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Day 7: Chengdu/Lijiang

Updated: June 30, 2012

Today we were up early to catch our flight to Lijiang, 350 miles southwest of Chengdu and part of the Yunnan province. The city is home to the Naxi people, who are related to Tibetans but have their own language and culture; it’s traditionally matriarchal, with women inheriting all property and mediating all tribal conflicts. Lijiang sits at the base of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, considered one of China’s most spectacular peaks. We caught a glimpse of snow-capped mountains during the flight and watched the terrain get more and more impressive the closer we got to the city.

Waiting to board the plane in Chengdu

Flying toward more rugged terrain in the Yunnan province

The road from the airport to our hotel was largely unfinished which made for a very bumpy ride, but our driver expertly navigated the potholes and we arrived at the Maple Leaf Inn in about 40 minutes.

One day this will be a fantastic road… but today is not that day!

I booked this hotel due to its good online reviews (thanks, TripAdvisor), the fact that one of the owners was from Holland (and therefore spoke English), and because it offered travel arrangements for the various sidetrips we wanted to take. We were thrilled to find it to be a charming little inn in Shuhe (one of the villages of Lijiang) and upon arrival we met the owners Wil and his wife Anna, plus their four children. We got settled and then went for a tour of the village with Wil and his son.

Our $25/night room – pretty nice!

Getting a tour of Shuhe village

Stylish hat and tasty fried noodle snacks

The village is a labyrinth of alleys, winding streams, countless shops, and traditional Naxi houses. We explored for a while before returning to the hotel to sit outside in its lovely courtyard and visit with Wil and Anna.

Pick-up street badminton

The stream runs throughout the entire village

One of these guys is not like the others

Little alleys everywhere

For dinner, Wil took us to his favorite noodle shop where he helped us order fried noodles with pork and vegetables. He did not mention that each order could have fed four people. They were delicious, though!

Shuhe sunset

Waiting for our dinner and taking photos with Wil’s daughter Joanna

Yeah, I think that’s enough noodles

Back in our room, we discovered that there was no heater – a minor inconvenience in an otherwise great place. We pulled on our hats and gloves to help stay warm and made plans for our three days in Lijiang.

Layers!

Day 6: Chengdu

by Nicole

Updated: June 3, 2012

1 Comment

This morning we visited the Giant Panda Breeding Center & Research Base located northwest of Chengdu. Its scientists are devoted to helping pandas breed and care for their young in a safe, controlled environment with the intention of eventually re-introducing some into the wild. The grounds are covered with trees, flowers, and 14 species of bamboo. We read that the pandas were most active in the morning, so we got there early and headed straight for the cub enclosure.

The Chengdu Panda Research Base is one of the few places to see pandas in China

Matt with panda cubs in background

Four cubs were out, eating bamboo leaves and climbing around the various trees and wooden structures placed around their enclosure.

Giant pandas can eat up to 85 pounds of bamboo a day

The cubs ignore the whistles and calls of the tourists, but occasionally they'll pose for the camera!

Wide view of the cub enclosure

Everyone's got something to eat

We left the cubs to their snacking and headed for the other enclosures: Panda “Kindergarten” (even younger cubs, living with their mother), sub-adults (2-5 years old), giant adult, and red (lesser) pandas. There were no newborn pandas available to see; they’re generally born between July and December.

No crowds on this beautiful sunny day!

The red panda, aka the lesser panda, is more closely related to the raccoon than the giant panda

See the giant panda in the background?

On our way out, we stopped by the cub enclosure again and happened to arrive at feeding time. One of the keepers threaded “panda bread” and apples onto a long skewer and held it out to the cubs, who fell all over each other trying to snag the treats.

"Hey ref, this panda's all over me!"

Waiting for more apples

We followed the keeper to the sub-adult enclosure and watched two more pandas have their lunch.

Discussing panda life over lunch

Panda picnic

While looking for lunch back near the hotel, we noticed a long line of people at one of the food stalls. Since that’s usually a sign of good food, we decided to buy whatever it was and were pleased to find it was a kind of giant dumpling, stuffed with beef and vegetables and fried until crispy. We noticed a cameraman videotaping the cooks making the dumplings, and as we were walking away we were stopped and asked if we could be interviewed for Sichuan television. We were asked where we were from, if we’d been to Chengdu before, and if we had something similar to this fried item in the States.

