Oct 8-12- The Amazing Wall, Beijing

Beijing is only a 3 1/2 hour flight from Hong Kong, but is significantly colder. It was in the 80's when we left Hong Kong on Thursday, and we arrived to 50 degree weather in Beijing. Everywhere we went everyone kept looking at our feet, probably thinking we were crazy for wearing flip flops! Sandro, Michael, Mirella, Romika, and myself went out of the exchange students, and we were probably the most diverse group in the entire country. An Italian guy, Belgian guy, Nigerian Canadian girl, Cameroonian French girl, and Indian American, Latin/ Indonesian looking girl definitely stand out in Communist China, and no matter where we went there was someone without fail who wanted to take a picture with us. It was amusing in the beginning, but after a while it got kind of annoying, and we were seriously considering charging people to take pictures with us! I'm almost positive that if we set up shop in Tiananmen Square possibly dawning traditional clothing from our respective countries, we could've easily paid for our entire trip. Pretty positive.

The first thing we noticed when we arrived in Beijing was that hardly anyone speaks English! It was quite surprising, seeing that Beijing is a pretty big city with 13 million people, the Olympics was hosted there last year, and it's a pretty big tourist destination. We would've seriously been lost if Mable didn't write down some common Chinese phrases for us in Chinese, along with names of popular tourist spots. After getting ripped off by the cab driver (you should always make sure the meter is on) we arrived at the Super 8 Motel in Dong Si. It wasn't a super nice hotel, but was cheap and convenient, and we spent very little time there anyway. Our first stop was dinner at a hot pot restaurant, one cuisine Beijing is famous for. It's similar to Korean BBQ, but you cook your food in a huge boiling pot instead of grilling it. We cooked lamb, chicken, shrimp, noodles, and vegetables, and it was super cheap and yummy. After dinner we checked out the nightlife at club Coco Banana, which was pretty insane. It was packed for a Thursday night with mostly locals, and I'm pretty sure it was a gay friendly bar, but the music was really good and the drinks cheap.

After finally waking up at 1pm the next day, we set out for Tiananmen Square. It was only a couple subway stops away from our hotel, but the subway is an experience of its own. It's ridiculously packed at all times of the day and, because people don't move to let you out of the subway, you literally have to push your way through to get off at your stop. Not fun. Tiananmen Square was also packed with tourists, but it was an experience to be in the same spot where hundreds of people were killed during the 1989 protests against Communism. We spent some time walking around, and then went to Silk Street for some shopping (and major haggling). We decided not to party Friday night since we joined a tour for the Great Wall, leaving at 7am the next morning.

Let me just say that the Great Wall is AMAZING. It's 5,500 miles long, and is so impressive that words are not enough. After visiting a Ming tomb and jade market on the way, we finally reached the Great Wall. We took a cable car up to as close as we could to the peak, but still had to climb a significant amount to get to the very top. The view from the top was breathtaking, and you could see hundreds of people trekking up the Great Wall. It looked almost like a pilgrimage. In the words of Mao Zedong, "He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man." And yes, I indeed felt like a true man after that climb, haha.

That night we partied at another spot, Club Banana (not sure what the fascination with bananas is), which was yet another crazy night with the locals. This club was located in a hotel, and was a lot more upscale than Coco Banana. Surprisingly we were able to wake up early enough the next morning for our final day of sight seeing in Beijing. Our first stop was the Lama Temple, the most impressive Buddhist temple outside of Tibet. It consisted of a row of several temples, concluding with a 3 story Buddha. We then spent a couple hours in the Forbidden City, where all the emperors had once lived. It was gigantic, with rows and rows of different halls (bronze hall, art hall, architecture hall). It was literally an entire city built just for the Emperor, and we could have easily spent an entire day there. We walked all the way to end, where we climbed to the peak of the city. At the top there was a Buddhist temple, with a beautiful Buddha statue overlooking the city, directly in the center. It's amazing how the Forbidden City was built, perfectly symmetrical and beautiful.

Our last meal in Beijing was Beijing's most popular dish, Peking Duck, which was absolutely delicious. We had to wait 50 minutes for it to be prepared, but it was so worth it. Once the duck is cooked it's cut up into pieces, and the traditional way to eat it is on top of a mini crepe with cucumber slices, onion, cantaloupe, mint, and bbq sauce. It was scrumptious, and a perfect way to end an awesome weekend.

Beijing is an amazing place to visit, with so much incredible history. But I don't think I could ever live there long term. First of all it's a constant reminder that China is the most populated country in the world, and everything from taking the subway to driving to going to the mall is a hassle. Second of all, China is a communist country, which is apparent in almost everything. No one speaks English, there are no Western tv channels, Twitter, Facebook and Youtube are blocked, and you can't even take pictures in some clubs!