What's Up Beijing?

This past weekend, it was the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival. This is a Chinese holiday so we all had Friday off of work. We were hoping to see some races in Beijing, but the nearest race was a two hour trip from the city. We were able to watch some of the races on the TV in our hostel.  We started off the morning early to get on a 7am speed train which would get us there in 5 hours. We almost missed the train, but got to the station with 15 minutes to spare. Traveling with guys who go with the flow has REALLY tested my patience because like arriving places early. We arrived in Beijing around noon and got a taxi to our hostel, our hostel which I had no idea what it would be like, but it ended up being okay to stay in for at least two nights. The life of a college student !

We spent our afternoon touring the Forbidden City. What a remarkable place, it was so big and open, All the walls pretty much looked the same but once we entered the "gate of heavenly purity" it was a garden like and green area. After we got through all that commotion filled with massive amounts of tourists, we stopped for a snack for an hour. I don't know what is was about Beijing, but most of the taxi drivers refused to take us in ther car unless we paid them an upfront fixed fee rather than using the meter so it took us a long while to find taxis that would bring us to our destination with a normal meter.

Tyler Me and Joe in the Forbidden City

After our feet were rested up, we went and checked out the always busy Tian'an Men Square. We arrived just in time to see the changing of the guards by the big flag pole. So many people crowded around to watch it, then we became famous and all the Chinese people wanted to take pictures of Michael because he is Jamaican. Many people out and about would stop and ask our group to take a picture with them. It was quite funny and brought me back to Rome where they would also snap pictures of us.

busy Tian' an Men Square

Saturday morning was our adventure to see and climb the Great Wall. We took the subway to the train station and finally got tickets after standing in two lines. We were waiting for our train to depart and all the passengers were just packed in the line anticipating to get on the train, there were tons of open seats to just sit and wait it. All the sudden the gate opened and they all just sprinted to the train! We were trying to figure out why, and we found an answer when we got to the train and found out there was no more seats and we would be standing/sitting on the ground for a good hour and a half. haha, we laughed about it and that is when we met two men from Bangledesh. One guys name was Jahved and the other Jahangir. These guys ended up spending the whole afternoon with us and man do we ever live in a small world. When we told them we were from Minnesota, he said that he studied at Mankato State University in 1994. I was shocked not only that he has been to MN, but he lived in my hometown out of all places in the United States to go.

Michael, Tyler Jahved and Me (Jahangir was too tired from climbing for the picture :)!

The great wall was mindblowing. It was built so so long ago and here it is still standing today. It was pretty foggy outside because it was raining but I think that made the views and the experience even better. We sure got a workout in with all the steep hills and never ending steps. After we got back tot he entrance, we picked up some souviners tand headed back to the train station so we wouldn't have to stand again! Fail, even though we were in line, we got on the train car and it was full so we were standing again for a good hour and a half in the aisle, not even the open train car. Even with our best efforts, we couldn't beat the sneaky and quick tactics of chinese trains.  The trip to the wall was the highlight of my Beijing weekend experience.

The Wall of the Walls

The fog really added to the environment

Saturday night we hit up the expat street of bars and got a good meal and enjoyed some live music. After that we headed back to our hostel and met some other travelers and talked until we were tired.

Sunday I woke up and read a book in the hostel hang out waiting for the guys to wake up. We had a couple hours before we needed to get back on a train home so we walked through the rain because no taxi would pick us up, and finally found one that would take us. I was ready to get back home to Shanghai just ask Tyler (a.k.a. Positive Pete). The only train tickets back were business class so after standing on trains on Saturday, we enjoyed comfy seats for the way home.

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for work updates, company dinners and massages!