15-minute wait for this popular snack

Look for us on Sichuan TV soon

Our hotel had a lovely spa, so we booked traditional Chinese massages and proceeded to have every muscle in our bodies pummeled into oblivion. It was fantastic. 🙂 We had dinner at the same noodle shop we’d visited the first night, this time sampling all three kinds of noodles they offered.

We had tickets for the Sichuan opera, which features singing, elaborate costumes, fire-breathing, acrobatics, stick puppets, and the famous bianlian, or “changing faces”. We purchased the cheapest tickets (of course) and were surprised to find our seats were front row, right in front of a digital display that translated the lyrics (we figured they’d put us in the “foreigner seats” – nice!). There was a “mistress of ceremonies” who gave a brief explanation before each act.

The opera was outstanding – the costumes and makeup were gorgeous, the music was fantastic, and the best part was the face-changing act, where the performers changed their masks in the blink of an eye. (How they do this remains a well-kept secret!) The 90-minute performance was over much too quickly and was one of our favorite things we’ve seen in China.

"Song of the Beautiful Girls"

Sichuan opera singer

All of the costumes were beautiful

Another highlight was the stick-puppet performance

Cool fire-breathing

Even the stick puppet changed masks!

We’d come to Chengdu for the pandas, Sichuan opera, and spicy food, and while we didn’t see any of the famous temples and other historical sites mentioned in all the guidebooks, we’re pretty happy with the parts of Chengdu we did see. Tomorrow we’re off to the mountainous Yunnan province for a few days in the city of Lijiang!

Day 5: Chengdu

by Nicole

Updated: June 3, 2012

5 Comments

This morning we woke up to the sounds and smells of Cuisine Alley, a street of restaurants right outside our window. We spent some time watching the area come to life before heading out to explore Chengdu.

The view from our hotel room window

We would have had breakfast out here if not for the nice one provided by the hotel

Hotel interior

We set off by foot and walked in a southwesterly direction toward Chengdu’s city center. On the way, we must have passed through the city’s designated “athletics” zone, featuring the city’s Olympic-sized stadium, several health clubs, and store after store filled with sports clothing and gear for the city’s most popular sports (basketball, running, ping pong, etc.). It would be like Chicago declaring that Sports Authority, Dick’s Sporting Goods and the Nike Store could only build next to each other in Wrigleyville.

China's basketball icons: Kobe Bryant, Kanye West and Bruce Willis?

Street card game..."Look, my joker beats your two. I win!"

Walking around Chengdu single-file

Eventually, after making a pit stop at a Hilton to get a better map, we navigated our way south and west to Renmin Park, one of Chengdu’s biggest and most beautiful parks. Along the way, we passed through Tianfu Square, the center of downtown Chengdu and once the site of the Imperial Palace. Overlooked by an enormous statue of Mao, it features an elaborate music and water show twice a day (which we missed, unfortunately).

Tianfu Square

Renmin Park, or People’s Park as it is also known, was gorgeous, filled with ponds, lakes, terraces, and flowering trees. We met an English-speaking tour guide who told us that the park was very popular with senior citizens, who spent the days there dancing, playing dominoes, drinking tea, and socializing.

Path through Renmin Park

Ladies performing choreographed dances to music -- anyone could join in

We walked around for a while before stopping at one of the many teahouses; over cups of delicious jasmine tea, we watched hundreds of people gathered around small tables, playing mahjong, a domino-type game.

Water calligraphy

Time for some tea!

We were the only ones in the teahouse NOT playing this tile game

Figuring out where to eat dinner

The park was a great way to see a slice of life in Chengdu; it seemed as though half the city was gathered in this beautiful oasis in the middle of downtown.

Pretty blossoming tree

A little too chilly for a boat ride around one of the ponds

Large crowds gathered to watch the various performances around the park

We wanted to buy tickets for a performance of Sichuan opera, so armed with only a brochure, an address, and the Hilton’s slightly-better than mediocre map, we once again returned to the busy streets of Chengdu. A few laps around the downtown shopping area and a couple conversations with policemen (none of whom offered much help), we finally found the theater.

Downtown Chengdu

The sidewalks are one big scooter/bicycle parking lot

We have a match!

