Last weekend I took a trip to China's capital, Beijing. Since there is so much to say I will just give a short overview of what I can remember.
The trip started with me buying a 17 hour train ticket, where I would be standing or sitting on a hard seater, to save about $60 USD. I was advised by other Chinese students to switch to the 5 hour train or else I would be grumpy when I arrived to Beijing. Needless to say, I switch tickets, although the people that took the 17 hour train didn't look as grumpy as I thought they would, so I feel some regret.
The first place we went was the Great Wall, we went to the Juyongguan section. Seeing the Great Wall in person is an experience in itself but climbing it is something else. It is something that I hope to do again but while climbing it I would never want to do again. It took me about 2 hr just to walk up a tiny section of the Wall. I finally reached the top but I was tired by the first 15 minutes. It really is never ending. Every time we thought we reached the top there would be another beacon on top of another hundred steps of stairs. Walking up was hard but I actually found it harder to walk back down. Since I was already so tired my leg would shake every time I took a step down. The steps were also different heights so I couldn't speed walk down the steps. It also didn't help that people would use their umbrellas when they were walking, so I couldn't see the next steps and I would occasionally get hit. A recount of my visit to the Wall would not be complete if I did not talk about some of the people that I saw. I saw people wearing jeans and long sleeve shirts. A girl even asked me if I could bring down her sweater when I got to the top. Really, A SWEATER! Why would you bring a sweater to the Great Wall in July weather? But what really struck me were the shoes that people wear. I saw countless amount of women wearing platform shoes.
 |
| Wearing a UMW shirt to the Great Wall |
 |
| Going up was a pain... |
 |
| But it was worth it! |
 |
| Why? (Btw, she made it to the top too) |
Next we went to the Summer Palace. I enjoyed Summer Palace the most. I loved everything about this place (except that I had to pay extra to go to certain areas). It was so scenic! The water, the buildings, the green grass, and the environment just made it perfect. Unfortunately, my camera battery died a few minutes after I entered the Palace so I don't have too many pictures. Anyways, I loved that the further parts of the Palace was just a place to relax, not crowded at all. People were fishing, swimming, rowing boats, having picnics, doing Tai Chi, etc. But since we were still there after closing I did not get to see everything. We only got a little more than half way through.
More on Beijing later...
