So I got home a couple of days ago from my trip to Beijing with my brother and we had a blast. As I wrote earlier my wife surprised me for my birthday by sending me to Beijing to chill and sight see with my brother. Upon arriving in Beijing our first order of business was heading to dinner, which for us was TGIF’s. We don’t really have American sit-down restaurants in Xian and so this was a huge gift. I got the Cheesy Bacon Cheeseburger and a Cherry Coke, which I haven’t had anything like that in... about 9 months. We actually went back for the nest few nights to enjoy the same meal. I should also mention I drank my first Mountain Dew in about 9 months as well in Beijing and words cannot express how good it was.
Food was fun because we haven’t had a lot of this stuff in a while, but we came to see the sites and see them we did. Our first day of sightseeing brought us to; Tiananmen Square which is the largest open urban area in the world, has tons of history and Mao Zedong’s Mausoleum is also found there. We actually couldn’t enter the square due to the conference going on last week which shut the area down (but we would return later). Right behind the Square is where the Forbidden City is found, which before our trip I thought it was only one building, but found out that it literally is a city. We entered the City and made our way around snapping pictures and making new discoveries with each turn we made. It’s an incredible place and is easily worth spending an hour or two at.
The next day we went to check out the Great Wall of China, which I’ve heard is kind of a big deal. When we bought our tickets to go up on the Gondola we found out to get back down we would get to take a toboggan thingy down a giant track (which was pure enjoyment). I’ve been to a few places in my day and the Wall was easily one of the best things I’ve ever seen, check out the pictures in the photo album section on the right. It was a pretty treacherous journey climbing up and down the mountains on the Wall, but I was comforted by the fact that I didn’t have to build it! I would have to say that this was the highlight of our trip for me and I would recommend seeing it to anyone traveling to China. We went down the luge track and 5 out of the 6 (or so) guards yelled at me to slow down or a variation of that. It was fun. We ended the night visiting Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube where the Olympics were held. They were both very unique and a good end to a great day.
On our final morning before heading to the airport we went back to Tiananmen Square to see if it was open and it was. We spent some time walking around the massive area talking with locals and enjoying our last moments in Beijing. It was an incredible trip and I’m so grateful to both Heather and Jenny for letting my brother and I go on this trip, thanks guys.
‘Till Next Time,
The Petersons