The Sichuan province is famous for its hotpot, where diners cook an array of meats, vegetables, dumplings, and noodles in boiling oil flavored with Sichuan peppers and other chilies. In addition to the hotness of the various chilies, the Sichuan peppers cause a tingly, numbing sensation on your tongue, and the whole effect only intensifies as they continue to steep in the oil. Not thrilled with the prospect of a mouth-numbing meal, we nonetheless figured we couldn’t come to Chengdu without trying its famous dish, so we headed for Longsenyuan Hot Pot. Thanks to the helpful staff, we ordered a half-spicy (oil with the peppers), half non-spicy (broth flavored with ginger, garlic, coriander, and green onions) hotpot, along with beef tenderloin, bamboo shoots, pea sprouts, mushrooms, and pork dumplings to cook in it.

A fun and tasty dining experience

Verdict: excellent! Spicy, yes, but not to the point of profuse sweating. Our server stood near our table during the entire meal; at first we thought it was just because we were clearly novices, but then we realized every table had a similar “chaperone” – we figured it was in case of an oil emergency (?). We absolutely loved this meal.

Back near the hotel, we stopped for ice cream and wandered a little more around the “folk cultural zone”. For having had no real plans when we set out this morning, we ended up having a pretty lovely day in Chengdu.

Day 4: Shanghai/Chengdu

by Nicole

Updated: June 2, 2012

3 Comments

Today was our last day in Shanghai so we took advantage of the Peninsula for a couple more hours, including the sweet coffee machine, various Asian fruits, and as one would surely expect in China — Big Ten Network sports programming.

Big Ten Network in Shanghai... nice work Calderon!

Also on the morning’s itinerary was a walk back to Yang’s for one last dumpling meal before leaving for the airport.

Perhaps our favorite spot in all of Shanghai

2010 World Expo mascot Haibao is still haunting this guy

We returned to the hotel, grabbed our bags and checked out. From the Peninsula we took a cab to the Maglev station for the seven-minute, 30-km zoom to the airport.

Peninsula elevator self-portrait

Our Sichuan Airlines flight was slightly delayed but otherwise non-eventful, and we arrived in Chengdu around 8 PM. Thirty minutes later, our cab driver dropped us off at what appeared to be the entrance to a temple and motioned for us to walk in to find our hotel. Adjacent to the famous Wenshuyuan Buddhist Temple, the Buddha Zen hotel proved to be quite difficult to locate and we had to ask for directions from some locals (who were hilariously excited to be of assistance and posed with us in several pictures before pointing us in the right direction).

Cabs can't drive directly to hotel; very few cars allowed on temple grounds

Helpful hint: print out EVERYTHING important in Chinese characters

The Buddha Zen Hotel combines Chinese aesthetics with Buddhist themes; both the hotel interior and rooms are decorated in Buddha Zen style. I’d booked it based solely off of its number-one ranking on TripAdvisor without really knowing anything else about it, and we were delighted to find a unique boutique hotel with a great location, peaceful setting, and free breakfast. 🙂

Hotel is located within the "Folk Cultural Experiencing Zone"

Cool bathroom sink

Hungry, we dropped our bags and went looking for dinner, using our “whatever we see first, we eat” method. Around the corner from the hotel, we found a tiny stand with bowls of noodles on display and not a word of English anywhere, so we pointed to two different kinds and hoped for the best.

No English necessary to order this dinner

Fantastic spicy noodles -- tianshui mian on the left -- (only 75 cents a bowl!)

There were only a few shops and restaurants open as we walked back to the hotel; we looked forward to exploring the area in the daytime.

Not many people around after 9 PM

Friendly Chengdu folks

Our initial reaction to Chengdu was a great one – over the next couple of days we’re looking forward to exploring this Sichuan capital city (while trying to not scald our mouths on its famous mega-spicy cuisine).

Day 3: Suzhou/Shanghai

by Nicole

Updated: June 2, 2012

3 Comments

Today we took a day trip to Suzhou, a city 50 miles northwest of Shanghai. Sometimes called “the Venice of the East” due to the series of interlocking canals that criss-cross the town, it’s known for its beautiful gardens and silk factories. (Suzhou is also the world’s largest manufacturer of laptop computers.) We took a high-speed train from Shanghai’s main railway station and arrived at Suzhou in 30 minutes. The weather was cold, damp, and cloudy.

