Hold up! Did you say Beijing?

I know that i didn't inform you about this trip but it all came together pretty fast so hold on to your diapers babies cuz were going in.

We got back from a four day Beijing trip and needless to say it was amazing! We left on Sunday afternoon, and only four of us went. The group consisted of Sanjay, Leonard, David and I. It was really awesome because we are all real close, and completely on our own! This was our first taste of independent traveling and I must say that I was impressed with the functionality of our language skill.

Sunday
On Sunday we arrived in Beijing around 4 o’clock, and after checking into the hotel went to go see the CCTV tower in Beijing. As we came out of the subway we saw that our plans might end up being spoiled because it was raining hard accompanied by thunder and lightning. But after a few rallying words our shirts were shed and we were running towards the CCTV tower. It was about a 15 min walk, and on our way we experienced one of the most impressive demonstrations that I have ever seen our mother earth put on. As we were walking towards the tower we saw lighting strike the tower not once, twice, or even three times; but TEN times! I even captured a few of the strikes on video. If you have never witnessed such an occurrence then it is an unforgettable sight. All four of us were completely flipping out every single time it hit the tower. We ended up not going up the tower because it was 70 元 not worth spending. But the trip was definitely worth it just to see the lighting strikes.

Monday
On Monday we were all in a complete Sightseeing mindset. Lead by Sanjay and I we were moving nearly the whole day. We started in the morning with Tiananmen Square. This was an impressive sight. Of course at the front of the square you saw the Forbidden City with the famous picture of Mao Zei Dong. In the middle housed the dead body of Chairmen Mao, and on side was the national museum and opposite of it was the Great Hall of the People. This was the first place we went into. If you’re not exactly sure what this place is, it is essentially the congressional hall of the CPC. Here people from every providence meet and discus and vote on the issues of china. I’m not exactly sure exactly sure how every detail works in the Government so this may be something you want to look up online. We were able to go in and walk along a pretty guided path, they had individual meeting rooms for the providences and also the great hall for the general assembly.

After the Hall of the People we crossed Tiananmen square and entered the Forbidden City. In China it is now called the Palace Museum so this lead to a little confusion but nothing we couldn’t handle. We entered the museum and I was impressed by the massive size of the buildings and the uniform architecture of the whole palace. One of the highlights was the ‘Large Stone Carving.’ This massive carving leading down from the back of a building was 16.75 meters long by 3.07 wide and 1.7 meters thick. It was absolutely massive. Another amazing thing about it was that it was carved off site and pulled into the museum of an ice road. At the end of the Forbidden city was the Imperial gardens which were absolutely beautiful to see.

On our exit of the forbidden we took a bus over to WanFuJin which is known as China’s equivalent to New York’s 5th Street. It was pure upper class shopping and an incredibly different side of china then I was used to seeing. At WanFuJin we walked to a famous bookstore and spent some time looking at both the Chinese and English books. This was a nice break from the rush of sightseeing. We caught some lunch on our way from the bookstore to the subway station.

In the afternoon we went to the Summer Palace. It was a bit difficult to get there because we had to navigate both the subway and the bus systems, but we got there and it was an absolutely beautiful place to be. When you enter you are standing on the side of a lake looking at the palace structure perched at the head of the lake, so the four of us casually made our way over to the palace enjoying the scenery on the way. We made our way through the palace and along what the call the ‘long hallway.’ This ‘long hallway’ is exactly what its name would suggest. It’s a ‘long hallway,’ probably the longest that I have ever commuted threw. At the end of this so called ‘long hallway’ was the pathway leading to the top of the palace which gave us a great view of the lake and a great photo-op.

After the summer palace we found our way back to the subway and took that to our old friend La Bamba Mexican restaurant. Here it was 10 Yuan burger night and 5 Yuan Mugs of beer in honor of the world cup. So we watched a match of soccer here and enjoyed the game as well as the atmosphere. After the game we made our way back to the hotel and retired for the night.

The next morning we go going around 8 and our first stop was the Lama Temple. This Temple is a Tibetan Buddhist temple that houses the largest statue I have ever seen. I have been to many temples similar to thins one and they are all extremely beautiful. But this one will always stick out in my mind because of that 18 Meter tall statue of a fierce looking Buddha. The really remarkable thing about this statue was that the majority of it was carved from the trunk of one tree. That’s one big tree!

After the Lama Temple we went to the CPC Military Museum. This was a free Museum where China showed of their military power. They filled that place up with Tanks, Planes, guns, and everything in-between. Being a guy it was really cool to be looking at all these sweet military things. One of the weird attractions though was two downed and destroyed American planes. What those were on display for I’m not quite sure.

