Beijing is known for many things. It is the capitol of China. It is where the 2008 Olympics were held. It is the home of some very famous sections of The Great Wall. It is a very historic part of China with the Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square (the largest central square in the world), Temple of Heaven, Summer palace, Hutongs. It is where I spent the 2009 SPRING FESTIVAL (Chinese New Year)!
To set this up, I had an 11 day break for the Spring Festival holiday (In China, this is the biggest holiday of the year. It lasts for weeks. In the western world, we know it as the Chinese New Year.), so I knew I wanted to do some real traveling. Two of my friends wanted to go to Beijing (Hello Bryan and Hannah! I will tell you more about them in a moment.), and so I decided to join them. Their vacation was a little shorter than mine, so I decided I would leave before them. So, it was set. I would go to Beijing for 9 days! The first few days, I was going to on my own, so I decided to see some of the less popular sights then, and scout Beijing a bit to make sure we had a very good trip When my friends arrived.
A little about my friends Bryan and Hannah. They are Filipino friends of mine. We teach at Aston together. They are a fun couple that I do a lot with. If I am looking for something to do (going to dinner, getting a foot massage, or just walking around town), they get a phone call! Bryan is a cool guy. A man's man. He just takes it easy. He does what he is supposed to, and does it with a smile. Hannah is a very funny, relaxed gal. She makes me laugh every time I see her. They are very cool friends and I hope to go with them to the Philippines some time soon!
I will break down my trip into three parts Beijing-Modern City, Beijing-Sights, Chinese Spring Festival...
Beijing - Modern City
I flew (the plane tickets were nearly as cheap as the train tickets, and since it takes only 2 hours to fly, I figured this would be the way I would go. Bryan and Hannah flew as well) to Beijing on Wednesday morning. I landed in a super-modern airport where a super-modern subway took me deep into Beijing as quick as could be (on the way, the train passes an IKEA!! hehe).
A trip to Beijing is a MUST for anyone going to China for a period of time, however for those who live near, or in, any modern city in the world, you might find it not very different than where you are from (except for a few historic sights). What I expected to see was many old beautiful hutongs (Hutongs are the alleys that formed Beijing for many years. They are being removed to build up and promote a "new" vision of China.), and old streets lined with shops and vendors. What I found, with few exceptions, was a major metropolis in line with the largest cities in the world. There are very modern buildings, roads, subway, cars, experiences, PEOPLE everywhere in Beijing. Beijing wasn't the Chinese Disneyland I was expecting, but it WAS a beautiful city with plenty to see and do. When I arrived at the Hostel I was staying at for the first 3 nights, I was looking to get some sleep(You see, I hadn't slept AT ALL the night before! I went to a club with some friends, then when I arrived home (at around 2:30am), I packed. Yes, I didn't pack until then, but I had everything ready. HEHE. I didn't finish until around 4ish, so I plunked around on the computer for a few minutes until I left at 5ish am!). However, after laying my belongings down, I met a guy named Alex. He was a funky guy from New Zealand. He was going to some place called "798". It was some art district that hea heard was pretty cool. There was an exhibit there from some photographer who photographed some of the last Hutongs in Beijing, and Alex wanted to go see it. Alex had a nice camera, so I thought it would be fun to go with him and take pictures. So, instead of getting any sleep, I was going to be running around, taking photos all day! The 798 district is built around an old factory. Some of the factory seems to be working today, but most of it is left as an old museum and art gallery, of sorts. Here are some of the photos I took that day:
The next day, I went with Alex and some other friends I met to the Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall (mostly because it was -24c!!
We didn't want to do any activities outside.). It was a very cool experience, I think. They show structures in Beijing from thousands of years ago, until today, then they show where Beijing is going to be many years from now! They go into LOTS of detail, even down to how they will supply water and electricity. They even have scale models of the power plants. The main exhibition there is the model of Beijing! It is very cool! 
