Day 1 -- All travel. JFK was very crowded and we were welcomed into a long security line and Chinese passengers with 10 plus plastic bags of carry ons. When we got to the gate it was already boarding time. We were surprised that the plane was so big! (At least Megan was) The seats felt slightly less spacious after 8 hours when trying to sleep. Nonetheless we had a pleasant flight, good food on the plane (beef rice and chicken noodle), and an adventurous spirit. Lots of fun watching the map as we flew into Canada, over the Arctic Circle, and down through Russia. A little trouble when we arrived in Beijing as we had to show proof that we were only staying 72 hour stay so that we could go sans visa. We made it work thanks to the Bayer data plan and no jerk points were gained! We pretty quickly exchanged money, bought train tickets, and headed in to the next mode of transportation -- subway! Megan only needed a few minutes break and we were off. Tired but excited, 2 transfers and almost a full 18 hours later we crossed our first street in Beijing (went the wrong direction, then crossed our second street in Beijing) and arrived at the Crown Plaza Wangfuijing!
Night 1 -- The attendant at the hotel tried to tell us our reservation was cancelled and it didn't even phase us, we were morphing into full travel mode! The hotel was spacious and newly renovated with a large open lobby. Room was basic but nice. One jerk point for Megan accusing Ben of forgetting the bag with ALL the medicine. We venture out to find dinner at 10pm at Haidilao. The area is pretty deserted and we are sent out in search of "hot pot -- 24 hour -- 8 floor -- mall but doors closed". About 30 mins later asking close to 7 people for directions about to give up Megan spots a "vanilla face" speaking English and asks for food. We finally make it to this secret elevator (and realize we passed this 29 minutes earlier but thought the throng outside was some sort of Chinese robbery gang). The restaurant is equally delicious and confusing. Our waitress speaks no English but hands us an iPad to order with pictures. Some what similar to Fondue, but awesome we pick meat balls, lamb, cabbage, and bamboo and then we cook it in a spicy broth or mushroom broth. Heavenly! Ben even shows the server a picture on his iPhone of a Tsingtao beer and we have safe liquid to rehydrate with. Whole dinner $35. It's after midnight and we can get home to sleep fast enough.
Day 2 -- A solid 8.5 hours of sleep later we wake up refreshed and ready to explore. Breakfast at the hotel is diverse and yummy. Megan gets to pick eggs and pancakes. Ben gets a full English breakfast with baked beans, a thousand century egg, sushi, and Chana masala -- typical. We ask the hostess about the language and learn that "thank you" is "xie xie". We proceed to use it all day and feel more local. (When asked about "excuse me?" -- "hot breakfast?" Was the reply) We saw the Temple of Heaven first, point for the audio guide, point for avoiding the street fruit (why is America obese?). Highlights: music through the park, man walking backwards, Chinese men playing chess while sitting on the walls, and cute babies in assless chaps. Next it was on to the Forbidden City, thank god we have NYC experience because the subway was super crowded (think 6 train at rush hour times 2). We saw a family get separated and an older woman get stuck in the door and get in a fight with a security guard. Big score at the ticket counter getting student tickets then we selected Ming as our tour guide for 4x the ticket price. Perhaps not worth it, Megan was more impressed than Ben. Lots if historical information gained, especially with regard to the movie The Last Emperor (perhaps ming's one reference doc), updates made before the 2008 Olympics, and concubines. We part ways with Ming and walk back towards Tiananmen Square. We see milk drinks along the hutong shops sitting out on the gorgeous sunny day and decide that is a strong "no". We see a man slap another man and then many people crowd around, pick pocket stunt? Unsure. We continue find that the History of China museum is closed, walk around the square, see Mao's tomb, and then walk back to the hotel up Wangfuijing street in all it's Times Square glory. People are everywhere but it's starting to feel Chinese.
Night 2 -- Quick shower and dinner reservations at Quedong Roast Duck House. Becoming more familiar with the neighborhood and only need the iPhone 2x to arrive. Prefix menu, good variety, we like the brisket and the kale; duck/scallion pancakes are delicious but a little oily. Quote of dinner -- "did you ask her for the duck head? -- yup, thats the one phrase I learned in mandarin". Is Chinatown better than China? Has NYC made us food snobs? We head out and pop in the Mall on the walk home and giggle at some of the unfamiliar stories. Ben gets his jelly grass milk tea stroll past groups of dancers in the square in front of the church. Head back to the hotel to rest up for The Great Wall tomorrow, the private driver arrives at 9:30...boom!
Day 3 -- We woke up at 5:30am, curse of jet lag, after a coffee in the hotel (and bread pudding for Megan) we took off on foot. We made it back to the Forbidden City walls and saw Jingyang Park across the street. Beautiful park filled with greenery and flowers. Stray cat appears as we are reading a sign and Megan almost dies; a old Chinese man with three teeth laughed at me! Nice climb up to the top and we found AARP Chinese men and women doing tai chi, general exercises, and shouting to welcome in the morning. The highlight was the breathtaking but hazy view of Beijing including the forbidden city. We head back to the hotel for a proper 2nd breakfast and also brave the city bus, no problem, we are Beijing pros. UN emergency meeting about Russia invading the Ukraine holds us up a bit as we are somewhat captivated by the TV. Then by 9:30 it's Great Wall time. Our driver is Mr Lee and we hop in a clean black VW Jetta and hit the road. Beijing drivers are crazy, we almost die 5x. We take a detour to a ceramics souvenir factory and see master welders honing a craft that goes back 500 years. The result is copper vases with elaborate enamel decorations. We arrive at the Mutianyu Great Wall and get pumped for our ski lift up the mountain and toboggan ride down. The day is gorgeous and sunny, 60 degrees at the bottom and maybe 75 up on the wall. Right before we get on the lift Megan has her first dilemma, too pee or not to pee -- and she pees in a hole in the ground. Had to hold back the gag reflex but not too bad! We march up and down the stairs and forts like it is our own personal photo shoot. The stairs are often terrifying and certainly not OSHA compliant. We also vow to take time just to enjoy the breath taking views; however this cannot be done while walking because the stairs are everywhere and often uneven. We relax with a Tsing Tao on the wall before lining up for the toboggan down. The wall has gotten busy and this takes way longer than it should but in the end it is a pretty cool experience. If only we could have had the slide to ourselves we could have totally relived the Olympics ice luge event. However we made due with the slow spaniards below us. Ben tailgates them, slows down to build distance then charges at them. The effect was helping them to speed up a bit. Mr Lee takes us to a "local farmer house", which is basically a small restaurant. Ben ordered the fish and we watched a trout get caught from the pond then get killed with a rock, then we ate it. As a rare event Megan ate seafood without complaint. Delicious but we were both a little queasy last night. We are fading fast from our early morning, we head home and make a quick stop to see some of the 2008 Beijing Olympic buildings.
Night 3 -- So tired and not feeling 100% but we drag ourselves to the night market. A little unpleasant to have so many people trying to sell you things. We had heard it was a bad idea to eat any of the food, so we just look. An 80 year old man with a beverage bike/moped offers us a beer. We gesture with him and quarrel over the prices. Eventually we back out take our money (a dollar at the most) and go for a walk. We find a better night market and look around for a while. Nothing is catching our eye so Megan settles on gelato in the mall across the street, no es bueno. Beijing has been great but it is time for us to move on. We head back to the hotel, Bangkok tomorrow!
