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D: After taking the 5 hour bullet train from Shanghai to Beijing we were eager to make our way to the hostel. It was pretty easy getting to the hostel but the directions took us down some alley way where people were selling things in the street and then past a cinema and down a side street beyond that. I was thinking this can't be it...the place looked so run down and was next to a bike repair shop and some little shops. I was very skeptical but the woman who checked us in was so friendly and even gave us two bottles of water when we arrived as she said we looked tired and hot. I told her it was from lugging the suitcases through the subway - which has not been easy!!! It's actually a bit colder here in Beijing. She showed us to our room and again I was pleasantly surprised. This room was bigger than our last. The shower was one of those hand held ones that was attached to the wall in the bathroom. That's how they were in Korea as well...very interesting showering experience. Whilst on the subject of bathrooms... a lot of the public bathrooms are "squatting toilets" which means you basically just go in a hole in the ground...I try to avoid these at all costs! So anyways we threw our stuff down and then took a ride over to Tienanmen Square to check it out. It was dark by then and the whole square was lit up which was pretty cool. The smog is so thick here that it's hard to see very far, even during the day. Definitely a lot more pollution here than Shanghai. We didn't walk around too much as there wasn't a lot to see so we headed back to the hostel and went to a local restaurant for some dinner.
Day 2
Today we went back over to Tienanmen square to get some pictures during the day and then headed into the Forbidden City which is nearby. This is where all the emperors and empresses of the Ming and Qing Dynasties lived. It was originally built sometime in the 1400's. Once inside it was very impressive. A huge palace complex with lots of side rooms and some even had the original furnishings. We weren't prepared for how long we ended up here...about 4 hours! Once we finally managed our way out of here there was a hill just beyond the palace gates that had a few temples along the top so even though we were tired and hungry we decided to make the trek up the hill and check it out while we were there. It was a nice peaceful walk up through the trees and from the top you could see over the whole palace and Beijing city. After this we tried to make our way home but got lost a few times which seems to be pretty standard these days! A nice Chinese couple stopped and asked if we needed help and then walked us to the metro station, so nice! Actually a few people had stopped to see if we needed help which was really great. Once back at the hostel we were exhausted and decided to try out another local restaurant. We ordered the pork dumplings which were amazing! They were huge and the outer dough bit was really good as well as the meat inside. Along with this we got a chicken and nuts dish and pork with vegetables dish. The pork tasted like cat so we didn't eat that, however those dumplings alone were enough to bring us back the next night! After dinner we went back and went to sleep pretty early as we had the great wall booked for the next morning and knew it was going to be a long day!
Day 3
We came downstairs around 7 this morning for breakfast as it was included in our tour price. After picking up a few others from different hostels we made the hour and a half journey to the Great Wall. It was cloudy today and when we got off the bus it was pretty cold. Mistake number 1 was choosing to wear shorts that day! Our tour guide Tony was trying to get us to take the cable cars up and the toboggan down but we along with another couple from The Netherlands decided to brave it and hike up to the top. What a workout! I haven't felt my lungs burn like that in awhile. We got to the top and the view was breathtaking. The wall went on for as far as you could see through the mountains which were full of autumn colors. We decided to hike to the highest watch tower in our section of the wall. The dutch couple joined up with us and we ended up doing the whole wall together. It took a little over an hour to get to the highest point. The wall at this part just went straight up. It was definitely worse than it looked! We were all dying on the way up. And the very last set of steps were so steep you were climbing on hands and knees to get to the top of the watch tower. Mind you we are thousands of feet over top a mountain at this point so the nerves were coming in to play. I hugged the side of the wall and took my time. Once at the top I barely stopped to enjoy it cause I was so worried about getting back down without freaking out! But sure enough we all made it back down safely and celebrated with a beer at the bottom! That beer was probably one of the best I've had! Especially at this point as it had been misting for a while and we were now sweaty and wet with rain and exhausted! We headed back down to the bottom as we were all meeting back up at a local restaurant for lunch, which was also included in our package. All in all we had about 3 and 1/2 hours on the wall. At the bottom we passed through all the shops again for some souvenirs. Marty tried to bargain with the woman and pay 10 pence for a tee-shirt but she wasn't having it! By the time we got to the restaurant we were pretty wet as the rain had picked up on our way down - good timing really with the rain getting heavier. It was freezing so we were glad for some warm tea and lunch. The food was surprisingly good. There was a big round wheel on the table and lunch was brought out and shared by all on the tour. There must have been over 10 different dishes to choose from and they were all tasty. We got to meet some new people and had some good chats over lunch. The journey back was long as the rain was pouring down and we were freezing and exhausted. We couldn't wait to get back and shower and put some warm clothes on. Once warmed back at the hostel we decided to brave the rain for those dumplings again! They were of course delicious and the chicken with cashews and vegetables that we chose this time around was also very tasty. Can't really complain about the food here, was pretty good all around! After that it was an early night as the great wall took it out of us!
Day 4
We were pretty slow going this morning as our bodies just felt ragged from yesterday's climb. We finally got going just before noon and decided to check out this place called the Summer Palace which was about 45 minutes away on the metro. It was a pretty cool place with a big palace type structure set on the top of the mountain with a big lake in the back that you could hike around. There were lots of places to stop and rest, eat, and shop around here. We got some pretty pictures and then headed to a main shopping area to buy a few books as we're both out of reading material and were hoping that if we have something to read we'll be able to stay up past 8 at night! We were pretty tired when we got back today and just decided to have dinner at the hostel. We're flying out tomorrow morning for Hong Kong and we're both glad to moving on. There are some amazing sites around here but we both didn't enjoy the atmosphere as much in Beijing. There are about 22 million people living here so trying to take the metro everywhere was intense. One night they had rammed so many people into the car that it was like wearing a corset of bodies - could barely breath! Also it's very smoggy and dirty here and most things are a bit run down. There's a lot of construction going on as well which creates more dirt and dust everywhere. In general there's not as many "home comforts" here such as fast food restaurants and our trusty Pizza Hut we found in Shanghai. Looking forward to the lounge at the airport again, as well as the fact that 2 of our nights in Hong Kong will be at the Conrad Hilton with free breakfast, woo hoo!!!
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