The Great Wall & other Beijing Adventures

This blog is only like two weeks delayed, but anyway, a group of five of us traveled to Beijing and stayed there for the long weekend three weekends ago (we didn't have class Friday and Monday was a holiday here in Hong Kong). It was incredible, but the weather was hazy all weekend, which did not make for great photos.

I had my first hostel experience while in Beijing! We arrived at our hostel Friday afternoon, where we found our bathroom to be a small room with a toilet, sink, and shower head hanging on the wall. There was no separation by a wall or shower curtain or anything; you literally shower inches away from the toilet, so that was different.

Our hostel was just a couple blocks away from the Forbidden City and Tienanmen Square so we walked over on Friday and explored the sights. The locals in Beijing stare much more than people in Hong Kong. White people aren't too uncommon in Hong Kong, and much more people speak English. In Beijing, we were literally like celebrities. We couldn't go anywhere without crowds of people wanting to take pictures with us. It was pretty cool for three days, but I could never be a superstar and have to deal with that all the time.

On Saturday, we had booked a guided tour to see the Great Wall and Ming Tombs. Our tour guide told us a lot of Chinese history and kept telling us we would be heroes once we climbed the Great Wall (Asian people repeat themselves a lot). The Great Wall was awesome; I only wish the weather would have been clearer so my photos could do the Wall justice, because the view was amazing! It was SO crowded, too. Maybe because it was a holiday weekend, but I was surprised.

"He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man."

After the Great Wall we visited the Ming Tombs. It was interesting to hear about all the history of the Chinese dynasties.

We went to some tea tasting at a famous place called Dr. Tea where Queen Elizabeth and numerous other famous/important people have drank tea, then broke away from the tour to explore the Olympic Park on our own. The Olympic Park was awesome! We visited the wall of medals while there and found Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens, Shawn Johnson, and many other Americans' names.

Me in front of the Bird's Nest at Olympic Park (2008 Opening Olympic Ceremonies)

The next day we went to the Temple of Heaven and spent hours there. It was beautiful and much larger than we expected. After a long day, we headed back to the hostel and had none other but a microwavable cup of ramen for dinner, because everything was closed by the time we got back.

It was a great weekend all in all, and now I'm a hero of the Great Wall!