Traveling to Beijing was another great vacation! My friend’s old college roommate, Dawn, was living in Beijing with her husband and they housed and showed us around for a week. So nice! Thank goodness we knew people there - I’m not sure if we could have done it ourselves with the language barrier. Our friend would print out in Chinese where we were going and when we got in the taxi we would just hand the drive the slip. Worked out great...until one day when it was raining and the ink on our slip to get back home was almost ruined from the water. haha!
Trip Highlights
- Some of the highlights from our time in Beijing included:
Exploring the massive Dirt Market
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Shopping for Pearls at Lynn's Store at the Hong Qiao Pearl Market
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Looking (not eating) at the crazy foods on Wangfujing Street
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Enjoy the flowering Jasmine Tea Ceremonies
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Taking a bike tour around town (almost got ourselves killed on those roads!)
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Taking a boat ride and tour through Beijing Park in the rain
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Exploring the many temples around Beijing
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Standing in Tiananmen Square
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Exploring Forbidden City
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Walking around Summer Palace on a beautiful day
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Getting to see the preparations for the 2008 Summer Olympics - The Nest Egg Stadium
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Enjoying a wonderful Thai dinner on our last night in Beijing
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In Forbidden City one of our favorite memories was this Chinese couple spotting my friend and I and immediately handing us their baby so they could take a picture of him with white people! It was so funny that naturally I handed them my camera to take a picture too!
Kylee & EJ at Forbidden City with little boy
One of our favorite days outside the city was taking a hike on an old un-restored section of the Great Wall of China. Our guide, Kylee and I set out hiking for about an hour and a half before reaching the wall. We walked for a bit and then sat on top of a crumbling watchtower, ate lunch and enjoyed the incredible view. I remember our guide getting annoyed with us because we were taking so many pictures. We just couldn’t get over how amazing it all was! Then we walked about another hour along the wall and through the brush until we met up with the stopping point for the visitors on the restored section of the wall. The best part of taking the hike on the private section with a guide was having the wall all to ourselves and really seeing what was left of the wall - not just looking at the restored sections. I would highly recommend doing it that way if you go
Kylee & EJ Hiking unrestored section of the Great Wall of China
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EJ at the Great Wall of China
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Kylee climbing down the stairs on the restored section of the Great Wall of China
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Hiking an un-restored section of the Great Wall of China
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Great Wall of China Butterfly
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We also took a train ride to Xi’an and took a bike ride along the city wall and visited the Terracotta Warriors site. We were hot and tired after the overnight train, but it was still an amazing experience. Just mind boggling to see and comprehend someone making all of those statues.
Xi'an City Wall
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Kylee biking down the Xi'an City Wall
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Visiting the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an
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Xi'an Terracotta Warriors
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Xi'an Terracotta Warriors
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Some of our daily favorites included the incredibly cheap massages and foot rubs! $15 for an hour massage. I could seriously go live in Beijing just for that alone! And our favorite meal was this hole in the way place that had the cheapest and best fried rice and dumplings!
Kylee and EJ getting a massage
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Eating at our favorite hole in the wall in Beijing
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The first feet picture is Kylee and I in Tiananmen Square. They said two people could fit per stone, so we had to check it out. The second picture is during our Great Wall hike. We were laughing at how easily we could have fallen off in some sections. Long way down!
Tiananman Square Feet
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Great Wall of China Feet
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