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Published: January 12th 2009
. We went to China for 10 days starting in Beijing and ending in Shanghai. When we arrived in China the first issue we had was with our “radio-active” luggage. When we got off our plane we did the normal walk to customs and got our passports checked and what not. Following that we walked through a giant medal detector thing and that beeped, so the Chinese guard, whose uniform resembled a soldier wearing a WWII Nazi uniform, said “put your bag in this machine.” The machine looked like a normal large luggage x-ray machine so I said of coarse because he was kind of scary, then this machine beeps. So I’m thinking damn they are going to take my nail clippers or something, right? Well no this machine was a radiation detector. We didn’t actually find that out until they were searching our bag, after they had it halfway unpacked the guard who stopped us said “sir are you carrying anything that is radio active?” and I thought that was kind of funny so I said “No” with a smirk. Well the guard didn’t think that it was very funny because he then said in a very serious voice “If
you are not carrying anything radio active then WHY did your bag set off both our radiation detectors?” then I thought holy S!@#!! I am going to jail in China and I will never see my family again. Well it turned out ok. After that they put the bag through again without the stuff in it and it was radiation free, Wooohooo! After that we were looking over our shoulder walking out of the airport. So if that experience wasn’t traumatic enough we immediately got ripped off by a fake taxi driver. A lady asked if we needed a taxi and I said yeah so I assumed she would walk us outside to the giant line of taxis, nope she took us down to the garage to her private car. She drove us to our hostel but charged us 5 times the amount of a regular taxi’s fare. Then When we got to our hostel, the lobby, restaurant and hotel room was freezing and they refused to give us another heater. Needless to say we got off to a rough start but the rest of our time in China was amazing.
Beijing is an older city with a
lot of character, and there were a lot of places to visit. We only stayed in Beijing for 5 days and we went to the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, Olympic Park, Lama Temple, Great Wall, Beihai Park, Silk Market and Ming Tombs. As if that wasn’t enough we also went to a pearl market, jade factory, Silk factory, ceramics market, Chinese doctor, a fabulous peaking duck restaurant and a Kung Fu night show. Beijing was absolutely freezing, as you can see in all the pictures we were bundled up with tons of layers. Everything to see in Beijing was outdoors so all day long we outside shivering. By the end of the 5th day we were exhausted and ready for a day to relax.
The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square
The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty (1406) to the end of the Qing Dynasty. For almost five centuries, it served as the home of the Emperor and his household, as well as the ceremonial and political centre of Chinese government. This fortress consists of 980 surviving buildings with almost 9000 rooms. Needless to say
our 2 hour tour only covered a small fraction of the different historic buildings. This was one of my favorite sightseeing places. The massive structures had amazing detail in every aspect and everything was built for a purpose. For example, the emperor had many concubines so they chose lions to guard the entrances because they also have many partners, the tour guide mentioned that they didn’t use tigers because they remain monogamous. Another interesting fact is there were no trees throughout the entire Forbidden City because the emperor was fearful that his enemies would hide in them to try to assassinate him. The tour of this place was very interesting because we got to hear about ancient Chinese history and see its remains first hand. Tiananmen Square was located just outside the Forbidden City. There wasn’t much to see because it was just a giant concrete square with monuments and museum buildings surrounding it.
The Summer Palace and Temple of Heaven
The Summer Palace was very different from the Forbidden City. It was gorgeous! There was a man made lake surrounded by trees and gardens. There was a walkway that stretched forever; it is the largest
in the world. On the underside of the roof covering the walkway, there was a different painting about every ten feet they were incredible; there must have been 1000s of original paintings. The Temple of Heaven had a unique circular structure in the middle. The complex was visited by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest.
Great Wall and Ming Tombs
On our last day in Beijing we went on a tour of the Ming Tombs and Great Wall. The Ming tombs were insane to think about the extent that emperors went to be wealthy in the afterlife. They were buried with their empress, concubines, gold, plate wear and this is all inside a giant marble room that’s bigger than an average apartment. The great wall was defiantly the highlight of visiting China. We went to a section of the wall that wasn’t so touristy so that we could truly experience it and also take better pictures. There were still a lot of people, but much less crowded than the other sections. We hiked up stairs for over and hour and were nowhere near seeing
a large part of the wall. The Great Wall stretches over 4,000 miles separating China from Mongolia. During the peak of its use the Ming Wall was guarded by more than one million men, and it has been estimated that somewhere in the range of 2 to 3 million Chinese died as part of the centuries-long project of building and protecting the wall. To experience this phenomenon was absolutely incredible.
Lama Temple
The Lama temple was one of the most culturally shocking things that I witnessed while traveling abroad. There were thousands of people with millions of incent sticks bowing and worshiping the Buddhas. Some of the Buddhas were massive; I only came up to the shin on one of the golden statues. The whole neighborhood spelled wonderful, but after an hour in the temple we were feeling a little nauseous. We were astonished by this different culture and religion were people brought sacrifices in the form of fruit, food, money and incenses to a statue.
Shopping
Josh and I have been unable to do much shopping in Korea due to how much taller we are than Koreans, so when we arrived
in Beijing we took advantage of their markets. Bartering in China was thrilling at first and then exhausting at the end. I assumed that clothes, shoes, souvenirs were barterable, but as we learned at the end of the trip taxis, restaurants and even bar prices were negotiable. The silk market was a famous 6 story indoor marked that had virtually everything. There was stall after stall of people complementing you to try to sell their goods. It was extremely overwhelming; the women were ferocious about trying to do business with you. They started their price off 10 times of the amount of which you settled for, and even then we still probably got ripped off. If you didn’t like the price they gave you and started to walk away they would grab your hand or clothing firmly and lower their price. If you ended up just walking away they were extremely offended and angry. Most of the stuff was fake or poor quality and some even broke once we got back to our hostel. We looked at large travel backpacks for our trip and when I tried to unzip one of the zippers it snapped in my hand, the woman
then insisted that this bag was very cheap and she showed us all the ways that they skimp on quality. We ended up buying a bag which she said was the best quality but the day after we bought it one of the straps unraveled. During our tours they took us to a jade, pearl, silk, ceramic market and tea house, which had highly overpriced items, intended to ripe the tourists off. Josh gave in at the tea house; he just had to have Chinese tea while in China! Another place that we visited during out tour was a Chinese doctor/ pharmacist that also included foot massages. The doctor looked in out eyes and in our mouth and then felt our pulse. His diagnosis was amazing. He was dead on for everyone in the group.
The Food in China
The Food in China was so much better than the food in Korea. It was also cheap. Most of our dinners cost less than 7 for two of us including drinks. Everything that we ordered was delicious. One night we went to a peeking duck restaurant which China is infamous for. We ordered a full duck and
they came to out table and carved it in front of us. Then you wrap it in a crape with sauce and vegetables and eat it burrito style only with chopsticks. It was a great experience. Another traditional dinner we ate was the hot pot. You have 2 different broths one spice and one bland and you essentially cook the meat fondue style.
We loved the character of Beijing but were excited to relax in Shanghai! Our Next blog about Shanghai will be up soon. We miss you all!
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Mom
non-member comment
So PROUD
I am in AWE of you daughter....I always knew you were an amazing young woman....just the planning and packing it must have taken to accomplish this is incredible. So glad to see you in a WINTER COAT!!! hehehe Truly is beautiful and something that you will remember the rest of your life. Glad you are home safe and sound, will talk to you this weekend! Love Mom