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Published: July 13th 2012
Ni hao!!
Wow China is incredible!! The last few days in Beijing have been our favourite actually. We got to walk along one of the seven ancient wonders of the world!!!! I still cant believe it. The Great Wall of China is just not the same until you've been there and seen it. Photos, no matter how good they are, do not do it justice. There are different parts to the wall you can go to, we chose the most touristy, 'Badaling'. To say the most touristy gives a bad impression really, touristy seems to be considered a pejorative now-a-days, but this was touristy for a very good reason. It was simply magnificent! It is the part of the wall that is most intact, having been restorted a lot in places, and you get to see it snake for miles over huge mountains! Breath-taking. I would easily go back any day.
Then we visited the Summer Palace, another favourite. It was the holiday hide-away for the Emporer and Empress during the Ming and Qing dynasties; a stunning garden with pagodas and temples littered along the Kunming lake. Lenk and I braved the 40 degrees heat and took on the
2 hour walk all around it. Gorgeous buildings and views we had a fantastic time! (Yes that is correct, we are travelling in 30-40 degrees heat everyday here, many sweaty betty moments have been had!)
The next fave was our Wangfujing experience. This is a tiny enclosed street that has stalls on each side selling the scariest things ever! Everything is on a stick, you name it, they have it.. Scorpions, grasshoppers, silk worms, spiders, snake, squid, eel, sheep's PENIS, Sheep's BALLS, water beetles, baby birds and what I can only describe as a bat or squirrel.. Literally everything. The worst of it was the scorpions however. They were still alive on the sticks, wriggling around trying to get free! Beurk!! One of the Chinese stall men was picking them alive out of a box and sliding them on, so Lenk and I watched mesmerised for about 10 minutes until he placed one on my hand. Needless to say everyone in the street thought I'd been stabbed or world war three had broke out.. We could only muster up the courage to eat the squid, sorry guys!
Interesting and weird observations of the Chinese, so far:
*
They make the best rice and noodles in the world!! We cannot get enough. Also their dumplings are to die for as well.
* Their love for red bean and peas! They eat them salted and dried like peanuts, in cakes, in ice creams and in sloppy soup.. We mistakingly had a red bean ice cream actually. We were pleasantly surprised I have to say! But salty peas.. a massive no no.
* They love to hock.. We cannot get used to the constant sound of a Chinese man or woman clearing their trachea then spitting out a viscous phlemy mess wherever they please: road, shopping mall, subway etc.
* They dress their toddlers in crotch-less pants making any toilet situation a public one! So walking down the street, when you least expect it, you will encounter a lovely shiny bottom..
That's all for now!! I will try to add some photos but the internet is a bit rubbish in China in general.. Next stop is Nanjing!!!
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