Our last full day in Beijing we headed to the Temple of Heaven. By this point, all the temples were starting to look alike, probably because they all do; mostly red, with blue, green, and gold detailed painting, animals on the corners of the roofs. The Temple of Heaven has different architecture than the Forbidden City and Summer Palace, in that it is a circular building. This is where the emperors would go to pray for rain and a good harvest.

Ryan was done with walking and sites after the temple, so he headed back to the hotel to do some laundry, while I headed to the Drum and Bell Towers.
Ryan doing laundry:3, Nicole doing laundry:0
Do I have an awesome husband or what?

I exited the wrong subway exit (which I knew at the time) and promptly got lost in the winding hutongs, taking about a mile long detour. Luckily, I was able to pick up a baked sweet potato from a street vendor for sustenance.

The Drum and Bell Towers were both originally built for musical reasons and then used as timepieces. I arrived at the Drum Tower just about in time to climb the long staircase up, enjoy the views, and look at the time keeping pieces inside, before the hourly drum show started.
      

The climb up to the Bell Tower was similar to that of the Drum Tower, with not as much reward, as the only thing at the top is a big bell. Afterwards, I attended a fun tea tasting held in the bottom of the tower, where I learned that I really like Ginseng tea. The girl there was a bit pushy about me buying some tea, and didn’t quite understand when I kept telling her that I really do not have any room for tea in my bag.
     

Call me a spoiled American, but after three days, I was having a hard time handling the crazy area outside our hostel, so we switched to a Holiday Inn Express in a slightly cleaner part of the city. And ate at a French bakery for brunch . It was awesome. Yes, Kelly, even I go for the western food occasionally.

We headed off on the subway to the Summer Palace. The subway in Beijing is very easy to use, much easier in terms of buying tickets than in Japan actually, but not nearly as comprehensive. The newer subway stations are like the airport, white tiles, look clean enough to eat off the floors (though I wouldn’t recommend it). The subway stations also all have security checks with bag scanners, though it almost seems voluntary at times, and no one actually appears to be looking at the monitors.

The Summer Palace was built as a retreat for the Emperors. Now it is a hot spot for locals to head to on nice days, so it was crowded with locals and tour groups (mostly Chinese), like much of Beijing. There are lots of people everywhere, all the time; in the subways, on the roads, at the sites we have been visiting. We have found that people in Beijing tend to be a bit pushy. For example, Ryan was in line to check out at a convenience store, and the woman behind him physically pushed him out of the way to check out first. We have both encountered similar actions multiple times. There is absolutely no concept of a line. I have no idea how British tourists with all their queueing deal with it here. Ryan and I have quickly learned to push our way through. But I digress. Back to the Summer Palace . . .

Like the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace is huge, encompassing the entire Kunming Lake and Longevity Hill. Ryan and I climbed the hill for some great views and less people, and ran across some people playing instruments and singing in a pavilion.
     

We then headed up to the Tower of Buddhist Incense for additional good views of the palace, the lake, and Beijing.

Next up was the Olympic Park. (There was a pretty cool IBM building right next to it, see the photo below). This was also hopping with activity; actors and musicians performing in the Bird’s Nest, some X-Games like motorcycle event, an international book festival, and the Fifth Beijing Olympic Park Food Plaza. Of course we had to walk through the book festival (all books were in Chinese) and to the food plaza (a little bit like Taste of Chicago, but less variety).

     
      

Ryan got some fried shrimp. Then, since he had never had churros before, decided that this was the place to try them. Churros (called ‘Spanish fruit’ at the food festival) are really popular here. Other unexpectedly popular foods include roasted corn on the cob, baked sweet potatoes, and drinking yogurt served in jars.

Peking duck was on the menu for dinner. We lucked out because the restaurant right across the street from our hotel got great reviews on TripAdvisor. It was delicious!
     
     

Friday started at 7:30am with a pick-up in what appeared to be a 70′s era van for our trip to the Great Wall. The drive to the wall took us through parts of Beijing we had not yet seen, past lots of office buildings, high rises, some residential areas with apartments and Spanish style homes. At one point, the van stopped for a fireworks display in the street, celebrating what exactly we are not sure, but it was followed by a bunch of cars with similar decorations.