We then had lunch planned with somebody that is a very important man in China. This man named Steven Dong used to be a reporter on CCTV but now is a PR advisor to the government as well as being a professor at china’s top university. My explanation does not do his credentials justice but trust me this man was legit. We had connections with him because when he studied at Harvard he rented an apartment from Leonard’s grandfather. He treated us to the nicest buffet that I have ever been too in China or in America. After a few hours of great food and conversation, he told his personal driver to take us to our next destination, the temple of heaven.

The temple of heaven was something we had to go see only because it was on all the lists of what we must see while in Beijing. It was surrounded by beautiful parks and the temple itself was only three structures. The signature thing about the Temple of Heaven is its beautiful blue color. We saw the temple and then found a nice place in the grass to sit and digest. We then walked to a different entrance than we came in from, one with out a subway line.

We were running on a tight scheduled because we wanted to see the Pandas before it closed and now we had to navigate the bus to get to the subway. The Race was on as we tried to get to the Pandas before it closed. Luckily father time was on our side today as we made it to the zoo with 20 minutes left before it closed. So we got in and saw the two pandas. They were the cutest things, and were eating bamboo the whole time that we were there.

We then subwayed over to Olympic area to see it at night. It was unreal to be at the place that just two years before, was the center of the world. As the sun set and Water Cube and Birds nest lit up, I had a chance to just sit there and reflect about just how awesome it is what I’m doing here. That a 16 year old kid from Brecksville can be roaming around one of the most historic cities in the world with just his closest friends. It was an awe inspiring moment.

As if this day hasn’t had enough activity for one day, we fit one more thing in until we called it a night. We went to the night market. Here I ate some things that gave me nightmares for the next few days. Some of the more obscure things I ate consisted of Sea Horse, Snake, Chicken heart, Cicada, and scorpion. Now the hardest to put down was the scorpion. Imagine walking up to the stand and looking at the scorpions on a stick being somewhat unsure what to do next. As the shopkeeper sees an interested soul he taps on the top of the scorpion skewers and you are terrified as the scorpions claws, legs and tail begin to squirm. Ladies and Gentlemen these are what we ate.

The next morning we began by seeing one of the most sought after events on our agenda. We went to see the body of Chairman Mao. There was some conflict with our backpacks and a huge line to deal with but in the end we got through and saw his body. It was kinda creepy to see, and if you asked me he looked sick, Leonard and I suggested to a guard outside that he gets checked out by a doctor.

At this point in the day i split away from the group because they all wanted to go to the national library and there was no part of me that wanted to go, but instead wanted to go to a HuTong. I only knew of these because of what I had heard on websites and had no idea where to go but by asking people. Well, I found one and it was actually cool to see. The Hutong I went to was a very narrow shopping street. Here I bought a t-shirt for david to take back to Austria and met some very friendly Chinese people. They spoke English and so we talked a little bit and they invited me for tea. We walked in, and before I sat down here ordered the tea he wanted. In 5 minutes the tea was out and we drank until the pot was empty. He asked for the check and then shooked me with the question, assuming that I would pay for the tea. I check the bill and said No! It was about a 500 Yuan pot of tea. He then started to say that I could pay 400 and I said I couldn’t then he split it between the men saying the woman shouldn’t have to pay. I said screw proper the woman is paying. So I ended up having to pay a third of the bill which came to be 163 Yuan. UNBELIABLE! I was totally taken away by what happened, that maybe I want the best American diplomat to those people who still wanted to follow me and talk to me. I was pissed!

I then took the subway to meet everybody else and we all met to go back to the Birds nest so we could be there during the day and enter inside it. We got In and started walking around and Leonard found a utility door leading into the basements of the birds nest. Not exactly sure what we were going to find we stealthy avoided maintenance men and security guards and eventually came into a tunnel that lead right onto the track. We walked out and were standing on the track of the birds nest! It was unbelievable. Later we found out that people were allowed to enter the track for an extra fee but our way was cheaper, less legal, and much more fun. It was incredible to be right in the middle of the birds nest. I am speechless trying to describe the feeling, it was simply amazing.

We then went to the water cube to swim in the pool but were disappointed to discover that It was closed. But no worries, we made our way back to La Bambas for a bite to eat and then went to the train station and after a mad rush to buy our tickets and run to platform, we made it on our train heading back to ShiJiaZhuang safe and sound.

The trip to Beijing was some of the best days I have had in china mainly because I spent them with my three brothers in China. Sanjay, Leonard, David and I saw countless historical sites from thousands of years ago, but also a very modern side of Beijing as well. China is an interesting country that has just recently unveiled itself to the rest of the world. Foreigners are pouring in from all over the world to catch a glimpse at what china has to offer and to be experiencing that first hand I truly am a blessed man.