China Travels - Beijing Part I

After purchasing China Visas (good for the next 10 years btw) - we began planning a trip across China.  The Saturday after Christmas, December 26, we took a 3 hour flight from Okinawa to Beijing to begin our adventure.  ​

Not gonna lie, I was a bit worried about China's rising smog problem, and landing in the Beijing airport did nothing to combat this.  You could barely see past 100 ft away and the air looked DIRTY.  #awesome  

After checking into the Prime Hotel Beijing located near the Forbidden City, we were determined to have Peking duck as our first meal in China.  I found a spot in our #lonelyplanet book, Jing Zun Peking Duck, and we figured out how to take the subway from our hotel to there.  Good news - Beijing subway is pretty easy to use and figure out - and had an English option which helped immensely!  Our first dinner in Beijing was amazing.  We ordered a full duck and a side of 20 dumplings #yes20wasthesideorder  Could not have been more content.  The full duck was carved in front of our table and served with a special sauce, thin 'pancakes', cucumber slices, and onion.

At Naha airport in Okinawa, ready to board our flight to Beijing

View when we landed - #SMOGGY :/

View of the restuarant

Carving our duck

Our feast #DELISH!

The next morning, we went to go explore the city, and we woke up to SNOW.  Definitely not used to experiencing 23 degree temperatures and snow - especially living in San Diego and Okinawa.  #beachbums  But it was a nice surprise :)   We started at Temple of Heaven Park.  It is one of China's busiest urban landscapes and is of Confucian design.  Originally, it served as a vast stage for solemn rites performed by the emperor of that time (known as the Son of Heaven).  He prayed here for good harvests and sough divine clearance and atonement.  #gettineducated #thankslonelyplanet

This park was quite unique and had a lot going on!  We saw traditional dancing (which looked like fun!), as well as people singing together, and people gathered round people performing.  And for any of you who have watched #VICE, there was an episode discussing the problem of people dating and getting married in China.  It basically discussed how there is a huge gap in the number of men to women (5:1).  It showed parents creating fliers for their sons or daughters and marketing them at parks for other people to come discuss their child and a possible future relationship.  After watching this episode, some of what we witnessed made a lot more sense because there was a large area dedicated to people who had pieces of paper (fliers) in front of them, while others gathered around them to discuss.  We had no idea what was going on at that time, and they didn't take kindly to obvious foreigners walking around and observing this.  But we basically got to witness parents advertising their kids for dating relationships to find the most attractive match!

Beijing subway stop near our hotel

Temple of Heaven Tickets

different structures around the park

Unique, detailed hallways built around the park

After walking around the park and witnessing some unique Chinese customs, we came upon the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.  This structure is made up of wooden pillars that support the ceiling without any nails or cement.  This building is 38 meters high, and 30 meters in diameter, which is pretty astonishing if you think about it being built and staying stable with no nails.  Everything is fit together perfectly, and is quite beautiful to look at.  All of the dark blue represents 'Heaven' as well as the circular structures.

Apparently you can rate public toilets in China... #whoknew

After Temple of Heaven, we headed over to Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City area.  Tian'anmen Square is the world's largest public square (440,000 sq meters) in the heart of Beijing.  Mao conceived this square to project the enormity of the Communist Park, and during the Cultural Revolution, he reviewed parades of up to a million people here.  #gettineducated #lonelyplanet  This place has been the site of many protests and demonstrations including the infamous 1976 Tian'anment Incident as well as the prodemocracy demonstration in 1989, where hundreds lost their lives on the surrounding streets.  

In order to even enter this area, we had to go through security (including metal detectors), and they had armed police men set up around the square.  #notcreepyatall  Pretty crazy seeing the Tian'anmen Gate (Gate of Heavenly Peace) with a huge portrait of Mao on it.  This gate is located at the north of Tian'anmen square and separates the square from the Forbidden City area.  This gate is the same one that Mao proclaimed the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949.

Tian'anmen Gate

This picture is not at all unsettling #China

Unfortunate for us, we had to have our passports with us in order to buy tickets to enter the Forbidden City.  So we just walked around the grounds observing the scenery.  (Luckily we still had a few days left in Beijing and were able to fit the Forbidden City into another day of site seeing).

