This morning, as I sat down and tried to conquer summing up 2 months of adventure and learning in China, I felt pretty overwhelmed. So I'm going to first highlight the places I visited on my own. I tried to visit all the major tourist attractions in Beijing, and I'd say I did a pretty good job. ;)
All of them were accessible by subway and/or public bus, both of which were very cheap forms of transportation. I'm going to include the name of the place and what I thought about it, including any history I know (which is very limited). I am going to try to limit the pictures, but just for the record, I have 100 pictures for every picture I post on here. You're welcome ;) Ha ha.
1. 天安门 TianAnMen Square- The center of the city - everything is built around it (similar to the temple in Salt Lake City). Below Mao's picture is the door to 故宫 (gu gong), the emporer's home from long ago (no one lives there, but it still looks like the ancient structure of the emporer's palace).
2. 故宫 Gu Gong- the emporer's palace (mentioned above). The ancient palace consists of a series of courtyards/ buildings similar to the one below. Orange roofs and ancient-looking structure.
3. 北海 Bei Hai- huge lake that you can walk around, take boats across. Park is full of the Chinese willow tree (柳树 liu shu). Very peaceful place to visit.
4. 北京动物园 Beijing Zoo- Big zoo, but I didn't see that many animals (but I was tired that day, so maybe I gave up too easily). I did see pandas (see below!). There is an awesome shopping center that sells tons of cheap clothes across from the zoo beneath the ground. Hard to find, because there are hardly any signs for it.
5. 西单 XiDan- Huge western-style shopping center full of really expensive clothes, as well as the best 冰沙 Bing Sha (mango shaved ice dessert) and a famous bookstore where you can buy Chinese educational materials.
6. 长城 Chang Cheng- The Great Wall. Way more beautiful than I was expecting. The pollution was super bad when I went, so I can only imagine how beautiful it is on a day when pollution is not as bad! We went to the Mu Tian Yu entrance, where Obama and his wife also visited. There are many entrances, but this one is the most industrialized due to Obama's visit. There were tons of vendors along the way selling Beijing paraphernalia.
7. 牛街 Niu Jie Mosque- There are a lot of minorities in China (56 total), one of them being Muslim immigrants that came to China along the Silk Road. This mosque is an interesting blend of Muslim beliefs (with Arabic influence) but in Chinese. Some of the earliest records of Muslim influence in China.
8. 圆明园 Yuan Ming Yuan Park-also a huge park with lots of willow trees and lily pads. There are also a lot of ancient ruins but I'm not sure the history behind it (I believe another country came in and destroyed them so they are only shards of rock now).
9. 雍和宫 Yong He Gong Temple- Called the Lama temple because the monks are called lamas? One of the busiest Buddhist temples I've been to. There were tons of people worshiping and burning incense. I was surprised at how many people were there.
10. 景山 Jing Shan Park- The emporer's park overlooking his palace (故宫 mentioned in #2 - do you recognize the orange roofs?) Beautiful park with a great view of the center of Beijing.
11. Chinese perfomance at a coffee shop. I wouldn't necessarily say this is one of Beijing's main attractions, but apparently the "tea culture" is important to their community (meaning people go to tea shops and chat with friends and watch performances). This performance consisted of people doing tricks with tea pots and balancing clay pots on their heads. I found it amusing, but it wasn't my favorite thing I've been to.
12. 紫竹院 Zi Zhu Yuan park- One of my favorite parks within walking distance of my university. I would run here often to get exercise. There were always (no matter what time of day) a TON of old people dancing, doing exercising, practicing various sports. The culture amoung retired people in China is way different than America, and running in this park was a good feel for that culture - there is a huge sense of community within the retired population - anyone can join on the dances and exercises for free. The park also had tons of willow trees and lily pads.
13. 天坛 Tian Tan: Temple of Heaven- One of my favorite places to visit because the place was huge and pretty and it didn't feel as crowded as all the other places I visited. Below you can see a picture of my two favorite travel buddies (Nancy and Mary Christina) as well as my favorite frozen yogurt ice cream (I bought two a day when traveling because it was so hot and they would sell them on the streets).
14. 后海 Hou Hai- a big lake next to 北海 Bei Hai. Tons of shops around the lake. Has a very interesting night culture/scene - kind of sketch if you ask me, tons of bars and performers. At night it is beautiful, though, because they hang red lanterns and lights that reflect in the water. There were tons of people when I went so I ended up leaving early. :/
15. This is not a main attraction, but I literally bought juice from this awesome juice shop probably every day. I don't even drink juice in the US, but this juice is made purely from fresh fruit, no preservatives, concentrates, or sugar added. This cup I'm holding is pure mango juice, super thick and delicious. I was kind of obsessed with this place!
16. 北京语言大学 Beijing Language University- had a bookstore famous for Chinese teaching materials - the most useful resource I found in Beijing. Lots of teaching materials and located relatively close to my university (all the universities are in the same part of town). You can see the many countries flags behind me, all of which are taught at this university.
17. 潘家园 Pan Jia Yuan- a HUGE shopping center, but full of local vendors selling cultural products, some very expensive (hand-crafted pots, fabric, beads). Very interesting and actually also swarming with people (mostly locals).
18. 798 Beijing Arts District- To be completely honest, I didn't think this place was that great. But you can walk around the city and there are various art structures along the streets, apparently. I didn't see that many, though, and the weather was super hot. Here you can see some dinos, a wall where many visitors "left their mark" and some cool sculptures.
19. Kaoraoke Bars - SO FUN and everywhere throughout the city. Although their called bars in America, they weren't really bars. You could rent your own room, get free food, and be in control of your own music. I thought it was SO FUN and wonder why America doesn't do this more often!
