Day 1
We technically arrived at 11pm on the 30th, but all we did was go straight to our hotel. One of Chris’ co-workers that’s from Beijing was on our flight and her parents drove us to our hotel. It was a bit of an adventure because our hotel was near the National Day festivities that would begin early the next day. We thought we were going to have to get dropped off a 15 minute walk from our hotel. This isn’t fun with suitcases at 11pm, Luckily we were able to get dropped off right at the door. This was a good start to the weekend. Thanks Jia!
Happy National Day China! We woke up in Beijing on the 60th anniversary of communism in China! Those capitalist pigs will pay for their crimes, eh comrades? (quote from Austin Powers, we aren’t communists) We were hoping to catch a glimpse of their once a decade military parade. We knew in advance we weren’t “allowed” to watch, but we wondered how they could hide hundreds of thousands of soldiers, ICBMs, tanks, anti-aircraft guns, etc from us?! We took a walk around after breakfast to find all the streets around us blocked off to cars, but people were walking around. On the end of our block we found a SWAT team looking type guy with a machine gun and there were soldiers lining the streets. We realized right away they weren’t there to mess around.
We ended up watching some of the parade on TV and were lucky enough to see the air show portion from our hotel room window. We saw fighter jets, attack helicopters, bombers, etc. It was sweet. We took lots of pictures. We got sick of watching TV shortly thereafter and wanted to venture out to see the city. Our hotel told us not to leave because of the restrictions around the celebration area. They warned us we might not be able to come back to the hotel if we left. We weren’t going to waste one of our days sitting around in the hotel, so we decided to risk it. We had to walk for about a half an hour to find a taxi which we didn’t think was bad. On our way to find a taxi we saw the parade participants that had just performed. They had busses lining the streets to shuttle the performers out of the area. It actually seemed very organized.
The taxi dropped us off at the Summer Palace. We decided to rent the audio tour and were on our way. It was perfect weather. It was in the 70s with a breeze. We both overdressed a bit coming from the HK heat, we thought we were going to be cold. We walked around and enjoyed the palace for a couple hours. Realizing we didn’t eat lunch we thought we’d try a snack. The hotdog/sausage on a stick thing looked pretty good. The vender thought I was crazy putting ketchup all over mine. The first bites were ok until I had a crunchy bite! Ewwww! Crunchy hotdogs?! I immediately spit the bite out of my mouth which is not something I would normally do. I'm glad we were outside. We tossed out the dogs and had suddenly lost our appetites. We wrapped up the tour with a boat ride across the lake. This was one of our favorite sights of the trip. I can see why the past emperors used it as their summer get-away.
We decided to take a load off and relax in the “bar area” of Beijing. After a confused taxi driver and a lot of walking we think we found this bar area. We picked a random place with outdoor seating and had a few beers. They had an eclectic variety of music including a Christmas carol…in October…It was starting to get dark and we were hoping to catch the fireworks show that we thought we might be able to see from our hotel room. We found a taxi and went back to the hotel for some dinner. To our surprise the taxi was able to pull right up to our hotel. Yippee! We had some yummy Peking duck, spicy tofu, noodles – a feast for dinner. We made it back to the room just in time for the fireworks. We could see most of the show right from our window.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Day 2
The second day was probably our favorite. We woke up early to meet our guide and driver by 7am. We headed out to the Great Wall, the Mutianyu section. It’s about 50 miles north of Beijing. After a speedy ride with our insane driver we made it. It was worth the drive because it is much less touristy than the section closest to the city. I wanted to skip the cable car and climb the 1,000 steps up for the good view, but Chris talked me into taking the cable car up and I’m glad we did. We did plenty of walking once up on the wall. You can tell from the pictures that it’s not exactly flat. We wanted to hike on but some areas are restricted where the wall hasn’t been restored yet. It was a wonderful time of year to visit. It was in the 70s and the trees were just started to turn for the fall.
After a few hours of exploring around we got some locally grown peaches, apples, and roasted chestnuts for a snack on our way to the Ming Tombs. Our driver got even crazier as the day went on. I literally had to watch out the side window and pretend like I didn’t think we were about to get in a fiery crash. They made us stop at “The world’s largest jade factory!” aka “a tourist trap!” for an informational tour and lunch. We have already seen this song and dance in Guilin, China with the “silk factory”, "pearl factory”, and “art museum”. Can you imagine a museum where everything just happens to be for sale?! We hurried through their spiel and on to a below average Chinese lunch. Then it was on to the Ming Tombs. We learned a lot here, but it wasn’t as exciting as the Great Wall. After an hour or so we decided to head back to the city. I’m glad we made it back alive. When our guide told us that tips were appreciated and wanted our opinion about the driver Chris let him have it. Let’s just say they didn’t get a tip from us.
After showers and a rest we ended the day with dinner at a popular restaurant Da Dong. This was our second night of Peking duck. This place had a leaner and slightly different take which was fun to try. We ordered some fried rice and peas to go with our duck. To our surprise we were served 1 spoon full of peas each with a shot of peppermint liqueur. I have included pictures in the slide show. Interesting!
