In Beijing

I arrived at Beijing on Wednesday, and after lunch at the airport I met up with my parents who arrived a few hours after I did. We went from the airport to the Crown Plaza hotel, and got checked in, and after a short rest we went for a walk around Beijing. After awhile of walking around I was starting to feel hungry, so we tried to catch a cab to a place I had read about called Peter's Tex-Mex Grill. It seemed to take forever to get a taxi to go to this place. The first two taxis we got did not know where the place was, and eventually we found a guy working at a hotel that knew the area it was in, and hailed a taxi for us and told the driver where to go. Eventually we made it.

I have not had any Tex-Mex in about a year, so the food was wonderful! My parents thought it was funny that flew all the way to China and the first meal they had was Tex-Mex. My Mom had chicken enchilladas, my Father had beef tacos, and I had a 9-layer dip burrito. Yum!

On Thursday morning our guide picked us up at the hotel, and our first stop was Tiananmen Square. It was a big square filled with tourists. No tanks, so that was good.



After Tiananmen Square we went to the Forbidden City. I had been to Forbidden City before but not with a guide, so we saw some things that I had missed before. It was pretty nice.



Entrance to Forbidden City.



Inside the Forbidden City.



Throne room in Forbidden City.

After lunch we went to the Temple of Heaven (below). The one part I wanted to go to, the echo wall, was closed for restoration so we visited the main temple and then visited a tea house, saw a Chinese tea ceremony, and tried a few different Chinese teas.



For dinner we went to Qianmen Quan Ju De restaurant for Roast Beijing Duck. The dinner was very good, but everyone agreed that Peking Gourmet in Falls Church, Virginia was better. Go figure.

Friday morning up woke up and I did not feel well, so I stayed at the hotel all day. My parents went to visit the Great Wall, the Sacred Way, and a tomb of some emperor. In the evening I was feeling better, so I joined them for dinner. The next day would be an early day, so we all turned in kind of early.



On Saturday we left early to go see the Summer Palace (above). The large part of the palace in the middle, and the Buddhist temple above it, had just been opened for vistors the week before so we were lucky to get to see that. After seeing the Summer Palace and having lunch we were suppose to go see the Lama Temple, but traffic was so bad because of the holiday that we just went right to the airport. Next stop: Xi'an...