Yes, the first few days were horrendous, but that's not to say they weren't without joy, beautiful sights and hilarious situations. In between the disasters, we saw and did a lot. Our first full day in Beijing we visited the Temple of Heaven, used by the Qing and Ming dynasties to offer prayers to the heavens for good harvest. Constructed in 1406, the temple's design heavily influenced architecture in Asia, (think pillars, turrets and flared rooftops). The temple was pretty, but we went to the Summer Palace next, which was much better. Placed on Longevity Hill and overlooking Kunming Lake, the view is amazing, filled with gardens, temples and a gorgeous, hilly landscape. UNESCO designated the palace as a World Heritage Site due to the, "masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value." The palace was our favorite thing in Beijing, even though it was somewhat far from the city center.
The best part of the city though, was that our friend Chris happened to be visiting too! He worked with us at Madison's, and last year won the title of Stella Artois World Druaght Master. Now he's getting paid to travel the world for a couple months and judge national competitions, represent Stella and prepare competitors for the finals. Meeting up with us for dinner and hearing about our struggle, he said we could stay in his 4 star hotel with him for the next two nights. I'm sure the looks of disbelief and joy on our faces were priceless. Thank you Stella, for booking Chris in the Park Plaza, which was gorgeous and clean and nicer than our apartment in Madison.
The three of us planned to go to the Great Wall on Thursday, but at first it was closed because of rain. Instead we explored for a couple hours, eating pickled peanuts, (actually, we spit them out), and finally finding shampoo for the rest of the trip! Then we got a call from Chris' friend that the wall was open again and a taxi was on its way to pick us up. Perfect. The wall was huge, as everyone knows, and astounding. Built mostly in the 14th century to keep out Mongolian and other forces, the wall stretches almost 4000 miles through mountains and trenches. We climbed hundreds and hundreds of steps to reach different watch towers, marveling at the scenery the entire time. It's interesting to think of them building the wall so long ago, but I think things like Petra and the pyramids are much more amazing, considering they were built hundreds of years earlier and are more intricate. The size and beauty of the wall did strike me though, maybe because it was the only area we'd been to not surrounded by noise, trash, KFC and millions of people yelling. We took a cable car down, which gave me a mini panic attack, (heights!), that Brianna has on video.
After leaving Beijing, and finally finding a place to stay in Hong Kong, things got even better. We skyped with our parents, planned things for Indonesia and booked hostels, and visited Ngong Ping, a kind of touristy area, but fun either way. Ngong Ping is home of the world's largest bronze buddha, which was pretty cool, and we had dim sum and it was delicious!
We're waking up at 3am to fly to Indonesia!!
The best part of the city though, was that our friend Chris happened to be visiting too! He worked with us at Madison's, and last year won the title of Stella Artois World Druaght Master. Now he's getting paid to travel the world for a couple months and judge national competitions, represent Stella and prepare competitors for the finals. Meeting up with us for dinner and hearing about our struggle, he said we could stay in his 4 star hotel with him for the next two nights. I'm sure the looks of disbelief and joy on our faces were priceless. Thank you Stella, for booking Chris in the Park Plaza, which was gorgeous and clean and nicer than our apartment in Madison.
The three of us planned to go to the Great Wall on Thursday, but at first it was closed because of rain. Instead we explored for a couple hours, eating pickled peanuts, (actually, we spit them out), and finally finding shampoo for the rest of the trip! Then we got a call from Chris' friend that the wall was open again and a taxi was on its way to pick us up. Perfect. The wall was huge, as everyone knows, and astounding. Built mostly in the 14th century to keep out Mongolian and other forces, the wall stretches almost 4000 miles through mountains and trenches. We climbed hundreds and hundreds of steps to reach different watch towers, marveling at the scenery the entire time. It's interesting to think of them building the wall so long ago, but I think things like Petra and the pyramids are much more amazing, considering they were built hundreds of years earlier and are more intricate. The size and beauty of the wall did strike me though, maybe because it was the only area we'd been to not surrounded by noise, trash, KFC and millions of people yelling. We took a cable car down, which gave me a mini panic attack, (heights!), that Brianna has on video.
After leaving Beijing, and finally finding a place to stay in Hong Kong, things got even better. We skyped with our parents, planned things for Indonesia and booked hostels, and visited Ngong Ping, a kind of touristy area, but fun either way. Ngong Ping is home of the world's largest bronze buddha, which was pretty cool, and we had dim sum and it was delicious!
We're waking up at 3am to fly to Indonesia!!
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