Beijing

I am not entirely sure what I was expecting with Beijing. In some ways, it met my expectations, and in others it exceeded them! First, I expected to struggle with the language and I did. Even people in the most touristy areas didn't speak English. There is also no toilet paper in Beijing. The first thing I bought was a role for myself! And the toilets are just holes in the ground that you squat over to pee.

People ride their bikes with anything and everything strapped on top of it - old appliances, crates of food, other people. People are also extremely rude when traveling somewhere. For instance, on the subway or if you have to cue up anywhere, they will cut right in front of you, push you around like a ragdoll, and continue on their way without even a glance.

Speaking of the subway, Beijing is HUGE, but the subway is pretty awesome. You can get anywhere and it only costs 2 Yuan for one ride (about $0.25). The only problem is that it is PACKED. ALL THE TIME! Not just rush hour! Beijing exceeded my expectations there.


What did I do there? Well after my excursion to the Great Wall, I met up with one of the people on my tour to take a look at the night markets. This market has stalls with people selling everything - silk, jade sculptures and jewelry, paintings, chop sticks, souvenirs. There are also food stalls selling snake meat, lizards, scorpions, tarantulas, larvae of some kind, squid, whole baby ducks, centipedes, sheep penis, and any other assortment of meat skewered on a kebab! I tried the scorpions - not too bad!! I also had Peking duck, which was DELICIOUS!



I spent a day wandering around Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Summer Palace. I could have seen Mao's body at Tiananmen Square, but the mad rush of people once the gates opened and the long line turned me off.


The Forbidden City was built in the early 1400s as a residence for emperors. It's huge, extravagant, with several temples and private gardens.




The Summer Palace was built about 12km outside of Beijing as a place for the emperors to escape the Beijing summer heat. Although this time of year it was quite frigid!!!


I also got a chance to see the Temple of Heaven park where hundreds of old Beijing residents come out and do aerobics, tai chi, swing walking sticks to music, play games, fly kites, you name it they do it!!!


All in all, my time in Beijing was pretty fun. You can't beat the cultural experience; Chinese arts, calligraphy, and history; and the unique atmosphere. But I'm glad to be back in the land of toilet paper and sit down toilets!