After a few hours of exploring around we got some locally grown peaches, apples, and roasted chestnuts for a snack on our way to the Ming Tombs. Our driver got even crazier as the day went on. I literally had to watch out the side window and pretend like I didn’t think we were about to get in a fiery crash. They made us stop at “The world’s largest jade factory!” aka “a tourist trap!” for an informational tour and lunch. We have already seen this song and dance in Guilin, China with the “silk factory”, "pearl factory”, and “art museum”. Can you imagine a museum where everything just happens to be for sale?! We hurried through their spiel and on to a below average Chinese lunch. Then it was on to the Ming Tombs. We learned a lot here, but it wasn’t as exciting as the Great Wall. After an hour or so we decided to head back to the city. I’m glad we made it back alive. When our guide told us that tips were appreciated and wanted our opinion about the driver Chris let him have it. Let’s just say they didn’t get a tip from us.
After showers and a rest we ended the day with dinner at a popular restaurant Da Dong. This was our second night of Peking duck. This place had a leaner and slightly different take which was fun to try. We ordered some fried rice and peas to go with our duck. To our surprise we were served 1 spoon full of peas each with a shot of peppermint liqueur. I have included pictures in the slide show. Interesting!
Day 3
We had another early start in attempt to beat the crowds at Tian’amen Square and the Forbidden City. We arrived at Tian’namen Square around 8am to find it completely packed with people. We dodged the crowds to explore and also to view the floats on display from the parade 2 days earlier. We made our way to the Forbidden City with the hoards of people (mostly Chinese folks). One of my favorite parts of the day was actual the garden next to the Forbidden City. It was peaceful compared to the madness we had just been a part of. It was decorated with red lanterns and flowers.
We also got to watch some of the military guys go through some training.
Next we ventured into the crowded Forbidden City. It was beautiful and very impressive. The buildings all kind of started to look the same after a while though. It wasn’t the best experience to share with a million+ other people either. We tired after a couple hours and decided to head back to the hotel before our next sightseeing adventure.
We spent the afternoon in an area called Hou Hai. There was a nice lake lined with bars, restaurants, and shops. We had lunch and took a rickshaw ride through the hutongs (old style homes of Beijing). We ended the day with another Peking duck dinner at Made in China at the Grand Hyatt. It was really good, but we are done with Peking duck for a while. The best part about the duck was the deep fried skin that you dip in sugar. So naughty, but delicious!
We also got to watch some of the military guys go through some training.
Next we ventured into the crowded Forbidden City. It was beautiful and very impressive. The buildings all kind of started to look the same after a while though. It wasn’t the best experience to share with a million+ other people either. We tired after a couple hours and decided to head back to the hotel before our next sightseeing adventure.
We spent the afternoon in an area called Hou Hai. There was a nice lake lined with bars, restaurants, and shops. We had lunch and took a rickshaw ride through the hutongs (old style homes of Beijing). We ended the day with another Peking duck dinner at Made in China at the Grand Hyatt. It was really good, but we are done with Peking duck for a while. The best part about the duck was the deep fried skin that you dip in sugar. So naughty, but delicious!
Day 4
Our wake-up call came early once again. We got up at 6am to go to the Pan Jia Yuan antique market. After 30 minutes in the car, we realized our taxi driver was lost. He was speaking to us in Mandarin and pointing to buildings, but of course we didn’t understand. We called the hotel for some translation help. About 10 minutes later we were on our way to the right spot. We arrived at the sprawling market while vendors were just getting set up for the day. It was only about 60 degrees (freezing cold to us!). We hadn’t had breakfast or coffee yet. We both thought it was a mirage when we saw a sign “Cafe”. Amazingly enough we were able to get hot coffee to warm us up while we shopped. I can’t reveal our purchases because some are Christmas gifts for our families, but we found some treasures. I did buy something for myself…I overpaid for an (I think it’s amazing) old looking cloth with Buddha’s and elephants. I’m having it framed right now. Of course we got charged gweilo prices and I paid about 4 times what I should have. I did get over 50% off his original asking price, but I still I realized I got ripped off. We had a lovely shopping experience and still made it back to the hotel in time for the buffet breakfast.
After breakfast and showers we went to see The Temple of Heaven. The traditional style architecture as similar to the Forbidden City, but had distinct blue roof tops symbolizing the sky. This was located in a beautiful park that was decorated for the mid-autumn festival and 60th anniversary. We spent a few hours touring the grounds and enjoying the nice weather.
Our grand finale of the trip was dinner at The Red Capital Club nestled in a hutong area of Beijing. It’s an original structure and dates back to war times. The staff was dressed in old army uniforms. The food was fantastic. After taking about 20 minutes to read through their witty and extensive menu we finally decided a few dishes to order.
Overall we thought Beijing was fantastic. I hope you enjoyed reading about our trip.
After breakfast and showers we went to see The Temple of Heaven. The traditional style architecture as similar to the Forbidden City, but had distinct blue roof tops symbolizing the sky. This was located in a beautiful park that was decorated for the mid-autumn festival and 60th anniversary. We spent a few hours touring the grounds and enjoying the nice weather.
Our grand finale of the trip was dinner at The Red Capital Club nestled in a hutong area of Beijing. It’s an original structure and dates back to war times. The staff was dressed in old army uniforms. The food was fantastic. After taking about 20 minutes to read through their witty and extensive menu we finally decided a few dishes to order.
Overall we thought Beijing was fantastic. I hope you enjoyed reading about our trip.
Chris' 2nd Birthday Party
Sorry for duplicates all you facebook users! Here are the photos from Chris' 30th birthday party in Macau. We spent the weekend with a small group of friends in the "Vegas" of China.
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