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Published: February 23rd 2011
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Outside of forbidden city In the summer of '09, a bunch of my friends and I went to Beijing to visit my best friend Sara. The whole experience there was a bit different compared to the south. People here dressed more conservatively and will glare at you if you dress too little such as short shorts and a tank top. I was thrilled to be in Beijing as it was my first time! The first day I arrived was super hot. It was mid may and it was much hotter than Guangzhou. The bright side: I did not get any mosquito bites😊 Yay! We were going to visit President Mao's Memorial Hall but was unsuccessful as there were a list of entry requirements that we didn't know about (i.e. no flip flops, no cameras, no bags/purses, passport/ID required, visiting hours). Instead we ended up going through a series of small neighbourhoods until we go to this small restaurant that served different types of traditional Beijing Food. To be honest, the food wasn't that great at least to me probably because I’m just use to southern Chinese cuisine. Later we attempted to ride a bike with 3 persons. It was frustrating at first because we kept
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inside forbidden city falling (the bike was super heavy!) but it was a lot of fun trying despite the fact that we almost ran into a BMW! The locals stared and laughed at us while we were struggling haha. After an hour or so we gave up and rode ourselves across the river to the street of bars! The drinks there were pretty good and mainly catered to the tourists. Overall, it was a good night.
On our second day, we went to Wangfujing. It was quite the experience because there were so many souvenirs and all I wanted to do was shop! Also along the street were skewers of creepy crawlers (if u dare to try) such as scorpions, centipedes etc. None of us dared to try but it was kind of neat to look at. Afterwards we finally visit the Forbidden City! It’s quite beautiful on the inside but can also be confusing. All the buildings looked very similar so using the signs provided was extra helpful. We didn't get to finish the whole exhibit because we got too tired and it was very hot. Later we went to eat. We ordered mustard lettuce (the dry mustard was so strong,
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one of the many thrones of the emperor it was like eating wasabi) and each of us had a bowl of cold noodles mixed with your choice of sauce. I'm not a fan of noodles but it wasn't bad!
In the evening, we decided to hit up a club. Sara recommended "Mix Nightclub". After getting dressed in our hotel (Jen and I) we were going to hail a cab. Unfortunately no one knew where this club was. After almost an hour of going from cab to cab with no luck (also getting ripped off), we gave up and asked Sara and her friends to meet up with us. The process of waiting for them was a strange one. We were being glared at by many locals while in our clubbing gear. We weren't even in small dresses! The women would look at us and laugh and the men would look at us mesmerized. Again, we were supposed to dress conservatively but in my Canadian mind it was considered toned down already. In Toronto, many girls would be in heels and short dresses maybe even cleavage showing. In Beijing that is a big NO unless you want uncomfortable attention. We waited close to a police car in order
to stay safe from those harassing suggestive comments. After finally meeting up with Sara and friends we went to Mix. It was a vibrant club, lots of laser lights and many floors/rooms. Drinks were quite expensive but it was quite touristy. We stayed in the large room with a huge dance floor while foam was blasting away at us. The club played mainly English hip and RnB. I also remember walking by a booth where this group had a HUGE bottle of Chivas. It was half the size of a person! Not sure whether its for show or actual drinking. If they are going to drink it, alcohol poisoning would ensue.
On our third day, I had to physically wake up my friend Jen just to go to President Mao's Memorial Hall once again. We didn't know about the no flip flop rule and Jen had no choice but to buy this pair of ugly black farmer's shoes. It was the most hilarious moment ever! It was the most Asian pair of shoes ever designed. I couldn't stop laughing and you would do the same if you knew what i was talking about. Anyways after leaving our bags in
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soliders a locker across the street from the Memorial Hall and going through security, we finally saw President Mao. His face was quite pink...not sure why. Everyone walked by slowly taking a glance at him and maintained complete silence. After the short experience, we went to Tiananmen Square, which was close by. Afterwards we decided to go visit the Temple of Heaven. Jen didn't really want to go but humoured me and accompanied me. What a good friend! The architecture and design of this temple was quite fascinating and the place was huge. It took an hour or two to finish. Who knew? Unfortunately Jen got sun burned at the temple as there were very few shady areas. We left and went to meet up with Sara and Lijia to have dinner together. What did we have? Beijing Duck of course!!! It is one of the most famous dishes in Beijing. It was very tasty indeed. In the evening we decided to go check out the olympic pool and nest.
On our fourth and final day before our flight to Shanghai in the evening, we got up early and took the bus to go see the Great Wall of China.
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one of the bedrooms inside forbidden city We didn't expect it to be so cold there since the city was so hot. We ended up buying sweaters with a picture of the Great Wall on it for $40 Yuan. We didn't want to buy it but it was better than catching a cold. The steps at the Great Wall were quite steep and we were practically out of breath climbing it. The place was extraordinarily scenic.
I loved my trip to Beijing and it will always remain memorable.
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