Wedding of Wonders – The Blog

Like most of our trip thus far, our stop in China came and went at the blink of an eye. As you can probably tell from our delayed posting, we ran around Beijing for three days attempting to see as much as possible before moving onto India. Our first stop in China was the unbelievably enormous Forbidden City which is located right in the heart of Beijing. Since the recent Olympic Games greatly increased the number of English-language signs throughout the city, we opted for public transportation instead of hopping in a cab. The transit system, albeit incredibly crowded, was perhaps the cleanest system we have ever encountered and much easier to navigate than the train lines in New York or Philadelphia. For only 2 Yuan (approximately $.30 USD) a passenger can travel the entire distance of the line and get to pretty much any location throughout Beijing. Only a few short stops from our beautiful hotel (more on that later) and we were right in the heart of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.

We made our way through the throngs of (mostly Chinese) tourists and past the main gate (aka The Meridian Gate) to the sprawling courtyard. Once inside this first gate, you are almost guaranteed to be swarmed by handfuls of locals attempting to sell you anything and everything from popsicles and traditional breads to paper fans and trinkets. One young lady attempted to sell Mike her services and we’re still not exactly sure what those services were, but the proposal did end with a wink. Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Once we made it past the tourist trap area (i.e. into the area that required an admission fee), we entered the interior portion of the Forbidden City and into the heart of the Emperor’s Palace.

It is simply impossible to put into words just how absolutely enormous this entire compound looks when you are standing in the center of everything. As you pass through each gate, you think that you’ve reached the end, but it continues even farther to another section even larger than the previous one. Once we reached the opposite end of the Forbidden City, we indulged in a couple of red bean popsicles (quite interesting) inside of the Emperor’s garden and enjoyed watching the crazy characters that passed us as we people watched.

After a few hours in the summer sun and scorching heat, we were beginning to get a little too red (no pun about communism intended) and decided that it was time for some shade. We found our way out of the Forbidden City (after another run-in with the girl that tried to proposition Mike earlier in the day), made it to the nearest subway station and headed back to our hotel. Now, I must say…after staying in some fabulous hotels along the way, this one definitely takes the cake thus far. The JW Marriott Beijing is an amazing hotel just steps from a high-end mall, a subway station, and a few great restaurants. Our room (we were kindly upgraded to a suite) had 2 bathrooms, high-end L’Occitane bath products and an enormous cushy king bed. But what really blew us away was the kindness of the staff. Each time we entered or exited the hotel, we were greeted with a warm smile and enthusiastic ‘hello’ or ‘enjoy your day’. Security was on high alert since numerous United States officials were visiting for a meeting about energy consumption and the impact of the US and China on global warming, but the staff did whatever they could to limit the hassle of having to go through the metal detector before entering the building as well as the excessive amount of security on site throughout our stay. Once we made it back to our room, we decided to go online and book our visit to the Great Wall. There were a number of options through the government-owned tour agency, but we decided to avoid the most popular section of the wall (the Badaling section) and book a visit to the less-crowded section known as the Mutianyu section. We scheduled our tour for the next morning and went to bed completely fried after our day out in the heat.

The next morning we went down to the lobby to wait for our tour guide Alice and we stopped to chat with the Concierge about where to find some good Peking duck once we returned. He made us a reservation at a place called China Lounge where the chef used to work at one of the most famous Peking Duck restaurants in China. Before we left for our tour, he asked us if we had seen the Acrobatic show in Beijing before. When we told him ‘no’, he insisted that we squeeze in a show before leaving the next morning. We agreed and added it to our long list of things to see and do that day. Shortly thereafter, Alice finally arrived with the rest of the tour group and we made our way out of the city and into the more rural area on our way to the Great Wall. Almost two hours later, we pulled into a small parking lot and next to a small building (also owned by the government) where workers produce Cloisonné pieces pretty much around the clock.

We were given a quick tour of the facility where they showed us the numerous (and extremely labor intensive) steps necessary to produce items ranging from vases and bowls to bracelets and chopsticks.

