Beijing

Ah China, the third largest country in the world, with the largest population in the world, and with the largest number of people in one capital city...Beijing, which is where my blog takes place.

Before deciding on a trip to Beijing, I actually had already made plans and put a deposit down for Mike and I to go to Thailand for Thanksgiving. Well, the Air Force didn't check with me or my plans and decided to send Mike off for training for two months and left me alone for the holidays. Instead of staying at home, sitting on the couch, maybe watching some tele, I decided to sign myself up for a 5 day guided tour through Beijing with one of my coworkers. After this trip, I may have preferred sitting on the couch as we went non-stop the entire time and had no time to rest or eat foods that "agreed with us" shall I say. I'm actually at home sick today which is why I have the time to type this in the middle of the week. I'm not sure if it was the food I ate or the sick woman on our trip who coughed and barfed right next to me that has me feeling so ill. Heck, I'll take the day to recover though. Huey rather enjoys the company as well ; )

So back to my trip. The first day we went to Tian'anmen Square, the largest in the world (they pride themselves on being the largest of everything I guess...) followed by a tour of the Forbidden City. Below is the entrance to the Forbidden City.

Some interesting facts that I learned: It was custom that the Emperor had one Empress and many concubines that lived behind the walls in the forbidden city. Any male servant or guard that worked for the emperor must be castrated so that the concubines were not tempted to leave the emperor and procreate with another. Also, during meal times, despite the devastation of poverty and starvation that was spread across China, the Emperor and the Empress were served 128 courses. Each course had to be tested by a servant in case it was poisoned before they were to eat it and any food that was not eaten was merely thrown away.

Now I must take break and discuss the rules and standards of a "4 Start Toilet". In this particular case, the people of Beijing thought this bathroom was so great, they actually etched in a fifth star that you can see in the picture. Anyway, the following things must be present in order for a bathroom to qualify as a 4 star:

1. The odor must overpower you when you first walk in. It will smell of an ungodly smell, one that will forever remain in your memory and the mere thought of such smell will bring you right back to that very place.

2. There must be pee, dirty toilet paper and if you're lucky, feces on the floor. Usually this is the case because all of the toilets are holes in the ground, so I'm guessing a lot of people purposefully aim and/or miss to leave their mark in such a happy place.

3. Going to the bathroom with the door open is a treat to witness as you are able to view the many different options for how to use a bathroom with a hole in the ground. Some may even smile and wave to you as they are doing their business.

4. There must NEVER be toilet paper. If there was, the bathroom would automatically be demoted one star.

5. Soap is not even a consideration. If you're lucky, you may find a bottle of hair shampoo on the shelf to use. Although this would surely make or break your star rating system depending on what type of hair shampoo it is.

6. And lastly, before you are ready to leave, you must spit in the sink. Then you've officially done your business.
If we were to walk through each and every room of the forbidden city and spend one hour in each room, I'd be 53 by the time were done (and that's not an exaggeration) so we had to move on. In the afternoon, we went to a place called the Summer Palace. This was probably my favorite part of the trip as when we first walked up, I finally felt like I was in China as were in a remote part of Beijing that was less crowded. As you can see from the pictures below, the architecture is overwhelming for its beauty.

Now on to our second day, the Great Wall. It's always been a goal of mine to say I've walked on the great wall and I'm proud to say that I've done it. We were lucky enough to have 3 hours to explore the wall and take lots of pictures. However, I was over the great wall after about five minutes. Is that bad? I mean, it all looks the same...big wall, lots of stones, remote hilly land around you. So needless to say, I was done marching around in the cold. Oddly enough, there was a Subway at the base of the great wall so my friend Kippy and I stopped in and got a sandwich. I actually did not eat mine, but kept it safely close in my bag. At this point, the Chinese food that we were consuming was getting really old, really fast, so this sandwich was kind of like my security in case we had to eat at some place and I couldn't possibly stand to take another bite of squishy, gooey, curious looking items that may have lead to why I'm home sick here in the first place!


After the great wall, we went to the Ming tombs where 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty are buried.
Statues of animals and soliders are placed along a mile long path to keep away the evil spirits. I just thought the elephant was kind of cute.
On our third and last day of travel, we went to the Temple of Heaven, one of the rare religious places in Beijing. It was constructed without using any nails and was used to place prayers to Heaven for a good harvest.

We also went to one of the rare historical districts of Beijing called Hutong for a rickshaw bike ride and a meal with a local family.
The family was kind enough to host almost thirty people for lunch in their dining area (which was quite cramped let me tell you.) They had a cute little set up for us and made it feel nice and cozy.
However, if I had seen where our meal was prepared before eating, I probably wouldn't have eaten it. I know, I sound like such a snob.

Oh and this jar of what looks like fermented scorpions was placed in a nearby window and I just had to take a picture. Maybe a delicacy? I hope I didn't eat one of those!
And lastly, we went to see the Olympic Stadium called the Birds Nest. My friend Kippy actually got lost there and referred to it was the Eagles Nest but I swiftly corrected her of her freudian slip!
Now I'm back at home, and like I said, sick, so I am going to take advantage of this day by writing my holiday cards and unpacking. I am definitely glad I went to China but I don't know if I'd go there again. This is one place I'm glad I crossed off my list!