The Great Wall

(This post is a follow up from our trip around the world. I will be writing a recap for each place we visited during our 4 month trip. Prior to Beijing we also visited India, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Macau).

We signed up for a tour of the Great Wall through our first hotel. They had two options - a private, yet inexpensive shopping tour, or a private tour that was about 5 times the price. We didn't really have plans for the day outside of visiting the Great Wall, so we figured why no go the cheap route, because we'd have the same amount of time at the Wall either way.

- Our guide and driver picked us up and we set out for the famed Great Wall, which is about 40 miles from Beijing. We chose to visit the Mutianyu section, which proved to be a good choice, because there weren't many people around, but first there were a few other things to visit.

- Along the way we stopped at a Jade shop, which stressed that it was government owned, so we could expect only the best at reasonable prices. The sales assistants were like shadows, which really didn't make me want to spend time looking at anything.

- In order to subsidize the cheap tour we later learned it was required for us to stay in the shop for a designated time so our guide could get a sign off that she was indeed there. It was really interesting for me to see how the tour world works elsewhere and actually an interesting look into China.

- Not everything was shopping related. We also visited the Ming Tombs, which aren't visited by the Chinese who have a bit of superstition about death and graveyards. We had to say in Mandarin 'I'll be back' and then something that sounded like 'lo lie lee', meaning 'I've come again'. I was just excited to learn some Mandarin so I could greet the driver telling him I've come again. He laughed a little bit, but probably only out of kindess.

- The drive to Mutianyu took roughly 1.5 hours. Along the way we noticed many gray brick buildings in the small communities. Occasionally there would be a bright splash of color from pennant flags hanging over an area, but outside of that most of the color was from cabbages on the ground or the last few persimons lingering in bare trees.

- We stopped for a delicious Chinese meal at a small local restaurant before making our way to the bottom part of the hill, which was really steep. We walked through the various vendors selling sometimes hilarious souvenirs such as panda hats. There was also the option of taking a toboggan back down. Definitely kitschy and unexpected.

- Once we arrived at the top we were in awe that we were standing on the Great Wall. It was our year for visiting monumental ancient architecture with our visits to the Pyramids in Egypt to the Temples at Angkor Wat - and now the Great Wall.

- It's absolutely incredible to see how the Wall effortlessly weaves around the mountains like a ribbon. Some areas are more dilapidated, while others have been refurbished.

- Thankfully there were even times where it felt as if we were alone so we could really take in the scenery. Getting out of Beijing's smog ridden air was also something we appreciated.

- The last stop on the shopping tour was a tea ceremony, which was fun and informative. We were told the differences between the teas and able to sample oolong, jasmin, lychee black tea, and a very old Chinese Pu'er tea.

- Our hostess had an old tree stump style table the also had a small terra cotta figure soaking in water. Stefan asked what it was and then she told us a 'pee pee boy'. We, of course, were puzzled. She proceded to show us how it worked - if she boils water and it is hot enough to use for tea she can pour it over this figurine and cold water comes out.
As she demonstrated she held it up and I got sprayed in the face. We both remained composed and I continued drinking my tea, but I am sure she got a great laugh out of that after we left. They also gave us one with the teas we purchased.

- As we sampled the various teas I asked her if the oolong was 'monkey picked', because I know they have been marketing some teas that way in the US. She looked at us oddly and then said the pu'er tea was sometimes called monkey picked, because the women look like monkeys when they are picking it. That was definitely not what I was inferring, nor did I know this. I'm sure the look on my face was pure astonishment.

Live the Language

EF - Live The Language - Paris from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

Have you seen these incredible and gorgeous little videos from Gustav Johansson, Niklas Johansson, and Albin Holmqvist?

They warm my heart and make me squeal with delight. These are the simple pleasures of travel... seeing, learning, and doing - and so beautifully presented. Really spectacular!!

So far cities include: Beijing, Barcelona, London and Paris.

Each video brings me back to my time in each of these cities.

I can't wait for the German version. They remind me of my own language school experiences.

Don't they make you want to jump into language school as soon as possible?

Olympic Sites + Temple of Heaven - Beijing

(This post is a follow up from our trip around the world. I will be writing a recap for each place we visited during our 4 month trip. Prior to Beijing we also visited India, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Macau).

A trip to Beijing wouldn't be complete without visiting the site of the 2008 Olympics and the futuristic Bird's Nest + Water Cube.

