Patience is a virtue that neither Grant nor I possess, but in Beijing, with the number of people, it’s a must. The flight from Singapore to Beijing was fantastic as there were multiple empty rows as the flight was only half full. Grant got his own row and so did I. During the 6-hour flight I actually moved from my 2-seater row to a four-seater to lay down flat and nap a bit. International flights have the 2/4/2 seat groupings, unlike the 3/3 ones we see on our regular, domestic trips.
We had a general idea as to how to get to our hotel, but Plan A and B fell through so we had to come up with a quick Plan C to get to our hotel. People don’t respect personal space and often cut in front of tourists so even though the temperature was 10 degrees outside I was running hot. The information booths at the airport are useless and no one seemed to be willing to help and no one spoke English. We relied on our iPhones to map out the routes to take on the subway and fortunately for us we had a little practice in Tokyo how to navigate which platform to be on where.
After about an hour and fifteen minutes, we finally exited our stop and walked to our hotel. The cold breeze was amazing as this was about a 75-degree shift from the temperature in Singapore. Grant booked it as he was freezing so I had to try and catch up to him. My rolling carryon bag was exclusively filled with souvenirs so my week's worth of clothes was strapped to my backs. It weighed well over 35 pounds and trekking that around wreaked havoc on my back.
Our room was very nice and better than any of the hotels we have stayed in. We set up our tours with the concierge and then went to the hotel buffet as we were starving (we flew coach this trip so no delicious food like the longer hauls). It was an average buffet, but they did have hot pot which I thought was unique and fun.
Grant went to the room and then later to the sauna (he tried to use the pool but China has their unique customs and they wouldn’t let him in without a swim cap). I went out and explored Wangfujing Street, which is where our hotel was located. It was a beautiful street laced with Chinese lanterns in the trees and random flash mobs happening everywhere. Everyone seemed in good spirits despite the weather. After picking up a souvenir from an overpriced gift shop I went back and crashed.
The next morning we woke up at 6:45 am for our 7:00 am tour. The mad rush to put on anything warm was on and we made our way down to the driver. The tourist attractions are not close and about 1.5 hours away so after picking up a few more people we headed to our first stop— Sacred Way.
Sacred Way was constructed over 600 years ago and served as the walkway to the Ming Dynasty tombs. It was very simply decorated and had statutes that filled the way. The best part was watching Grant walk around in the cold. I am in half as many layers as he is and he was freezing. He hovered around the bathroom hand dryer for warmth. Our tour guide took care of him providing him a hand warmer and a snickers bar.
Most touristy places that are run by the government require tour guides to take people to an overpriced “authentic shop.” This city is no different and before lunch, we stopped at a jade store. The process of turning an average stone into some sort of ornamental tchotchke is impressive. However, definitely not worth the price. The highlight had to be when the sales lady gave Grant two jade balls to twirl in his hand and he dropped it on multiple sets of jade chopsticks. She panicked and checked each one to make sure there was no breakage and thankfully there was none.
We ate a shared lunch with the tour participants at the other end of the shop and bonded with our fellow tour folk— a very nice Italian family of 3 and a University Professor from London. The next stop was only a five-minute drive and that was the Great Wall of China!!!
Before we arrived our tour guide asked how we would like to get up to the Great Wall. Meaning that the tour included a ticket to it, but if you wanted to walk it you would have to pay another $20 or 140 yuan per person to go up a cable car. There were two options to go down— 1) was the same cable car down or option 2) for 60 yuan more (140+60) was a toboggan ride down. So even after they gauged us on the tour they got another $60 out of us. Good on them, but be warned.
The one positive thing was that we choose this part of the wall because of the limited tourists on the wall and there were definitely parts that had zero people on it, which made for some neat photos. The wall is stable but definitely steep and uneven. Unless you are in fairly good shape I would caution on going on the wall as it’s a bit of an uphill climb most of that way. Even the little reprieves of downhill were quickly punished with double uphills. After about an hour of power walking, we finally made it to the toboggan ride.
There are limited instructions and it’s more of a just go and get out of here. I took out my phone and took a video the first leg down. It was a slow start and then it picked up. The video stops right before it goes super fast downwards. My speed tripled and my break didn’t work nearly as well as it should. Grant and I may have taken a stone or two from the Great Wall as souvenirs so my heavy rock-filled bag was blocking my toboggan's break. I made it 90% of the way down when I realized that my phone was missing. As I was rounding a corner it flew out of my pocket. Fortunately, they were able to recover it right away and no damage was done. This is not the first time I have dropped this phone as I did it in Bali last year at the ATVs. Lucky iPhone X for sure!
