We arrived in Beijing on December 16th, to crazy winds strong enough to blow me over! Thankful that we had opted to pack our big Winnipeg-style winter gear, we hurried into the airport from the plane, and caught a bus to our hostel. The hotel was a nice walk from the main area of Beijing- Tianemen Square, Mao's Mausoleum, and the Forbidden City. It's so exciting being in a city with so much history!
Enormous painting of Mao above the gates to the Forbidden City.
For the next 10 days, we walked and biked around all accessible areas the city- aside from the pollution (which makes Seoul's dirty air look breathable) the city is really beautiful, alive with colourful temples, friendly people, and bikers everywhere.
Some of my favourite places were.....
The Summer Palace, about an hour drive out of the city. In the heat of the summer, the royalty would escape to this area outside the city limits. In preparation for the Olympics, the painting has recently been restored, so the colours are so beautiful- especially against the bleakness of winter and ice.
We spent a couple of days biking around the city, visiting all the various temples and siognificant places thrgouhout the city. The views were great, and bikers are given two full lanes of roadway in some areas!! Soo luxurious- especially compared to the "bike paths" in Seoul which are genenerally littered with parked cars, crazy motorcyclists, and people who look like it is their first time on a bike. The bikes themselves were awesome- super old school, with mechanical breaks, weirdly angled pedals, and only one gear =) Woo!!
In the evenings, we watched a few performances of acrobatics and Kung fu, which were spectactular! The Kung Fu show basically explained the process of becoming a monk, and the martial arts that are involved in this school of Buddhism. The acrobatics shows seriously had me sweating the entire time- I was so nervous for all of them- not that they didn't look completely competent, just that everything they were doing was completely unbelievable! I wish I could've had a video camera to show you all!!
My personal highlight, though, was the hike along the Great Wall. Starting from Jinshanling, I hiked about 10km to Simatai, along the crumbling remains of China's main barrier from Mongolia. The views were truly mindboggling- the wall stretched as far as I could see, branching into multiple segments ontop of the ridges of all the surrounding hills. After hiking along what was essentially a stairmaster for about 5 hours, I arrived at Simatai exhausted, but thrilled by all the incredible sights I had taken in.
On our second weekend in Beijing, Tom's brother, Pete, and his girlfriend, Allison, joined us. It was fantastic to see some familiar faces after 17 months away from our friends and family. We had a wicked weekend with them, eating, drinking, and exploring Beijing! It was nice to be able to spend Christmas morning with some family, though, and we had a great breakfast with them before heading out to the airport for our flight home.
Tom, Allison, and Pete biking (too bad I can't focus)
