It started out with me getting food poisoning or a 24 hour stomach bug or something that had me spending the first day in the hotel room to get better. On the bright side, at least there was heating, English TV (I have never watched so much news in my life, and room service to bring me rice to calm my nausea. On an even brighter side, I was only out for the day, so starting Monday I got to get out and experience Beijing. I couldn't do too much (I wasn't hungry so I fueled my days on a few bites here and there) but I still got to nearly everything Izzy and I wanted to see.
We started our adventures with a tour trip to the Great Wall. The funny part is, is that another person on the tour was from Ohio, so I went all the way to china to meet a guy from my country. The tour started with a stop to a silk factory (it was really just one long sales pitch) and then a stop at the nations premier jade factory (they sculpted and inlaid the jade for the 2008 Beijing Olympic medals). After those stops and lunch, we finally got to the Great Wall. Because it was so windy, we had to take these sliding cars up and down to the wall (it was like a sad amusement park ride) but eventually we made it to the wall. It really is an incredible sight! Nearly every direction you look there are sections of the wall branching out. I wish I had, had more strength so I would have walked more of the wall, but I spent a lot of our time up there being another sight to see (many tourist there come from villages and really haven't seen anyone that isn't of their race, so they were rather intrigued with me). The day really tired me out, so Izzy and I headed back for nap time, before we ventured to a local market for food and fun.
Our third day was just a full. We went out to see the Temple of Heaven, using the Beijing subway for the first time. When we first began planning this trip, we were warned of the absence of English and how hard getting around was, but we really had no problem. The subway had English, many of the market shopkeepers could get a few informative words out, and my charades skills have really improved. The temple of heaven was ornate, full of color and extensive, truly a sight to see!
From there we made our way to Pearl Street market, which is a 6 level indoor market with different themes to each floor. We scored some amazing deals there, from fans to wallets to headphones. I even bought the greatest scarf ever, its like a blanket but scarf sized.
Then, because that would be our last night in Beijing, we got the famous Beijing Peking Duck! It was delicious, I crave it even now. The restaurant we went to was one of the top 10 best places to go and it was one heck of a place. They were pulling out chairs for us, and pouring my sprite into wine glasses, the whole shebang. Then they brought the whole duck to our table and carved it in front of us
It was so,so, so good! One of the best meals I have had, and a total recommendation.
Our final day was the day we flew out, but that wasn't until nearly 8 pm, so we spent the morning at Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tienanmen square leads into the Forbidden City, so doing them before we left was a breeze. The entrance to the square was immense and Mao's face was everywhere.
The real show stopper was the Forbidden city. When they say city they mean it! It went on for what seemed like forever. There were temples and homes and large courtyards and everything a civilization would need to live. It was incredible to see it go on and on, and to see the different halls and read about life when people lived there.
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| that little dark blob on the horizon is more buildings contained in this city |
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