Beijing Days 1-2

Our last day in Qingdao was a relaxing one. The morning was spent at the beach and in the afternoon we checked out a trendy neighborhood just north of our hostel. From what I could tell, it was one of the main shopping hubs for the city. We checked out a few of the shops, but before long, we found ourselves distracted by a large food market. We walked around, checking out all of the stalls. There were people selling Halal bread, animal innards, fresh fruit, candy, stir fry dishes, battered and fried stuff, noodles, and soups. We picked up our last meal in Qingdao at this market and decided on some stir fried green beans, a sampling of fried food, and chicken soup. After dinner, we went straight to bed because we had to be up early for our train to Beijing!

The next morning, the only thing we could find open for breakfast on the way to the train station was McDonald's, so we picked up a couple of quick meals. The meal at McDonald's cost the same as the entire feast we had the night before.

The train from Qingdao to Beijing was nice. It was a high speed train going about 150 mph most of the way. In total it took about 6 hours. We had a cute little baby behind us that entertained us with his squeaking duck toy for the first couple hours, followed by a drum solo on the table in front of him, and for a finale, he played a drum solo on the table in front of him with a squeaking duck toy.

We got into Beijing, hopped in a cab, and used the GPS again to find our hotel. The GPS has been a lifesaver for these cab rides in China. We've been staying in lesser known hostels or bed and breakfast style places, which is cool for us, but tough on the cab drivers. Our hotel in Beijing is called Kelly's Courtyard. It's a small covered courtyard with 7 rooms that open into it. There is a rooftop lounge, a koi pond in the courtyard, and a super helpful staff. The hotel is located down a small maze of hutongs (alleyways) that look a little sketchy, but are far from it.

We dropped off our bags, got cleaned off, then went to the center of the city to check out Tienanmen Square. It's the largest public area on Earth and it's easy to believe. Everything in China is so much bigger than what we've been used to in Seoul and back home. The most striking thing is how wide open the spaces are. Pretty much all of the sightseeing spots close around 5, so we were out of luck for any sightseeing for the night, but we were in time for the Wangfungjin snack street night market. Snack street is exactly what it sounds like, but the snacks are pretty weird. Off the top of my head, there were grubs, scorpions, ostrich meat, venison, seahorses, starfish, snakes, whole sharks (tiny ones), sea urchin, shrimp, chicken skewers, pork skewers, beef skewers, lamb skewers, chicken hearts, lamb kidneys, and a lot more. Of those, we tried the scorpions, meat skewers, chicken hearts, sea urchin, and starfish. I decided to try a couple more and got the grubs, rotten tofu, and lamb kidneys. We also found a “Chinese hamburger” which is more like a pulled pork sandwich with cilantro and peppers. All of the greasy food tired us out, so we made our way back to the hotel to crash.

Here are some pics from our day. You can probably tell how much we like to eat!

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Our courtyard B&B in Beijing.

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A view from our room out to the common area

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The first thing we see on our way to the main sights is Chairman Mao.

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Soldiers stand guard at all times.

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A view of the capitol building and Tiananmen Square

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A column dedicated to the people of China in front, Mao's resting place in back

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Babies in China don't use diapers, instead, they go to the bathroom wherever/whenever they need to. Their pants are "modified" to accommodate this.

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A soldier guards Mao's body.

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Exploding cars are not allowed.

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The entrance to a food/junk market

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Candy coated fruit skewers

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Police bust an illegal stall

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They have Tibetan yogurt here. It's really delicious!

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Fried starfish

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The endless stalls of the Wangfungjin night market

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Ordering pork dumplings

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Ordering "Chinese hamburgers"

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Eel skewers and a lady yelling at me for putting my elbow in her food

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Sea urchin

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Another look at a section of the food stalls.

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A gorgeous Catholic church

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The bicycles only light was a first for me. I'm pretty sheltered.

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Most people ride bikes and are able to get where they're going in almost the same amount of time as those people in cars.

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Mao's portrait at night.

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Sculptures

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Chinese sewer cover