Over Thanksgiving in 2017 we went to Beijing China with my cousin Lauren and her husband Alex Chandler. It was amazing, beautiful and cold. I went half expecting it to be somewhat like Tokyo but boy was I wrong. It wasn't colorful or bright but instead muted and monotone. At one point Lauren reminded me that we were in a Communist country. She said it looked just like Ukraine, where she served her mission. I am so happy to go though because the buildings were beautiful and the Great Wall of China was incredible.
We flew in and stayed our first night in an Airbnb near the hotel. We went out to eat at a local place that was very similar to Shabu Shabu in Japan. We were all okay except for TJ who spent the night puking. I was thinking it was the 14 hour, being messed up on time that did it or his lack of a foreign stomach because the rest of us were fine and we all ate the same thing. I was really worried about food going into the trip seeing that I was 11 weeks pregnant but we did great! Thank you modern medicine that probably greatly contributed to that. The food wasn't amazing and we found ourselves eating at McDonalds or Pizza Hut on a few occasions.
The next morning we woke up early and hopped on a plane to Xi'an where the Terra Cotta Warriors are buried. WOW! How cool! Amazing how old this country is! We had a wonderful guide which was very handy. They picked us up from the airport, took us to a few sights and then dropped us back off at the airport.
That night we flew in late to Beijing and got a taxi to our next hotel which was more centrally located. The cab driver did not know where our hotel exactly was because he dropped us off and said just down there, which was a long dark alley at 11:30 pm. So we walked and walked and there was no hotel. Luckily there was a hotel along the way that we could get directions from. We were no where near. So we walked the rest of the distance and thank goodness found our hotel. We stayed there for the next three nights. It was a great locations. The next two days we explored Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City and took a tour up to the Great Wall of China which was spectacular!
Paid a visit to Olympic Square and the Birds Nest
On Thanksgiving Alex suggested we get Peking Duck in honor of the Christmas Story. It was very interesting and definately an experience.
The last night we stayed in a SUPER nice hotel because hotels are super cheap over here. For the first two hotels we paid like $37 a night. This last one we only paid $118 for it. I am in love with nice hotels! It was wonderful!
One night we went to see an acrobatic show which was pretty cool!
We had a 7 hour layover on the way back in San Francisco so Dad came and picked us up and took us around the city cause Lauren and Alex had never been. So great to see Dad.
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