China!

Well these posts are a long time coming! But now that we're back in the home country (Canada!) we've got some more time to update our blog for the last few times!

When we left Korea on October 10th, our first stop as Beijing! We spent four days there seeing the city. We arranged a private tour for our 4 days and it was awesome! We had our own driver and tour guide who took us wherever we wanted. Beijing is AMAZING! We were SO glad we had been in Korea before hand, otherwise we would have had EXTREME culture shock. There are people AND cars EVERYWHERE in China!

Our plane out of Korea

 Waiting in Weihei, China for a few hrs on a layover

The first evening after we got picked up from the airport we set out to find some dinner. We were in sensory overload, it was all new and foreign to us and so different even from Korea! We of course settled on McDonald's for dinner as the safe choice... You think after being in Korea for a year we'd be just a BIT more adventurous...

The next day we had a JAM-PACKED schedule... We started off our day with a tour of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden city. After a busy morning we made a stop at a 'tea shop'. A lady showed us all kinds of different teas and the correct way to brew them all. It was very neat and all of the teas tasted great, so of course we got sucked into buying some tea and some 'magical' color changing cups (the funny thing is my mom and dad came home from their Asia trip with the EXACT same cup as us). Then we had a delicious lunch and continued to the Temple of Heaven, the place where the Emperor would worship and pray. After the Temple of Heaven we made a stop at a silk market. This is where they make silk goods starting from silk larvae. It was kind of need to see the whole process being done. Of course they try and suck you in to buy some items but Brian and I would have none of it after the Tea shop. We also stopped at a trendy shopping area. Where we took a peddycab around, it was really neat! Then it was off to see a kungfu show performed by a group of monks and then we had a delicious roast duck dinner! It was a busy day!

Tiananmen Square

 Forbidden City

 Our Lunch

 Temple of Heaven

 Silk Market

Houhai Shopping area/peddycab

 Peking Duck Dinner

Day #3: The 2nd day we headed to the one place I had really wanted to see in China: The Great Wall. And Let me tell you, it was GREAT! We had to drive about 2 hrs to the section of the wall we went to but it was definitely worth it. The weather was overcast, cloudy and foggy, so not the perfect weather for the wall but that meant there was pretty much NO one else there, we had the walll to ourselves! We hiked for about an hr and half up the wall it was so cool. Most of the wall is completely rebuilt, but there are some parts that are still original. 

After the wall and a quick lunch, we headed to the Olympic park where the 2008 Olympic summer games were held. China takes such pride in hosting the Olympics, the parks and gardens are still in amazing condition and whenever a Chinese person would talk about the Olympics and all the preparation that went into the games they are so proud and  and appreciative.

After the Olympic Park, we headed to the Pearl Market... This place was an experience all on its own (I wish I had taken some pictures or videos)... The market is pretty much where you can buy anything 'knockoff' that you could think of from iPhones to socks... Once again, of course Brian and I had no idea what to expect. As you walk down the aisles there are ladies yelling at you and grabbing you by the arms trying to pull you into their stalls. At one point we both had people grabbing onto our arms and bags, so we had to run up a stairwell to break loose and get away! We finally got out of the market and were completely exhausted for the night! 

Day #3: On our last day in Beijing we had just enough time before our flight to go and see the Summer Palace. The weather was beautiful that day too! Crystal clear blue skies which is very unusual for Beijing! I think the Summer Palace was the most beautiful place we saw in China (besides the wall of course...) The Palace had these HUGE gardens with a enormous pond in the middle. It was so pretty! After the palace we caught our flight out of Beijing and into London and then onto Amsterdam. 

On our way to London