For our first cruise trip we wanted it to be short , so we decided to go to Ensenada on carnival paradise for 3 days cruise. We packed our Jeep and drove to long Beach California from San Jose. It is a 6 ½ hr drive from San Jose . We stopped for lunch of the way. Reached long beach at 2:30 PM . The parking at the cruise terminal is 15$ /day . After we parked the car, we took our language and went to check in. There was a long line at checkin. Even though we printed out our fun pass online, we had to stand in the line. I highly recommend completing your fun pass online ,so the checkin is done quickly. Once we checked in, got on the ship put the luggage in the room and went to explore the ship. My son Jay has already mapped out what each deck has, so he was our guide as we explored the ship.
Day1
We had a small snack as we waited for the ship to sail. It sailed exactly at 5:30 PM . Jay has already left us and went to his C-Circle group( for age groups 12-14) where they have a welcome board party. So after me and my husband(Lakshman) hung out on the deck for some time until the ship sailed into the sea, we head back to our room on main deck with ocean view, unpacked and got ready for dinner. We haven’t booked any tours for next day. So we spend some time thinking what to do and finally reserved blow hole and Ensenada city tour at 9:30 AM for next day. Once Jay is back, we headed for dinner. We made late reservation for dinner , So we headed there at 8:15. Dinner was awesome. We had a great waitress Ratu. When I was not able to decide what to eat for dessert, she brought me all desserts in one plate, so I can taste each of them. Also at dinner , they had music at the end and the waiters danced at the table. They invited guests to join them. Ratu was insistent that I join , So I danced to a number I never heard before following Ratu’s moves. It was fun. Immediately after dinner, Jay left to join his c-cirle fun . So Lakshman and I explored few more clubs- rex club had karaoke and it was awfully wonderful. Then we headed back to room as we were tired for the day. Our room steward is Angel. He is very friendly and he has cleaning up the room and putting everything in place the minute we left the room . I loved the towel animal (rabbit) he made that day and left it on the bed.
Day2
Day2 was day on shore at Ensenada . We woke up bright and early and we got ready to be out by 8:45 for the tour. We saw a paper slip by the door and it said they canceled the 9:00 tour and combined it with 11:30 tour as they could not find a guide for 9:00 tour.
Since we were anyway ready, we thought we will head out and explore ourselves. On the way out Angel gave us some pointers and I researched a little bit about Ensenada city map. So we walked from the terminal to downtown shopping center. It is only 15 min walk from the terminal or you can take a shuttle. You have to wait for the shuttle to be full for the shuttle to move. We reached downtown by 9:15 , the shops were not open yet . so we hung out and around 1 by 1 shops started to open. We went in and out of the shops just window shopping as I know I will be going to flea market at blow hole later. When window shopping, the shop keepers are willing to bargain to get their first sale. Did not buy anything yet. Saw some great paintings (art studio ) ,stained glass factory and lot of hammocks, salsa bowls, wind chimes etc etc … We had to head back by 10:45 and eat something before we go on the tour as the tour is is 4 hrs . So we headed back quickly ate a little bit on the ship and headed to the terminal for the tour.
It was a big bus and tour guide was able to speak English and not very fluent. Sometime it was hard to understand the accent. As were going to blowhole, there was a vehicle with army men and guns that passed just in front of the bus. The guide explained that in Mexico all boy 18 and up need to enroll in Navy and they need to come for training every Saturday for 1 year . Once they complete the training they get scholarships etc. So almost all of them enroll, unless they draw a white ball at the time of enrollment from a basket of balls, they are exempt from training and they still qualify for scholarship. The tour bus drive was 50 mins . The bay in Ensenada is like a horse shoe. The blowhole is on the other side of the horse shoe from the ship docked. The guide showed us some maquiladora’s ( where the material enters duty free and the finished good is exported back immediately – mostly for US companies- Nike , etc..) . Also Ensenada is exporter of agricultural items . The export organic items to Trader Joes. Saw some organic plantations. Also on the way guide showed us where some of US retires live. Very modern houses and access to beach. On that beach they can dig a hole and have hot springs. That is cool !!! After 50 min drive we reached the blow hole. There are only 3 of these in the world. Here the blow hole is called La Bufadora meaning snore of a bull. La Bufadora is considered to be the second largest marine geyser in the world (the largest is located at Makapuu Point in Oahu, Hawaii). After we got off the bus, we walked through the flea market to reach the blow hole. Until we went there, I did not understand why it is called snore of a bull. When the water is gushing in, you can hear the snore of a bull and then you see a huge water spout. The water can go up to 60 ft and once I got completely wet. After sometime we left Jay there as he wanted to take pictures and observe what is happening and went shopping at the flea market. Here you can really bargain. AS I already did window shopping at downtown ,I know the prices and brought some windchimes, clackers for Jay , Aztec calendar (palster of Paris) – huge one. I really liked it . Lakshman went to pick up Jay and we went back to the bus. You get only 1 hr at the flea market and that is not enough at all. There were some sea shells (huge ones) I wanted to buy , but did not have time to bargain. Went back to the city and this time the tour is Riviera del Pacífico (cultural center) of Ensenada. This was a old Casino in 1930 when Hollywood celebrities used to come here where there were no Casino’s in US. In 1980 they remodeled and opened up as cultural center to preserve Baja California history. It had beautiful paintings on the roof. The wood was got from India at that time. When we went back to the bus, we found out Aztec calendar rolled over and it broke. ( we left in the bus when we went for the tour and it broke) After that tour, Lakshman and I dropped off at downtown , did a little more shopping and headed back to the ship. Jay is back at his C-circle. This night is formal dinner night. So we got refreshed and went for dinner. As it was just me and Lakshman , we went to Normandie Theatre and played a Bingo game, caught xtreme country show and Adult comedy show that night . The comedy show was ok. I did not like xtreme contry show that much
