Semester at Sea: Beijing and the Great Wall of China (Part 2)

My adventures in China during my Semester at Sea voyage continued as I traveled from Shanghai to Beijing.

Having successfully navigated the minor roadblock on our way to Shanghai’s airport when our taxi driver misunderstood us and took us to the zoo first, my friends and I got checked in and waited for our flight. We hung out with a large group of other Semester at Sea students who were going on the same trip. Our tour was organized by The China Guide tour company to show us the sights in Beijing and explore the Great Wall. The flight from Shanghai to Beijing was pretty uneventful, only two hours, but they did feed us dinner. This was a change for me from flights within the USA these days where they barely give you a drink and snack for much longer flights! 

Tour guides met us at the airport to get everyone organized and onto buses that took us to our hotel. A group of us set out to find Houhai, neighborhood situated around three man-made lakes that’s home to a lot of bars and restaurants. On the plane, a girl in our group was told about the neighborhood by the gentleman seated next to her. 

Festive Fireworks

Fireworks were going off constantly everywhere we looked for the Chinese New Year celebrations, something I hadn’t seen during my short stay in Shanghai. We found Houhai after walking by it and asking a gentleman on the street where it was. It was through a few back streets that looked more like alleys to me, but we were a large enough group that we felt pretty safe walking around the Chinese capital at night. 

Hi There, Houhai!

Houhai was a vibrant area around three small lakes where locals strolled around the pedestrian-only streets and bridges between restaurants and bars with live bands playing. We ended up in a restaurant tucked into a corner to get some food since the small dinner on the plane had been a long time ago and we were eager to try some authentic Chinese dishes. There was some confusion when we were trying to order all the food since the servers didn’t speak much English, but luckily there was another patron who was from the US that was able to help us translate as they spoke both Mandarin and English. The food was great and pretty inexpensive, so we headed back to the hotel satisfied with our mini adventure on our first night in Beijing. 

Let’s Get this Tour Started

For our first full day in Beijing our tour started with a the short, five minute walk to the Forbidden City which now houses the Palace Museum. It was pretty funny when several Chinese women asked to get their picture taken with one of the students on the trip who happened to have red hair. Since red is considered a lucky color in Chinese culture, these ladies seemed excited to see someone who had naturally red hair. 

Wandering the Forbidden City

The Forbidden City had beautiful architecture and was far more vast than I had anticipated. Walking through it, I felt like it might go on forever with countless treasures from the past imperial dynasties. Every building seemed to get increasingly more ornate and of higher importance as we made our way through the complex. It was difficult to believe it was built in only a 16 year timespan. 

Feeling Tiny at Tian’anmen Square

Once we finished touring the complex, we visited nearby Tian’anmen Square. It was filled with domestic tourists as many Chinese citizens have the week of the New Year celebrations off of work. The square exuded national pride with its colossal scale surrounded by impressive monuments, government buildings, museums, and the mausoleum of Mao Zedong. All of the buildings were lined with scarlet Chinese flags that waved against the blue skies. We couldn’t help but be amazed by the scale of the square, and understood why it’s such an important and popular site to visit in Beijing.

Shopping the Silk Market

Our next stop was Xiushui Street’s Silk Market where we could barter for a variety of souvenirs and warm clothes if we needed them for our upcoming stay on the Great Wall of China that night. It was a lot of fun wandering the area and bargaining for the things I wanted. The size of the market and the variety of items for sale was incredible and I could have easily spend hours exploring it.

Wonder of the World

Back on the tour bus, it was a two hour ride out to the Jinshanling section of the Great Wall where we enjoyed a short hike and a lovely sunset. This was the first of the 7 Wonders of the World I visited, and I was in awe. I was so happy I may have even done a jig to celebrate! Others were doing cartwheels and striking poses for their cameras. This made me determined to see all 7 of the Wonders of the World, which are now all on my bucket list. Dinner was at a local restaurant, served on a lazy Susan, in the typical style of Chinese restaurants. The whole group was buzzing with excitement from our first experience on the Great Wall and in anticipation of camping out on it that night.

Layer Up

After dinner we all piled on many layers of clothing for our night on the wall. I wore a tank top, a long sleeved shirt, a t-shirt, a 3/4 sleeved shirt, a fleece, windbreaker, gloves, hat, scarf, pajama pants under my jeans, two pairs of socks, and my hiking boots. Sound excessive? Trust me it wasn’t!

