China!

This year's spring break trip included climbing The Great Wall! China was on my "to-see" list while living over here and I was able to go with my mom and sister. After being a tour guide in Seoul to my mom and sister for a week, we were off to Beijing, China!

China requires nationals of many other countries to obtain a visa to enter their country. The fees are usually $20.00 to $50.00. Not too bad, huh? Well, when you're from the States the price is usually around $140.00. Well, here in Korea, the Chinese government requires that you obtain your visa through a travel agent (instead of just going to the embassy) which adds another fee. So about 2 months ago, I turned in my application to the travel agency that works with my school, they came to pick up my application and fee (good customer service!) and then after 5 days and $185.00 (this was almost as much as my flight there! ), I had my visa. China, here I come! My mom and sister headed to the Chinese Embassy in DC and picked up their visas and after we had all paid an arm and a leg for them, it was time to book our trip!

  

My Visa

We left to Beijing on the morning of March 19th. The flight time was about 2 hours. After a lot of charades and pointing at our itinerary, we made it to our hotel where we waited for the hotel personnel to find our information (apparently our hotel wasn't used to bookings on Expedia). After the hotel personnel located our information, we headed to our room to relax. That evening, we headed out to explore a little bit.

Our hotel

 Chinese coke

 Charades while ordering....it got pretty interesting when I had to act out toilet paper at the front desk:)

Subway

Our second day, we headed to The Great Wall of China! 

 Tour bus on our way to The Great Wall

The Great Wall of China:
China's Great Wall is the world's longest architectural structure and is widely renowned as one of the seven great wonders of the world. The wall stretches 6,700 kilometers (4,163 miles) from the Jiayuguan Pass in Gansu Province to the Shanhaiguan Pass in Hebei Province.
A first set of walls designed to keep Mongol nomads out of China were built of earth and stones in wood frames during the Qin dynasty, 221-206 BC.

 Bucket List item: Climb the Great Wall--CHECK!

 The stairs were very steep!

We made it!

 Souvenirs

Some fun pictures...

 We got trapped in the whole tourist moment and took a picture on this camel.

Then we had to make it all the way back down...

After the Great Wall, the tour bus stopped at other "touristy" spots such as a jade shop, candy shops and more jade stores. We then had a family style lunch with the tour group. We ended up eating with a really nice family. We didn't really understand each other but it was still nice to sit down and have a good time with them, despite language barriers. 

Lunch...REAL Chinese food

A lot of the people on the tour bus or at the places where we stopped wanted their picture taken with us. They especially loved my mom! :) They kept saying "picture, picture!"

 A megastore

 Peking duck--a Beijing specialty

 Lots and lots of candy

 More of my documenting everything...

Wangfujing 
Located in Dongcheng District in Beijing, this is one of the Chinese capital's most famous shopping streets.

Peking Duck is a famous duck dish in Beijing that has been prepared since the imperial era and is now considered one of the national foods of China. The dish is prized for the thin, crispy skin with delicious versions of the dish serving mostly the skin and a little bit of the meat. It is usually sliced in front of the diners by the cook.

...yum!

  Traditional Chinese tea

 Our last couple of days we stayed closer to the centre of the city

 Candy shopping in Wangfuging

 Time for souvenirs!

 Caramel fruit! There were all these caramel fruit that we tried. It was similar to caramel apples in the fall but they had caramel pineapple, candy strawberries and a lot of other good things. This is what you're "supposed" to eat in Wangfujing

The pineapple one was our favorite!

 There were also scorpions on a stick for a snack but we weren't that brave!

 Everybody was Kung Fu fighting!

Our last night, we went and saw a great show about the history of Kung Fu

 Around Beijing

 The is the silk market where they harass you until you buy something. These men and women were the most persistent sellers I have ever seen. They all spoke about 10 languages, too, so they could convince people from all over the world...

 The Forbidden City

 Our last lunch in China...REAL dumpling soup...

 Getting on our plane back to Seoul the "good old-fashioned" way.