Much less confusing than Xian's rail station

After buying a map of the city, we looked for a taxi to take us to one of the gardens. Before we found one, however, we were approached by a man offering a tour of five major sites in Suzhou, and after listening to his spiel we decided to do it. Within minutes, we were in a van full of Chinese tourists, speeding toward the center of town and wondering what we’d signed up for.

The first stop was Lion’s Grove Garden, a large garden consisting of four small lakes and Suzhou’s largest collection of rock formations, some said to resemble lions and other creatures. Many of the rock formations were arranged to create a labyrinth of caves, and the whole area looked like a surreal moonscape. The guided tour of the garden was in Chinese, of course, but one of the girls in the group asked if she could practice her English and translated for us.

Bridge in Lion's Grove Garden

Keeping the lake clean

A crab made from rocks

Matt posing with another lion

Next was the North Temple Pagoda, a nine-story temple that towers over the city and is one of the symbols of ancient Suzhou. We were left to explore this area on our own (which was fine with us), and we started by climbing to the top of the wooden pagoda for some great views of the city.

The top level was covered in graffiti from people around the world. We did not add to it.

"When you get to my street, look for the white house with the black roof."

Beyond the pagoda was the Plum Garden, a lovely wooded area with more rock formations. There were very few other visitors around, making this a very peaceful area to explore.

Lots of fish in this lake; they sell fish food during the busy season

Self-portrait in Plum Garden

We stopped for lunch at the Green Leaf Inn (pork with potatoes, soup, sauteed cabbage, and eggs – decent, if not the greatest meal we’ve had in China) and shared a table with a guy from Russia, making conversation as best we could. The next stop on the tour was a boat ride through one of Suzhou’s canals, and we passed under some really interesting bridges and peeked into people’s homes built right on the water.

These canals used to be packed with boats ferrying goods between city merchants

We left the boat and walked across the street to the Suzhou Silk Museum, where we viewed exhibits illustrating the cultivation of silkworms and production of silk thread, then watched four ladies demonstrate silk stretching. This was the customary shopping stop, as the museum had a large store where one could purchase shirts, scarves, jackets, quilts, etc.

Stretching the silk bundles to make quilts

The last stop on our tour was the Fengqiao Bridge, a pretty little scenic area along the water where we watched a brief performance by two musicians (interesting, if a little random) and wandered through the small alleys filled with souvenir stands.

Fengqiao Bridge (with our tour group in the foreground)

Back at the rail station, we had tea and people-watched while waiting for our train to leave. Back in Shanghai, we took the subway to the Super Brand Mall in Pudong, where we had dinner at Din Tai Fung, a Taiwanese chain that some say makes the best soup dumplings in the city. As we have become dumpling lovers, we felt compelled to judge for ourselves. We ordered pork and chive xiaolongbao, shredded pork fried rice, and chili long beans, and everything was excellent.

Fabulous dumplings but Yang's trumps all

We walked along the riverfront so Matt could get some pictures of the Bund all lit up before heading back to the Peninsula, tired but pleased with the events of the day. Despite our general avoidance of organized tours, we unexpectedly found an enjoyable and rather effortless way to see some major sights of Suzhou and still get back to Shanghai in time for another great meal.

Looking west at Puxi ("Xi" means west, "Dong" means east, and "Pu" refers to Huangpu River

Tomorrow is our last day in Shanghai before we head west to Chengdu. Luckily our flight is late enough in the day to give us time for one last lunch at Yang’s…

Day 2: Shanghai

by Nicole

Updated: June 2, 2012

7 Comments

This morning we hung around the hotel, researching and making plans for our short time in Shanghai. First on the list: a return trip to Yang’s Fry Dumplings, a tiny, blink-and-you-miss-it restaurant with dumplings so good they’d be worth the trip to China all on their own.

Famous what?

Best lunch in Shanghai, no contest.

Three orders of dumplings later, we set off to find the Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Center, a place Matt read about online. We arrived at the correct address to find a group of apartment buildings and no sign of the museum. A nearby security guard, sensing our obvious confusion, handed us a business card for the art center and pointed us behind the apartments. Without him, we’d have had no chance.

Entrance to the museum. This is "Amazing Race" material. How does anybody find this place?

