Just a small note before I start writing about Beijing. I don’t think daily recaps are good for writing about travel. I did A LOT in Beijing every day, so cramming, say, a post about Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and the Olympics site would be an enjoyable post. It’d be insanely long and dense. So what I’m going to do is write about each place I saw in separate posts. I’ll keep the daily recap, but they’ll be more of an overview of what I did instead of a full blown detailed write-up.

So without further ado, my wonderful experience in the northern capital, Beijing.

The first day in Beijing started immediately after we got off the train. We didn’t go to our hotel. Instead, we got onto a bus to head straight for the part of the Great Wall of China called Mutianyu. The bus ride was about two hours long, so it did give us some time to rest. We also ate before we reached the wall, so at least we weren’t starving.

When we got to the wall, we had two options: ride the cable car to the top or climb to the top. No way I was taking a cable car, so it was up the steep steps to the top. It was tiring, no doubt, but entirely worth it. The Great Wall is a sight to behold and I often stood there in awe. Funny enough, the way down was pretty harsh since my legs tired.

Loss of words upon seeing this

After going souvenir shopping and waiting around at the base of the wall, we finally left to check-in to the hotel. The hotel we stayed in is the four star Jin Tai Hotel. It didn’t look that great from the outside, but it certainly looked nice on the inside. And the rooms were just fabulous. Clean and comfortable with really nice amenities. I was going to meet up with Cathy until dinner, but Peking University was too far away from the hotel and there was too little time to get there. Unfortunately, she left for Henan that night.

Dinner was at the hotel restaurant, buffet style. There was Peking Duck, but I’m not sure the way they made it was authentic. Rest of the food was pretty mediocre, but at least it didn’t make me sick (yes, that has become a criterion for how good food is here in China).

The not so Peking Duck, Peking Duck

With only a short weekend in Beijing, there was no way I was going to be sitting around in the hotel all evening/night. A group of us decided to go to an area called Houhai, which was a short walk from our hotel. Houhai (rear lake) is named after the lake it surrounds and it’s nightlife heaven. It was really beautiful at night and very relaxing to stroll through. After walking a circle around the area, we ended up at this nice restaurant that had tables right next to the lake. I had some really yummy lamb skewers =)

Simply Beautiful

Our night didn’t end when we left Houhai though. It turns out there was a rehearsal for the National Day celebration. The next National Day happened to be the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Very big deal. Our hotel just so happened to be along the route of the tank procession. Yes, tanks. Needless to say, a bunch of us stood outside and watched the tanks roar past us. Unfortunately, they (and by they, I mean like fifty of them) sped by pretty quickly. I was expecting them to pass by slowly, which would have given me much better pictures.

Vroom Vroom

A shower and then it was off to bed, a very comfy bed. With this one really, really, comfy pillow.