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!

Life in Beijing - One Week In

Hi everyone!

We thought it was about time to get our blog up and running and fill everyone in on our life in Beijing so far! Don't expect any life-altering thoughts and opinions here...but for a homebody from Western Mass and a jet-setting Ohio native, this is our perspective on life in Beijing so far....

Will and I arrived last Tuesday evening, after a wonderful weekend celebrating Mike and Melissa's wedding!

It was definitely a whirlwind of a weekend - after seeing friends and family, saying goodbye, lots of photocopying, dinner in the North End and a night at the swanky Langham hotel, sad goodbyes to my Mom and Mark, mean security workers at Logan stealing all my liquid valuables - we boarded the plan to head to San Francisco, and then to Beijing.

We arrived at our apartment late Tuesday evening - here are some pictures of our complex and apartment. It's very nice, clean and safe. We definitely lucked out with our apartment, having never seen it before our arrival.

Our apartment has all the comforts of home - 2 bedrooms, full bath, kitchen, living room - and even more comforts than we're used to - a doorman, a gym, a pretty courtyard with a lake and rocks...even an Irish pub!

The neighborhood outside our is filled with street vendors, noodle shops and hutongs.

I went with Will to his school, Tsingua University, last week. The campus is really beautiful and very green, with lots of nooks and crannies to think big thoughts. I was just thinking/praying that I wouldn't get lost while Will was in class...

We spent a lot of our first week getting settled, going to Walmart, exploring our neighborhood and eating! Next week is the National Week holiday, which both Will and I have off and plan to spend exploring Beijing....so look for more posts next week!

Here are some intial thoughts so far...

The Food
The food so far has been very good! We've enjoyed Peking Duck - we went to this really cool restaurant where you can watch the chefs roast the duck. We went into the roasting room and selected which duck we wanted to eat! Unfortunately we don't have any pictures...

On the night of the Chinese Mid-Autumn festival we went to a wonderful Schezuan restaurant, where we sat outside in a courtyard, under a date tree. We stared at the moon and thought of our friends and family so far away....

The Commute

Ahh yes, the commute. Imagine the green line after a Sox game, with the extra bonus of subway officials who help shove you on the train. My commute actually isn't too bad, just under an hour. Here is a picture of Will navigating the subway, and me, when we finally found my office!

Will's commute is a bit longer - it take a little under two hours to get to school, but luckily it's a bit quieter when he leaves so he can do work on the train.

The People

It's of course very hard to generalize, but the people we have met and encountered so far have been extremely nice. One example....after a very intense Walmart shopping experience, Will and I proceeced to the check-out line with our credit card in tow, only to learn that it didn't work on the store's system (note to self: bring CASH, a lot of places don't take int'l credit cards.) We didn't have enough cash to purchase our goods, and unfortunately the ATM wasn't accepting my card either. Then...the woman behind us asked in English if we needed help. She said she had once lived in Boston and was very thankful for all the people who had helped her along the way. She offered to take my U.S. dollars in exhange for RMB. Luckily by this point the store manager had figured out our credit card, but nontheless here was a complete stranger who was willing to help us out. She gave us her card and asked us to contact her if we ever needed anything.

So...I guess here is one lesson learned so far - believe in the kindness of strangers and help people out when you can, you never know when or where your kindness will be returned...maybe it will be at a Walmart check-out line in Beijing!