I'll start with Beijing where we began our journey and spent the first three days. The city was very dirty and the smells were hard to get used to, but the history there is overwhelming and we enjoyed it very much.
The food was amazing. We had heard that it was nothing like here in the States, and they weren't kidding. I'd go back just to have the food again. We ate everything with chopsticks and had no problem adjusting. They did have forks available, but we wanted to enjoy the whole experience.
The highlight of the trip was our day at the Great Wall of China. It was a bit overwhelming and the gravity of the "situation" didn't hit us until we were back on US soil. We had the Holy Sh!t moment, WE WERE STANDING ON THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA!
I think the reason it didn't hit us when we were there is because it seemed so touristy which detracted from the experience a bit. We even went to one of the lesser visited parts. If I never hear, "Lady, Lady $1. For you, lady lady $1", again I will be all set. LOL (the walk up and back was lined with vendors selling their wares).
The second day in Beijing we went to the Forbidden City. There were so many people there. It was awesome but wasn't what I was expecting. No one is allowed inside the buildings and it was hard to see in through the windows and doorways due to the amount of people there. But, still, knowing that I was standing in the same spot as many former Emperors or Empresses was cool.
Later in the day we took a tour through a Hutong which is a small neighborhood comprised of alleyways and courtyard homes. They are slowly disappearing due to the fact the goverment is working hard to modernize Beijing.
As I said, the food was amazing, but we still had to venture into McDonald's to see what was up. There weren't too many surprises other than the fact they put an egg on their chicken sandwich and they have dark meat chicken rather than the white meat Americans demand.
After the Hutong tour, Abby got an impromtu Chinese Calligraphy lesson. It was one of the highlights of the trip.
Below is what the Chinese know as Snake Wine. The (venomous) snake is alive when it goes in and yes they DO drink it. It is attributed to their health and longevity.
One of the last places we visited was the Olympic Site.
We also visited Summer Palace (above) and the Temple of Heaven (below).
And finally, no trip to Beijing is complete without Peking Duck. We ate at Dadong Roast Duck and it was AMAZING (it's hard to describe anything related to this trip without using the word Amazing!!)
