Beijing - Forbidden City

Wednesday May 1 2013 1:30 am

Jet lag and excitement about seeing the Great Wall today are keeping me awake.  

Yesterday (April 30)

N wandered around the street our hotel is on and found a cool little bakery.  He got this cool breakfast sandwich type thing and a loafs of raisin pineapple bread for quite cheap.  They were very tasty.  

It proved quite difficult to book a trip out to the Great Wall due to the language barrier so we decided to hold off on that and opted to check out Tiananmen Square.  

We walked and took the subway there.  They have a very sophisticated subway system. 

We spent the day exploring Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. On our way we accidentally stumbled upon quite a cool little fruit  market and managed to buy some fruit there.  

The  Forbidden City was packed because of the Labour Day holiday, that wasn't really a big deal though.  It quite cool for the first 2/4 km in but about half way we realized that every phase was virtually the same.  I came out with over 150 pictures of what look like all the same building.  It was very pretty but maybe four hours of walking  was a bit ambitious for our first day out.  We were pretty blistered, burned and  beat by the time we got back.   It was a lot hotter than we'd thought (about 25-30*C) so I ended up with a nasty sunburn on my neck.   

The smog in the air is different than I expected.  You might not notice it if no one had said anything to you.  It's just that the air never feels fresh.  And when I got back to the hotel I had a few coughing fits.  It just sort of sticks in your throat and you can't get it out.  

We are really enjoying Beijing.  The people are kind and friendly, but almost no one speaks English.  We feel very safe on the streets, which makes travelling so much more enjoyable.  

Today we plan to leave early (as in normal waking hours 6am...not the middle of the night which it is now) and bus to the Great Wall.  We are hoping that by going early and going to a further away and less touristy parts of the wall we will miss the major mobs and maybe even get a seat on the bus.  It's about a two hour bus ride.  

The Great Wall

Thursday May 2 2013 12:00am

Sitting in Starbucks I am immediately transported home: the coffee, the smells, the music, it's all exactly the same.  And for  brief moment the familiar is so lovely.
We are in the airport, headed to Singapore.  Our schedules are all out of wack.  I've been hardly eating during the day, I have just not been hungry at all during the day but now I'm ravenous.  

We spent yesterday at the Great Wall and it did not disappoint.  Again reaffirming our theory that if something is a major attraction there is usually a reason why.  Surprisingly though, considering what a major site it is, this Wall is not easy to reach.

We had just assumed you could easily book tours through the hotel and get there on a single bus, easily booked.  Turns out not so much.  So a 20 min cab ride, 2 hour bus ride another 20 min in a cab later we finally arrived.  We left the hotel at 6:30 (and nearly left the battery for the camera in the room charging) and didn't get back until 2:30pm.

The wall seems to go on forever. Which makes sense because the Frommer's guide book says it spans an estimated 5000 km.  it was build during the Ming Dynasty to keep out the Mongols, which it unfortunately did not accomplish.  it stands 26 feet high, off the very high hills.  we actually had to take a gondola (aka cable car) up.  The wall is 30 feet wide.  It's very impressive.  Almost equally as stunning though is the mountainous landscape that surrounds it.  The craggy hills that the wall runs along look just like an ancient Chinese ink painting.  It's breath taking (partly because I was way too out of shape for such a long height and then also in the normal sense of the phrase, that the beauty makes your breath catch) .

We chose to hike a section of the wall a little less popular, probably because it is a lot steeper, but said to be more picturesque.  It was exhausting but totally worth the view.  Although at certain points I was unsure I felt that way after climbing mountains of uneven steps.

The whole time we were there we just kept saying to each other, "we're on the Great Wall!" It was a very surreal experience.  I don't think my descriptions really do it justice.

We are so glad that we made the trip through Beijing!  It was totally worth it! I did a cart wheel on the Great Wall of China, so I can cross that one off my bucket list.