Beijing

Beijing is alright; it's far from being my favorite place but it's still fun and comfortable; it's clean and I'm not getting harassed. Beijing people think they are that much more civilized and like to talk about politics. Getting around is cheap, the food is good and I love speaking in mandarin. Also, all the attractions are so huge; I've never walked so much in my life.

I'm staying at a courtyard. Most have been destroyed to build skyscrapers, so there aren't many of these left in Beijing. It is quickly shedding its historical face in favour of modernity. It took a lot of effort from people to keep some of these places. I'm glad I'm staying at one of these while they still exist. There are some Chinese guys practicing Kungfu every day here as well. I think it's so manly.

Inside. I love this place.

Wangfujing is a modern shopping street, which reminds me of Nanjing road in Shanghai. It's my mom who told me about it actually. I kept asking her to recommend me things to do...but maybe because I'm not raised in China, we don't have the same interests. I know that if it were my dad, he would go to Tiananmen to see Mao's mummy.

Wangfujing.

This is a food street near Wangfujing. There is so much food, but I had none because I didn't want to get sick. There were even geckos, starfish, seahorses, spiders, and all kinds of bugs to eat....so I decided it's worth getting sick for one of these. I won't have the chance to eat these in Canada y'know...

I chose to have scorpions...they were the less intimidating ones. They were still moving on the stick, so it means that they are fresh :)

Here's the proof. It was yummy.

Of course, I had to go to the Great Walls. I've never seen so many mountains in my life, seriously. It wasn't too crowded and it was more challenging than I thought. I made it, duh, because I'm fit :) It's a pretty amazing feeling to walk onto the walls. My legs are still hurting though. I took the toboggan ride down, which was fun and random. Chinese people always invent so many random things for foreigners to do.

This was taken in front of the Forbidden city. There were so many people inside; it kind of ruined the experience. I already knew most of the facts about it because I always see it on TV, but it's still good to visit in person.

A hutong.

Monument to the people's heroes in Tiananmen Square.

The olympic stadium.

Summer palace.

Temple of Heaven. We can see many retired people playing cards, knitting and exercising around the park. I love to see that.

The fake Disneyland of China; Shijingshan. There were many characters similar to Disney's but not quite; it's just funny to see. I thought I would go there and play like a kid, because I spent a horrible night on the plane, ha.

:)

That was Beijing. I'm really sleepy now. I'm taking the train to Xi'an tomorrow which will take 12 hours...