Beijing

Last week I went to Beijing for the first time. Here's what I did!

I took the train to Beijing from Hangzhou. It was a high speed train (高铁), so it only took 5 hours and it was really comfortable. We arrived just after 1pm, then we headed to where we were staying to drop our stuff. We then headed to start some sightseeing. We decided to go to Tiananmen Square first, just before sunset. We walked around and it was really surreal. It's so much bigger than I thought and it feel so strange to be there because of its role in Chinese history.

From Tiananmen, we walked to Wangfujing. It's a famous street with street food and souvenirs. It was absolutely packed, despite it being a Tuesday afternoon!

There we saw fried scorpions on a stick. Didn't try them though!

Then I made the long subway journey back to where I was staying, but not before seeing this crazy sunset.

The next morning, we met at Dongzhimen Bus Station and headed to the Great Wall. We took bus 916 to 怀柔 and then got a taxi to the Mutianyu entrance, which was about 40RMB, but split between 4 people it was not too bad. You can also get the H23 bus as long as you can speak Chinese and get the bus drivers to stop for you (or you can get off at the next stop and walk - it's not that far). Don't let anyone tell you there's no way to get there by public transportation - they're all scamming you for overpriced illegal taxis.

We walked up a rather intimidating flight of stairs (which in the end weren't that bad), and saw the Great Wall! We got on the wall and walked almost the entire length of that section and back. We had a really good time. Again, it felt so surreal to be there in person.

We were really lucky with the weather. We had a blue sky! It was a bit hazy, but it was so much better than I expected. It was also really warm, which made walking around really pleasant.

Look! No people!

We saw these cute little boys all sitting in a row waiting for their parents. How precious!

We were lucky enough to be there before the peak season, so there weren't many people, but it was late enough in the year to see the first of the cherry blossoms!

That evening, we got Beijing Roast Duck with a friend of a friend. It was the best meal I have had in China. The duck was really nice and we ordered a bunch of dishes with it that were also really nice. The restaurant is called 京尊烤鸭店 and it's near the Sanlintun District. I would 100% go back if I go back to Beijing.

The next morning, we got up really early to go to the Lama temple. We arrived at 7:30 only to find out that it only opens at 9... So we went to a cafe and had a nice chat and then went back when they opened. It was a little disappointing, because it's supposed to be a Tibetan Buddhist Temple, but the architecture and imagery is completely Chinese - they've just added some Tibetan writing here and there. They did have an interesting exhibit on the history of the temple, which I found interesting. 

After the temple, we headed back to Tiananmen to go to the Forbidden City. Pretty much everything in Beijing was surreal because I didn't really think I would go here before a year or two ago. It's an incredible place to go, especially if you know something about China and its history. You can also just go to admire the amazing architecture.

After exploring the palace for several hours, we quickly headed up Jingshan park, which is right across the street from the palace exit. You can get an incredible view of the Forbidden City and fully appreciate the scale of it all.

After that, we quickly walked back to Tiananmen to go to the National Museum for a while. We saw the exhibit 'The History of the World in 100 Things,' which is a traveling exhibit from the British Museum. Like anything from the British Museum, it was fantastic.

We had dinner all together that evening then I headed back for a quiet night in.

The next morning, we met at the Summer Palace! We were greeted by a blue sky day! No haze in sight! We spent about four hours there wandering around all the temples and shrines and palaces and bridges. It is such a beautiful place, especially on such a beautiful day.

At one point, we were surrounded by a rather large group of school children. A picture with one student and my friend quickly escalated into this group photo.

That evening, I hung out with the people I was staying with and we had really nice chats.

The next morning, we had a lazy morning and continued our chats from the previous evening. We talked about China, traveling, books, history, etc. It was so wonderful!

In the afternoon, I wandered around the 798 Art District, which was nearby. The streets were cool and there were lots of interesting exhibitions and shops.

The place is an old factory, which has been re-purposed into studios and galleries.

The street art was pretty incredible.

I sat in an open air cafe (not the one pictured) and read a book for a couple of hours before heading back.

That evening, I had hotpot with my hosts and their neighbors, who have a 10-year-old, whose English name is Summer. I helped her practice her English, even though she already speaks really well. She was really sweet and quite mature for her age. After a long wait for a table because it was Saturday night, we had a huge meal. It was so good! I really liked the lotus root, but it was so hard to pick up with chopsticks. I'm normally really good at using chopsticks, so it was a little embarrassing.

That was that. The next morning, we had brunch then I got the train back to Hangzhou. 

I had a lovely time in Beijing! The weather was a major factor in that, I think. It was really pleasant and I enjoyed all the things we saw and did. The only thing I didn't really like was the amount of time I had to spend on the subway and on buses. Beijing is just so big and spread out with so many people (duh). I would find it rather frustrating to live there and get around, I think.