Siightseeing in Beijing.

Today was our full day of sightseeing in Beijing.  We started the day at Tiananmen Square.  I know that I was warned that there would be a lot of people and that they don’t have the same personal bubble that we Americans do, but I wasn’t quite mentally prepared for the fact that they have absolutely NO personal bubbles.  And they’d be considered very rude as well.  I became quite adept at literally shoving my way through a crowd.  I have to say, I think I did pretty well for someone as demophobic as I am.  (I have a larger than normal personal bubble due to a Kid Rock concert I was nearly crushed to death at!)  And the umbrellas!  Nearly had my eyes poked out a few times with those things!  The women just don’t look where they’re going and those pointy ends really hurt when they hit your face!  

 

After Tiananmen Square, we walked across the street (well, under it) over to the Forbidden City.  I’ve been dying to see this place for many many years.  I wish we would have had a lot more time there to explore and take photos.  The marble carvings are absolutely incredible as well as the architecture.   This was even more crowded.  It was especially bad in the garden area.  Our traffic jams have nothing on the human bottle necks I experienced today.

After the Forbidden City, we moved onto lunch (yummy) and then shopping at the Friendship Store Pearl Market.  We bought a little something for Teagin to give to her when she’s older.  

After that was the Summer Palace.  I was quite disappointed here.  We had 20 minutes to go through one of the most beautiful parks I’ve seen.  We didn’t get to experience ANY of the gardens….just the bridge and a view of the lake.  One of Jason’s friends said that you need more than one day just to explore the gardens there.  Maybe someday…….

After that was a trip to a silk museum.  They showed us the stages of how the silk caterpillars produce the silk and the two different cocoons they end up with.  We didn’t buy anything there because I was hesitant to.  I wanted to be sure that I had Teagin’s size before I spent $30 US on a silk dress. 

After the silk museum, we drove past the Olympic Village and the Olympic Stadium.  Didn’t get to see much of the Water Cube.  It would have been neat to explore both the Bird’s Nest Stadium and the Water Cube, but we had to get to Dr. Tea for a tea ceremony.  Of course, the tea I liked the best was also the most expensive so we didn’t buy any.  $100 US for a box!  Ugh!

After the tea excursion, we moved onto the restaurant for a Peking Duck Dinner.  They had our table right below the air conditioner vent and so all of the food on the table was quite cold…and unrecognizable.  None of us were quite sure what each dish was.  There were 3 I was able to figure out on sight…French fries, ham, and Kung Pao Shrimp.  The Peking Duck would have been good…if it wasn’t so darn greasy.  I’d like to try it again somewhere else so that I can see if it’s the dish I didn’t like or the preparation…

Afterwards, we came back to our hotel.  We also found out the air conditioning was broken in our room when we determined that it was cooler outside than in our room.  Took 3 people to fix it!

Tomorrow is the international church service, the Jade Market, and the Great Wall.  We’ll also, hopefully, get our travel info in regards to traveling to our province to meet Teagin.  So tomorrow night will be packing again to get ready to fly to Nanchang.  I can’t wait!!!

Oh!  You’re not allowed to drive your car on some roads in Beijing if it’s on fire…according to this sign…..