It is an overlay of something you would see in Google maps of Beijing, then, they have added scale models to most of Beijing. They also have models of the losing entrants for Olympic structures and stadiums. Plenty to see. They also have two videos. One of the videos is in 3D, so you wear the glasses! Cool!On our way back to the Hostel, we walked through Tienanmen Square. It was pretty cool (literally, as it was around -15 at the time) to see all of the historic site. There isn't much to do, there, however, except take pictures, so we weren't there for long.
When Bryan and Hannah arrived, I met them at Tienanmen Gate, and we went to our hotel (7 days Inn) that we would stay in for the rest of the trip. Since we did many things, I will not give days, but just activities that we did for the rest of the blog. We traveled to a well-known Beijing street called Wangfujing Street. It is well known as a shopping center, as well as a tourist favorite. While you walk the street (it is closed to automobiles), you see nothing but modern malls and restaurants... except for the market in one alley. There, you will find the "old" Beijing. But It isn't really old at all, just a tourist trap, I think. But it is where you can buy, and eat, scorpions, eels, seahorse, cockroaches, centipedes, starfish, etc. I took video of Bryan and I eating scorpions!! Yup, you read that right, we ate scorpion! It tasted like chicken. Seriously! Like overcooked, skin-on, somewhat crispy, chicken (and a little mix of shrimp flavor too). Yes, that is what it was like. It was a fun experience, and Bryan and I each had two scorpions. Hannah was too busy taking video to eat one (because she REALLY wanted to eat one, didn't you Hannah?!). haha. So, other than the alley, and the Chinese writing, you could have been in any other major MODERN city in the world.
The subway system in Beijing is very nice and clean. It was very easy, and cheap, to get around using it. The taxi's are ok, but very expensive for someone on a Chinese budget (if you are on an American budget, you'll think it is really cheap!). Just make sure you get a proper taxi, and not one of the scammers you can see. We were scammed once. Here is the Whole story: The day we went to the Great Wall (I will share that experience later in this blog) we also planned on going to the Summer Palace. We arranged with the taxi driver who took us to the wall to have him take us to the Summer Palace, so when we were finished we met him and on we went. On our way, I had a map, and at the place I thought we should turn off I told him that we should turn off (He couldn't totally understand me, but he knew what I was saying). We could even see what I thought looked like the Summer Palace (It turned out to be the Summer Palace). He refused and said that we were close, but that wasn't it. Anyway, about 20 minutes later, I told him to stop and pull over. We were going too far, and time was running out. He stopped, pulled over, and went to ask someone for directions. Instead of getting back onto the expressway we were just on, he decided to take side streets instead. What happened next was a bunch of wandering around while we all got more and more upset! Finally, we arrived. 15 minutes AFTER the Summer Palace closed! That stunk, but HE WASN'T the scammer, he was just stupid. We decided to take a taxi to the subway, since it wasn't very far, and go to Wangfujing street for dinner. We found three taxi's sitting there waiting to take passengers. We should have known what was about to happen. As a rule in Beijing you don't take a taxi that is parked. You find one driving by. We decided to fall for the trap. One of the taxis (the large one that would seat the 6 in our group) agreed to take us to the subway for 50 RMB. We felt that was way too much, since we knew it wasn't very far, and a regular taxi should only end up charging us 10-12 RMB each taxi (we would need to take 2), so we agreed to take the meter with the other two taxis. The signs kept on there. One of the taxi's didn't even have a meter! So we were just going to go by the guys meter in the one taxi. And the meter in the one taxi fell off its place as we got in the taxi. We were the stupid ones now! Sheesh. Anyway, when we got in, the meter showed a 10RMB charge, so we thought everything was ok. We drove maybe a mile or two before the meter started moving. That isn't supposed to happen. I requested the driver pull over and drop us off immediately (the meter was a 16RMB that fast!) He slowly pulled over, and the meter had moved to 22RMB in that short a distance! I got out and told him I was not paying and I stopped the others and said it was a scam. The people in the other car gave their driver 15 RMB (I still don't know why, he was obviously in on the scam too. He even had the NUTS to tell us he would drive us to the station for 15RMB more!!). I gave nothing to those scammers! We quickly found a bus, and for only a few RMB each, we were dropped off at the Subway station! Man were we upset! But we moved passed it, and we want this to be a story of what NOT to do in Beijing!
