Asia Adventure 2016: Part 2: Beijing, China
Our Asian Adventure: 10 Flights. 7 Cities. 5 Countries. All in 2 weeks.
The second leg of our trip took us to Beijing, China!
Day 1:
- We arrived late in the day and made our way to the hotel. Checked in. Regrouped. And then headed back out again! It was late, but we decided to walk to the Tiananmen Square. On the way, we stumbled upon Jingshan Park.
There, we climbed a hundred stairs and got a great view of the Forbidden City from above and watched the sunset.
- We wished we could've stayed longer, but it was getting dark and we didn't want to climb all those stairs without light. So we continued on to Tiananmen Square. Everything was closed off (we could only look from a distance) but it looked awesome at night, all lit up.
- After the square, we went out in search of food! Near by was the Dong Hua Men Night Market. There, they have a long row of booths with all kinds of foods, from dumplings to duck to even scorpions and snakes. Food is cooked fresh, but beware, they can be fairly aggressive getting you to buy things (saying they're going to cook a second one, even if you don't want it), but just be firm and don't give in. Dumplings were great, though! Ali tried the snake & larva but didn't enjoy it too much.
- After filling our bellies, we headed back to the hotel for the rest of the night.
Day 2:
- For China, we booked a private tour guide/driver to take us around the city for the next 2 days. We booked our tour with Catherine Lu Tours. They were great! Took us everywhere we wanted to go and got all our tickets for us. They were very friendly and were great about answering our million questions throughout the day.
- Our first stop on the tour was The Forbidden City and Palace Museum. The Forbidden City was way bigger than I had imagined. And the details in everything were beautiful. We were really glad to have our guide with us, because she was able to explain the meaning behind everything there.
- At the end of the Forbidden City was the Imperial Garden. It was pretty, but I wish we could see it again in the spring or summertime when the plants are in bloom.
- After, we headed to the Lama Temple (as in Dali Lama, not the cute fluffy animals). This temple has many halls full of different Buddhas, but one of the more extraordinary ones is 18 meters high and made from a single piece of sandalwood.
- Next, we drove to the Temple of Heaven. This is the historic site where emperors would come to worship and pray for a good harvest. Around the temple is a park, where you can see many older locals doing various activities like playing cards or exercising at the outdoor gym. The park is a great place to sit and people watch if you have the time.
- Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to clean up a bit before our evening show. We bought tickets for "The Legend of Kungfu" show at the Red Theatre. The show was great! Not really a dancing and singing show, but instead it was a story told trough acting and martial art/acrobatics. It was something different and we enjoyed it quite a bit. And the Red Theater was surprisingly red on the outside.
Day 3:
- On our last day, we started out at the Summer Palace. The palace was huge and had a little bit of everything: beautiful gardens and nature, architecture and art, and a temple. It was super beautiful and you could spend a lot of time there.
- We could've easily spent most the day at the Summer Palace, but this was also the day we were going to get to see the Great Wall! We saw the wall at Mutianyu, which is about an hour and a half to two hour drive from downtown Beijing. There, you can take a cable car up to the top and walk around between tower 23 and 1. But, be warned, the steps can get extremely steep and scary in some places. The stairs were made to fit the mountainside, not the other way around. But the view was worth it and now I can finally check that off my bucket list.
- After walking around the wall a bit, it was time to make our way to the airport. To get back down the wall, you could take the cable car back down or you can take the slideway back down. This was super fun and totally worth it! It was a great change of pace from all those stairs we had been climbing the past few days.
After that, our tour guide and driver took us to the airport and helped us make our way to the correct counter. Next up, we were headed to Siem Reap, Cambodia.
I am super thrilled that I got the chance to see Beijing and see all the sites in person that I had only seen pictures of. And because we went in February, we were able to see everything with slightly less people around.
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Part 1: Seoul, South Korea
Part 3: Siem Reap, Cambodia
