Beijing and the wall was number 1 on our "To Do" list in China. And managed to make our way there on the long easter weekend of April 2007.
We had planned to use local transport wherever possible... kinda adds to the excitement (and saves money of course). Got a little lost in finding the bus though. I had the bus number written down in mandarin and stuff but had to go around asking (pointing to the sheet of paper and gesticulating) a whole crowd of people. The ones who knew english didnt know where the bus stop was and the ones who did, didnt know english. But then we got lucky and ran into a group of girls from Nanjing who were also headed for Badaling.
Badaling: You see glimpses of the wall before you get to Badaling, and it was a great feeling. To be seeing the only man made object visible to the naked eye from the moon (not true, but i believed it for a very long time). From Badaling entry point one can climb either side of the wall, a crowded steep side and a less crowded steeper side (which we had taken). Before the climb we had some ethnic breakfast (cup-o-noodle :P).
Xiu Shui Silk Market: Houses all the vendors who got relocated from Beijing's traditional silk street. You can pretty much get anything you want here, Louis Vuitton handbags to pearl jewellery in the 4 floors the market occupies. Probably among the most aggressive bargaining and hardselling places I have ever seen. I had to buy a wallet and bought one for 50RMB (bargained down from 75RMB). Now, I was walking around with a smirk thinking that I have tought them a thing or two about bargaining.Then Sanjukta bought a Chloe handbag for 60RMB (originally quoted 600 RMB).
Tiananmen Square: There is a flag hoisting and lowering ceremony at dawn and dusk everyday. When we reached in the morning there were still a large number of soldiers parading around. Did not look like the regular army though. Looked more like a rag tag bunch paraded for the benefit of tourists.
This was the first time we had chicken with walnuts for dinner (we didnt really have too many options), but it was great and we would have lots of it in future. The noodles with soya sauce was a little different from what we expected. The soya sauce came separately.
Back to the hotel for a good night's sleep and flight next morning back to HK. The only regrettable thing was not staying longer.
On our first morning we woke up as early as we could and headed towards our first destination - The great wall @ Badaling. (There are only some sections of the great wall open to the public, Badaling being the most popular).
We had planned to use local transport wherever possible... kinda adds to the excitement (and saves money of course). Got a little lost in finding the bus though. I had the bus number written down in mandarin and stuff but had to go around asking (pointing to the sheet of paper and gesticulating) a whole crowd of people. The ones who knew english didnt know where the bus stop was and the ones who did, didnt know english. But then we got lucky and ran into a group of girls from Nanjing who were also headed for Badaling.
Badaling: You see glimpses of the wall before you get to Badaling, and it was a great feeling. To be seeing the only man made object visible to the naked eye from the moon (not true, but i believed it for a very long time). From Badaling entry point one can climb either side of the wall, a crowded steep side and a less crowded steeper side (which we had taken). Before the climb we had some ethnic breakfast (cup-o-noodle :P). The view was awesome! The vast expanse where the mongol hordes may have come from and the sight of the wall itself undulating all over the hilly landscape. This was definitely the high point of the trip. There was also a museum at Badaling dedicated to the wall. Exhibiting the history of the wall and segments from the wall at other places. The chinese have been at it for quite some time now, starting from mud walls.. etc.
On the way to the summer palace, we passed a neighborhood with all grey dusty buildings and dry leafless trees. Reminded us of the soviet era communist blocks which you see so often in the older spy flicks.
Summer Palace: By palace one would generally expect imposing majestic architecture. However, chinese palaces appear to be a lot of manicured wide open spaces with lakes, streams and gardens. 75% of summer palace is water - the huge Kunming Lake. The other significant feature is a hill called 
Longevity Hill. The lake is man made, and all the soil that was dug out was piled to make the hill (not sure which one they were after).
There were these really beautiful trees at the summer palace. Looks like a painting from a distance. They are all over Beijing. Not sure what they are called.
There were these really beautiful trees at the summer palace. Looks like a painting from a distance. They are all over Beijing. Not sure what they are called.Xiu Shui Silk Market: Houses all the vendors who got relocated from Beijing's traditional silk street. You can pretty much get anything you want here, Louis Vuitton handbags to pearl jewellery in the 4 floors the market occupies. Probably among the most aggressive bargaining and hardselling places I have ever seen. I had to buy a wallet and bought one for 50RMB (bargained down from 75RMB). Now, I was walking around with a smirk thinking that I have tought them a thing or two about bargaining.Then Sanjukta bought a Chloe handbag for 60RMB (originally quoted 600 RMB).
Tiananmen Square: There is a flag hoisting and lowering ceremony at dawn and dusk everyday. When we reached in the morning there were still a large number of soldiers parading around. Did not look like the regular army though. Looked more like a rag tag bunch paraded for the benefit of tourists. 
Forbidden City: Overlooking the square is the Tiananmen Gate with the portrait of Chairman Mao. This is the south entrance to the Forbidden City - the Imperial Palace. Commoners were prohibited from entering and trespassing was punished by death. You could rent these really cool audio guides which is a small walkman like device with a map and earphones and shows your location on a map and tells you the background on the place. Unfortunately, you cannot control when it says, nor does it repeat. So, if you
miss it the first time, gone.
The place is vast with huge courtyards and halls, etc etc etc etc. Actually I got rather bored as it gets quite repetitive.
Beihai Park: Comes up on the left of Forbidden city from the North Gate. There is a beautiful lake you can boat in. It was a mistake to take paddle boats instead of battery operated ones. You have to work harder and the battery operated ones looked more fun. It was a great place where we wanted to spend more time but it was already quite late and the paddling had made us quite hungry. There was this place called FangShan restaurant inside the park (which was also recommended by Lonely Planet). Awesome decor... looked like an imperial restaurant in full glory.... and then we saw the menu. A little too exotic for our pallate I must admit. Camel Humps, Cow's stomach, Horse's ass... Naaah. No way.
Next stop. Bliss. Pizza Hut.
A foot massage got us back on our feet for another round of hard bargaining at the Xiu Shui silk market.
This was the first time we had chicken with walnuts for dinner (we didnt really have too many options), but it was great and we would have lots of it in future. The noodles with soya sauce was a little different from what we expected. The soya sauce came separately.
Back to the hotel for a good night's sleep and flight next morning back to HK. The only regrettable thing was not staying longer.
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