Beijing - Sights
There are many great sights in and around Beijing. The Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, the Temple of Heaven, Olympic park, Beihai park, Hutongs, Beijing Performing Arts Center, The Great Wall, Bell tower, Drum Tower, etc. The places above are where I spent my time with Bryan and Hannah.
Olympic Park - Cool. The Birds Nest looks VERY amazing in person! I think it is one of the best looking stadiums I have ever seen! The Water Cube is very different looking in person than I thought. The walls look made of plastic. Not hard plastic, but expandable plastic. It was interesting. I think you don't really need to spend much time here to see the sight. We took our photos and moved on.
Beihai park - A sprawling city park with a large man-made lake and mountain. There is a large temple (?) on the top of the mountain. The best part of this place is the 360 degree view of Beijing. The day we were there was very clear (amazing, I know) and we could see everything in Beijing, even the mountains! 
The Forbidden City - This is a place that will take three days AT LEAST to get a proper viewing, I think. It is MASSIVE! There are many sections that you need to pay to get into, but most of the good stuff is included with the original entrance ticket. Unfortunately, we didn't have the time to take, AND it was JAM-PACKED with people, so it was a one morning visit for us. We only went down the main center plaza's. They were both massive and beautiful! The size and color of the buildings were very stunning. I wasn't expecting that. Each room that I wanted to see in required a fight with others to see (imagine 40 people trying to see through a ten foot doorway, at the same time.). I persevered and was able to get plenty of photos.
Tienanmen Square - Really a BIG square in the center of Beijing. It is south of the Forbidden City, and on the main North-South and East-West axis of Beijing. As far as historic places I have been, it is one of the most awe-inspiring locations, even if there is really nothing to do there. Really, I was there a few times this week, and the only thing that you can really do is look around, which is cool, and take photos. Oh yeah, you also have to tell the scammers to leave you alone! hehe.. Actually, I only encountered one pair in my time on the square, even though I have heard of others who were bombarded with scam artists.
Temple of Heaven - A really immaculate and colorful temple. The day we went was a nice day to see it. It is built on a large plot of land and surrounded by a man-made forest. The temple was used to pray for a good harvest, I believe. It is one of the most important architectural buildings in all of Asia.
Hutongs - Unfortunately, many of the Hutongs (the street building blocks of Beijing. Small alleyways and roads. They ARE classic China) have been removed for newer, more modern buildings. The few that are still there are very cool to look at, and have more significance to me than the new oversized buildings. Alex and I walked down one (It wasn't easy to recognize, until we passed throught the HUGE red door leading into it!) and took some of my favorite photos of my time in Beijing.
Beijing Performing Arts Center - Or "The Giant Half Egg". Really, it is a cool looking building. We never went inside, but you have to walk UNDER the water to get into it, so that is nice. The building is very close to Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City, so the architecture style is kind of funny, but it is still a very cool building. Just out of place a bit, in my own opinion.
The Great Wall - I have been to the Great Wall before, but this was different. This was the Great Wall as it is sold to foreigners. A massive brick (in this case, Granite bricks!) wall that you can see for miles as it snakes along the mountaintops. I loved the Jiayuguan Great Wall, but the wall at Mutianyu (I recommend this, or Simatai, over the more popular, but commercial Badaling), near Beijing, was Greater. I went with a group of people that were friends of Bryan and Hannah, and some people met at a Hostel. We left Beijing early in the morning and arrived in Mutianyu by breadvan bus (small minivan looking bus) intact. We rode a tram to the main landing of the section we were going to climb, and headed up. It was absolutely beautiful! 