After the wall, the tour had one final stop at a tea shop. They gave us about 8 different samples of tea and then pressured us into buying the tea. Grant did like one set of tea leaves that were used for an iced coffee and so he got a can of that. We ran back to the van following the tea flight and crawled back to our hotel. We had made friends with everyone on the tour and really got a local perspective on Milan and London’s politics and culture. Everyone was interested in America’s politics with Trump and we had to explain our country’s recent behavior to the bus until we parted ways.
At 7 pm we had a Chinese Acrobat show that Grant wanted to see. Limited information was available on the show, but we thought we would give it a shot. Before we went to the show we went to a mall area that has local food. No one spoke English but we pulled out Google Translate to have a conversation with these individuals.
The restaurant name was called Yellow Feasant or at least we think it was. We went to this restaurant because they had a picture of chicken satay or at least we thought it was. Turns out it was lamb. So when the translate button read chicken he pointed to a different item and we ordered two. Turns out.. the food we ordered was like Asian gumbo. A dark roux-based chicken with potatoes and side of rice. Having nasty meals during the last few days —this food was incredibly delicious. Grant thought it was ehh when he first started and then he began to like it more. We finished and rushed over to the show.
The theater was empty, but the show was absolutely fantastic. Take any normal Vegas show, remove all of the required safety elements, and then up the danger 200%. For example, we have seen motorcycles in a cage multiple times before. The most I have ever seen is 3 at once. At the time that was shocking— this show put 8 in a small cage all going at once. Insane.
The Uber equivalent app called DiDi worked there, but not on the way back. Not sure why it stopped, but it did. Fortunately, there was a trolley stop nearby and we walked to it. We got on two different lines and were back in 25 minutes. This was about the same length the car ride was so car rides weren’t really that helpful in Beijing.
On the way back Grant mentioned he was a bit hungry and did not want any more Asian food. It just so happens we were in front of a Pizza Hut as we were having this discussion. So we stopped in for a quick late-night dinner. It was different. Not bad; not great. But I will agree it was a nice change of pace from all the Asian inspired food. We finished our descent down Wayfujing and were back at our hotel in a jiffy. The next morning I got up in an effort to see the most popular tourist attraction in all of China — Forbidden City. Security is extremely tight in this area and they were stopping people randomly for papers. Fortunately, clearly being American or at the very least a foreigner then left me alone. The area is comparable to the mall in DC with museums and monuments everywhere.
My first stop was Tiananmen Square. It was cool to see where the protests happen and fascinating to learn about its history. Next, we went under the road to see Tiananmen and I took a few photos for this blog. Then I went into the forbidden city. It cost 40 Yuan or about $6 to go in and it was well worth seeing.
The area is large on a map but even bigger in person. As someone who appreciates history, but gets easily board it was perfect that I did a self-guided tour so I could see what I wanted and leave when I was ready. Additionally, since there were multiple tours going on I kind of just found an English speaking tour guide when I wanted more information about the area. You see one impressive building and then go through it to find another and then another. Finally, I made my way to the end and looked for the exit. It was nowhere to be found. I think to go to the sides and nothing. Eventually, I had to google it and found out that this was a common problem for anyone not visiting without a tour guide. You actually must go to the middle of the city to go out at either the East or West gate.
I made it out and back to the hotel without any incident. We ate lunch at the hotel, rode the 3 subway lines to get to the airport, hung out at the awful Air China/American lounge and made our way onto the plane. The plane ride was from Beijing to Dallas randomly and happened in a blink. I downed an Ambien and was out right after dinner was served. I only woke up 45 minutes until we landed because the flight attendant needed the flight provided headphones back.
In Dallas, we went through security and found ourselves with a 4-hour layover. Being familiar with the area we felt comfortable leaving and getting back with plenty of time. Grant mentioned the Gaylord Texas being close and so we made our way over to that area.
Once there we grabbed a bite to eat and purchased tickets to the “Ice” exhibit. The name probably gives it away, but it’s a life-size meat locker filled with larger than human-sized ice sculptures that you walk through. We had done it probably about 12 years ago, but hadn’t had a chance since then. It was fun strolling down memory lane remembering the last time we did it and then looking at the sculptures. Once finished we went back to the airport where the security had a field day with my carry on luggage. Not long after we boarded the plane and made our way to LA. We grabbed our car from the parking lot where it was stored and drove home.
The end of a long trip filled with a lot of great memories and only one hiccup between Grant and me in the city that shall not be named. We both really enjoyed our trip and Grant is mentioning wanting to go to Hong Kong next.
End of Part 4 of 4.
