Beijing was quite the trip. On Friday elementary levels don’t have classes but kindergarten does so after lunch we were free to go. We got on the bus singing our, “We’re going to Beijing, we’re going to Beijing” song pumped and ready! Three hours later we were at the airport awaiting our flight. The airline we were on was very nice. We got served drinks before and after our meal and there was even a movie playing. It made the three hour flight fly by.
Emily H. and I were getting off the plane together and we were prepared for it to be cold since it was 30 degrees there. But, right when we stepped into the walkway off the plane we felt the frigid cold and simultaneously felt like we had just arrived in Utah home from China. It was so crazy! I had a rush of emotions…excitement, anxiety, warmth, sadness that our trip was over…then I whipped myself back into reality and got immediately excited that I was in Beijing, China.
We could not believe how cold it was. Us, southern China folk were dying of the heat just two weeks ago and now we could see our breath. We also did not come to China prepared with the apparel for this weather either. So once we went to our hostel and slept in the freezing cold we went shopping right when we woke up for gloves, hats, and scarves and had on layers upon layers of long sleeve shirts and hoodies. It was pretty hilarious the amount of time it took us to get dressed each morning in Beijing…honestly, probably ten minutes at the least.
Our first adventure was to Tian’an men Square which is famous because it is where Mao declared 60 years ago that they were starting communism. It is also the place where hundreds of thousands college aged students protested the government in 1989. They were shot at with army tanks for doing so and 2500 people were killed. It was a very cool sight to see knowing its history but it was also kind of eerie to think that so many people were killed there protesting for their rights especially because they were my age.
We went into the building which is said to be Mao’s tomb and sure enough there he was. He was embalmed in a clear coffin so you can see his face kinda like Snow White. People walked through in silence to be respectful and almost everyone bought a flower just outside and then put it in there to pay their respects.
After we got the chance to do so we went into the middle of Tian’an men Square and…you’ll never guess…we pulled out the Hoedown Throwdown! We danced (and sang) our thirty second thing and it was so hilarious how fast we got a crowd. There were people with their tape recorders and phones out filming or taking pictures of us. We were laughing so hard. We had Caleb record it…wish we would have had him turn around and show how many people were standing there after that short amount of time watching us, but it’s still a great video of us bustin out the moves on Tian’an men Square!
Next, we went over to Forbidden City which was conveniently right next door. We had a guy offer to be our ‘tour guide’ as we went through for a couple dollars each so we accepted and he was able to tell us all about each of the buildings and all their different meanings. It was much better than if we would have just walked through it ourselves. He made a lot of things make sense for us and pointed out little details we wouldn’t have noticed without him there. Forbidden City is where all the emperors of China used to live. It was their home and everything. The buildings are huge and immaculate and there is so much detail in every little corner. It took about two hours to go through the entire thing. It was really windy that day which made the cold even more cold. We were dying by the end! I was honestly mouthing to people as our guide Jon was talking that I was done…we needed to go haha. It was at the very end and everyone was huddled together not even listening to him anymore really. We walked all the way back to where our hostel was and ate a restaurant just next door. It was a little pricey so we didn’t go there again but oh my gosh…that food was amazing. Em and I shared a dish of chicken curry on rice and a plate of vegetable tempora. It was delicious. So I’ve come to the conclusion that I really do like Chinese food. There’s always something great you can find…it’s just the cafeteria food at our school that is getting a little old. But hello, even if I were in America eating just cafeteria food I’d be sick of it.
After we warmed up at our hostel for an hour or so we decided to head back out into the cold to go to the Night Market. We rode the subway across town and found it pretty quick even though it is a tiny road in the corner of expensive shops. There was tons of food every one was excited to try: burrito type wraps with sprouts inside, corn on the cob, scone things, starfish, scorpions on a stick, pineapple with sweet rice and sugar on top…tons of everything! It was pretty fun. There were a few guys that were vendors that were loving the fact that we were there! They asked to get a picture with us and one of the guys hoped over his counter/stove to do it! Then they kept saying, “You are my girlfriend” in English and would put there are around us. It was really funny, they were laughing at themselves so they weren’t serious but we got a laugh out of it too. Sierra was getting mauled by one of ‘em. He kept putting his arm around her out of no where and would turn her around to show her off to someone new that she was his girlfriend and she just kept saying no I’m not! Haha. It was hilarious.
So that pretty much sums up day 1 of Beijing. Our power was out the day we got back so it’s taken a little longer than usual to get this up but day 2 will be shortly on its way!
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