Asian Persuasion part 1: Beijing

After being abandoned for an entire 8 weeks, I was very ready for the Summer to come to an end. I managed to get myself packed, said good bye to my baby Wrigley and headed to the airport. 

I flew from Calgary to Vancouver to Beijing. I enjoyed Disney's Cinderella on the way to Vancouver but due to the previous days events I was exhausted and slept almost the entire way from Vancouver to Beijing. I woke up just in time to make friends with my seat partner. She was a really nice girl from Mongolia. I had been really nervous about flying on my own and was so grateful for her kindness in showing me through the Beijing airport and where to pick up my luggage. She even waited for me to clear customs. She was amazing!

Flying into Beijing was crazy because it was so smoggy! I was truly shocked. I found Tim and we headed to our beautiful hotel! It was awesome to stay in such a gorgeous place. We enjoyed the toilet in the bathroom... I know! I am not sure what it use was.... New bottles of water each morning and the swimming pool to cool off in after a long day of walking.

I woke up bright and early the next morning due to jet lag and was ready to start our blitz sightseeing of Beijing. Tim was not as enthused as I was so I read Harry Potter and at Oreos until he was ready to take on the day. 

Day 1 was spent taking it easy and checking out what Beijing had to offer. We always had breakfast at the local street vendors. We would be stuffed to the brim for about $1. My favorite was baozi. It a little steamed bun filled with delicious pork. We also changed it up with the pancake thing. We tried a braided bread but it was rock solid and not good at all!

Tim was a superstar when ordering food!

We took the train everywhere we went. It was so neat to see Tim navigating us around. He worked so hard and I could really tell how much his Mandarin had improved. I am very jealous of their subway system. It was so cheap and goes everywhere. It is unfortunate but I know Calgary will never be as good.

Buying Tickets

We went to Tiananmen Square is most famously known for the protests that occurred but is also a large city square in the center of Beijing. We decided to come back to Tiananmen and do the tourist thing a different day because it was crazy packed so we walked around and did some shopping.

We then took a taxi and went to the Pearl Market. It was seriously so awesome! It is a big building full of cheap knock offs! Everything from ties to dresses to bags to pearls! Tim was sooo funny! He would tell the sweet little Asian ladies that in China you fear the husband but in Canada you fear the wife!! He also told them that he couldn’t buy anything or didn’t have much money because he had no face because his wife made all the money. They all thought he was the greatest and just giggled away! Most people were confused when they saw Tim and would point blank ask him what he was. He would tell them half Chinese and half American! They were so impressed that he could actually speak Mandarin and tell him how smart he was. Tim was seriously amazing at bartering and we got a ton of purses, ties and shoes for cheap! I bought a pair of Tom’s that I thought fit but the shoes that said they were the same size actually weren’t. My favorite purchase was a little jersey for Cohen boy!

Across from the Pearl Market was a delicious food place! I have never been happier to see white rice and beef and broccoli!

This food seriously never looked so good.

Day 2: was spent taking the subway all over the place and packing in as much as humanly possible. We started by going to the Olympic Plaza. It was super busy and neat to see all of the cool structures!

This is the birds nest or the place where track and filed was held.

 The cube was where the swimming events were held. 

Oh good! Mickey Mouse!

We then went to the Summer Palace or Yiheyuan which was really neat but Tim was travelling like my mother and just wanted to check things off the list! He declined a tour guide but did let me look long enough to read the signs.

 I was making fun of my mom and pretending to be super afraid as I came down the stairs. 

Behind Tim is the Tower of Buddhist incense. As the symbolic structure the Tower of Buddhist Incense was built on the mountain side during the rein of Emperor Qianlong. It is a classic work of Chinese architecture. It was a religious structure originally planned to be a nine-story tower, but ordered to e dismantled and change to a Buddhist tower for worshipping Buddha when the eighth story was under construction. Like many buildings in the park the Summer Palace, this largest individual structure in the park was destroyed and rebuilt later during the reign of Emperor Guangxu. On the first day and fifteenth day of each lunar month, the Empress would go there to pray and burn joss sticks.

I was dying to ride in a bike car thing. Tim firmly told me know but after Temple of Heaven we were hot and tired so Tim broke down and let me take the one to the subway. Pretty crazy in the traffic. Just glad I am still alive.

The crazy superstitious Asians were missing half the floors/numbers on the elevator panel.

Enjoying some fruit on a stick.

Day 3 was spent at the Great Wall of China!! This was so exciting because Tim was finally becoming a real Asian. My sisters have always teased Tim that he isn’t a real Asian because he had been to China but not to the Great Wall. He tries to logically explain that China is big and we haven’t seen the statue of liberty.

Tim felt like he was having some dust/pollution allergies so I encouraged him to take Benadryl. He didn't realize that Benadryl makes you super tired so he popped two Benadryl as we walked out the door to go to the Great Wall. Tim pretty much fell asleep instantly and I died laughing when I realized what had happened. It turned out ok that Tim slept the entire way to the Great wall because our bus driver got crazy lost and we had to pick up other people on our Tour.

The Great Wall was pretty amazing and as an added bonus it was a beautifully clear day and you could see the wall stretch on and on. The wall was shorter than I imagined but apparently the Mongols rode horses so it didn’t need to be crazy high.

We got to ride a sled down! I really liked it and you could get going pretty fast.

Next on our day tour was the Ming tombs. The Emperor would be buried here along with his most valuable treasures. When one of the tombs was opened the air caused the relics to instantly decay. For fear of decay and no way to preserve these relics some of the tombs haven’t been opened. Tim asked our tour guide if during the night someone would come up here with a shovel to steal the treasures for themselves. Our tour guide was shocked and thought this was a blasphemous question.

We also learned that the doors all have a step because the devil can’t bend his legs so he won’t be able
to enter.

Pretending to dig up the treasure that is buried with the Emperor. 

The ancient Chinese built a step at every door because they believed that the devil could not bend his knees and would therefore be unable to enter the building. 

We also went to a jade and silk factory. Kind of lame but interesting to hear about. My mom wanted a silk duvet cover and I was stressed that I wouldn’t be able to find one anywhere else so I bought one there for the "best price in all of China" and fell hook line and sinker into a tourist trap. I don't think Tim will ever let me live it down. On the upside, our dog really likes to lay on the silk blanket… at least someone is appreciative!

On day 4 when we came off the subway to go to Tiananmen Square a guy was waiting to pick off tourists to take them to his shop and sell them a painting. I did buy one of his paintings because it was of a deer in the winter and reminded me of Canada! I couldn’t seem pull myself together in China! Everywhere I turned people were trying to make a profit. Tim never wants to travel with me again. He was always shocked at how we were accosted at every turn!

The guy is writing our name in Chinese characters. That is when I really couldn't say no to buying a painting. 

Tiananmen Square was surreal to be in. It was crazy to think the history that happened here and the Chinese people don’t even know! The entire time I was in China I just felt so blessed to live in a safe, clean, democratic country. I love you CANADA!

I at some disgustingly strange corn.

The Forbidden City is connected to Tiananmen Square. The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. Tim was kind of done at this point so I just read the signs and made him wait. He just enjoyed taking pictures of me fighting through insane crowds to see what I wanted to see!

Can you find me? 

 Asian tourists are seriously intense!

We then went to the Temple of Heaven. This site was originally used as a complex that was visited by Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest. Now the site also has a large park where the elderly meet to play a card game like president’s scum. They also do yoga type exercises here. It was neat to see them going about their every day lives.

Playing cards.

We hit up the Pearl Market one last time and then headed back to our hotel to get packed up and move on to our next adventure of Taiwan.