Beijing Day 1 & 3/4 and Day 2

Click Here to view today's pictures: Beijing Day 2

Yesterday was not quite over when I closed out my last post. As tired as we were, we still had a few hours to go.

Anna picked us up at 5pm (2am for you PST folks) to head out for dinner and the acrobatics show. We went to what is said to be the oldest and most popular Peking Duck restaurant in Beijing. As with lunch earlier in the day, Anna had preordered for us (as many of the guides appear to do for their guests). However, when she asked what we would like to drink, we both decided tea would be nice since we had yet to get the chill out of our bones. This perplexed them both. First of all, they don't appear to call green tea "green tea" here. After some hurried whispering between Anna and the server, she came back and said they only have jasmine tea. That's what we were expecting, so great. Bring on the jasmine. They were further confused by the fact that we didn't want anything else to drink. No Coca Cola and no beer. Their expressions made it obvious that it is not customary to drink only tea with dinner (or at all). Oops. Cultural faux paus, I guess.

Dinner was OK, but not great. I've decided that Duck is Yuck. Well, not really but I so wanted to make that rhyme. It is extremely rich and fatty. The way it was served was with wrappers and vegetables, so the idea is to make little duck crepes. Interesting concept, but I quickly saw that this was another one of their tourist scams so they could serve us as little duck as possible and fill us up on the rest. The soup, which looked like miso with cucumber, tasted like soap. Shawn thought for a minute that it was to clean our fingertips after eating the duck. I'm still not completely sure!

After dinner, we went to the Chayoyang Theater, where we had 3rd row seats for the Acrobatics show. By this time, we were exhausted, so luckily it was only 90 minutes long. Circ Du Soliel has really spoiled us, but this was still amazing, especially that close up. The human body can do amazing things if trained properly. Although these young men and women were in amazing physical shape, they probably train day and night...and retire by 20. Nevertheless, still very impressive.

We headed back to the hotel at this point and fell straight into bed. We had been forcibly acclimated to China time by sheer exhaustion. In less than 24 hours here, we saw more than half of the popular Beijing sights... with 2 more full days of sightseeing to do.

Day 2: The Great Wall, Jade Factory, Ming Tombs/Sacred Way

It was about an hour's drive to The Great Wall, so after a big breakfast we headed out. Along the way, we stopped at the Jade Factory, which was the only touristy jewelry stop we wanted to make. It really is just a trap for Cruise Ship buses and unassuming Westerners. They jade is beautiful, but it is overpriced and the shopping system is overwhelming. As much as I would have loved to buy jade for myself and all of my family members, it is extremely expensive for even small pieces. I ended up buying a few small costume pieces (still real, but probably made from scraps) and Shawn bought a nice men's ring, similar in shape and size to a precious stone ring he purchased in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

After this stop, we headed to TGW at Badaling, which is the most popular and best preserved location near Beijing. On the way, the abandoned beginnings of Disney World China can be seen just to the side of the freeway. It looks like the facade to a tacky Vegas shopping center now. They didn't get far, but it is still obvious that it was intended to be Disney related. Kind of sad, really.

Once at TGW, if was evident that this would be a very cold and windy day. We are used to wind in our neighborhood at home. For those not near us, we live close to the mountains in a planned community on a ridge of sorts... we sometimes brave 20-50mph gusts in the fall and winter...and today blew that away (pardon the pun). It was just above the freezing point outside and the wind was coming in non-stop gusts of about 30-60mph. Of course, we chose to climb the steeper of the 2 available wall segments here (why would we want to go the easy route?) which meant that we would be walking uphill at sometimes 45 to 90 degree grades INTO the wind.

Just as with any high traffic world wonder, stuff vendors are everywhere, all the way up the wall. Even in the wind and cold, they are relentless. The nice thing about the vendors here that I can't say about any other part of the world I've seen so far is that you say Bu (no) once and they stop and walk away.

We climbed (I say climbed because the grade was VERY steep; pictures don't do it any justice) for about an hour before turning around. No tourists were left on our route by that time. Only locals...and a large group of teenagers who had the bright idea to pack a picnic up in that wind. The trip back down was actually the hardest because we were walking down that very same extreme grade and the wind was at our backs, literally pushing us at times. The vendors blocked much of the hand rail space, so it was pretty harrowing. A quick shout out here for my Keen sandals. Combined with wicking socks, they have been great this entire trip. My feet have not been sore even once and were never cold. Go buy a pair before coming on this trip; they're worth the money!

After a quick walk through another tourist trap, we headed back down the mountain for lunch. This was actually one of our day's highlights. We had a great GREAT lunch at a restaurant near Ming's Tomb. I have no idea the name of the place, but there are several pics of the lobby in today's album. The decor was really fancy and lunch was fabulous. As with the previous meals, Anna prearranged our meal (I made the mistake of asking for Pepsi...deer in the headlight stares. This is a Coca Cola country!). We were brought tea, soda in a tiny juice sized glass (their standard size...not the 64 ounces you'll find back home), and then the food... our best meal so far. We had a dish similar to General Tso's chicken, beef with green beans, broccoli in garlic sauce, and rice. DELISH! We almost couldn't stop eating. Like magic, as we finished, Anna reappeared and we headed to Ming Tombs.

Ming Tombs and Sacred Way were beautiful. The walk up The Sacred Way was very serene and was a nice way to stretch our legs after TGW hike. Flanking the path are gorgeous stone animals, real and mythical, that each had special meaning related to Emperors and/or God. I would love to come back some day to take a closer look at each statue in more detail.

We continued to Ming Tombs, which is actually many tombs, but only a few are open to the public. The courtyard leading up to the tomb was again very quiet and serene. It was warmer here and almost no wind. We had a lot of time to chat with Anna on the walk in, and learned more about her and where she grew up. I haven't looked on the map, but it sounds like she is from a province just south of Russia.

After Ming Tombs, we gladly headed back to the hotel. It was a little over an hour's drive with traffic, and we were happy to have some down time after another full day.

We are currently in the lobby bar drinking coffee and journaling our day. This was how we ended every day in Italy, so I'm hoping we can continue to do so on this trip (at least up until the 6th when at least I will need to do this during Ian's naps!).

I've posted a link to today's pics in the right margin. I hope it's working since I can't view my blog layout to see how it appears. Click Here and you should get there OK.

Tomorrow's Schedule:

Summer Palace

Hutong Tour

Here are a few pics from today: