February 24 – March 3
Monday, February 25
On my first day in any new place I always like to hit the ground running and do a lot of walking. Since I’m here 7 days, I have the luxury of doing slow mornings and taking my time during the day to tour at a leisurely pace. By the time I was out the door, it was lunchtime so my first order of business was to get some delicious food in me to fuel a lot of walking. Not far from my hotel is an awesome dumpling place, Xianlaoman where I had Chinese brocolli, fantastic spicy lamb dumplings and rice.
I rolled out the door and thought I’d start off big and do the Forbidden City, Tian’anmen Square and Mao’s Mausoleum. It was totally flat and about an hour to walk down there. I love getting a feel for the neighborhoods and the general vibe of a new city this way!
The security was so tight. They had all Chinese citizens scan their ID card and I just had my CA drivers license on me but they accepted that and all bags were scanned just to get into the general area, even for the Square! It was a little confusing because I went through the Meridian Gate with the famous portrait of Mao on it and into the Palace Museum courtyard but then everything else was closed up? We couldn’t get into the Forbidden City (and lord knows I have no idea what’s going on and there sure as hell isn’t anyone to ask) so I just went with it and headed to Tian’anmen Square. There are cameras, security guards, armed soldiers, you name it, everywhere. It was towards the end of the day at this point so it was less crowded than I expected which was nice. You really got a feeling for how huge the space is!
I wasn’t going to walk all the way back home, but before I knew it I was marching my way back up at a good pace and decided to keep at it. I zigged and zagged to take a different route than on my way down, popped into shops, bought some fruit and treats and came home to drink a little wine and read my book. It was a good first day, kind of lackluster but I felt accomplished and that I had gotten a feeling for many neighborhoods. Success!
Tuesday, February 26
I slept in today, later than I expected! Another slow start to the day and when I stepped out it was much colder than I thought. I had planned to do one particular adventure but then changed my mind on my walk to the subway. I stumbled on the Lama Temple only about 5 minutes walk from my hotel and decided to start there.
It was much bigger than it appeared from the outside and I spent a good amount of time checking out all the different buildings and shrines. Time zipped by and I had not eaten yet so I strolled around for a while before my stomach told me it wanted to go back to Xianlaoman. No shame, I came back for the second day in a row. I made a lot of headway on my book as I had a big beer, mixed dumplings and yangzhou fried rice. I was frozen down to my core after exploring Lama temple for a couple hours that it felt amazing to sit down, eat slow, read my book and enjoy!
I just walked around my neighborhood after that, exploring more of the narrow alleys that make up Beijing.
On my walk, I stumbled on a wine bar! A real wine bar! I had to go in and enjoy! Two glasses of wine later I had finished my book and meandered through some very small alleys back to my hotel.
I got sidetracked before I got there though and popped into The Tiki Bungalow, a tiny tiki bar in another narrow alley right next to my hotel. It was a random and fun day with minimal sights but lots of wandering and enjoying the Andingmen District. It actually reminds me a lot of San Francisco!
Wednesday, February 27
Another slow start…I can tell I’m starting to burn out a bit on China and sightseeing altogether. I’ve been going at it non stop for a while now and things are all starting to look the same. Since I didn’t venture far yeseterday, I made myself get on the subway and head out to the Summer Palace on the outskirts of Beijing. It’s a huge national park and one of the places the Chinese royalty would go in the mid 19thCentury. It’s set on a huge hill overlooking a lake and really is a marvelous sight. The air was a bit hazy (smoggy) in the distance so there weren’t distant views but you could at least see out over the huge lake, which is still frozen solid, even though it was pretty nice today! Much warmer than yesterday- glad I waited!
I just walked and walked and took about a 45 minute walk south to a different subway than I came in on. I walked down a little river that came off the the big lake and wandered into a residential neighborhood with a cute park. Lots of doggos here! I found the subway and was able to get back to my neighborhood easily! I love public transit!