We were then escorted into the “gallery” where we were welcome to purchase (of course) some of the items that we had just seen throughout the production process. We grabbed a few souvenirs and then hopped back on the bus for the remaining drive to the Great Wall.

Once we arrived at the wall, we made our way through a throng of kiosks where people once again tried to sell us more souvenirs and past one sad looking camel until we finally arrived at the cable car that takes you to the top of the wall (and thus avoiding 1400 steps which my still swollen toe certainly could not handle). The ride to the top was slightly scary (I’m a huge baby when it comes to heights), but it was certainly worth it.

The view from the top of the Great Wall was absolutely breathtaking. Unlike other wonders we had visited, the actual wall is free from tourist traps and sales pitches and you are able to appreciate the beauty of everything around you. Although we stumbled upon other tourists from time to time, there were large chunks of time when we had a piece of the wall all to ourselves. It is difficult to describe, but the entire experience was amazing. We took advantage of the privacy and found a good place to take our wedding photos. Mike had to completely change into his tux (I thought it would be pretty funny if he got arrested for stripping down on the Great Wall), but I decided to put my dress on over my clothes. Aside from a small group of Chinese tourists who passed us at one point (and giggled at Mike getting changed), it was a rather successful photo shoot. Since the timer on the camera is only 10 seconds, it is pretty hilarious watching us attempt to get our necessary photos. I typically stand in place (since my dress is long and difficult to run in) while Mike hits the button on the camera and quickly runs (sometimes a decent distance away) into the frame. As we were taking our photos, a large crowd started to form on the steps leading up to the guard tower closest to where we were looking absolutely ridiculous. At one point, a guy from Holland finally came over and said “I’ve laughed at you guys enough. Would you like me to snap some photos for you?” So, yeah… we caused quite the scene. Long story short, we got some absolutely amazing shots on the wall.

Once we were finished taking our photos, we changed back into our street clothes and walked back to the cable car so that we could meet the tour group back at the bus. We were somewhat accosted by a handful of women attempting to sell us T-Shirts that said “I Climbed The Great Wall” on our way back down, but we made it through the market without buying anything, which was pretty impressive considering the overly aggressive selling tactics.

The bus snaked its way back through the small farming and fishing villages until we finally arrived back in the city. Since we were cutting in close on time, we were dropped off directly in front of the theater so that we could catch the Acrobatic Show before dinner. As we entered the theater, we were quickly ushered up to the front of the auditorium and into the “VIP” section at the front. (VIP = Western tourists who bought their tickets through the hotels that pretty much keep the acrobatic show in business.)

After listening to quite a few tracks from a traditional Chinese music CD (okay, maybe it was actually more than half of the Hilary Duff album), the lights finally dimmed and the show began. We expected to see something very similar to the acrobatic show in Epcot, but boy were we wrong. The gymnasts, contortionists and acrobats who performed were unbelievable and pulled off some pretty incredible stunts for a somewhat small stage.

At one point, there was a guy standing on a rolling board with a table on his shoulders that held another guy on top of it who was also standing on a rolling board who managed to fling multiple bowls onto his head without falling 20 feet to his death.

After the Acrobatic Show, we made our way to dinner at China Lounge. The restaurant was somewhat buried off of the main road and not exactly in the heart of the city, but when you walk inside, you feel as if you are right in the heart of everything. The decor was über modern and the vibe incredibly upbeat, which was a good sign of what was to come. The hotel called ahead and ordered our Peking Duck in advance (since it takes an hour to prepare), so we ate almost immediately. All I can say is: Oh. My. Gosh. The duck was perhaps one of the best dishes we have ever eaten. It was certainly a fabulous (and yummy) way to cap of an exciting and fast-paced visit to China.

The next morning we packed our bags and headed to the airport. It was an extremely quick stop on our trip, but we will definitely be heading back to China again in the near future. India here we come!

This entry was posted on Monday, June 1st, 2009 at 12:47 and is filed under China, Katie. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.