Beijing, China

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It is currently August 11th, 2011 and I am on the train heading back to Suzhou from Beijing. After some thought and consideration, I’ve decided that my Beijing experience was nothing short of amazing. So get your coffee, I’ve got a hefty blog post for ya!

My journey began on Monday August 8th. I had to get up very early to be able to finish up packing and take 2 buses and a taxi to the Suzhou North train station. Everything went smoothly, thank God. I arrived in Beijing around 2:30pm.

I exited the subway station at Qianmen, which is right by Tiananmen Square, and was instantly filled with travel excitement. I saw the big monuments, lots of people and of course the Forbidden City.

I stayed at Leo Hostel, which is around a 5-minute walk from Tiananmen Square. While the dorms were not stellar, the location and atmosphere was. I checked into the hostel and threw my stuff into my room and went exploring.

Initially I headed towards the Forbidden City but unfortunately, it was closed. So I got on the subway and went to see the Temple of Heaven. It was amazing but once again, a little bit of bad luck as everything was closing! I didn’t realize that everything would close so early. But it’s okay, by the end of the trip I will have seen everything that I wanted to see.

The next day I did the Ancient Wall tour of the Great Wall of China. It was positively one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It was a good 10k hike up the wall and along the way I made some friends. We had a great time getting to know each other as we all battled the increasingly painful hike up the wall together.

After the first 2 towers of this section of the Great Wall it becomes more and more in disrepair. This is in fact, the REAL Great Wall and not the reconstructed wall that all the tourists go to. Anyways, the wall becomes very dangerous, as the bricks are everywhere and pieces of the wall are simply missing. Yet somehow we made it to tower 6, the last tower that people can get to on the section. The view was spectacular! At this point I got so hungry that I scarfed down an entire package of Oreos without anything to drink.

But I’m so thankful that I did this tour because unknowingly, the other Great Wall spots and all of Beijing was covered with smog while my section was not. I had all sun! It doesn’t always look like it in the pictures but it was nice and sunny. In fact, I got really sun burned. It was the first time getting sun burned in China.

Besides having no smog, the section of the wall we were on had no people! It was just my group for miles and miles.

But the best thing about the Great Wall trip was planting a picture of my Mom, Patty Cooper, in one of the towers of the Great Wall. It’s been kind of my mission.

Then yesterday, August 10th, I got up early and went to the Forbidden City. I apparently zipped right through it and I kind of wish that I had taken my time and seen more. But there people and sun were getting to me and so I decided to pass through each area quickly. It was all still cool though. And I also hit up 2 nearby parks, both very beautiful with one overlooking the Forbidden City.

I concluded my day with a trip to the Beijing Zoo. I know, sounds crazy to go to a zoo in China, right? WRONG! This zoo was special because it contained a big panda exhibit. It was worth going to but because of the immense amount of people, the magic of the pandas was dampened a little. I mean, people shoving and pushing you out of the way is a bit much and so it was hard getting into the pandas cuteness. Fortunately, the highlight of the exhibit was when a panda got up onto his outdoor play set.

Finally, we come to today where I went back to where I first began my Beijing trip, the Temple of Heaven. This time I got to see the 2 exhibits that I wasn’t able to see before, which includes the round altar (the spot where the Emperor would stand). It was worth going back to but initially the plan was to go see Mao Zedong’s body and also the China Museum. I decided against it when I was told that I would have to check my bag into a security area so I can visit the building, which actually had a 2 hour long line! I also decided against seeing the museum, as I had to wait in another line and show my ID. I found it strange so I left and headed for the Temple of Heaven.

So overall, I had a nearly perfect trip to Beijing. But of course, like any city, it has it’s flaws. Now don’t get me wrong, I like Beijing. The only thing I have against it is it’s unsanitary nature. Almost all bathrooms are squatty potties, there’s hardly ever any soap, there’s never anything to wipe your hands with, people spit everywhere, and worst of all is that people simply urinate in the middle of the street. Now I’ve seen some of all this in Shanghai but not at this level. This is how disease and sickness spreads so quickly in Asia.

To go with this, I’m quite sick of seeing women with hairy legs and armpits. And just as bad, men don’t use deodorant. It’s all just too natural for me. I do love culture but this whole nature of not being sanitary and not maintaining personal hygiene doesn’t fly with me. So that’s my little rant on that! lol

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