I hadn’t had much to eat yet and was just not feeling Chinese tonight. I found a place for a burger and fries and had to go that route. I’m going vegan in only 5 short days when I get to Thailand, so I might as well enjoy that beef while I can! Early night tonight to read, shower, face mask and prep for my big tour tomorrow of the Great Wall!
Thursday, February 28
I booked a day trip to The Wall via Trip Advisor because the “best section” of The Wall, the Mutianyu section, to see is about 2 hours from Beijing and there is not any public transit to get you there. I found a tour with a maximum of 10 people, had good reviews and was $65 including lunch and my ticket to get to The Wall, so seemed like a decent package. They contacted me the night before and said they would meet me in the lobby of my hotel at 7am!
Much to my delight, when I arrived in the lobby I met my driver and guide who informed me that since it’s low tourism season, no one else signed up for that day so I would be the only one on the tour! Really lucky!
It was temperate in Beijing when we left, but by the time we arrived at the base of the wall around 8:45am, it was much colder up in the mountains! It was around 40 when we got started but once you get moving, the temperature actually felt really good. My guide advised me to buy a ticket to take the chair lift up that includes either a chair lift back down or you can go down a big slide. As soon as you get off the lift at the top of the wall, it’s breathtaking. I knew I was going to enjoy this excursion but I really didn’t know how much I was going to love the experience. Words can’t even do it justice. All I can say is that I recommend this adventure to anyone who is remotely interested. It’s one of those places that certainly lives up to the hype, which many tourist attractions don’t.
Friday, March 1
After a full day adventure out of the city yesterday, I decided to be low key and not plan too much and just go out and see where my feet take me. That’s what’s nice about staying in one city for a week, you can really enjoy it at a leisurely pace instead of always pushing yourself to the maximum. After two solid weeks of touring China on my own, my tank was starting to run a bit low.
I decided to hit up Jingshan Park just north of the Forbidden City to try to get some good pictures. Unfortunately the air quality is so bad every. single. day. Even thought it was a “sunny day” with temps around 60, the visibility was terrible. It really makes you think about the quality of air you are breathing on a daily basis.
It was a lovely park though with great city views, and some serious stairs for a little extra cardio. Then I just walked. I had already explored the main streets and big sites of this area on Monday, so I took advantage of my Google map and looked for all the narrow hutong streets in the area and slowly meandered my way around that way. It was amazing. It was one of those magical days where I just took every “right turn” and kept stumbling upon cool area after cool area. I stopped at a punk rock themed noodle shop, had some rum & cokes, kept walking through more hutongs, went for some wine at my favorite little wine by near my hotel, hit up my favorite restaurant (third time there this week!) and finished my wine in my hotel room. It was a perfectly balanced day with lots of special discoveries!
Sunday, March 3
The long journey from Beijing to Wonderland….
Originally, this wasn’t going to be quite as dramatic of a journey, but this week Sichuan Airlines changed my first flight which wouldn’t allow enough time to make my connection. I booked through Trip.com so I gave them a call and they were able to switch me no problem. The only issue is there is only one flight per day for each of my flights. So I had to get up at 2:45am for a 3:30am taxi to the airport to make a 6:25 flight from Beijing to Chengdu. I arrived around 9am and then had until 3:25pm until my flight from Chengdu to Bangkok. That flight arrives at 6pm, so by the time I take my next flight to Koh Samui, I would not be able to make a ferry. So I’m going to stay in a capsule hotel in the Bangkok airport tonight (only $41 and REAL internet!) and then get up for a 9am flight tomorrow to Koh Samui. I’ll then get a taxi to the pier where I take a 12:30pm ferry to the island that Wonderland is on! I will arrive around 1pm and then it’s another 30 minutes to the retreat location. After traveling in China solo for a couple of weeks and then a day and a half of traveling to get there, I’m going to be so ready for this experience. I’m sooo glad I booked this!
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