuckle.

Picture Perfect Meal
Picture Perfect Meal

The food was excellent, I lost count of how many courses there were. Unfortunately I stepped away from the table for a moment and when I returned my desert plate was gone – I didn’t even get to taste any of it :'(

After the banquet it was back to the hotel for a couple hours of rest, then back to the Great Hall for the Commemoration Preformance. This turned out to be a musical re-enactment of World War 2 (from the Chinese perspective, of course) and was one of the most elaborately produced and well performed stage shows I’ve ever seen. And that’s all I’m going to say about that for now.

All in all, it was a day I will never forget – there has been a lot of build up to this day and it certainly did not disappoint! I’ve also got several souveniours including a hat from the parade, a fancy menu from the banquet and several uber-official invitations to these functions. The invitations, aside from being fancy and elaborate, were also microchipped – I saw my face pop up on a screen as soon as I walked through the metal detectors. Hell of a security setup.

It’s been an eye opening experience, and I’m greatful for it. I’m also greatful that I get to sleep in a bit tomorrow 🙂

Day 2 in Beijing

J.V. Vinyard Giving His Inscription
J.V. Vinyard Giving His Inscription
So far it’s been a very eventful two days. We landed in Beijing at about 5:30am yesterday and went directly from the airplane to a bus that took us to a fancy room at the airport where we served drinks and posed for press photos while our passports were verified. I wish customs was always that friendly! I really wasn’t expecting it though, I still had bed hair from sleeping on the plane when we walked into this room full of photographers.

They also passed around a blank page book & marker so each veteran could write an entry – apparently this book will be on display at the airport in Beijing sometime in the near future.

The View From My Room at the Grand Hyatt in Beijing
The View From My Room at the Grand Hyatt in Beijing
After that it was off to the Grand Hyatt hotel in the center of Beijing. It’s a very nice place, definitely one of the fancier hotels I’ve been in. Security is very tight here, with police and military all over the place (not surprising considering that there are dozens of leaders of various countries in town right now). Just about everyone in the hotel is either hotel staff, government staff, WW2 vets & their family members, or photographers & reporters.

Interviewing with CCTV's Crossover
Interviewing with CCTV’s Crossover
Shortly after we arrived at the hotel, we were whisked away to the CCTV building (CCTVC produces most of the television in China) where my grandfather and 2 other veterans were interviewed for a show called “Crossover”. The interview went quite well, especially since each of the veterans being interviewed played a different role in the CBI theater – Hump Pilots like my grandfather J.V. Vinyard (center) flew over the so-called “death route” to get supplies such as gas & munitions into China, transport pilots like Leroy Parramore (left) distributed the supplies, and members of the 14th Air Force like David Hayward (right) used those supplies to carry out combat missions.

Outside of the Very Unique CCTV Building
Outside of the Very Unique CCTV Building
The CCTV buidling is architecturally unique, I had already snapped several pictures of it on the way to the hotel and was quite surprised to find myself inside the place a few hours later.

I did manage to get a brief nap in before lunch which helped a bit with the jet lag, but I was still kind of out of it yesterday. Aside from the interview with CCTV, there are also numerous other interviews taking place within the hotel. I’ve already lost count of how many times my grandfather has been interviewed in the last 36 hours or so. I had intended to write more about yesterdays events last night while my memory was still (kind of) fresh, but at the end I was too exhausted to do anything but sleep.

Today I woke up early to accompany my grandfather to a medal awarding ceremony at the Great Hall of the People. Of all the American veterans in our group, my grandfather was selected to be awarded a medal directly from President Xi Jinping on behalf of the American veterans, which is quite an honor. I got to witness my grandfather receive the medal along with about 30 other veterans from China and other countries including Russia and India. It was an impressive ceremony, and the Great Hall certainly lives up to it’s name. All of the veterans in our group later recieved the same medal in a separate ceremony.

Awarding Medals to the U.S. Veterans
Awarding Medals to the U.S. Veterans

Unfortunately I was not able to take my camera along for this event, but there was an army of photographers present so I’m sure I can come up with some photos sooner or later.

J.V. Vinyard Interviewing With CBS
J.V. Vinyard Interviewing With CBS
Upon our return, more photo sessions & interviews including one with CBS that should actually air in the U.S. (most of these interviews are being conducted by Chinese media and won’t be seen state side). After that we got a bit of time to relax and rest which is good, because we’re going to need to be well rested. Tomorrow is the BIG DAY – the actual anniversary with a huge military parade, banquets and more. We’ll be going all day from early morning until around 10pm.

So far this has been an amazing experience – and it’s far from over.

On a side note, the Chinese government has gone to great lengths to ensure good air quality in Beijing for this event (including factory closures and restricting auto traffic) and it shows. You can see the mountains from central Beijing. It’s awesome.

Houston’s Airport is Nice

It’s got pretty comfy furniture, art displays and 10 foot chess and checker boards. Also free WiFi (unlike a certain Austin airport that I know).

WiFi on my laptop isn’t working, I’m stuck with posting from my phone for now. Hopefully I can get it sorted before the flight to Beijing, otherwise I’ll be limited to short posts with very few pictures :-/

Hey look, it’s the first post

Hi, I’m Micah Vinyard.  If you’re here you probably know me in person already but if not, that’s okay too. Welcome to MicahV.net. This is my first personal website since… well, my last one was hosted on Geocities if that tells you anything.

I’ve been sitting on the MicahV.net domain for a while now and not doing anything with it, but I’ll be traveling to China in a few days and figured that’s worth throwing a website together for.

The main impetus for this site was my Dad’s suggestion that I keep a journal of my trip.  I can’t promise this will become anything close to a journal, I’ve never managed to keep a journal going for more than a couple of days.  But I do hope to drop by to tell how it’s going and maybe share some pictures every few days or so.

I am traveling to China with my Grandfather J.V. Vinyard. J.V. served in World War 2 as a Hump Pilot, flying supplies over a very dangerous stretch of the Himalayas into China after the Japanese had cut off most of China’s supply lines. The Hump Pilots took big risks and terrible losses to keep China supplied, and the Chinese have not forgotten that. That’s why every few years they invite my Grandfather over to join them in celebrating the anniversary of the end WW2.

Next week, on September 3rd 2015, China is celebrating the 70th anniversary of the end of that war and I have the tremendous honor of going with my Grandfather to China to mark the occasion. I’m very excited – I’ve been fascinated with the far east since I can remember and have always wanted to go to China. It’s going to be amazing. I’m also quite nervous, because it is dawning on me more and more just how big of a deal this is. This is no casual vacation.

It’s not a small event, either. Beijing is making preparations similar to what I remember them doing for the Olympics, such as deploying hundreds of thousands of security personnel city wide and curbing factory production & traffic to ensure clear air. There’s going to be a huge military parade. Vladimir Putin is going to be there. In fact, China has declared a national holiday officially dubbed “The 70th Anniversary of Victories in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Against Fascism.”

And there will be other events to attend to, although I’m sure none will be as grand as the 70th Anniversary celebration on the 3rd. It’s going to be intense. But there will also be time to be a tourist and enjoy the trip. I’m going to be bouncing around China for about 2 weeks. I can’t wait.

Anyway, that’s the story behind this site!  Feel free to leave comments and stuff.