Challenging Night Hike

Everyone was excited to sleep on the wall, but also nervous about how cold it was going to be. Beijing has winter temperatures comparable to home in New York state, and it was below freezing that night. The tour provided flashlights for the hike thankfully as it was pitch black out there. We climbed stairs that wound back and forth up the mountainside for what seemed like forever. I had to keep stripping off layers to keep from overheating. Finally, after all that climbing, we reached the wall itself. Even then we hadn’t made it to our destination just yet, the place where we were sleeping was still short hike along the wall. 

Camping Out on the Great Wall

There were two sleeping bags and a thin foam mat provided to each person for sleeping and we were allowed to choose where we wanted to sleep in the nearby area. Most people, including myself, decided to bunk down in the guard tower, but a few brave souls slept outside on the wall with no protection at all from the elements. We had a good time hanging out up on the wall together, but mostly everyone went to bed pretty early. It was a cold night, but I had some hand and toe warmers that my wonderful mom had given me when I was packing that were amazing! (Thanks, mom!) Everyone was very jealous of the forethought to bring hand warmers. They stayed hot all night, and even through a lot of the next day which helped me stay toasty warm.

Early Bird Enjoys the Sunrise

In the morning, we woke up to a most amazing sight: the sunrise on the Great Wall of China. It was so unreal, the absolute quiet since not everyone was up yet and we were the only people around. The day just starting, and we were standing on one of the Wonders of the World. Even as it was happening I had a hard time believing I was really there. It was truly a sight to behold, and I hope I never forget it. We were provided a quick breakfast there on the wall before we started hiking the Jinshanling and Simatai sections of the Great Wall.

The day turned out to be beautiful, clear, crisp, and sunny, offering us some spectacular views of the Great Wall snaking over the mountains into the distance. So hard to believe that people built this! Our hike along the wall was constantly changing, going up and down, following the crest of the mountains. It was tough, but totally worth it.

To Hike or to Zipline?

When we finally reached the end of our hike we were given the option of either hiking the last 20 minutes to the restaurant where we were eating lunch, or zip-lining off the Great Wall across a river to the same spot. I chose to zip-line, as did the entire group, I think. During our hike, we had run into a group of students from the University of Maryland who were going to be studying in Shanghai this semester. They were doing some touring before their classes started, and we had a good time chatting and sharing our stories with them. I ended up zip-lining with one of these students since I was too light to go by myself. Everyone had fun zooming over the river off the Great Wall. Our lunch was the usual Chinese fare served on the lazy Susan, which I both liked and was beginning to get tired of. 

Visiting Beijing’s Olympic Green

When we’d finished, we headed back to Beijing, and many people napped during the two hour ride there. The only stop we made was at the Olympic Green to view the Bird’s Nest Stadium and the Water Cube. It was a fairly quick stop, but I really enjoyed seeing the Olympic grounds that had been so prominently featured during the 2008 games.

Hard Rock to Hard Times

We checked back into the hotel and were given the rest of the afternoon and night free. A friend and I went searching for the Hard Rock Cafe so I could get a shot glass since I was collecting them.

On the cab ride back, tragedy struck: I lost my camera. 

That may sound a little over dramatic, but I would have rather broken a bone than lose my camera. I hadn’t had time between Japan and China to upload all my pictures to my laptop, so I lost most of my Japan pictures and all of my China ones that were on that memory card. Approximately 800 pictures: gone. I was pretty distraught over the loss, not only for the pictures, but also because my sister had given me the camera for Christmas right before I’d left for the semester. With the assistance of the hotel’s front desk staff, I tried everything I could to recover it, but was unsuccessful. I can only hope that whoever ended up with my camera appreciated it as much as I did and enjoyed all my pictures.

Running Late

My roommate and I overslept the next morning since we didn’t get the wake up call we’d requested from the front desk. The whole tour group was supposed to meet in the lobby at 8:30, but we didn’t wake up until 8:40 when another of our friends pounded on our door. Oops. We quickly scrambled to get everything we needed, then ran to catch the bus. Luckily we were not the only ones who’d overslept and made it just fine. Our first stop this day was to a Chinese New Year Temple Fair where we got to see cultural performances, stalls with traditional arts and crafts, carnival games, and traditional food. It was really interesting to see all the performances, and the red lanterns everywhere added to the festive atmosphere. 

