The Wild Wall

This past weekend we went to the Great Wall at Simatai, which is about a 2.5 hour bus ride from Beijing. Simatai is known as the "wild wall" since it's a bit more rugged than some other sections of the wall.













It was beautiful day and the Great Wall was just magnificent! We took a cable car to the top and then walked around the wall for a couple hours. We are excited to go back and do some more hiking! We're told there are some good day hikes where you can start farther out on the wall and end at Simatai, you can even camp out overnight which could be exciting!

All in all it was a great day, beautiful fall weather, coupled with wandering around the Great Wall - it doesn't get much better than that!

Adventures in Xi'an

We went to Xi'an last weekend with Will's program. It was a weekend full of adventurous travel and amazing sights. We took an overnight train from Beijing and arrived in Xi'an around 7a.m. in the morning. The train ride was an interesting experience! We stayed in "hard sleepers," each compartment was four bunks high, with a total of 8 bunks each. We befriended some of our bunk mates, including an older Chinese couple, as well as a young woman we played cards with - we taught her how to play gin rummy!












In Xi'an we went to see the terracotta warriors, which were pretty amazing. To think that these sculptures were discovered in the mid 70s... These treasures are 2,200 years old!













We then went to check out the old city walls, and then that night explored a really neat Muslim neighborhood - really good food! It was the end of Ramadan (their holy month of fasting) so everyone was out in the streets enjoying food and blessings from the local Imam. The next day we went to a museum, as well as a famous Buddhist temple, home to the original translations of Buddhist scriptures that were brought from India.












We took the train back that night and then I went straight to work - phew! It was well worth it though for a weekend full of amazing sights, religions and food!

End of Golden Week!

We've been taking it easy for the past couple days, since Will unfortunately was hit with some food poisoning. Luckily it's run its course and he's feeling much better! Tomorrow we head back to work and school, but all in all we had a really fun and relaxing week off!

Yesterday we went to this really cool flower market near our apartment where you can get great deals on flowers and plants. We picked out a gardenia plant, an orchid, and this really cool plant which we don't know the name of (see pic below.) We're trying to come up with a name, I like "The Edge," but I don't think Will is sold yet - we are still deliberating.

We also went out last night to celebrate Will's bday, which was Friday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILL! We went out for Thai food and then to the swanky St. Regis for a cocktail! I had a yummy mango bellini and Will had a "St. Regis martini." The bar was pretty quiet but there was a good guitar player so we just hung out and relaxed for a bit. The St. Regis is VERY nice.....I can't wait to go back there soon!

We also got our gas to work in the kitchen and picked up some pots and pans, so we can cook finally! On Friday night for Will's bday we made pasta - it was soo good to have a home cooked meal! Here's a pic of our kitchen...

On Sunday we took another bikeride and explored our neighborhood. We live right near our own little "metro parks" area...

We also live near the embassy district, as we were biking around the guards were changing shifts...

We went to a produce market near our apartment and bought a lot of fresh veggies. We stayed away from the fish and meat, although it looked really good!

As we were biking home there was a beautiful sunset...

Next weekend we are heading to Xian with Will's program to see the Terracotta warriors - we'll be sure to take lots of pics!

Yesterday we went to the Summer Palace, which is in the Haidian District, near Will's university. The Summer Palace served as a royal summer home and is like a massive park, filled with beautiful temples and gardens. We took a boat across the lake and then wandered around the grounds and courtyards.

It was very crowded as you can see in the picture below, but we escaped some of the crowds and found a quiet spot to relax.

Here is a picture of me in front of the marble boat, which the Empress Cixi ordered refurbished as a tribute to the Chinese navy. According to history, the navy would have benefited more from real ships, as their fleet was destroyed in 1894 by the Japanese.

After touring the Palace, we took our bikes to a music festival in Haidian Park that Will's teacher recommended. It was fun to check out the music scene and wander around the park. Quite a different scene from the Summer Palace!

After that we took our bikes and headed back home...we had enough of the crowds for one day!

Golden Week

Will and I are enjoying a week off during China's October Golden Week holiday. This holiday has an official and traditional significance - the official holiday celebrates the founding of the People's Republic of China, while the traditional holiday is a lunar festival to celebrate friends and family far away. During this week people often go back to their hometowns to be with family and friends, so Beijing is "relatively" empty. We thought it would be a great time to do a little sightseeing....

Yesterday we bought bikes at the Carrefour, a French supermarket chain. The bikes were pretty inexpensive, but seemed like decent quality (until my bike chain broke - luckily we befriended a local bike repairman who fixed me up in no time.) We definitely looked like "touristas" wearing our helmets.

We biked to Tiananmen Square, which was about an hour ride from our apartment. Yesterday was the actual anniversary of the founding of the PRC, so Tiananmen was packed. It was great to be on our bikes and zoom right by all the crowds.

After Tiananmen we went to Houhai, a really neat neighborhood on a lake, filled with bars, restaurants and shops. There are also a lot of old hutongs in the neighborhood, which were really fun to explore on our bikes.

Here is a picture of me enjoying a bottle of Tsingtao Beer and relaxing after our bike ride.

We're heading out to do some more exploring. Talk to you soon!