On Sunday we had another early morning as we left on the 8:00am flight for Beijing. Our 3 day excursion in Beijing started off without a hitch. We grabbed a cab to the Crown Plaza Beijing and by 11:00 am we were relaxing in our room. After an hour of resting and relaxing we headed out for lunch.
Our original lunch plans were thrown out the window when we couldn’t find the café the concierge recommended. As we started walking aimlessly I could feel myself getting snippy due to lack of food. I’m sure I tested Rick’s patience. Thankfully I looked down a side street and saw a large sign proclaiming STEAMED BUNS!
Score 1 for us. The restaurant was bustling with people. Score again. We had found a popular place. We were on a roll. Then, I looked at the menu and realized it was ALL in Chinese and there were NO pictures. UGH! I tried to talk to one person unsuccessfully. I was about to write it off as a lost cause and head to McDonalds when a young waitress basically forced us to sit at a table. Thankfully her English was great. 18 (tasty) steamed buns latter Rick and I headed out to walk off our lunch at the Olympic campus.
The Birds Nest was an amazing sight. The water cube in my opinion was simply okay. I think it would have been more impressive at night. After taking a ton of pictures we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.
I was extremely excited and nervous about our dinner plans. At 6:30pm a Bobcat Sales Rep and one of our dealers picked us up and took us out for Peking Duck. YUMMY! I was worried for no reason as dinner went off with only a few moments where communication broke down due to Rick and I forgetting to use basic/simple English words.
We spent Monday and Tuesday going on guided tours of some of the more famous locations in Beijing including: A silk factory (spent money), a jade factory (spent more money), the cloisonné factory (and spent even more money!), Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace. We also had time to take in a Chinese Acrobatic Show.
Our last tour stop before heading back to Shanghai was the Great Wall. There are three popular locations for tourists to climb the wall. We headed to the Badaling section which is 888m above sea level compared to downtown Beijing which is 44m above sea level. We went up by foot and we came down via a cable car.
As we took our time climbing it was easy to be overwhelmed by the magnificent grandeur of the Great Wall. It’s amazing to think about the time, effort and resources that went into its construction. The scenery from our different vantage points was simply breathtaking. It’s easy to understand why this great creation has such historical significance in China.
We left for Shanghai at 6pm yesterday. We were back in my apartment by 8pm. To sum it up…It was four days with little sleep, lots of shopping, many sight visited and a TON of memories made!
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