Stories from The Wonderful World of Bears

After a great trip to Yunnan, I was all inspired by the beauty in China, so when I was asked last minute by a friend to join a trip to Beijing I did not hesitate. With only two weeks to go before the trip, it was two weeks of frantic preparation, including setting the itineraries. As my family has been there twice, I knew it was not likely that I would go again soon. After lots and lots of research and talking to many friends, we had an awesome itinerary set up for a 3 day 2 night stay. Very short, but our list of things to do was amazingly long !

On the First Day, we knew we had our work cut out for us, so we left the hotel room at 8, and started scoffing down a huge breakfast. The buffet breakfast in China is special because they have so many kinds of Western food, and yet so many kinds of Asian food ! I ate a combination of pancakes and dumplings ! After 30 minutes, we started walking down the Wangfujing area, and reached Tiananmen Square. Though nothing more than a large square with loads of tourists, it was very moving. After that, in succession, we walked through the Forbidden Palace, climbed up Jingshan Park to take photos, hiked through Beihai Park where we also had a simple lunch. Then we visited the Drum Bell Tower and had a small bike tour through the hutongs.

Dead tired after that, we still took a long walk home through Nanluguoxiang, where we tried some desserts and looked at some of the hip and trendy shops around. We rested for a bit at the hotel, and since we had some time to spare before dinner, we had a massage at the spa across the street. Though it was not cheap, service was good. Then we walked (Yes we walked everywhere !) to Dadong restaurant, to eat Peking Duck at half past six. The restaurant had been named in many places as the best place to eat, and we were very satisfied with the food there.

After the dinner, which was not very expensive, we walked back down Wangfujing area, where we sampled some of the desserts and hot food on offer. There were smelly tofu, starfish, cockroaches, all manners of dumplings and noodles - the list was endless ! We walked in and out of the food stores and also in and out of some of the malls, and ended up at the hotel very tired.

The next day, after a huge breakfast again, we got into our specially chartered car. We were going to the Summer Palace first of all. Which was really just a huge park with many things to see, including lakes, bridges, buildings and no end of hills to hike on !

Then after a very quick lunch, the car took us to the Great Wall of China. They say that you have to go there at least once in your life and I have to agree. The view was fantastic, the emotional feeling was amazing. We took a cable car up and slowly walked down. The weather was perfect, with huge clouds, very blue sky, and a very cool temperature, in the teens. Perfect for hiking around the top of the Great Wall. Later that night in the city, we got the driver to drop us off at Houhai which is sort of the hip place in the city to have dinner. We walked around for a while, then back to the hotel to sleep. As we only had half a day the next day, we walked to the Temple of Heaven to look around, before having lunch with an ex colleague. After a hotpot of delicious Yunnan food, we did a small bit of shopping where I got covers for my iPhone. Although I was pretty glad of my bargaining skills, buying them for 25% of the original price, I did not feel good. I need to bring my mother next time. No guilt !

All in all, it was a quick and intense trip which was just what I needed to get on with working life. Perhaps if I could take a short trip every month, that would be good ? Perhaps.