Beijing (Helllo, Postcard?)

After an incredibly long and draining flight from Washington D.C., we finally arrived in Beijing! We met our tour guide Daniel, who I could tell right form the beginning was going to be one animated character. While on the bus from the airport we saw quite a few interesting buildings, like the Marriott, and the twin LG towers. Our hotel was really nice. After dropping off our luggage and resting up for a little while, we went to our first authentic Chinese restaurant for dinner. To all of our surprise, our table had a big glass disc in the center of it that spun around. I really didn't know what it was there for until they finally brought the food out. It so you don't have to pass the food around the table. Just spin the disc until it gets to the person who wants the dish. Another thing that surprised me was that the food wasn't that bad at all(since I'm a very picky eater). After that we went walking around a local area that had a bunch of malls and one street market that had some weird food like seahorse and scorpion kabobs.

The next day we went to the Forbidden City which is in the center of Beijing. It was huge. It was actually an emperor's palace with lots of gates and rooms (9,999 rooms to be exact). The whole place is painted in red and gold since it means prosperity and good fortune. Aside from learning about the history of China, we also learned about the people, like how they don't have a concept of personal space. When I was trying to get a picture of the Emperor's Throne room, I was getting shoved around like I was at an underground rock show. Unfortunately I didn't get the picture. After that we went to the Summer Palace, which is, you guessed it, where the emperor and empress spent their summer. It was really nice. We walked along the waterfront and saw some really cool temples and other buildings. Once that was all said and done, we went to dinner and afterward, Larry took us to a great bar spot. Their were a ton of people outside trying to get us to go to their bar, until we finally went into a place called "Sex and Da City". Turns out it was actually a strip club, but the stripping didn't start until 9 and was only upstairs. Either way, we left after one or two drinks and went on to the next bar.

The following day, we headed out to the Great Wall. You really can't grasp how big that thing is until you actually get on it. And I didn't think it was going to be such a difficult task to walk up it. Oh wait, did I say walk? I meant climb! It was like going up a 100 degree angle. But that didn't stop me from getting to the top. Once we were there, it was really windy, and cold. Much colder than it was where the bus dropped us off. But the view from up there was incredible. Once we were done climbing down the wall, we went to a tea house to help us relax, where we got to try a bunch of different types of teas. That was pretty cool. And after that we went to the ladies favorite spot on the tour, the Silk Market. A great place to buy bootleg clothes, electronics, and accessories. The best part about it was that you could bargain over the price of anything. Also, the sales clerks were ruthless. Every booth I passed I was asked things like, "Hey handsome guy, you need suit?" "Hello You like vest?" "Hello sir, you want jeans? Calvin Klein. Levis." It was one hell of an expierience. But not quite as interesting as the wreckless rick-shaw ride we took after that through a chinese neighborhood. We stopped at someone's home and he explained to us what it was like for him to live there, which I thought was pretty cool. Then we had dinner and after that, it was time to hit the night life. And what kind of things do you do at night in Beijing? Why a Salsa Club of course! Honestly not really what I had in mind as far as going clubbing in Beijing, but it was alot of fun. Finally on our last day in Beijing, we went ot the Zoo which was nice, except that all the animals looked really sad. So aside from seeing some gorgeous creatures, it was kind of a downer. After that we went to the Temple of Heaven which was also an architechtural masterpiece. It also had a long garden connected to it which was really nice after a long day of walking since it smelled very fresh, and not like smog. After that we had dinner and prepared to get on a plane to Xi'an the next day.