Finally made it to Beijing in a 6 hour long ride from Huangshan. On the way I got to see beautiful scenery but also many many many...

Beijing

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Finally made it to Beijing in a 6 hour long ride from Huangshan.

On the way I got to see beautiful scenery but also many many many factories that would have smoke coming out of tubes and polluting the environment and making the towns almost invisible due to the high level of pollution.


I couldn't help but wonder how we, the whole world, is contributing to making so much pollution and killing the world slowly... so sad!


Once I arrived in Beijing I had to, once again, go in the metro and manage through the crowds with my bags! 

 Beijing is something else! It is even more crowded than the other cities but looks like what I expected of China... food stalls everywhere, big flashy signs, stores selling Chinese looking souvenirs everywhere! This really looked like China town.

I dropped my bags off at the hostel and went to find a restaurant to have dinner. Before leaving I asked one of the guys to write in a paper "I'm vegetarian. Is that ok?" and another piece of paper with "No meat." I was super confident that I was going to get a vegetarian meal now. I walked up and down the main street where my hostel was and finally went in a restaurant that looked decent. Before seating I show the vegetarian paper to the girl and she nodded and gave me a menu. The menu was in Chinese but had pictures; I decided to go with noodles since it felt like a good safe option. When it was time to order i made sure to show both papers again, ordered, and showed the "no meat" the girl said it was ok. I waited for a while and I finally got my food... Noodles with Chicken!!!!!!!!!

Oh my! Really? I laughed and then tried to get the attention of the waitress to no avail. The owner saw me and sent his wife, I showed her both papers and my noodles, she called the waitress and started talking in Chinese. I felt bad for the waitress as she could get in trouble but the owner told me they would bring me a new one! Phew!

The next day it was time to start exploring Beijing.

The street outside my hostel. The typical Chinese alley with tons of shops, red lanterns and chinese writing all over!

First things first... Breakfast! 10 yuan dumplings from the street! (and vegetarian!)

are those people looking at me?!?!?!

I decided to go to Tiananmen Square and to the Forbidden City since they were very close to my hostel. I had no idea where to go so I followed the crowds and used some common sense.  I ended up being in the huuuuuuuge entrance line.




When I got to the security check, after 15-20 minutes of waiting I saw that all Chinese people had their ids out I started to wonder... do I need my id? Is this a Chinese only line? I looked around me and absolutely everybody was Chinese! No one single white looking person in sight... I just hoped that I didn't waste my precious time and I was at the wrong entrance. Luckily I soon reached the security check and turned out that nobody needed their id and it was all good.. phew! 


I walked by Tiananmen square and it was closed off and while walking I got super scared as they started making a loud noise with some cannons they had out. I have no idea what was going on.

I kept walking and then got to the entrance of the Forbidden city.


After going through many gates I finally got to the ticket office and bought my 60yuan entrance and found it very interesting that they required my passport for it! Apparently you have to register when you come in!

Purchased ticket in hand I went through another gate and found the ticket check booth and entered the palace museum! As always it is crowded, full of people and very loud. 


And this is me trying to (still) figure out how to use a GoPro!

I then went to the side of the palace and found some stairs that brought me up to the tower and inside there was a museum. The best part was that there weren't many people and it was quiet!


I kept walking and it actually takes you around the palace and to different little palaces with museums inside.

I enjoyed going through the ceramics gallery!
Some were just so beautiful! From the floor to the ceiling the paintings were so exquisite and some of the displays were fantastic pieces of ceramic bowls and bases with Chinese paintings... so pretty!


Almost at the end I reached a place with beautiful beautiful flower and a Dragon made out of plants and flowers! So cool!



More photos of the palace







I walked the palace for ever from one end to the other. Once I exited I was bombarded by rickshaw drivers wanting me to take a ride but instead I crossed the street and went to Jingshan park and paid the entrance fee of 2yuan. Before entering I saw some ladies selling food, mostly the typical plastic noodle cups that you need to add water but also roasted sweet potatoes and steamed corn; I got a sweet potato and walked around the park while munching on it.

The park had a temple on the top so of course I walked up a thousand stairs to get to it and see the view of the Forbidden City from up high.



Once you reached the top you are in the central point of Beijing city! how cool!

The temple was bright and colorful... just like i like them! :)

This guy was repairing the temple, I would be so scared of falling down!


I walked down from the temple and through the park and exited it on the other side.

By then it was about 3-4pm and it was still bright! I had no idea what to do so I looked at my map and decided to go check out the lake around there, not really knowing if there was anything interesting to see of do.

Look... I found a really small car! Not even the driver had enough space!


 Kept walking and walking and made to the Hutongs, a traditional narrow alley in Chinese Culture.


After checking out the Hutongs I made it to the lake and was impressed to see that there was a lot going on around there! Lots of rickshaws asking people for rides and lots and lots of river cruises! (and of course you get harassed and followed by all the rickshaw drivers!)


On the way back to the hostel I stopped to take a picture of the traditional dish of Beijing.. the Pecking duck!

Today's dinner was different. I showed up with a brand new paper, sat down, and while ordering showed the new "no meat, no chicken, no fish, no seafood" sign. The girl apparently did not get the memo that I did not speak or write Chinese! She proceeded to write questions for me on my little piece of paper!!! It was kind of amusing to believe that she thought that it was me who actually wrote in the paper and that I knew how to read Chinese! Haha

I have noticed that they do not have napkins at restaurants (or toilet paper in any bathroom) and I needed one. I was sitting at a table with a Chinese couple and tried to explain I needed a napkin, I put the palm of my hand in front of my mouth and gently tapped it to show i needed a napkin. The couple sitting with me started talking to the waitress and figuring out what I needed, the waitress came back... with a fork! Unbelievable!

The next day under the rain I decided to go check out the summer palace. A roommate at the hostel had told me to start at the West entrance and work my way through.

When I arrived to the ticket window I saw that there were 2 kinds of tickets, one was just the entrance and the other one (30yuans, $5, more expensive) was an inclusive ticket. I decided to pay for the extra to check out the whole place. So happy I did! Not that many people are willing to pay the extra fee so you can actually see the place peacefully without crowds all over!





Impressed that i got this picture with no people in it!







I walked all over the summer palace for about 5 hours and finished on the west side walking around a little water town.



Once I left the summer palace I took an hour metro ride to the Temple of Heaven!
It was rainy and cold and they told me I only had one hour to check it before before they closed the temples so I kind of rushed through them!

I was not able to get any history so I had no idea what I was looking at but it was pretty!




A selfie!!





After my rushed visit I had the intention of going to the famous stadium but it was too cold and rainy and decided to go to the hostel instead and have dinner. My roommate Dominic happened to be there so we went out for noodles and hot and sour soup! Here he is slurping his noodles Chinese Style!!!


Now time for bed for an early start to go walk the Great Wall of China!


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About Post Author

Hi! It's me... Andrea! In 2016 I decided to drop everything and take a year to enrich my life and travel around the world. It turns out the world is just too big for 12 months! Still on the road and sharing my experience as a solo female traveler around the globe!

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About me




Hi! It's me... Andrea!

In this blog you can live vicariously through my journey around the world!

Please feel free to share tips or places to go!
Contact me: andreaheartstraveling@gmail.com