a little more beijing

after our two amazing days touring around beijing with glenn, we had one more day in that amazing city on our own. we had a great time exploring some cool places, but we really missed glenn! not only is he a fantastic person to be around and had lots of historical and cultural info to give us, but just navigating very foreign logistics and food was soooo much easier with a local :) we also realized on day three how lucky we were to experience the weather we did on days one and two. those blue skies aren’t super normal! but still – it was an awesome day in a super awesome city that we had totally fallen in love with!

IMG_6706
^^ at chairman mao’s mausoleum in tiananmen square. we went through all the security and lines to see his body permanently laid in state. glenn told us that 90% of beijing locals believe the body on display is fake, and we tend to agree having seen it, but the experience of going to the mausoleum with many chinese was a pretty amazing cultural experience. ^^
IMG_6709
^^ we spent an hour or so in the national museum. very cool ancient artifacts and traditional chinese art. ^^
IMG_6710IMG_6719 IMG_6722
^^ for lunch we decided we had to try peking duck. we were in beijing after all! i think it’s the most expensive meal we had our entire trip, and we both hated it – haha! good thing we had some amazing green beans and chicken to make up for it (we went back to the same restaurant glenn had taken us on our first day).
IMG_6724 G1640733
^^ we visited beihei park, also known as the winter palace. it was beautiful! we rode a boat across the lake to the fun hutong discrict. ^^
IMG_6730IMG_6727 IMG_6728
^^ every little plaque is a prayer. pretty neat. ^^
IMG_6731IMG_6733IMG_6735IMG_6741
^^ the boy could not resist getting one of these huge cotton candies in the alleys along the river. it was fun to watch it get made and ian devoured it! ^^
G1660742IMG_6743IMG_6744
^^ i also got a treat. isn’t it pretty? this was probably the tastiest thing i ate in china. ^^
G1650735
^^ such a great spot with winding alleys full of fun shops. ^^
IMG_6746
^^ aaaaaand, one more shot from our hostel. ^^

the next morning we said goodbye to beijing and got on a bullet train to shanghai, which is such a different city!

Comments