Day 1 Beijing Tours

Before leaving from home, I contacted our former guide, IKE, who was able to organize a wonderful day of sightseeing for our free day in Beijing. His friend, Cindy was going to be our guide for the day.

 

3:00am... Kayli is wide awake and can't sleep. That means we are all wide awake... She was needing some midnight munchies! Her mac and chese dinner from the night before was long gone and she was a hungry bear!

 

After a few hours and waiting for things to open, we had some breakfast and met Cindy in the hotel lobby. We had a van and driver for the day. Our first stop was the Olympic Village to see the Bird's Nest and the Ice Cube. The area that became the Olympic Village was farmland back in the 1990's which is hard to imagine after seeing it today. Cindy told us that the Bird's Nest now houses an indoor ski facility... go figure. It was neat to see these amazing structures in person. There were lots of street vendors and Kayli scored a cute panda hat. It's a good thing because it is mighty cold out today. Around 30 degrees for a high and it was still early.

 

Next stop was the Summer Palace. It was rich in history and amazing to see. It encompasses over 100 acres, 75 acres of which are a huge lake. The Palace was built and burned down, rebuilt and burned again and then rebuilt for a third time. They were filming a movie at the Summer Palace today. Cindy was not sure of the details but thought, perhaps it was a funeral scene due to the way the actors were dressed.

 

After that, we headed to a nice Chinese lunch at a former prince's garden.  We had our own separate dining room and enjoyed some very yummy food... Kung Pao Shrimp was excellent along with some beef in a little potato nest. We had a vegetable dish of bamboo shoots and mushrooms... this is worth mentioning because I learned that bamboo shoots and mushrooms come in many different sizes and varieties. It was really good. We also tried this little fruit thing that the translated name means dragon eye. We peeled them and they were sort of clear with a dark pit in the middle... it was very sweet and sort of popped in your mouth when you bit into it.

 

The next stop was to Old Beijing City for a Hutong tour by rickshaw and the Drum Tower. Kayli took a power nap on the way and was then ready to go! We learned that the Hutong area is an old, traditional neigborhood where everyone knows your name. Well, not our name, but you know what I mean. We also got to visit a local families home where the lady of the house served us hot, jasmine tea, sunflower seeds and some candies. I could not believe she let strangers in her house to see how she lived but she does... and gets paid a little for it. She was very nice.

 

The Drum Tower was quite an experience. We climbed up 60+ tall steps to get to the top of the tower. It was some serious climbing... reminds me I need to get back to the gym. Nana chose not to climb with us and it was a good call on her part. The Drum Tower was used back in the day to tell time. We also got to see a drum demo that was amazing.

 

Last stop of the day was an Acrobatic show. It would compare to Cirque de Soleil... it was fantastic!!! So glad we got to see that. Kayli loved it all. It was a crazy busy day and cannot thank IKE enough for planning such an amazing day. We will get to thank him in person once we are in Guangzhou.

 

I am going to try to attach some pics. If someone could let me know via email if the blog is working, that would be great!