With nearly 5000 pieces produced between 1949-1979, the Propaganda Poster Art Center houses the largest collection of propaganda posters in the world. These posters were how Chairman Mao and the Communist Party of China “informed and restored the collective mind of the Chinese people”, and each poster is both a piece of art and an insight into the events of the time. Poster themes included the anti-American sentiment during wartime, the push for science and technology development, the good relations (and subsequent poor relations) with the Soviet Union, the “One Child-One Family” law, and in a majority, the unequaled presence of Chairman Mao. Helpful English translations were posted, and the director of the center was there to give further background on a few of the pieces. Not listed in any guidebook, the art center was a fascinating look at an important part of Chinese history hidden away in the basement of a non-descript apartment building.

An amazing collection of artwork

Five of the most important men to Communist ideology: Marx, Engels, Stalin, Lenin, and Mao.

"March Towards the Top Science" from 1959

Next, we headed for Taikang Lu, an arts and crafts enclave in the French Concession neighborhood. Largely hidden from the outside, it is accessed via small lanes off the neighboring streets and quickly expands to an elaborate collection of interesting shops, galleries, and restaurants. We spent a couple of hours browsing and navigating the crowds through the tiny, narrow lanes (one store had clothing and other pieces made of 100% Tibetan yak fur; so soft but at $85 for a hat, we passed).

Unique fence construction

The narrow lanes and diverse shops of Taikang Lu

Dinner was at 1221, a restaurant recommended for having some of the best Cantonese food in the city. We enjoyed a fantastic meal of stir-fried shredded beef, Shanghainese noodles, sauteed green beans with garlic and chilies, and banana sticky rice. By the time we left, the place was absolutely packed; we can certainly understand why!

Delicious dinner!

Having had enough public transportation for the day, we called a cab to take us back to the hotel. We are not cab people – we take trains everywhere we can go when we’re in Asia, and are often the only foreigners we see on them – but we had to admit that at a fraction of the time and only slightly higher cost, cabs are definitely a welcome option from time to time. It was a great day – excellent food, fun shopping, and an incredibly interesting visit to a museum way off the beaten track and a place most visitors to Shanghai likely never get to see.

Day 1: Shanghai

by Nicole

Updated: June 2, 2012

3 Comments

We’re back in China! Our trip is book-ended with the same cities as last year (Shanghai and Beijing), but we’ll visit three new destinations in between (Chengdu, Lijiang, and Huangshan). The map below shows our intended route:

Trip itinerary

Our flight from Chicago arrived in Shanghai in late afternoon, and after another ride on the Maglev train (max speed 431 km/hr, or 268 mph), subway transfer and short walk, we checked into the Peninsula.

First thing we saw coming out of the subway -- hey, Derrick Rose, hometown superstar!

We were greeted by Terry Crandall, my old executive chef from Chicago and current executive chef at the Peninsula Shanghai. He graciously offered a hotel/kitchen tour before we went to dinner.

Getting the behind-the-scenes tour

View of Pudong from the Peninsula rooftop terrace

In our slightly jet-lagged state, we opted for familiarity over adventure and decided we’d eat dinner at The Grape, the same restaurant we dined at the first night last year. On the way, we walked along Nanjing Lu, one of Shanghai’s most famous shopping streets.

Huge crowds, lots of neon - welcome back to Asia

Pleasant weather and NO RAIN!

Dinner at The Grape was delicious: sweet and sour pork, stir-fried noodles, and cucumbers in garlic sauce. Plus, Matt’s favorite: a gigantic bottle of Tsingtao beer costing about $1.25.

Excellent food and ever-present helpful waitstaff

Beer in China is still cheaper than water or Coke

After dinner we headed back to the hotel, exhausted but happy. Our first day in Shanghai was easy and comfortably familiar, and we’re looking forward to seeing some new parts of the city over the next two days.

Day 15: Beijing

by Matt

Updated: June 2, 2012

1 Comment

Having finished most of our packing the previous night — successfully cramming everything into our two original suitcases and a couple of carry-ons to avoid the complication of purchasing a third bag — we awoke Sunday morning to make a final trip to nearby Wangfujing Street shopping district, find some breakfast, and spend our last handful of Yuan before returning to the Peninsula to check out.

