Beijing!

So after being in Korea for 7 months we decided that it was time to take a trip. We don't have much time off work so we thought that we would take advantage of a 4 day long weekend and go to Beijing. One of the other teachers from our school, Brian, also wanted to get away so the three of us booked our trip together. We left on Saturday morning and flew to Beijing with a short layover in Dalian, China. The first 3 pictures below were taken in Dalian. There are town houses lining the air strip and I could just imagine how loud it is to live there. We arrived in Beijing early Saturday afternoon. The hostel was supposed to send a car to pick us up, but apparently they forgot and I was lucky enough to see a guy with a sign that had someone else's name on it along with the name of our hostel. We told him that we were supposed to get a ride and he said to follow him along with the 6 other people who he was picking up. We all crammed into a 7 seat van and were off to the center of Beijing which is also the oldest part of the city.

We finally arrived at our hostel and were shown to our three bed en-suite room. It was pretty nice but cold.

We didn't stray too far the first night since we booked a tour for the next morning that would leave at 7am but we walked around the area. There was a DQ right around the corner from the Hutong (hutongs are alleys formed by lines of siheyuan, traditional courtyard residences) we were in. We decided to try a Chinese restaurant that looked good but unfortunately didn't taste so great. They brought a big pot full of boiling water and trays of raw mutton. You boil the mutton and dip it in sauces and eat. Needless to say we went to DQ after...

FAIL

We booked a tour through the hostel on Sunday. We met in the main building of the hostel at 7am and were served breakfast. Then we were brought to where the bus would pick us up. We were joined by a family from Thailand and off we went.

First stop was a jade factory where they take jade and turn into works of art. This is kind of a cash grab, they do a quick tour and show you how the jade is carved then they leave you in their store for 30 minutes to buy things. The prices were pretty decent though and we did pick out a couple things that were interesting.

Our guide was wonderful, her English name was Maggie. After the Jade factory she took us to the Ming Tombs. This is where 13 of the 16 emperors of the Ming dynasty were buried. The location was chosen because it fit perfectly with feng shui, which says that the best place to be buried is between 3 mountains, with the tallest at the back (North) and with water in front. This location is also directly north of the forbidden city where the living emperor would have had his palace.

After leaving the Ming Tombs we were taken to another cash grab. We stopped at a Chinese clinic where we listened to a student tell us about Chinese medicine and then we could have one of the doctors feel our pulse and tell us what was wrong with us, if anything. Then of course they would tell what could be taken to help and sell it to you on the spot. Don was the first one to try it, but apparently he was healthy, so they didn't push any medicine on him. However, Brian bought some for his 'bad blood energy', lol.

On our way to lunch we were brought through a coissone factory where they make beautiful vases starting with a copper form and adding strips of copper to make a design on the outside. Then the spaces are filled in with coloured lacquer and it is polished and gold is added to make a beautiful finished product. The store was huge and filled with vases for as far as you could see.

We had a great lunch and then it was off to the Great Wall! When we arrived it was cloudy and gray, but relatively clear of smog. However, once we started making our way up the wall it started to snow and soon it was snowing pretty hard. But it was still an amazing experience. We were at the part of the wall in Badaling. This is one of the most popular areas to visit. The steps are steep but in good condition.

On our way back to the hostel the driver drove past the Olympics site where the Birds Nest, the Water Cube and the Olympic village buildings are located.

Later that night we made our way down to the entrance to the Forbidden City which is right across from Tienanmen Square. This weekend was the weekend of the lantern festival which marks the end of the new year celebrations. We were told that there might be something going on here, but there wasn't. It was nice to see the place all lit up though.

The next day we went back to the Forbidden City but this time to explore. The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum. For almost five centuries, it served as the home of the Emperor and his household, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government. The city is huge with tons of buildings and alleys. You could easily get lost in there. Some of the buildings have been turned into little museum display rooms where you can see the many things that would have been found in the city hundreds of years ago.

After exploring the Forbidden City we made our way across the street to Tienanmen Square. There is an underground walkway to get there where they have metal detectors and X-ray machines for bags, but the three of us were just waved through. I guess they don't view foreigners as a threat.

After this we took the subway to The Temple of Heaven. The Temple of Heaven, literally the Altar of Heaven is a complex of Taoist buildings situated in the southeastern part of central Beijing, in Xuanwu District. The complex was visited by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest. It is regarded as a Taoist temple, although Chinese Heaven worship, especially by the reigning monarch of the day, pre-dates Taoism. This temple was built from 1406 to 1420. The circular Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is one of Beijing's most famous architectural landmarks and was Don's favourite.

The Altar of Heaven.

Finally back in Seoul after a jam packed trip. The boys were napping on the shuttle bus back to our part of the city.

Here are some of the things that we picked up in Beijing. The first is called a Family Happiness Ball. It is carved from one piece of jade and this one has 3 balls, one inside the other. They are supposed to represent the generations within a family.