Day 3 in Beijing

For our third day in Beijing we were on our own.  Our only regret of the trip is that we didn't book the tour for all three days, but we managed to get around and had a good time.  Before we went neither of us bothered to research what we would like to do on our free day.  We knew we were covering all the really major highlights with our two days of touring and figured we could just find something else to do when we got there.  We asked our guide what else he would recommend and he gave us a few good ideas.  We wanted to go to the museum he had suggested but due to a lack of Google and lack of English understanding by the hotel staff, we're not really sure if we ended up at the right museum or not.  We ended up taking the subway to the Military Museum.  Unfortunately it was closed for renovation but they did have some outdoor things to view like original military tanks, planes and cars most of which were left from the WWII and Cold War era.  They even had the wreckage of the United States' U2 spy plane that was shot down by the Soviet Union in 1960. 

After a short trip at the museum we took a taxi to Olympic Park.  This Park and the surrounding buildings were, of course, built for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.  The stadium is called the "Bird's Nest" because it looks like one and we got to see the Water Cube where Michael Phelps won his eight gold medals.  We also took a lunch break at a McDonald's that is still located within the park.  The park is HUGE.  We started at one end and walked all the way down to the other end where there was a forest park area.  After walking so much for the previous two days and then walking the whole length of Olympic Park we decided to buy tickets for a golf cart trip around the forest park so we could see all of it while we took a little break before walking back to the other end again.  Although the size of the park was impressive, it honestly looked like there had been very little upkeep since the Games ended five years ago.  We both agreed that Olympic Park in Seoul, which is twenty years older, is kept up much nicer.

After taking a taxi back to our hotel late in the afternoon, we did a bit of souvenir shopping near the hotel and then had one more delicious Chinese meal before having to get up very early the next morning to get to the airport.  Our same driver picked up early Sunday morning and our plane left close to on time this time and we got back to Seoul earlier than scheduled.  It was a really great quick trip to get away and see some new things.  We are so glad we had the chance to see a small piece of China during our time in Asia!!

 U2 wreckage

 The Bird's Nest at Olympic Park

We tried to take this without being too conspicuous so it's kind of hard to see, but those are scorpion, cockroach and centipede skewers for sale in the snack tent at Olympic Park!  And we thought the larva they eat in Korea was bad!!

Day 2 in Beijing

Our second day started out similar to our first with our guide and driver picking us up at the hotel after breakfast.  On this day we started out by going to Tiananmen Square which was actually within walking distance from our hotel.  The square was expanded in the late 1950s to be the largest outdoor square in the world at that time (now the third largest).  There really isn't much to see within the square but has been and continues to be used for many political events and contains many army guards standing very straight and tall around different parts of the square (it's a good idea to not take pictures of the guards as China is still very much a communist country and doesn't appreciate that much).  There is a building in the square that contains the body of Mao Zedong.  According to our guide people will stand in line for upwards of four hours in order to go inside for about ten minutes.  Apparently most of the body is covered by the Chinese national flag but the face and left shoulder are visible (though some people believe it's a wax figure and not his real embalmed body).  There's also a large television-like screen that was built in the middle of the square for the 2008 Olympics and hundreds of thousands of people would gather in the square to watch the games.

Across the street from Tiananmen Square is the Forbidden City which is where we went next.  The Forbidden City is huge, it has over 900 buildings and is close to 8 million square feet.  It's a UNESCO world heritage site and over 600 years old.  It's called Forbidden City because it was was forbidden for anyone other than the emperor, his family and his political staff to enter.  It was built in the early 1400s during the Ming Dynasty and was where the emperor, empress and his concubines (usually 3000 of them) lived.  It was also where all of the political things happened so the emperors advisers and staff were also allowed into the Forbidden City.  It was interesting to walk around and see just how big it really was (especially compared to the king's palaces in Korea).  The architecture and gardens were really neat to see.

After leaving the Forbidden City we had another delicious Chinese lunch.  This time we got to try Peking duck, which by the way should really be translated as Beijing duck since Peking means Beijing.  It was really good!  It reminded us a little bit of Vietnamese food in that it came with a steamed rice paper and different vegetables to add and roll up with the duck meat.  They serve the skin by itself specifically to be dipped in a blueberry sauce and sugar.  We tried it but thought the meat flavor with the sweet flavor was a bit strange.  The rest was really good though.  We also had lemon chicken which was delicious.  We had already prepaid for our lunches with our tour package so we figured we might as well try as many different things for the money we had already spent!  Once again we got very full though!

After lunch we quickly went to the Beijing zoo to see the panda bears.  We were supposed to go to the zoo and have more time there when we got in on Wednesday but since our flight was delayed we didn't have time for that.  Our guide was really great though in making sure we at least got to take a quick trip through the panda exhibit.  They are very cute to see up close and look so cuddly and friendly!  All of the pandas that live in zoos anywhere in the world, and any baby pandas born in any zoo, are really just on loan from China.