One more delicious bakery meal

Breakfast was at a bakery in the food court of the Oriental Plaza Mall, home to many of our previous dining choices. After enjoying the blueberry, peach and raisin offerings, we strolled through a few more department stores and gift shops buying last-minute souvenirs. Our last stop before heading back was McDonalds, where we bought two banana pies (and wondered if there were other flavors we were still missing…)

Success! Just as good as Sweet Taro pie

Upon returning to the hotel, we grabbed our bags, checked out, and hailed a taxi to Beijing’s Capital International Airport. Forty-five minutes later, we arrived at Terminal 3 (built in 2008) which is one of the most ridiculously large airport terminals we’ve ever seen. Turns out that is because Terminal 3 is the second-largest airport terminal in the world after one at Dubai International Airport. (Thanks Wikipedia.)

Glimpse of the Central Chinese Television building en route to airport

After locating the Continental Airlines counter and enduring a few more slow-moving lines, we were informed our 3:45 PM flight to Newark was delayed and would probably take off sometime after 5 PM. The agent offered to move our connecting flight to Monday morning in Newark, but after some quick deliberation, we decided to stick with our existing itinerary and take our chances with an more English-fluent agent after our arrival in the U.S.

Pondering the slow line and flight delays

After making our way through security and finding our gate, we browsed a couple gift shops where we discovered some of the most bold price inflation in the history of retail sales. For example, at the Terracotta Warriors Museum in Xi’an, we could get a box of warrior statues for 10 Yuan. At this gift shop, the price was 230! Even better, a larger statuette that sold for 20 Yuan in Xi’an was going for 670. After the currency conversion, that’s $3 vs $100.

Hanging out at gate E12

In addition to the gift shops, we also looked for a place to grab a bite to eat and found only Pizza Hut. Probably due to a large influx of delayed travellers, our waiter told us they were out of pizza — really?!? — and we settled for pasta and waffle fries instead. (It is also possible we fell victim to China’s new “out of pizza scam” as other customers began ordering pizza again shortly thereafter.)

Finally, the plane boarded and after waiting another 20 minutes on the tarmac thanks to the rain (obviously we were not getting out of China without a little more rain), we were on our way to Newark.

Five or six in-flight movies later, we arrived. And they had good news for us – thanks to a Chinese tour group that was also on our connecting flight to Chicago, Continental had delayed the flight and we had plenty of time to pass through customs, re-do security (back to the no-shoes nonsense of American airports, sigh) and find our gate.

The final leg

The two-and-a-half hour flight to O’Hare was uneventful and we arrived with luggage in tow at 11 PM. We knew we were back in Chicago when the taxi line was actually a line and it was barely cracking 40 degrees outside. Welcome home!

Day 14: Beijing

by Nicole

Updated: June 2, 2012

6 Comments

We slept in this morning, then decided to have lunch at Huang Ting, the Peninsula’s Cantonese restaurant. We took advantage of their weekend dim sum buffet – nearly 40 items, as much as we wanted – and enjoyed a great lunch of spring rolls, dumplings, fried noodles, and more.

Delicious dim sum lunch at Peninsula

Finishing our shopping was the goal of today, so we took a taxi to Panjiayuan Antique Market, an enormous open-air flea market with over 3000 vendors. Furniture, jewelry, statues, trinkets, silk, you name it – it was here, and we had a great time walking around and bargaining some good prices for a variety of items.

Panjiayuan Market in southeast Beijing

Quite an assortment of statues

Waiting for customers

The amount of stuff for sale was staggering; there were marble lions the size of small cars, a ton of Mao paraphernalia, beautiful Tibetan furniture, a huge book bazaar, and piles of beads in every color imaginable. Around 5:00, the market began to close down, with vendors boxing up their wares and loading them onto the backs of their bicycle carts. This was one-stop-shopping at its finest.

Lots of Mao-themed items

Don't try to pick these up - you can't

This kid was ready for the camera

Endless stalls

We managed to hail a cab among the departing bicycle carts and dropped off our purchases back at the hotel before heading back out for dinner. We stopped at a department store where I bought a Chinese-style cleaver similar to the one we used at the Yangshuo cooking class.

Walking to dinner

Then we headed back to Da Dong, where we had a reservation for one more delicious roast duck dinner. This time we sat by the open kitchen, watching the roasted ducks come out of the fire. Our meal was as good as it had been the other night, and this time we ordered a dessert we’d seen at another table: fruit “dandelions”, sugar-coated fruits surrounded by a “fluff” of cotton candy.

