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Published: January 13th 2012
The New Year weekend was the ONLY long weekend my school would be having all year so I felt like I should take advantage of the extra day and go somewhere. Beijing is relatively close to Dalian and other than for the volleyball trip in November (in which I didn’t really see anything but the inside of a gymnasium), I hadn’t been to Beijing City in years.
We took the train (soft sleepers – the highest class!) from Dalian to Beijing on the Friday after school. On Saturday morning we were picked up by our hostel (Happy Dragon Courtyard). I had pre-arranged a tour to the Great Wall of China that day since I figured we would all be up early anyway. For 260RMB we were served breakfast, taken to the wall, given our entrance ticket, lunch, and take back to the hostel. Most tours make you stop at numerous ‘shopping’ centers where they will get commission for anything you buy – not this tour though – we had 3.5 hours on the wall and it was awesome!
We went to the Mu Tian Yu section of the wall. Six years ago I hiked from Jinshanling to
Simitai and loved every minute of it (it was sunny, cool, nearly empty, and absolutely breathtaking). I was both nervous (about how busy it would be) and excited (to see another part of the wall!).
It turned out to be much better than I thought! We got there earlier than most of the other groups (they were likely shopping at some sort of jade, pearl, or silk factory) and instead of taking the tram up to the wall we walked it instead. On the wall, it wasn’t too busy and the weather was perfect – clear blue skies on New Year’s Eve! By the time we made it to the wall we were all stripping down to our base layers it was so warm!
After spending 3.5 hours walking along the wall we went down for lunch – after having some of the best food I have ever eaten in Chongqing, Shanghai, and Dalian – the lunch they served us was not something to write home about. However, it was REALLY funny hearing the other tourists talk about how delicious it was. Someone even said ‘this is the best food I have had in
China so far’. Ew. It was gross!
I was lucky enough to meet up with an old university friend of mine for NYE who has been teaching just outside of Xi’an and was on vacation in Beijing at the same time!
We went out for dinner in downtown Beijing and then went back to our hostel’s rooftop bar to get a good view of the city. (I should note here that we ended up having to stay at the ‘Kings Joy Hotel’ because our room we booked at the Happy Dragon Courtyard had a broken heater. Also, the HDC was VERY helpful in relocating us and I would for sure go back and try and stay there!).
To ring in the 2012 we made our way over to Tiananmen Square to see if anything exciting was happening. It wasn’t. As a matter of fact, China doesn’t really celebrate our New Year like we do and the security in China prevented us from stepping foot on the square – so we lit sparklers beside it. Good times!
On January 1
st we went to the Silk Street Market to get
some high quality fake goods and then went over to the Dirt Market, or Panjiayuan Market. The Dirt Market is awesome for antique hunters (not me), or people who want to get some amazing artwork (me!). I ended up buying 2 very different pieces that I am very happy with. I bought one watercolour and one oil painting on canvas that is framed. I am SO excited to put them up in my house when I get home to Canada!
On January 2
nd I spent the morning at the Temple of Heaven Park with my friend, and then the rest of the day was spent being lazy, drinking coffee and shopping. It was very relaxing. Unfortunately our flight back to Dalian that night was cancelled due to snow in Dalian! We had to stay an extra night in Beijing close to the airport and fly back the next morning (and be very late for work!).
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Teresa Phan
non-member comment
most interesting
Hi, my family and I will be going to Beijing coming October. We're not interested in shopping tours. Can you please give me the email address of the tour company you used? Most grateful for your wonderful blog. Thanks!