We had one more stop for the day at the Summer Palace.  It is also a UNESCO world heritage site.  It was built in the 1750s but a good portion of it was destroyed by the French and British in the 1800ss and later rebuilt by a very powerful empress.  Originally the Chinese emperors only went to the Summer palace once or twice a year and spent the rest of the time in the Forbidden City.  However, when the very powerful empress Cixi controlled China for almost 50 years, she lived there full time.  After parts of it were burned by the British and French she had it rebuilt and expanded using a whole lot of money that was designated for the Chinese navy.  There's a really beautiful lake (man made at the request of the Empress Cixi) and the longest outdoor corridor in the world on the grounds of the Summer Palace.  There's a really neat marble boat on the lake also.  The original one was made of wood but after it was burned the Empress Cixi wanted one made of marble so it couldn't burn.  That's where she ate breakfast.  Even though it's not as old as some of the other sights we had already visited, it was still very interesting to see how large it really is and all the detailed architecture as well.  The outdoor corridor has 14,000 paintings along it!

We are in the process of getting all of our pictures uploaded to Shutterfly.  It's kind of a slow process since it's been a bit of a busy week so far but they are coming!  

Standing in Tiananmen Square

Inside the Forbidden City, walking on the original brick foundation

Peking duck and lemon chicken

Walking down the longest corridor in the world at the Summer Palace

Day 1 in Beijing

We spent our first evening in Beijing walking around our hotel area on Wangfujing Street which is over 100 years old.  It's hard to tell that now with all the modern stores and buildings but there were a few areas that looked more traditional.  The street is closed to traffic and can get pretty busy but not nearly as busy as I was fearing Beijing might be! But then again we've been in Seoul long enough to be used to the Asian crowds I guess.  We ended up having dinner at an outdoor beer garden restaurant because we weren't really sure where else to go.  Beijing felt different from Seoul in the fact that it seemed like there was much less English writing around.  Menus and some signs were in both English and Mandarin but overall it seemed like less English than in Seoul.  Additionally, it was just weird not being able to read things.  We are so used to being able to read anything written in Korean, even when we can't understand the meaning, that it felt kind of weird not being able to read anything at times.

We got up early to have breakfast at our hotel before our tour guide and driver came to pick us up and take us on our first day of sightseeing.  Our first stop was the Temple of Heaven.  Originally built in the 1400s, the Temple of Heaven is where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties of ancient China would go to pray to the god of grain for a good harvest or the god of rain during a season of drought.  Many buildings and things on the temple grounds are original and over 600 years old.  It was interesting to see how the numbers 3 and 9 were built into many parts of the temple.  Three signified heaven, the world and the earth while nine was simply a lucky number in ancient China so there were places that had exactly nine steps or nine rows of nine nails in the doors.  There were also three paths leading to some of the different areas around the temple.  The middle path was only for God so no one ever walked on it.  The path on the right side was for the emperor and the path on the left side was for the impure family members.  The servants had to walk on the very outer edges.  It was kind of cool to actually be walking and seeing things that are really 600 years old.  In Seoul, the palaces have very few parts that are actually original due to the Japanese destroying as much as they could during their occupation of Korea in the 1900s. 

After we left the Temple of Heaven we had our first authentic Chinese meal.  We were a bit worried about the food because many of the Koreans whom we talked to said they didn't like the food in China much at all.  Well our opinion was a bit different.  We loved it!!!  Yes some of it was super greasy but it was delicious and there was SO many different things to choose from (very different from Korea!!).  We ordered two different pork dishes, fried rice and asparagus lettuce (whatever that is, it's good too).  It was all delicious and we got way too full right before it was time to go to the Great Wall.

After lunch came the part we had been waiting for... the Great Wall of China!  There are a few different places people can access the great wall.  We chose to go to the Mutianyu section because we had read it was much less busy than another section closer to Beijing.  We took a cable car up to the wall and started walking.  Our guide gave us a bit of history about the wall.  The wall is believed to be well over 8000 kilometers long.  Most of the wall was built during the Ming Dynasty in the 14th century, though some parts were started the BC era.  Many people died while working to build the wall and at that time people thought dead bodies made good building material so there are (or at least were) even dead bodies within the wall.  The Ming Dynasty built the wall mainly to protect against the Mongol invasions.  There are thousands of watchtowers along the wall where people would watch to make sure no invaders were coming.  If they saw something they would light a fire and when the smoke was seen from the person at the next watch tower, they would light a fire too and it would keep going in order to notify the Chinese troops of a possible invasion.  Today a lot of the wall is in ruins but there are still several areas the public can go to climb on the wall.  The day we went was a bit foggy so we probably didn't have the best views but we still thought they were amazing!  It was quite a hike at times.  The last bit we did was a hike up nearly 500 steps to a watchtower.  It was a bit brutal, especially going back down when our legs felt like jello, but we felt pretty accomplished!  There were very few people climbing the wall which was also nice.

The Great Wall was about 60 kilometers outside of Beijing and by the time we got back to our hotel we were completely exhausted from our hike and in desperate need of a shower.  But we had accomplished the one thing we never would have thought we would ever do by spending a few hours hiking the Great Wall of China!

