It is time for the Trio to take our first steps into the mainland of China. We arrived to the city quite late at night and were dropped off by a taxi in a spooky alley. Not the best start to our experience, but it turns out we soon walked into a gorgeous, wonderful place called the Peking Yard Hostel. We spent the first evening enjoying “sensory perfection” (as Andrew says) which included cocktails, journaling, calm music, dark lighting, the works.
Day 1 –We eventually made our way to Tian’anmen Square without a map and explored there. One of the gates was open to the public for the day so we went to the top and met two art students that had their work on display. One of the students told us the story of one of her paintings of a horse and a wise man. She said even if the horse were the most talented he would need someone to recognize his talent. She also had four paintings of the seasons, which represent someone’s life. After this we went to see Mao’s Mausoleum and then stumbled upon a neat shopping street. From there we walked pretty far to the Temple of Heaven to see the gardens.
Day 2 – We had our first proper day of exploring when we started out to the Forbidden City. Debbie had her first experience with a squatting toilet (Dr. Cassill had warned us about this, but we still weren’t prepared). We ended up doing an audio tour for the city so we knew what we were looking at. The city was very big with many ornate roofs and little side streets to other parts of the area. The Imperial Gardens were full of little trees, stones, and gazebos throughout for the concubines to be entertained. Next stop was Jingshan Park at the end of the Forbidden City. We hiked up to three different levels of pagodas that over looked the Forbidden City. One emperor actually hung himself in the park after he found out there would be a peasant uprising and he didn’t want any more civilians to get injured.
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| Inside the square |
Day 3 – The Great Wall of China. After a scrumptious bacon and egg with organic vegetable sandwich, we set out to meet our tour for the wall. Our guide, Vivie, took us to the Mutianyu part of the wall which is slightly less touristy. Only parts of the wall remain, as some were actually made of wood, so the portion we were on was only about 2.5 miles. We took a cable car up to tower 14 and started hiking down. The view was amazing. It is really hard to actually describe the Great Wall except amazing. Each tower we came across was different, each stone and each step had its own character. The way to get down from the wall was by toboggan. Each of us sat in our own little toboggan sled and got to go down a massive slide through the trees and mountainside to the bottom. It was so cool!! After our wonderful day on the wall we asked the hostel staff for a good place for dinner and the first thing they asked was, Peking duck? This is a must in Beijing. We went to a very nice restaurant where we got signature Peking duck, pan fried duck rolls, spring rolls, green tea tiramisu, and a blueberry rice pudding. It was one of the most amazing meals we’ve ever eaten!
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| Great Wall of China |
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| Peking Duck |
Day 4 –Today we started at the Olympic Stadium. The facility was huge and it was crazy to think they had constructed this entire area including bathrooms and benches, just for the Olympics. We wandered around the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest and then took the subway across the city to the Emperor’s Summer Palace. It was nice to stroll along in the shade and enjoy nature.
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| Bird's Nest |
Day 5 – Our last day was spent in 798 Art District, which all of the tourist books said is an up and coming area and a must see. After a bit of shopping and a coffee break, we were headed back to the airport.
“Bye bye Beijing, Hello Hong Kong.”
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