Meridian Gate - entrance to the Forbidden City

Nate taking a selfie on the grounds surrounding the forbidden city #frozen

Afternoon snack - street dumplings! So good!

Walking around Beijing

After walking around the Forbidden city outer grounds, we hopped back on the subway and headed over to Lama Temple.  This is the most renowned Tibetan Buddhist temple outside of Tibet and is still an active place of worship today.  

There was incense being lit at one of the alters when we walked in and luckily we were also able to participate which was pretty cool.  There were many halls spread out along the grounds.  The fifth hall, Wanfu Pavillion) houses a 18 meter high Buddha statue in his Tibetan form, clothed in yellow satin and sculpted from a single block of sandalwood.  It was quite impressive but we did not take pictures of inside any of the halls out of respect.

The grounds walking into the Lama Temple area

Lama Temple grounds

Incense lighting

#Incenseselfie! We can barely smile because we're so cold!!

Lama Temple grounds

Lama Temple grounds

Lama Temple grounds

Lama Temple grounds

We then walked over to Confucius Temple, which is China's second largest Confucian temple.  This temple was built in 1302.  It houses many old trees including the "Touch Evil Cypress" tree which is thought to be able to distinguish between good and evil.  Legend has it that a corrupt official was passing by and the tree knocked off his hat - distinguishing him as 'bad'.  This complex also many stone tablets etched with names of scholars.

Confucius Temple

Old trees

Stone Templets

Grounds of Confucius Temple

Grounds of Confucius Temple

From the temples, we decided to go walk around the Chinese alleyways to find the #2 brewery in China, Great Leap Brewing.  This place was kind of hard to find, and tucked away in small, winding alleyways (but it was an adventure finding it)!  It is housed in a 100-year-old Qing-dynasty courtyard and has many unique ales made up of locally sourced ingredients.  Anyway that we're able to enjoy craft beer around the world we do!  #craftbeerenthusiasts #sandiegoruinedus  

We chatted with other customers, including two United pilots, and enjoyed some good beers including on of their ales called Honey Ma, which was made with Sichuan peppercorns.  After enjoying some afternoon brews, we grabbed a quick dinner and headed back to our hotel after our long day exploring Beijing.

Saw these bikes all over. Had built in mittens and coat you could put over you as you rode around since it was so cold!

Streets don't look dirty or smoggy at all right?

Great Leap Brewing (one of their three locations around the city)

Courtyard of Great Leap

Trying to warm up after walking around in the 20 degree weather!

Mmmm beer

Next day (and blog post) - we got to see one of the famous world sites - The Great Wall! 

Until next time folks

Follow in our Footsteps:

Prime Hotel Beijing Wangfujing (great location, beautiful hotel)
 2 Wangfujing St, WangFuJing, Dongcheng Qu, Beijing Shi, China, 100006
+86 10 5816 9999
Website

Jingzun Peking Duck (delicious and great price!!)
4 Chunxiu Rd, Chaoyang Qu, Beijing Shi, China, 100027
+86 10 6417 4075
​Hours:  11am - 10pm
*need to call ahead if you want the duck so they can prepare it ahead of time
TripAdvisor

Temple of Heaven
1 Tiantan E Rd, Dongcheng Qu, Beijing Shi, China
+86 10 6702 8866
Price: park/through ticket Apr-Oct ¥15/35, Nov-Mar ¥10/30, audio guide ¥40 (deposit ¥50)
Hours: park 6.30am-10pm, sights 8am-5.30pm Apr-Oct, park 6.30am-8pm, sights 8am-5pm Nov-Mar

Tiān’ānmén Square

Lama Temple
12 Yonghegong St, Dongcheng Qu, China, 100007
+86 10 8419 1919
Price:  ¥25, English audio guide ¥50
Hours:  9am-4.30pm

Confucius Temple
15 Guozijian St, Dongcheng Qu, Beijing Shi, China, 100007
+86 10 8402 7224
Price:  ¥30, audio guide ¥30
Hours:  8.30am-6pm May-Oct, to 5pm Nov-Apr, last entry 1hr before closing

Great Leap Brewing  
(multiple locations but the original one we went to is below)
#6 Doujiao Hutong, Di’Anmenwai Avenue, Dongcheng District 
北京市东城区
Hours:  Sun-Thur 14:00-23:00 ,  Fri-Sat 14:00-00:00