China Chronicles: Beijing

I will have to apologize for the sudden influx of blogs for this month, there have been several happenings since mid-July (many of which have gone unnoticed).  While Beijing is coming out of turn compared to the other events that have occured these past couple of weeks, I thought it only fitting to add Beijing to the China Chronicles.

To preface our trip to Beijing, I will first need to note as to why we decided to go when we did and the reason for the duration of our stay.  Our good friends and roomates throughout college Devin Foley and Brooke Foley have been planning a week trip to South Korea since April.  It was nearly a year ago, before we left for Korea that the four of us sat in Rochester fantasizing about adventures abroad.  We toyed with the idea of Brooke and Devin visiting us and flirted with going to China (Beijing) while they were in Asia.  Since Seoul is less than a two hour flight from Beijing, this was a practical and relatively inexpensive idea.

Devin, Brooke, Regina (tour guide), Kelly and myself at the bottom of The Great Wall.

So here we find ourselves in Beijing.  Devin and Brooke flew to Beijing on Friday and Kelly and I met them on Saturday.  We arrived at the Beijing airport at approximately 10:00 am.  After we got off the plane, we had to take a bus taxi to the main terminal.  While we were driving on the tarmac, I noticed an airplane with "Koryo Arilines" on it.  That name sparked my curiosity as I have never heard of that type of airline before.  I soon found out why.  As I observed the airplane further I noticed the North Korean flag painted on the tail wing of the plane.  I quickly and eagerly shouted to Kelly, "Hey Kelly! That plane is from North Korea!"  While I was not surprised by the presence of the plane (as we know that North Korea and China have a close relationship), I was curious as to who would be on that plane.  As Kelly and I proceeded down some long hallways to arrive at China immigration, I stepped in line behind a man of whom I assumed was Korean.  I noticed that he dropped his immigration paper and I saw the last name "Lee" on it.  My assumptions were correct, as Lee is a very common last name in Korea (somewhat like Johnson or Smith in America).  I picked up the paper for this nice man and gave him a head nod.  He seemed indifferent and took it from me with a slight head nod (common gesture for Koreans).  As I stood behind this man I remembered the North Korean airplane and begun to put two and two together.  For the next 10 minutes I patiently waited for him to reveal his passport.  Then finally, I saw his passport.  Sure enough, his passport said "Democratic People's Republic of Korea."  I can't believe I just had had a small exchange with a North Korean.  This trip was starting out just right.

After about two hours, we finally arrived at our hotel near The Forbidden City.  Devin and Brooke were waiting patiently for us and we were overjoyed to see them.  We checked in, ate lunch at the hotel and around 1:30pm, Regina picked us up for a trip to The Great Wall.  We went to a somewhat secluded area of the Wall called Mutianyu.  It was great.  Although it was raining, it stopped at certain intervals allowing the perfect amount of exposure to the wall.  It was also great to keep the heat down and keep us cool.

We hiked around this mighty long wall for about 3 hours.  Towards the end of our time on the wall, as you can probably gather from most of our pictures from The Great Wall, we were virtually the ONLY people on the Wall, something that is very rare.

The Great Wall tops as one of my all-time greatest experiences I have ever had.  Devin, Brooke and Kelly would also rank The Great Wall as their top 5.  The particular mountainous terrain we were at was amazing.  It was so fascinating how they built this wall across this terrain, and that the wall is 10,000 km long!  It was exhausting just walking the 1km section we were at, let alone construct it!  It made it even better that we were the only ones who were on the wall, too.

We bought shirts.  "I climbed The Great Wall."

Following our trip to The Great Wall, all four of us went out to dinner to have the world famous "Peking Duck".  It was pretty dang good.  The restuarant had some pretty interesting selections of food.  I'd repeat some of the entrees, but I figured I'd save you the upset stomachs. 

After dinner, Brooke and Devin, who were in Beijing a day before us if you'll remember, wanted to take us to Olympic Park to see the area at night.  We were overly pumped to see this place, (especially lit up at night) however, we were too late and got there after the park closed.  Fear not my friends, Kelly and I went back the next day.

After a depressing farewell from our friends Brooke and Devin, Kelly and I went to bed that night for a very long, action packed Sunday in Beijing.

Our "12 hour sprint" in Beijing first consisted of visiting the "Temple of Heaven."  Since the taxis are very cheap in China (not Hong Kong) we decided to take taxis everywhere since they were easy and quick.  We took the taxi to Temple of Heaven and were awestruck by the vastness of the surrounding area.  The Temple of Heaven has a massive wooded park (like Central Park in New York City) and had this cool palace thing in the middle.  We enjoyed ourselves.

Following our 1 1/2 hours at Temple of Heaven, Kelly and I went to a massive pearl market nearby.  There are several main exports China is known for.  Silk, Jade, China and Pearl.  We decided to spend some $$ and buy some real pearls from China.  Booyah.

After our trip to the Pearl Market, Kelly and I then took a taxi to "Tian'namen Square."  This is the main square in central Beijing.  Here we were able to see the massive vastness of the square, as well as government buildings and the ever so popular, "Forbidden City."

The entrance of The Forbidden City.

Wavin' Flags

Inside the Forbidden City

One of the many "gates" within the city.

The Forbidden City is absolutely massive.  We have seen some big palace grounds here in Korea, but The Forbidden City is larger than many small cities in the US.  We did not buy an audio tour, but what we do know is that many Emperors dwelled within these walls and it was Forbidden for any common person to come within the walls for over 500 years.

 

After The Forbidden City, we went back to our hotel to pick up a bag of ours that we had stored there so we wouldn't have to lug it around Beijing.  We then departed to Olympic Park to see "The Birds Nest" as well as the "Water Cube."

The Birds Nest is huge.

Olympiads

The Water Cube.  Cool structure.

Following our visit to Olympic Park, we boarded the subway to the airport.  We left Olympic Park around 5pm and got to the airport around 7pm, just in time for a 9pm departure.  Overall it was a great stay.  It was sad to say goodbye to our friends, but we had a great time.

I'll write one more "closing thoughts" blog on China so I can finally close the books on China.

Stay thirsty my friends.