This New Years, Corey and I headed to Beijing to meet up with a motley assortment of our friends who were all passing through China for a variety of reasons. It was great to see them all after such a long time, and it was great to be back in Beijing.
December 31, 2007
Our first day was spent rehashing our last Beijing trip, as we showed our friends around Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Ho Hai Hutongs.
Even though we'd done it all a few months earlier, it was nice to revisit. There were even a few changes - especially at The Forbidden City.
For instance:
The Forbidden City now seems to be sponsored by American Express.
And the very out of place Forbidden City Starbucks has been shut down and replaced with an inferior quality Chinese knockoff. (Probably for the best though... that Starbucks was a little much).
We also enjoyed a fine New Year's dinner of Peking Duck. There were no epic celebrations that evening though, since we had a big bad hike along the Great Wall planned for the following day.
So with bottles of water in hand, we watched the clock turn to midnight. (And Corey ceremoniously dropped a rubber ball she had in her pocket).
New Years Eve ended for us at approximately 12:05. Crazy, I know.
January 1, 2008
New Years day started bright and early as we began on a hike from the Jinshaling section of the Great Wall to the Simatai portion. (Elephant brained readers may recall that we did Simatai last time, although this was a different part of Simatai... the more you know...)
The Great Wall is really a thing of beauty that can never really be explained, or properly captured in pictures as far as I'm concerned. I've been blown away every time I've seen it, and covered with snow, and friends that I've known for years, the wall was all the better for it this time around.
We also celebrated EST New York New Years on the wall with a fine bottle of champagne. I can think of far worse ways to spend New Years.
January 2, 2008
Sore from the day before, and saying farewell to the majority of our friends who were in town, this day was taken a fair bit slower. We checked up on the construction of the Olympic Stadium (after being dropped off by our Taxis in the middle of the highway). Very nifty if I do say so myself...
The afternoon was spent hunting down Falafel (mmm... falafel), and then that evening, we checked out a performance of the Beijing Acrobatic Troupe. Pretty cool, but nothing I couldn't do myself really.
January 3, 2008
The last day in Beijing was an eventful one, as we made sure to knock a few more Beijing landmarks off the proverbial list. First up was Chairman Mao's mausoleum. I wish I would have been able to take pictures, because it was really one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. And I've seen jerkied rats on a stick. You head into his mausoleum (or should I say Mao-soleum) and there he is, lying in a glass case covered by a red sickle and hammer flag. Admission is free, as I'm sure he would have liked... but then there's the gift shop... which would probably made him tear out what little hair he had left. All the Mao kitsch you could probably want... mere feet away from his pickled body. Oh, China.
Afterwards we went to the Temple of Heaven which along with playing host to a lively and fun park, was quite the temple itself. Well worth a visit next time you're in the capital of the People's Republic.
Lunch followed, and it involved Donkey Dumplings and these caramelized potatoes that were almost too sweet. Almost.
We visisted the Lama temple (no Llamas unfortunately) which was cool, and then completed our visit with a bargaining bonanza at the Silk Markets (see a few posts down... I got to do it all!), and farewell Beijing burritos.
Then it was time to hop our night train and head back for Dalian.
Happy New Year!
- Shawn
1 comment:
Have you spoken to Jonah in the last 2 days or so? If not, get in touch with him and tell him its a bad bad idea. Marriage is never the answer. Anyway, talk to you soon.
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