There was a tower of original wall and much of the wall we climbed had a base of original granite stone. It was amazing to think that people made this wall many years ago. I am pretty sure that it couldn't, or at least it wouldn't, be done today. It would require so much manpower, and a crazy amount of labor. sheesh! It is on the TOPS of the mountains! Completely amazing! One of the main highlights of my trip and of my time in China! The main section was hilly, and had excellent views all around, but the last part was VERY vertical! When we finally arrived to the top, we all enjoyed the spectacular views for a few minutes, then headed back down. It was epic!Bell and Drum Towers - I didn't do anything at them. I walked by them on New Years night looking for fireworks. They must be important buildings since there are Bell and Drum towers all over China
Chinese Spring Festival (Chinese New Year)
There has got to be something said for a holiday where EVERYONE goes home to be with their families! EVERYONE! Then they play Mahjong. eat Dumplings, and then they light off fireworks, TONS of FIREWORKS!! I tell you what, when we decided to go to Beijing, we thought there would be some huge fireworks show near Tienanmen square or something. We were expecting hundreds of thousands to be there. All sorts of craziness. Nope. Doesn't happen like that in China. In fact, there was a ban on most fireworks in the major cities for a few years that was mostly removed only a few years ago. Since this is a VERY FAMILY oriented holiday, and because they are afraid that the last few remaining wooden structures might burn with fireworks, they don't allow ANY fireworks near the main center.
So, what did we do? We did what EVERYONE else here in China does. We bought our own fireworks! Now this is where our little group differed from the Chinese. we only bought a few fireworks, and started lighting them off at around 11:30 pm. Most Chinese start lighting the kid stuff around ohh.. 6 or 7 pm, then at midnight, they go hogwild!! I am talking the big guns! EVERYWHERE! EVERY street corner, alleyway, edge of road is filled with people lighting firecrackers, fountains, Bombers, Bottle rockets, guided missiles (threw that in to see if you were listening), and MASSIVE artillery shells that light up the sky! OK... Think of the greatest finale of any Fireworks show that you have ever seen, then put THAT all around you 360 degrees, and in multiples. Then do THAT for the WHOLE NIGHT! THAT is what new years was like in Beijing! 
I am writing this 8 days after new years day, and they are still lighting fireworks all day and night. Seriously... It is 1:15am here in China and I just heard a round of big boomers! 24 hours a day! It is absolutely amazing! I was taking video of the fireworks New Years night in Beijing and I blurrily caught a man having a firework blow up prematurely and knocking him to the ground! It was crazy!
The first day of the Spring festival is a very fun day. Many people go to Temple Festivals to reenact famous moments in time and generally have a good time. There they play games, eat food, buy trinkets, toys, noisemakers, and good luck charms. It is a family event the whole time. We went to two festivals. One was just on the street next to a temple. It was actually near our hotel, so it was nice. We walked down the street and bought hats (I actually bought a multicolored wig), ate candied haw and strawberries, sampled different meats-on-a-stick (Ostrich, Deer, Beef, Goat, and lamb), and took photos. We also watched a group play some instruments. 
The atmosphere was festive and happy. Then we went to another festival. This one was at Ditan Park, near a temple. It is a very well-known, and well-thrown festival. There were SO MANY PEOPLE!! It was wild! We took many photos while there. There were many colorful signs and toys everywhere. The wind-flowers were great to see, and many of them created a noise. That was a fun, but loud noise throughout the day.Throughout the day, you could here constant fireworks though. At night, it always tends to get louder, and more consistent.
There you go. There was my trip to Beijing. I am happy to have my good friends Bryan and Hannah (and my new friends)to go and have such a great time with. It was great to eat scorpions and become a man (There is a saying that you aren't a real man until you have climbed the Great Wall) again with you guys. I feel that the Hostel I stayed at was wonderful. It is the Peking Youth Hostel, and is right next to the Forbidden City! Beijing was very similar to many other large cities, but it has it's place as an important, must-see world city. There is still plenty of history to see and learn about. The future of China is bright, and that is what they want you to see and feel while you are in Beijing. I felt it. The People were very kind, as usual in China. Most people that we met at the sites, ordering food, in and around town spoke at least a little conversational English, so when I got back to Xianyang, I had forgotten that most people here DON'T speak ANY English! hehe
As far as an authentic Chinese experience in Beijing... well the actions were authentic. And I suppose that is what counts.