We visited the Mutianyu part of the Great Wall, the newest section built by the Ming Dynasty in the 1600s. There was a cable car available up to the wall, but you know us. Ryan and I hiked up to the 10th tower and then walked along the wall till about the 19th tower. The weather was absolutely beautiful. The wall is pretty amazing and offered some wonderful views. As Ryan wondered though, was the wall really needed? It seems like the mountains in this section would have been enough of a deterrent.
            

Ryan captured some of the interesting creatures found atop the towers.
            

The drive home was an adventure. Drivers here are absolutely crazy, and pretty much anything goes; driving on the sidewalks, driving on the wrong side of the road (at least until someone coming the other direction starts honking at you). And lots and lots of honking. Pedestrians also better watch out, cause they definitely get last priority. The cars here are very similar to in the U.S., fewer SUVs and pickups than in Texas, but many Audi A4s, Q5s, BMW X5s, 7 Series, and lots of VWs. They are definitely addicted to the American style of transportation.

After the long day at the wall, we grabbed some street food outside our hostel for dinner. We both tried some meatballs, egg soufflé like things, glazed fruit on a stick, and a fried starfish, though I later regretted eating most of it (no major sickness, just slight yucky feeling).
     

Breakfast was included with our room at the cafe next door. After sitting down, we noticed the food grade of the cafe, a “C”. Ryan decided to stick to the toast, while I ate the toast, eggs, and bacon, hoping not to regret it later. (Four days have since passed, and I’m feeling fine).

Ryan’s breakfast was at a Starbucks in a mall (clean, bright, like the airport). As we both noted, this is the first Starbucks we have been in where the coffee doesn’t taste the same. While the mall was very clean, the bathrooms in the mall were not. So far, most of the bathrooms we have encountered in China are relatively gross. But then again, we may have high standards.

Off to our intended destinations, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Whoever coined the phrase “Everything’s bigger in Texas” has obviously not been to Beijing. Both were massive and much larger than we had ever imagined. Workers were in the process of putting up bright flower arrangements in the square, and we just wandered around looking at the surrounding buildings and monuments. Beijing is full with beautiful flowers, both planted in the ground and arranged in the sculptures like in the square.

We then crossed under the street to the Forbidden City and were immediately taken aback by its scale upon entering. This is the Hall of Supreme Harmony and the courtyard in front of it. North of the Forbidden City is Jingshan Hill, providing nice views of the entire city on a clear day.
     

Ryan and I arrived in the Beijing airport midday on Wednesday after a great trip on the Dreamliner (see Ryan’s previous post). The Beijing airport is beautiful. Built for the 2008 Olympics, it is spacious and clean with white tiles and high ceilings.

Arriving at our lodging was a bit of a shock. The hostel itself was fine, sparse but clean, though I was a little put off by having to rent a towel. It is located in Nanluogu Xiang, one of the oldest hutongs in Beijing.  The street is full of shops and restaurants and street food, and close to major sites, which sounds ideal, but words cannot accurately describe the chaotic feeling.  It is very narrow, busy, crowded with pedestrians, bicycles, rickshaws, mopeds, the occasional car trying to make its way through, and noisy.  The dichotomy between the airport and the hutong, new vs old, and clean vs. not quite as clean feeling, is something we have found throughout our stay in Beijing.  Here is what the street outside our hostel looked like, and this wasn’t even busy!

We headed out to the Beijing tourist information center, stopping for some tasty coffee and pie on the way (green tea cheesecake for me and chocolate banana cake for Ryan). Funny thing, which we’ve subsequently found in other places; there was a sign on the door indicating they accept Discover Card, but they would actually only take cash. The overwhelming feeling from the hutong (and probably Dramamine) quickly dissipated once we had some nourishment.

With full stomachs, we wandered around some other hutongs, found the tourist information center and booked a day trip to the Great Wall, and walked around the bar/restaurant area near the lake.  Wild squash seems to grow all around Beijing, including on the rooftops of homes in the hutongs.