What we did:
Our third and last stop was in Beijing. Our train arrived early in the
morning so we went to the hotel to drop our luggage off and then start our
day. While we were in Beijing, we went to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden
City, a tea house, the Olympic buildings, and the Great Wall.
On our first day we went to Tiananmen Square. It is a large city square in
the center of Beijing. It separates the center of Beijing from the
Forbidden City. It was built in 1415 during the Ming Dynasty. This was one
of the biggest tourist attractions -- so many people were there!
Next we went to the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was the Chinese
imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It
is in the middle of Beijing. It was built from 1406 to 1420 and consists
of 980 buildings with 8,707 rooms. It is considered a World Heritage Site
and has the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in
the world. The Forbidden City has a lot to offer. These are the main
attractions:
- Meridian Gate
- Hall of Literary Glory and Hall of Martial Valor
- Gate of Supreme Harmony/Hall of Supreme Harmony
- Hall of Central Harmony
- Hall of Preserved Harmony
- Gate of Heavenly Purity/Palace of Heavenly Purity
- Hall of Celestial and Terrestrial Union
- Palace of Earthly Tranquility
- Hall of Mental Cultivation
- Six Western Palaces
- Hall for Ancestry Worship
- Six Eastern Palaces
- Palace of Tranquil Longevity
- Treasure Gallery
- Qianlong Garden and Pavilion of Pleasant Sounds
- Imperial Garden
That night, we went to a Chinese Tea House. At the tea house, they served
four kinds of tea and small snacks while there was a performance. The
performance consisted of Chinese Opera, acrobats, martial arts, and other
various acts. Our Chinese teacher did not come with us to the tea house
because she has seen the show a few times before. It was a test for us to
be able to make our way back to the hotel after the show. This proved to
be harder than we thought. Our original plan was to flag down a few taxis
to get us back. This was nearly impossible. The only car that stopped for
us was a man pretending to have a taxi service. We then decided to check
out the rickshaws that were circling around us. There were enough
rickshaws to get us back to the hotel, but it looked dangerous, and it was
expensive. Our last option was to figure out the bus schedules. None of us
we able to read the Chinese characters to get us back, so we had to start
asking people for help. There were not a lot of people willing to help us,
but we finally met two girls that spoke enough English to help us with the
busses. Finally after almost an hour and a half of struggling, we made it
back to our hotel. We had to rest up because we had a busy day coming up.
The next morning we woke up early and got on our bus to go to the Great
Wall. This was the part of the trip that I was most excited for. The
Great Wall of China was originally built to protect the northern borders
of the Chinese Empire against the intrusions by various nomadic groups.
The majority of the existing wall was built during the Ming Dynasty. Think
you know a lot about the history of the Great Wall? Well, test your
knowledge here
to see how much you really know.
We climbed the section at Badaling. This is a map of the Badaling section
of the Great Wall:
Badaling is the most well preserved section of the Great Wall. It was built during the Ming Dynasty. The average altitude of this section is over 3,282 feet. The views while climbing the Great Wall were breathtaking. It was a perfect day when we were there -- all sunshine. There were hundreds of other tourists climbing as we were, making it sometimes difficult to maneuver. The stairs are all different sizes, and the slopes are extremely steep. The expression I climbed the Great Wall is literal -- you climb the Great Wall. It is a workout! It was also one of the most amazing things Ive ever done. This was my favorite part of the trip. I didnt want to leave!
After we went to the Great Wall we headed to see where the 2008 Olympic Games were held. We got to see the water cube and birds nest. It was amazing to think that I was walking where Olympic athletes like Michael Phelps had once been.
After we walked around near the Olympic buildings, we went back to the hotel to get some rest before our flight in the morning. Our flight home went from Beijing to Tokyo to Detroit to Bangor. It was good to be home, but I definitely wish my trip to China had lasted longer!