China Adventure: Beijing and the Great Wall

It was much colder when we traveled north to Beijing. In Nanjing we were just wearing short sleeves. Beijing was frigid at times but a memorable city. The Forbidden City was fascinating. And then Dallin rented a car and we drove north to the Great Wall, which was incredible! It really was "great." I had no idea we'd be walking right up on the wall, but I loved the hike and the view. It was such a unique experience. Dallin took us to a section of the Wall that wasn't as busy. And since we were not there during a busy tourist season, we practically had the whole Wall to ourselves. Our whole trip was an amazing cultural experience I hope we get to do again. Our VISAs are good for 10 years, so I'm planning that our tour guide will want to go back with us sometime before they expire.

Entering the Forbidden City - Beijing

The Forbidden City was a massive complex, almost 1 full square kilometer. There were so many
different buildings and courtyards. It seemed like a never ending maze.

Dressing up in traditional Chinese dress and taking pictures was even more popular at the Forbidden
City. Most of the people dressing up were teenage or young adult girls, but there were also others
of different ages, like this cute boy who wasn't sure what to think about this strange American.

The whole compound was so spacious, but inside the buildings, trying to
see the exhibits, it was extremely crowded. I took some pictures, just so
I could look at them later and get a better look at what was on display.

Leaving the Forbidden City--very crowded

The street leading to the Forbidden City was full of dress shops where people can rent or buy
traditional Chinese dress for taking photos at the Forbidden City.

Nike store downtown Beijing

Apple store in downtown Beijing

Dallin said we needed to try corn juice. It tasted just like corn on the cob in
liquid form. It was served warm. Not bad, but not great either. Too strange.

Delicious Chinese barbecue restaurant.

Not barbecue in the American sense, but barbecue in the sense that the food
was on skewers and grilled over a flame.

Our hotel in Beijing

View from our hotel window

Breakfast in Beijing. Most of the time we didn't have breakfast, just a lunch
and dinner. The breakfast food was definitely not as tasty to me as all the
other Chinese food we ate.

First view of the Great Wall. This was definitely one of my favorite sites on the trip and also one
of my most photographed. :)

Some of the trees were just starting to have blossoms.

This section of the wall is from the original wall (1500 or 1600). Other
sections have been preserved and maintained.

Many sections of the wall were VERY steep.

Altogether we hiked about 2 miles on the wall.

This is the monument at the beginning of the section of the Wall that we hiked.

Our view of the Great Wall from our hotel room in Gubei Water Town,
a different section than the one we hiked on.

Dinner in Gubei Water Town--Very strange as we were the only customers in the restaurant.

The Great Wall lit up at night

Gubei Water Town was like a ghost town. I think it was built up to be a tourist attraction,
but maybe it got hit by COVID and never fully developed.

The lodgings in Gubei were the least nice of all our hotels in China.
Not terrible, but lacking some necessities--like a shower curtain.

Driving in our rental car back to Beijing. China's version of Google maps talked constantly to
Dallin, telling him everything about the area, including where the cameras would be to catch
speeders. Apparently, police cars don't pull people over for traffic violations.
People just get caught on the cameras and are sent a ticket.

Filling up the rental car before the return. The gas attendant was VERY
shocked when he looked in the car and saw me, a white person. He was
very relieved when Dallin started speaking to him in Chinese.

Northeastern Chinese restaurant in Bejing

It is strange to report, but ear wax removal is a common spa service in China. After seeing lots of
ads for it, Jeff wanted to give it a try, and Dallin and I agreed to try, too. Jeff liked it the most.
Dallin and I decided we wouldn't want to do it again.

Common sight in China, someone riding a bike hauling a lot of stuff

Beijing Ancient Architecture Museum - very interesting, but all of the signs
and labels were in Chinese (other museums had Chinese and English), so
we weren't able to learn as much as we would have liked.