- Inside the Bird's Nest each support creates the most interesting shapes and shadows. Even the minimalist signage and paintings to denote bathrooms are beautifully done. We sat in the seats for a little while and could see that watching the events live must have been a fun time.

- The Water Cube is closed for visits, which is not a big deal as the outside is what is fascinating. It looks like a giant wall of big bubble wrap, which can be illuminated at night. Unfortunately we did not get to see it lit up at night this time around.

-The entire park area is very large and seems to go on and on. They again have a lot of pride and loads of souvenirs available ranging from gold medals to jewelry and tea sets inspired by the Water Cube.

- Elsewhere in the city there was some neat Olympic inspired street art for Adidas.

- After the Olympic sites we stopped at the Temple of Heaven (or Tiantan), a vast temple park surrounded by an even larger area.

- It was here that the emperors came to pray for for good harvest and weather, which is a little tragic considering the thick smog in the air. It continually felt like dusk at midday.

Next up... The Great Wall + The Forbidden City.

Beijing

(This post is a follow up from our trip around the world. I will be writing a recap for each place we visited during our 4 month trip. Prior to Beijing we also visited India, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Macau).

- With just a few short months to plan this monstrous trip we had decided to follow good weather, which made packing relatively simple - or so we thought. Our flight to Beijing was delayed due to snow, which meant leaving sun and sweltering Hong Kong (90 ˚F / 32C) and arriving in dark and snowy (30˚F/ -1C) Beijing.

- That wasn't the only part of the bumpy start to China. No taxi wanted to take us to our hotel. We lucked out by waving a business man over to take the cab that rejected us and he instead talked to the driver and helped us on our way. The problem was our directions to the hotel weren't very helpful, and although he knew of the neighborhood he wasn't sure on the exact street. At one point he got out of the car to smoke a cigarette, because he was clearly frustrated. Thankfully we had a phone and were able to call the hotel. Twenty minutes later it was clear to us why he did not find it, because it was down a tiny alley way. As for the cost of the city tour - a mere 3€.

- We all laughed and he was so incredibly nice - speaking Mandarin to us while we had no idea what he said. It was probably along the lines of this being the last time he picks up Westerners at the station. So if you come to Beijing and encounter cab man 233355, he’s great.

- During our stay in Beijing we split the time two different hotels, one is a traditional courtyard style and a super modern design hotel near the Forbidden City. While changing hotels probably doesn’t sound like too much fun to most, we like that it gave us a base is different neighborhoods. They were very interestingly different.

- The first neighborhood was really cute with a lot of character and provided to be a great place to discover an authentic area of Beijing. Our hotel even have a tiny rabbit in a bird cage and fish near the water for good feng shui. The area seemed to be serious China and I was more than happy I packed a point-to-it-style icon dictionary. Everyone was so helpful and even somewhat excited to practice their basic English.

- Beijing is super easy to get around and navigate, even if your Mandarin isn't so hot. Incredibly the subway only costs about 20¢, so it's also very affordable.

- ‘The Chairman’ Mao dominates the skyline and red flags are flying everywhere. It was difficult not to get distracted from the little Chinese children with their slit pants - even in the freezing weather. There were a few children whose parents wanted them to have their photos with us, however the children were afraid even with us getting them with a 'Ni hao' and smiles.

- The area is really impressive as it is huge and very regal feeling, despite it's not always pleasant history, where hundreds of people were killed. We walked the entire square and passed various monuments included the mausoleum of chairmen Mao. A funny thing was that the entire time they played a 60th anniversary of new China movie on big screens in the middle of the square; we could definitely see that they take their country seriously. There were not a lot of people around which added to us feeling we were in a massive place.

- The oldest gate of Beijing is towards the South side and has a quite touristy, but beautiful street called Qianmen Street. It was interesting to see the old side streets coupled with the new modern area that was built to look older. It really felt like a movie set.

- One of the most famous places to have Peking duck is also on this street. That was one of the things Stefan constantly talked about before we came. He had to have duck in Beijing. I almost lost all hope as I looked at the menu and saw duck tongue, duck gizzards, and an endless array of other duck and animal bits. I settled on some shrimp. Stefan was very excited to receive a certificate from his duck that was raised on wheat and spring water.

- Even with the cold temperatures I couldn't turn down a tea ice cream. We ordered both a jasmine and a matcha cone and they were great. I will probably be dreaming about them for a while.

I will write separately about the Olympic sites, the Great Wall, and the Forbidden City.