Day 3
Day 3 is onboard the ship . We reserved for behind the fun tour. This tour takes you to all those areas of the ship only a crew is allowed to . Jay and I met the guide at the library and we got our behind the fun pass and off we were to the tour. We went to the cooking area and met the Chief chef and they showed us what is being cooked and how they manage 2000 passengers for dinner and so quick service, then we went to the laundry room , waste disposal room , the most interesting the engine room and engine control room . Then we went through the crew cabins and went to the front tip of the ship . the big Titanic spot (forward of the ship) . It was interesting to stand at that tip. Jay was scared. Then we went to see the captain at the bridge. The first officer explained how they use GPS for navigation and they still manually trace the location . We had a picture with the captain and then we headed down to backstage of the dance show and the back stage manager explained how they do the pyrotechnics and setting change etc. That was one tour for us to remember. I totally recommend this tour . This tour is available for passengers 13 years and above. After the tour Jay was back at C-circle. He loved to be at C-Circle all the time. I went shopping for some time as I did not know where Lakshman was, Did some window shopping and finally bought some sea glass. Lakshman and I went for lunch after that. Then we looked at the pictures from formal dinner night and decided to get some of them. Saw game of love in the theatre. It was funny . there was a couple who was married for 50 years and the husband was hilarious , he could give all funny answers . Relaxed for a while in the room and met Jay at 5.00 PM . Jay and myself spend some time in Jacuzzi as the water in swimming pool is sea water and it is cold. After that we played mini golf on the top deck and then went for dinner as we wanted to catch the dance show- shout at 8:45 . After dinner Jay went to see the shout show with his friends in c-circle. Lakshman and I saw shout show and then we also caught the comedy show and then went back to room and packed up and went to sleep. Jay was coming back to room every day at 1.00 AM in the night.
Day 4
Next day we got up early and eat breakfast at Paris restaurant and then started to disembark.. Hint- if you want to check out early, take your luggage with you . We wanted to cover universal studios on Monday so we took our luggage with us. We were able to complete the whole process including customs check within 30 mins. Very impressive.
Myself and Jay loved the cruise . I put on 4 pounds on the trip, but that is ok. Jay had a blast . He said that it was his best vacation ever. So we will try a longer cruise next time.
First stop was Forbidden city . The tour guide said that if we start from the front (Tiananmen gate ) and come to back gate of forbidden city, we will come across lot of people and we may not be able to see well. So we started our tour of forbidden city from the back wall of the city - Gate of Divine Might (Shenwumen) . The Forbidden City, called Gu Gong in Chinese, was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. This is in the middle of the city and if you see Beijing map today, you will see that that city is build around this palace and rectangles around rectangles. They four or five rings ( like ring roads in Delhi, India). The guide showed us a line that runs through the middle of the forbidden city and the same line runs throughout Beijing. Even the bird’s nest( for Olympics) was constructed on the same line. Forbidden city is rectangular in shape, it is the world's largest palace complex and covers 74 hectares. Surrounded by a six meter deep moat and a ten meter high wall are 9,999 rooms. The emperor had around 3000 wifes The gate of divine faces Jingshan Park. The distance between these two gates is 960 meters, while the distance between the gates in the east and west walls is 750 meters. There are unique and delicately structured towers on each of the four corners of the curtain wall. These afford views over both the palace and the city outside. The gates are huge and very strong. As we entered the back side of the city, We walked through the inner court where the royal family lived. Then we came towards the outer court where the Emperor met with his loyals and ruled the nation. Until 1924 when the last emperor of China was driven from the Inner Court, fourteen emperors of the Ming dynasty and ten emperors of the Qing dynasty had reigned here. 
At the north end of the Tiananmen Square is Tiananmen Tower. Initially built in 1417 during the Ming Dynasty (1368 A.D.- 1644 A.D.), the Square is the front door of the Forbidden City. 
You can see people working on jade to make very intricate detailed structures. I never knew Jade came in other colors than green – Red, White, black. At the entrance they tell you how to identify real Jade from glass, I did not pay much attention, I was so mesmerized by the detailed structures and I was admiring them . We had lunch at the quarry and then headed to the great wall in heavy snow. 
Even though it was snowing, I was very excited to see the great wall. Tried to climb up the great wall in the snow and went few blocks up . It became very slippery , so came down very slowly . It took 35 mins to come down. It is very grand and breath taking to see huge mountains around you and imagine how they build such huge wall from east to west. I am not sure if the legend is true that people who died when building the wall are buried in the wall. Anyways, now I can strike one must see place from my list . After that we went back to the hotel and I was so exhausted from the walking in snow, took a quick shower and met one of my colleague and we went to dinner to the shopping mall under china world trade center. 