 Spectacular views

Of course I had to haggle with a hawker on the way back down to get a shirt that says "I climbed the Great Wall."

Back from Beijing

We arrived back from Beijing, China this morning.  We had a really great time seeing some of the highlights the city has from its ancient history and of course our personal highlight: Walking on the Great Wall of China.  It was nice to get away for a few days and see some new things.  We were supposed to leave early Wednesday afternoon but our flight ended up being delayed by 2 and a half hours so we didn't arrive in Beijing until late Wednesday afternoon.  Fortunately it's a very quick trip, an hour and a half or less, and our tour guide was there waiting for us.  We decided a while back when we first booked the trip that we thought we would just go ahead and book a private tour with one of the tour companies in China.  That was the best thing we could have done.  Even though our plane was delayed our tour guide was there waiting for us right outside of customs along with our private driver.  Since our plane was so late we didn't have time to do any sightseeing on Wednesday but they took us to our hotel and got us checked in.  They picked us up early the next two mornings and took us out sightseeing for those days.  Definitely the best way to go and anyone planning a trip to anywhere in China we strongly recommend China Travel Guide.  We didn't have to spend any time looking up the major sights and how to get there etc.  That's a good thing too because there's not much Google access in China!  It was so easy and nice having our own private guide tell us about things and let us go at whatever pace we wanted.  I will post about the different things we saw in the next day or so and we will start uploading pictures tonight as well.  Here are a couple...

 At the Temple of Heaven

 The Great Wall of China.  And yeah we climbed to that high point!

Outside Tiananmen Square

Time to Pack

This weekend it was time to get out a suitcase so we could get ready to start packing for our quick trip to China this week!  We are leaving on Wednesday for the two hour flight to Beijing for about four days before coming back Sunday morning.  We will have our own private tour guide and driver to take us around to the different sites which saves us so much time researching and navigating their crazy busy public transportation!  On Thursday we will be doing the one thing that we are most excited for and care about the most during our time in Beijing: walk on the Great Wall of China.  We definitely cannot wait to have that experience!  The rest of the time we will see some of the other major sites in Beijing and eat some real Chinese food (we are curious to see if we like it or not). 

Traveling to China is no simple or cheap task, even when you are so close.  Anyone who steps foot outside the airport in China must have a visa, regardless of how long you are staying (though I guess they issue some exceptions to those staying less than 72 hours).  Getting this visa was slightly annoying in three ways for us.  The first is that the visa fee for US citizens is nearly four times as much as for a citizen of any other country in the world.  The second is that US citizens cannot obtain a Chinese visa by simply going to the Chinese embassy here in Seoul.  Instead we had to go through a travel agency in order to get the visa.  The third, and most odd in our opinion, is that as US citizens wanting to obtain a Chinese visa while living in Korea, we had to have six months left on our alien registration with Korean immigration.  Fortunately, by going now we have exactly six months left on our alien registration.  We had planned to just visit China on our way home in March but when we found out it would be impossible for us to get a visa with only a few weeks left on our alien registration, we knew that this was our only opportunity.  It works out great since this week is the Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving, holiday which means we both have a five day weekend!

In addition to getting ready for a trip, we went to the mall this weekend to have lunch with some of the students that Eric tutors and their moms.  While at the mall we found a small store that carried foreign good at a much better deal than the other stores we know of so we were able to get some treats for the weekend, including Lays potato chips and Milano chocolate raspberry cookies!  We spent our Sunday afternoon at the park near our house walking and sitting while enjoying the warm (not hot) fall weather.  The weather this week was a bit disappointing.  It has definitely cooled down which is nice, but this week was quite monsoon-like with a lot of thunder and 90% humidity all week again.  75* and 95% humidity is MUCH more comfortable than 95* and 90% humidity though so I guess I won't complain too much!  The weather in Beijing should be comfortable enough for us this week.  We will just have to see what all we can see through their thick, dirty smog!!

Is that you, Fall?

Something exciting happened this past weekend... we had fall weather!!  It felt SO wonderful.  For the past three nights we have been able to turn off the air conditioner and have the windows open in our main room and our bedroom and it feels so nice!  During the day it is still getting warm (80s) but not too humid and it has finally started to cool down quite a bit in the evenings, enough so that if you go outside and just sit it could almost be a tiny bit chilly.  We are hopeful it is here to stay!  And maybe even for a whole month and a half this year! 

So other than our weather update, we spent most of the weekend close to home again (though that might start changing if this fall weather sticks around!)  We had a couple friends over Saturday evening to play poker and catch up since we hadn't seen them for a while.  Eric and I also spent some more time planning out our vacation in March since our plan is to finalize our destinations enough to get plane tickets booked this month.  It has not been easy to figure out where we want to go but I think now it might be finally set.  Now that it's September we only have six months left in Korea.  That also means six months left until our vacation and six months left until we are back in the states to  stay.  Crazy.

2 weeks and 2 days until China!