Beijing

Well today has been fun. Got up early (7:30am) and left immediately for the airport. My flight for Beijing left at 10:05am and I managed to arrive at the gate at 9:47am. PHEW!!

Upon arriving at the Beijing airport, my goal was to find out how to reach the metro. One of the signs pointed to something called the "Airport Express", and that sounded promising so I headed there. I guessed right and soon enough I was on the metro. Three transfers later (I had got off at the wrong stop first, since the signage was unclear), I arrived at my stop: Qianmen station. Now the only thing I had to do was find my hostel. Unfortunately, my only resource for navigating was the map in the Lonely Planet, which just wasn't good enough. I wandered around for around an hour before I found the hostel and thank goodness I did.


My time here is short, so all that wandering is going to make it difficult to see the sights I want. I managed to see Tiananmen Square today, and hope to see the Forbidden City on Monday before leaving back to Shanghai.


After checking out the square, I thought that a delicious meal of authentic Peking duck was in order, so I headed to the nearby Qianmen Quanjude location.


The food was spectacular. They carve the duck directly in front of your table and then one of the people working there will show you how to construct a delicious peking duck wrap, if you so choose. Did I mention how good it was? Unbelievable. It's all about the sauce though, so if you do have some, make sure to get extra! Oh, and be sure to arrive early, since there are outrageously long line-ups to get in.


The 25 minute wait before I was seated put some pressure on my pre-arranged Kung Fu show reservation at 6:30pm, but I managed to make it back to the hostel with a few minutes to spare. The show itself was pretty interesting. Contrary to what I expected, it wasn't just a slew of disjoint martial arts acts; instead, it was a story based around a monk who studied Kung Fu. The performers were great, and I'd recommend the show to anyone with some time to spare in Beijing. I booked my ticket through Leo Hostel, where I'm staying.


I'm pooped now. Will be heading to bed shortly, as I have to be up and ready for 7:30am tomorrow to head to the Great Wall. So far, Beijing is awesome.

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Wowwwwwww! The Great Wall was unbelievable. I hiked 10km along it and it was just fantastic. The views from the wall are unparalleled and the wall itself is outrageous. I can't imagine how anybody was convinced to build such a thing. Well, I suppose if it's life or death, you'll choose life and build the wall, but lugging stones up several small mountains must have been challenging.

I'm sharing a room with two American girls and one from France, and as it turned out, we all went to the wall today. So we climbed together for the most part, which really made the trip more enjoyable. It's always better to share something beautiful with somebody than to just experience it on your own.

Now, some pictures:










And what better way to cap off a trip to the Great Wall of China than to sit in Beijing traffic for 1.5 hours? It was dreadful, but the bus had a constant stream of South Park on our way to the Wall and the Simpsons on the way back, which helped take the edge off. When I finally arrived back at the hostel, it was too late to make it to the Beijing Opera, so I just accompanied my roommates to Quanjude for a second night of Peking duck (it was their first, however). The verdict is in: Peking duck at Quanjude is unbelievably delicious.

My two big hitters left to see are the Forbidden City and then, if time remains, the Olympics grounds. I'll be visiting the Forbidden City tomorrow morning, but my flight to Shanghai takes off at 3:30pm, so I'm not sure if I'll have enough time to see both.

Anyway, all in all, Beijing has been a really great experience. Everyone I've met at the hostel has been very friendly and I've had a great deal of fun.


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Today was moderately disastrous, but started well. Somehow, I've found my way back to Shanghai with a cold can of Suntory in my hand.


It all began with some dumplings-- what better way to start a day? I love dumplings. As planned, I headed to the Forbidden City and arrived at the gates a few minutes before they opened. I purchased the audio guide and explored the old "city" (it is actually called the Palace Museum). The guide was pretty cool! It activated commentary depending on where you were located within the premises. The Forbidden City itself was impressive, but became a bit monotonous by the end as all the buildings look similar.







A turtle statue with a dragon head? It really doesn't get better than that.

After the Forbidden City, I decided to head to the Olympics grounds before leaving Beijing. It took me a while to get there, and on the way I ran into a public gymnasium. At first I thought it was a park for children, but then I realized all the occupants were adults and were exercising. I didn't get a picture of it, but I did get a picture of the five public table tennis games going on just a few feet to the right of it.


After many steps, and many metro transfers, I arrived at the Olympics grounds. It was pretty impressive-- the National Stadium is huge. I recorded a video to give you an idea, but the internet is too slow here to upload. Sorry!



It just so happened that the International Tourism Festival was taking place when I visited the Olympics premises, so I saw many foreigners dressed in traditional outfits to their corresponding nations. It was pretty bizarre, but very welcomed. I suppose America was representing by sending Mickey and Minnie to hang out with the tourists.


Getting back to Shanghai was no easy task. In brief, I got on the wrong subway and ended up missing my airplane. I then failed to call Tom to inform him. I was put on a plane that was scheduled to leave at 5:30pm. It left at 6:00pm. When I arrived in Shanghai, the metro to my hostel cost 4 yuan, but I only had 3. I then searched the airport for some place to break my hundred yuan bill. I bought a large pepsi at KFC and boarded the subway. I originally planned to arrive at the hostel at 6:30pm. In actuality, I arrived at 9:15pm.

Alive and well.