Beijing is not as developed of a city as I thought. Granted my two other trips to China was Hong Kong and Shanghai, so you can understand why I was a bit surprised that the city that just hosted the 2008 Olympics still uses squat pots as toilets. Also getting a cab from your hotel; easy breezy. Not so easy breezy when you want to get back. Sometimes they don't stop or they ask an outrageous price after 10pm. Let's not even touch Communism.....
Not bad....not good....just different. Ok now all the fun stuff we did.
The cool thing is we had our cousins to share this experience with!! The girls were constantly being asked to get in photos with other tourists. Stephanie was the blond bombshell, everyone approached her. Blondie and white must be the "in" thing to have in this seasons traveling photos.
We visited Tienanmen Square. The biggest slab of concrete shaped like a square in the world. And an insanely large picture of Mao.
Friday we did the Great Wall. This was by far my most favorite day. We went to a section of the wall where few tourists go. The scenery was so gorgeous. I could have stayed there all afternoon.
We also recreated Cycle 9 finale of America's Next Top Model. I think we got a few good shots in.
What would Tyra say?
We also got to ride toboggans all the way down. I give it to the Germans for coming up with this contraption.
On our way home we made a quick stop off at the Bird's Nest. Patrick and I were pretending to be birds.
Saturday we did the Forbidden Palace. So many Chinese tourists!!! They all wore red hats. I've never been surrounded by more tourists groups in my life. It made me want to carry around my own U.S.A flag and get our own hats.
I struggled at the end, because I have been trying to get over a minor under-the-weather episode. So I did not go to the Summer Palace or the Silk Market with the others. Needless to say, we had a great time and had a lot of laughs. We have one cooky and awesome family!!
I'm glad to be home to sit on my own toilet.
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