Lunch & Learn

After leaving the festival, we went to a hutong, which is a traditional neighborhood of Beijing. Lunch was in a local resident’s home. Afterward, our hostess showed us how to make dumplings which are among traditional foods to eat during the New Year celebrations. Since very little motorized traffic could get through the narrow alley-like streets of the area, we all piled into bicycle rickshaws. This was a unique and fun way to tour the area.

Summer Palace in the Winter

Our afternoon started with a visit to the Summer Palace, the seat of power for the Empress Dowager Ci’xi. Despite being there in the winter, we still were able to see the marble boat, the seventeen arch bridge, and the covered walkway. I’d love to visit again in the summer to enjoy it as it was designed to be seen.

Cold Weather Requires Hot Tea

Next we were treated to a Chinese tea ceremony, where we sampled several different types of tea which was nice since it was quite cold outside. Not as cold as New York state, but definitely cold enough for us to appreciate some hot tea! Our dinner that evening was delicious, in addition to some the same dishes we’d eaten at previous meals, we were also served Peking Duck. The duck was carved right next to our table which only made the experience that much more interesting. 

When we’d finished dinner we went to an acrobat show in a nearby theater. I thought that this show was even more impressive than the one I’d seen in Shanghai, and again I was amazed at the things the acrobats could do! 

Mandatory Shopping

The last day of our Beijing tour began at a weekend market where there was a lot of local artwork and antiques. I was sorely tempted by the jewelry there, but held myself back. (Ok I bought a pair of earrings, but they had DRAGONS on them. It was basically mandatory for me to get them…)

Hot Pot, Hot Stuff

For lunch we went to Nan Men Hot Pot restaurant. If you’re unfamiliar with hot pot, the table has a pot of boiling broth in the middle with herbs in it. Then plates of raw food (such as beef, vegetables, noodles, potatoes, or dumplings) are brought the table, and a bowl of sauce is given to each person. Diners place the food they want in the boiling water, plucking it out when it’s finished, and dip it in the sauce for flavor. At the time I wasn’t a big fan because I didn’t like the taste of the sauce, but it was definitely an interesting way to eat. It was especially challenging trying to get slippery food out of the boiling pot with chopsticks! 

One Last Market

We walked off lunch at another market which was a lot of fun to wander. All the vendors want to sell you their items and try to lure you in by offering ‘special discounts, just for you’. Markets are probably among of my favorite things to do when traveling, it’s fun to see all the different products available and bargain for the best deals. 

The Heavenly Temple of Heaven

Our itinerary wrapped up with a visit to the Temple of Heaven complex. The highlight for me was the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests which is a beautiful, circular temple with so many colors and details.

Popular Park

The surrounding park is a popular place for locals to gather and socialize, and I was amazed at how many people were there. Many retired people go simply to hang out: playing cards, singing, dancing, even playing hacky sack. Some of us on the tour joined in with the dancing, a few even forming a conga line, and a reporter took a picture of my friend dancing with one of the local women there. Then we wandered over to an area that looked a lot like a playground, but when we got closer it was really an outdoor gym where many more people were working out. Vincent, our tour guide, told us that many will come there everyday, all day, to keep themselves in shape. This is definitely something that would be great to see in the United States! 

All Good Things Must Come to an End

Sadly this was the end of our tour, so we went back to the hotel where many of us just wanted to relax after such busy days. A few friends and I were craving Pizza Hut, but unfortunately our hotel was out of their delivery range. Yes, I know we were in China and should have been eating more of the local food, but we’d been eating it the entire tour and were missing familiar foods from home. Luckily(?), we were within the delivery range for McDonald’s. Oh yes, my friends, we had McDonald’s delivered to our hotel rooms. After delighting in our American fast-food meal, we spent the rest of the night packing our bags for our flight the next day to Hong Kong to meet the ship.

Bye-Bye, Beijing!

China is a huge and diverse country with so much history and natural beauty. We did a lot on our tour, but I still only saw a sliver of what China and Beijing have to offer. Read on for the final post about my time in the People’s Republic of China!

Read more about my adventures on Semester at Sea!

Have you visited any of the Wonders of the World?