Beijing and Beyond...

We last left y'all with our stories of Shanghai. On Saturday we woke up and packed up our belongings because we had to check out of the hostel by noon. We wandered the city for bit- just checking out People's Square a bit more, using the free international phone calls from an expensive hotel (apparently we blend in), and having one last snack at McDonald's. Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the hostel, clean up a bit and take a taxi to the train station.

Goodbye Shanghai!!

Boarding the train to Beijing!

We boarded the train right on time, unsure of what the proper "train etiquette" was, but we soon met our cabin-mates, a couple guys from Sweden who worked for H&M. After chatting about great places to visit in Beijing and meeting other train friends, we ate a quick dinner in the dining car. We soon met even more international friends, but we were so exhausted that we crashed by 11pm.

SUNDAY: We arrived in Beijing around 7am, stood in a ridiculously long line for a taxi, breathed in even worse smog than Shanghai, and eventually found our way to Leo Hostel, only "750 meters from Tienanmen Square"...

Note the construction below... lots to do in the next 2 months for the Olympics!!

We got situated in our room, gave them our laundry to do, and set out to explore our home for three nights. We were not far from Tienanmen Square at all, so after walking through there we wound up spending the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon in the Forbidden City. There are 999 rooms in the place, not a small place to explore, but we did our best in the 4 or 5 hours we allotted. Wonderful architecture, amazing history and unbelievable decor.

It was obviously laundry day, as seen by Chris' matching socks.

Jennifer met a friend in the Forbidden City... they sat and waved a while.
The crowds at the Forbidden City, escaping the sun in the shade of the building.

Afterward we headed via subway to Ritan Park, on a whim from a recommendation Jennifer had from a magazine before leaving. Although the restaurant didn't pan our exactly, Chris had a chance to play Table Tennis in the park with an outdoor rec center. Below is Chris showing off quick paddle-skills against his 10-year-old opponent. Down the street we had a beer and dinner at the Oriental Taipan. The bartender spoke very little broken English, but we had fun getting him to circle fun spots to visit in Beijing for us. Unfortunately we lost that map before Monday, but it was fun nonetheless. On our walk home from the park, after a stop in a market area of town, we ran into Jennifer's friend Drew on the street! Such a wonderful surprise, especially for half-way around the world :)

Jennifer and Drew!

MONDAY: A 7:30am start, but in hindsight it was well worth it. This was our Great Wall day, and we were so very excited! We joined a group of 8 other travelers from our hostel on "Leo's Secret Great Wall Tour." A thrilling 2-hour van drive, and several near-death turns later, we pulled into this remote village where an old man hopped in right next to Jennifer. Another ten minutes and we were let out of the van and before we knew it, the van drove away. The ten of us (plus the 70-something Chinese man that did not speak a word of English) were in the middle of these huge mountains with what seemed like nothing around but brush. We quickly found out that our tour guide was quite the machine. We followed him along a narrow path through the jungle surroundings for what seemed like forever. Eventually we got a glimpse at our destination- the abandoned and untouched section of the Great Wall. Spiders, centipedes, snakes all around, but we could only focus on the Wall above us. After 45-minutes we reached the wall.

We hiked along The Great Wall for around 2 hours. We kept on moving, stopping along the way to take in the beauty. As we continued, the view kept on growing, revealing further stretches of the Great Wall. At one point we reached the highest point around us and as we climbed into the old fortress there was a man with a table of souvenirs to sell. haha. Considering there were no other tours that day to this section of the wall, it was quite a surprising find. The most awe-inspiring part was to see the wall from the highest point, where you could see it snake along the spine of the mountains for miles and miles. Towards the end of our hike we heard loud thunder, and before we knew it, the skies began to pour... and then hail. We hurried along the wall, eventually arriving at a covered fortress. After it died down some we continued with caution, as the non-restored wall did not have much of a ledge, and sections we had left were rather steep. At one point the guide decided to assist Chris, as seen below. Quite the Kodak moment.

After the hike we were soaked to the bone, and exhausted, but luckily they brought us straight into a remote village and cooked us a huge meal of local cuisine.

Our gross shoes after the hike through mud.

The group shared travel stories, which was lots of fun. Our newest friends were from Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, and Israel. Another 2-hours van ride home, and then some down-time at the hostel.

The street our hostel is on.

We then ate dinner across the street from the hostel. We had Peking Duck, a Beijing specialty. We both thoroughly enjoyed the feast!

TUESDAY: Our last full day in Beijing, today we started early knowing we had a lot to fit in. We bought out our train tickets for tomorrow (off to Hong Kong tomorrow!), then took the subway to the Temple of Heaven Park. We spend a couple hours meandering through the crowds. But it was pleasantly different- the crowds were not tourists, but locals practicing Thai Chi, playing hacky sac, and working out in the outdoor recreation area. We took plenty of pictures of the temple, and then headed on to our next stop.

Next, we took the subway to the Olympic Park (actually, the stop was about a mile walk away because the new subway line is not open yet). As we ran into many closed gates and dead ends, things finally payed off as we turned another corner to find the soon-to-be-infamous Birds nest stadium. After hopping a fence, befriending some locals trying to get a close-up shot as well, and getting shoo-ed away by the Chinese police, we wound up with some pretty great photos. One thing is for sure- it will be a very different scene there in 2 short months. It was surprisingly desolate and filled with construction dust. Next was a taxi ride to the Summer Palace where we spent a few hours exploring the massive grounds and enjoying the beauty of the lake. The weather was slightly overcast, but we appreciated the break from the muggy weather in Shanghai. There was on huge lake, and small pagodas with towers along the edges.

We stayed until it looked like rain and then we took a long bus ride back to our hostel. We commented on how even after 3 days the city feels comfortable. Places that were foreign just 48 hours ago even are now familiar landmarks as we find our way back to the hostel. It would be wonderful to stay another day or more, but off we go to Hong Kong to keep up with our schedule. Last night's dinner was in an Aussie bar, but still we ate Chinese food- some chicken & curry fried rice and veggie stir fry. Yum! We're definitely becoming more familiar with the chop sticks as the days go by. As for now we better get some sleep so we can enjoy our last few hours tomorrow morning in Beijing tomorrow morning. Then we will get some much needed down-time on our 24 hour train ride south!

Thanks for reading and of course we appreciate all the comments. By the way- that is 7 comments for Jennifer and zero for Chris *cough cough*...

Until next time. Peace from China,

Jenn & Chris