Roasting the world-famous ducks

One last great meal in China

Cool fruit "dandelions" for dessert

We walked back to the hotel to start packing and see if we’d bought so many souvenirs we’d need another bag. Tomorrow morning is our last chance to shop, and Matt swears he saw someone eating a McDonalds banana pie, so we might have to go check that out, too… 🙂

Day 13: Beijing

by Nicole

Updated: June 2, 2012

6 Comments

We were up at 5:30 AM, on the train by 6:15, and by 7:00 we were eating Egg McMuffins on the bus to the Great Wall. Finding the bus stop the day before had been a smart thing to do; the station was very busy but we knew exactly where to go. Hiring a car for the day would have cost around $100; a round-trip bus ticket was $3.50. After an hour and a half we arrived in the city of Huairou, where we took a 15-minute taxi ride the rest of the way to the Great Wall.

Can't read much on this sign but all we needed to know was "Bus 916"

There are several sections of the Great Wall open to visitors; I chose Mutianyu after reading numerous positive trip reports about its scenery and lack of tourists. Our ticket included admission, a ropeway ticket up to the wall, and a toboggan ride back down (this was another reason I chose this spot). The ropeway was just like a ski-lift; after five minutes, we were on the wall and greeted by a souvenir vendor who immediately took our picture.

Like the hats?

The weather was gorgeous: 60 degrees, sunny, and clear. FINALLY. We decided to walk north, then turn around and come back to the toboggan slide. Since we arrived so early, there were only a few others up there with us as we started the hike.

View from near our starting point

We wore too many layers for the beautiful weather

As expected, the views were incredible. The wall sloped up and down through the mountains, sometimes very steeply, though there were usually steps to help out. It seemed impossible to take a bad picture; everywhere we looked was amazing. Like at the rice terraces, it’s hard to describe the views in words; pictures are better…

Looking back south along Great Wall

Great Wall nature

Uphill climbing ahead

Stationed along the wall were watchtowers, some of which we could climb for a better view. Vendors set up small stands with water and postcards, and we eventually passed a second access point that featured enclosed gondola cars instead of our ski-lift method. We took a break and shared a Snickers bar looking out from one of the towers.

Matt on his way up the wall

The last set of steps before we reached the end of the hike looked steep from a distance and even more so when we got to the base of them. After about 500 steps we were at the highest point and could walk no further along this section of the wall. (Which was fine – we were tired.)

At the highest point of the wall - that staircase is steeper than it looks

We earned our "I Climbed the Great Wall" t-shirts

It took us almost two hours to hike this stretch of the wall; we walked back a little faster so we’d be able to meet our taxi driver at the agreed time. By now there were many more people around; we were glad to have arrived early to avoid most of them. We thought one Chinese family was asking us to take their picture; actually, they wanted to take one with me!

Passing others on the way back

Looking north along wall

Heading south back to starting point

Afternoon clouds

Almost to the end

When we got back to our starting point, we took a toboggan ride down to the village below. It was so much fun; we wish the ride had been longer! At the bottom, we made our way through a throng of aggressive souvenir vendors where we bought the customary “I Climbed the Great Wall” t-shirts (Initial quoted price: $50! Post-bargaining price: $8).

Tobogganing IS so simple

Zooming down the mountain

When we finished shopping, our taxi driver took us back to the bus station. Ninety minutes later, we were back where we started and proud of ourselves for successfully navigating Beijing’s bus system. We stopped at McDonalds for a snack, where Matt discovered the wonders of their Sweet Taro Pie (two for a dollar or one for 80 cents, just like the crazy pricing structure at home).

Would not mind if these catch on in the US

We went back to the hotel for a swim in the pool before dinner. We had reservations at South Beauty, a Sichuan restaurant I read about online, and when we arrived we were shown to our own little alcove with a sunken table and sheepskin carpet. The food was fantastic; we had kung pao chicken, pork and pepper stirfry, roasted green beans with minced pork, and Beijing-style dumplings.

Delicious Sichuan food at South Beauty

Just as good as the dumplings in Shanghai... well, except Yang's

After dinner, we did a little shopping before walking back to the hotel, tired but happy about our great day at the Great Wall.