I had the opportunity to go to Beijing for a few days to see my great friends Joel & Amanda. They are in China teaching at a University so we met in Beijing so we could see each other!
I stayed in my first Hostel ever! It was way fun and I loved the atmosphere there. It was super cute. It was definitely different then a hotel room but it was good. I felt a little out of place when I was carrying by big pink suitcase! The typical Hostel occupant will be carrying an adventurous backpack… I kind of stood out!
I was a little nervous flying into China b/c you hear all these horror stories about how closed they are and how they don’t like Americans very much. It wasn’t bad though. One thing you need to know about Asian culture though is they don’t really have a concept of what a line is. There is no waiting your turn, it’s survival of the quickest! As soon as the plane stops everyone jumps up and starts pushing their way to the front. There is absolutely no empty space. So I jump up just like everyone else so I don’t get trampled. Then an announcement comes on over the intercom (no idea what it is saying) and everyone starts going to seat (the first empty seat they saw, most of them were not their original seats!). So I head to my seat and then some man comes on board and has a thermometer. He starts putting them on random people’s foreheads. He doesn’t say a word, just walks up and looks like he is going to shoot you in the head! Then we got to get off the plane!
We went to Tiananmen Square when I first arrived. I’m not real sure what the significance of this place was, but it was cool I guess. It was a big open area and there were these guards everywhere. Not real sure what their purpose was or what they were doing but it did make for some sweet pictures!
We went to the Silk Market. There are no words to describe this experience. Overwhelming does not even begin to describe it. As soon as we walked in it was people trying to sell you things everywhere. “Hey beautiful lady, you take a look inside at my _______________ (insert whatever item they were trying to sell here).” Oh my word I didn’t even want my eyes to wonder over something b/c they were like vultures ready to attack! I did finally start bartering… which was very difficult for me… so not my personality! I got UGGS for $20usd and Dolce & Gabbana bag for $8usd. Not too bad if I do say so!
The coolest thing we did though was climb the Great Wall! Let me tell you though I had NO IDEA what I was getting myself in to! We pulled up after about a 2.5 hour trip and I see it and I’m like we are hiking up that?!? When we were finished, I told Joel and Amanda that at the beginning of the hike I thought to myself there is no stinkin way I can do that! That is going to be torture!! It wasn’t by any means easy, but well worth the climb! It was absolutely b-e-a-utiful! The pictures I took do not even begin to give it the credit it deserves. The weather was amazing and the sky was a bright blue! There was a nice breeze from being so high up.
There are these stairs that go straight up… literally! You look up and you are like I’m supposed to walk up that? Remember that Asians are rather small and they don’t have large feet so that was an experience all on it’s own. You are pretty much walking on your tip-toes as you’re taking the steps. Then there were these little rest spots (they were actually where the soldiers would sit and look out and make sure no one was trying to jump the walls and attack them). They were shaded and cool and a nice break on the way up though! Amanda and I liked to take lots of pictures (this was actually our cover for stopping half way up the stairs to take a break!!) on the way up. It truly was such an accomplishment when we got to a high point to look down and see how far we had come! This was the only time you were not completely surrounded my hundreds of people. It was so peaceful! Truly an incredible sight that I would recommend to everyone! We had to be “those people” though and by the t-shirt that read ‘I climbed the Great Wall.’ Joel bartered for us though and got us 3 shirts for 30 Yuan (pronounced Qui-how weird is that), which is less than $1.50usd per shirt! So worth it!
That night we headed over to the Olympic Village to check that out. It was cool to say I’ve been there, but it was really just a bunch of buildings. They looked cool though. We saw the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube. We also saw a National Arena, but not real sure what was in there… maybe gymnastics or basketball or something?!? It’s so funny, they still had Beijing 2008 EVERYWHERE! They are going to be riding that one for the next 10 years! They tried selling us gold medals… we all laughed out loud on that one!
We also headed out to Summer’s Palace. This was like a little community that was built with illegal funds by someone who was in some government position years ago. I love that they have this place that was built illegally and it’s like a National Sight! It was neat to see all the different Chinese architecture.
They have this really cool community that I would compare to like Westport in KC. It was sweet, but I didn’t really get to enjoy it that much b/c I had started to get sick from the food! Oh the joys of eating new foods!
China was definitely different then I was expecting. I enjoyed visiting and I’m glad that I did it! A few little things that were different:
o You do not flush the toilet paper. You put it in the trashcan by the toilet. They have ‘squaties’ for toilets. Thankfully I never had to use one. I’m not the best squatter… I don’t have the fondest memories of my attempts! J
o Children don’t wear diapers. They have slits in their pants. When they have use the bathroom, they just squat right there in the street. Saw a few baby’s bottoms!
o You are like a celebrity there. Everyone stares at you and talks about you… it’s the worse on the subway. I had a couple girls talking about me and my freckles. I don’t think they had ever seen them before. They’ll come up to you and ask you to take a picture with them and they will try to secretly take pictures of you… they’re not too discreet though!
o People are always trying to sell you something! We even had to barter a taxi once!
So, there was my China Trip in a nutshell! Hope you enjoy some of my favorite photos! I have many more that are on facebook! I’m going to figure out an online place to store my photos too so those of you who do not have facebook can enjoy them all as well!
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