The Great Wall

There are a few different places outside of Beijing where you can see the Great Wall. We didn't really know what we were going to do when we walked by the Beijing Downtown Backpackers Accommodation and saw different tour options for the Great Wall. The most popular place to see the Great Wall is at Badaling but we chose the Jinshanling to Simatai option. We decided on the “more challenging hike” because it was less crowded, had more of the original wall preserved, and allowed us to see it at two sections. Plus this is what the tour guides recommended.

The day was definitely long. We were up at 5am and left via bus for Jinshanling at 7am. The 110km journey took about 3 hours. We finally started hiking around 11am. The wall really was pretty amazing. It seemed to go on forever. I think I remember them saying that it was 5,500 miles to be exact. And to think that it was made by hand and took over 10 years to build – insanity!!

It was really cool to be able to actually “walk” on the original wall. Our hike was 10km and we got to see/walk through 30 original watchtowers. The watchtowers were pretty neat as they had steps leading up to small rooms and balconies, with tons of windows (so you could actually watch). There were a few times where we were on watchtowers by ourselves which was so very surreal.

The hike was about 3 ½ hours and it definitely was challenging at times. There was a lot of up and downhill but the hardest part was that the steps were uneven and sometimes slippery. We lucked out though as the weather wasn’t too bad. I can imagine it’s really hard to do in hot weather. You definitely have to be in decent shape but it is definitely one of the coolest things we’ve done. Oh and the best part – we ziplined down from the last watchtower. How fun!!

It was a great day. We met some really cool peeps, saw a sick wall, and got a great workout. That's pretty productive! :)

Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and Critters at the Street Markets!

We’re on a plane to Shanghai after three full days in Beijing. China is so very different from Japan….definitely much more crowded, a lot more going on in terms of traffic, people, noise, smells, etc., and a lot more hot! I was actually surprised by Beijing at first. I didn’t expect it to be so modern with so many buildings. And I didn’t expect it to be as clean as it was for a city with 15 million people. I suspect the city was probably cleaned up for the Beijing Olympics.

We stayed at the Jade Garden Hotel, which had an amazing location next to the major sights, just a few minute walk from Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, and Wanfujing Shopping Area. We were a bit further from the nightlife/restaurant areas though – which was fine as long as you can get a cab. All in all, the hotel itself was pretty nice. It had a neat history as it was built to house members of the Communist Party years ago. Since then, they’ve restored it as a hotel. The amenities were great….even had a pseudo-gym (with one treadmill and weights that we only used once because it felt like a dungeon and was creepy), but the staff really weren’t all that helpful. That said, for $75/night I’m not sure you could get better. :)

The highlight of our trip was the Great Wall, which deserves its own post – next entry! We did also get to see Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Zhongshan Park, and Jingshan Park. Darsh also saw Temple of Heaven Park. I missed out since I wasn’t feeling well and decided to rest for a few hours.

Forbidden City and the Imperial Palace were unreal. It seemed to go on forever with a million different palaces, halls, and gardens. You really could spend days there although we only spent 3 hours because I can’t seem to concentrate on one thing for any longer! :) Aside from the grandness of it all and the amazing artistry, our next favorite part was the Clock Exhibition Hall, which had all these elaborate clocks from the 18^th century. We also climbed all the way up Jingshan Park, which had the best views of the entire Forbidden City!

The older, more traditional part of Beijing is made of several hutongs (narrow alleys). It kind of takes you back to what Beijing probably was years ago….before all the modern buildings and skyscrapers were built. Our favorite hutong was Nanluogu Xiang and nearby Gulou Dongdaije which were filled with cute restaurants, cafes, bars, hip clothing stores, skateboard shops (although we didn’t see a single skater), and guitar shops (I thought that was kind of random….). Oh and every other store had the cutest Converse ever – again really hard not to shop!! I loved that every street, corner, building we saw had a story. We ate at Taste on Nanluogo Xiang, which apparently was the original Taste Tower. (I forget what exactly that means but it did mean something!) :)

Now on to the food…. Wow I really thought that the scorpion, worm, chicken feet thing was an exaggerated myth. But it really wasn’t. Yikes!!!! I’ve posted graphic pics so be warned….in my opinion the fried silk worm was the most unappetizing. Actually all the food we ate was excellent – we stuck to the basics though like chicken, vegetables, beef, and shrimp. We did of course experience Peking Duck at Da Dong which was pretty yummy and I highly recommend the restaurant! And we loved the street food at Wangfujing Snack Street and Donghuamen Night Market but again we got the safe stuff – chicken, dumplings, lamb wrap and beer!

We unfortunately missed the Summer Palace, 798 Art District, and Houhai Lake area because we ran out of time. We just decided that we wanted to chill on this trip instead of rushing around and checking stuff off the “Things to do” list. But this way we’ll have something to see next time! :)

I think you could see all the major sights in Beijing in three days if you really crammed it all in but if you wanted to chill and leisurely experience the people and the culture I would recommend at least four. Another thing to note is that while cabs are cheap, it isn’t always easy to get one – especially at night during a holiday weekend. And cab drivers aren’t always friendly and you must ALWAYS have your destination written in Chinese which we learned the hard way! We walked a ton but we did have some really tiring days. Can’t wait to relax a little in Shanghai!!