Nǐ hǎo and good day LGE followers! As I mentioned in my latest post, Michael and I recently traveled to and returned from Beijing - my first trip to the Peoples Republic of China, or PRC as many locals call it. Michael needed to be in Beijing for work, so I took the opportunity to tag along and check out the city for the first time. Having traveled a fair amount within SE Asia, Beijing was the farthest north (and coldest!) I have been since moving to Asia - a solid 6 hr flight away.
In Singapore we are blessed with warm weather, commonly spoken English and an overall sense of familiarity and ease for us Westerners - which are a few of the factors that lure many expats here in the first place. Nevertheless, one of the many reasons I was so eagerly anticipating this trip was the for dramatic departure from the 'familiar'. I was keen to venture out of my comfort zone and experience all things China: the air, fashion, food, sights, sounds and smells of PRC. I certainly wasn’t disappointed! A recap of our action-packed, glorious, blue sky days in Beijing:
The Great Wall...
On traveling to Beijing, I knew I wanted to had to do one thing for certain, and that was to visit the Great Wall. Michael, having once lived in Beijing for a short time previously, had been to the Wall before and had a less than thrilling experience. As he described it, the wall was so crowded with tourists and vendors that it lost a bit of its mystique. (I believe it was also so hot that he was forced to purchase no fewer than two souvenir t-shirts to change into as a result of excessive sweating, but that is another story). Having studied up on my go-to expat blogs and websites, it was clear that there were multiple areas of the wall to visit in varying locations and distances from Beijing. I knew I wanted my first (and perhaps only) visit to the wall to be special and authentic, and also did not want it to take up an entire day of our short stay. Feeling a bit overwhelmed with options and bursting with excitement, I reached out to an old college acquaintance (who is now one of my favorite Instagram follows) and fellow expat who lives in Beijing, to ask his advise. (Top travel tip: try to reach out to someone living in the city you’re visiting for the best food and activity recommendations - they will almost always be far superior to what you find in the guidebooks :)).
My friend Jay kindly introduced us to Beijing Sideways. How do I say this... it was one of the coolest experiences we have had living in Asia, and the perfect, most unique way to see the city and the Great Wall. The adventure entails traveling in a little side-car(!) of a motorcycle(!) through the countryside(!). Winding in and out of small villages, you eventually arrive at a quiet and picturesque portion of the Great Wall - Huang Hua Shang. The excursion wasn’t cheap per se, but if you are looking for a once in a lifetime, unique and extra special way to see the Wall, I would highly-highly recommend it!
Contrary to the photo below, and much to his disappointment, Michael was definitely not driving:) We had two separate bikes, complete with two very skilled drivers, and a tour guide. All the guides are young, local expats. Ours was a super sweet and energetic photography student from Spain named Cesar.
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^^ Steve McQueen status
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All the tours are tailor made so you are able to depart at your desired time. We were picked up at our hotel at 7:30am sharp and were back by about 4:30pm. We wanted to get an early start in order to get a nap in before cocktail hour and dinner, obvi ;)
And we're off!
I would like to pause point out that I am one of the most paranoid people ever (like, I white-kuckle the 50 min Bintan Ferry), and I felt entirely safe and relaxed the entire time. While I am a little motor bike risk adverse from living in SE Asia and often over-exposed to high octane motorbike traffic, I had a blast taking in the fresh air and surrounding beauty. The only negative of the bike was my frozen hands and hot coffee splashing all over my face (attempting to eat breakfast in the side car not recommended).
Our first stop an hour into the trip was in a very small town about half way to the Wall (like any good expat-organized outing, there were many frequent bathroom breaks). 
The sun was up and streets were just coming alive with steaming breakfast dishes, roadside markets and live fish for the pickin'.
This young gal was in charge of cleaning out the (still flapping around) freshly sold fish. As I was leaning in to get the shot, there were dozens of scales flying in the air in every direction. Goooood morning!
Yanjing Beer - local Beijing beer. In a head-to-head blind taste test I would choose Tsingtao.
Breakfast baozi dumplings.
We hadn't even been to the Wall and the day was already a win in my book. I love traveling to cities and feeling like I’m totally immersed in the local culture, away from the main tourist sites and shops. This little town was a beautiful mix of interesting, hardworking people out enjoying a beautiful Saturday morning. 
Onward. 
Another hour or so and we made it!
The wall is absolutely breath taking - both figuratively AND literally. We are all smiles, but that thing is a beast, man! I consider myself pretty fit, but there was a point which I sat down and said, nope. I disguised it as a 'photography break.'
See how steep that is?! We climbed that.
As I was climbing I remember thinking about that photo of Justin Bieber being carried up the Great Wall by a pack of body guards and thinking to myself, YUP, I totally get it now.
Michael, take my photo while I sit here for 5 more minutes please...
We were told we were just a couple weeks shy of spring. The mountains were still pretty even though they were brown.
At the peak of our hike Cesar unpacked us a five star lunch and a well-earned bottle of wine. It was the perfect setting to chat at take in the spectacular view.
After lunch we began our descent and were so thankful to Cesar and Beijing Sideways for an amazing day on the Wall.
It was truly the perfect day in China.
Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City...
Next on the to-do list was to check out the 'big sites' around town. Two of them are Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City (the former Imperial Palace). They are located right next to each other and designate the center of the city. We bypassed all the tourists on our special trip out to the wall, but found them all here! The crowds were thick, but not unmanageable. I would recommend going on a weekday, and also be prepared to take the subway home.
I love the power of his photo.
The opportunity for street photography at Tiananmen Square is ripe. Furthermore, the fashions on display are something else.
The Forbidden City on the other hand, with over 900(!) buildings, is a bit more difficult to navigate...
Everywhere you turn there are people trying to sell you (well, us) tours. That would probably be a good idea on a return visit. One could spend hours inside the city. The sheer size is as impressive as it is overwhelming.
Why yes we tried the Beijing-syle candied strawberries. It was a one-time 'when in Rome' thing.
Just outside the Forbidden City are a couple of streets that are kind of set up as a tourist trap, but they were bustling with people and color. We enjoyed wandering the area and taking it all in. Beijing is a hugely vast, spread out city, but we were able to find some interesting areas and enjoy the weather and a walk.
Temple of Heaven, Wangfujing Snack Street, and a Hutong...
On my final day in the city I decided to hire a tour guide while Michael was working. The decision to hire a guide was more about efficiency than anything else. With printed maps and a detailed plan, one could get around Beijing without speaking the language, but it is certainly not easy (definitely as compared to Singapore).
Per the guide books I knew I wanted to check out the Temple of Heaven. Per my own interests, I wanted to check out the "weird snacks" street and peek into a Hutong (local, old traditional housing courtyard).
The Temple of Heaven is set up with the temples in the middle and two massive parks on the either side - it gave me a very NY Central Park vibe. The park was filled with retired men and women dancing, practicing calligraphy, singing, reading and playing cards. (The retirement age for men is 60, women 55).
The main purpose of this temple is for worshiping the god of heaven and earth and praying for a good harvest.
The main temple is made up of 28 pillars: 12 at the bottom signify each month in the year, the next 12, the twelve hours in the working day, and the top 4 - the four seasons.
Moving on... Wangfujing Snack Street was as wild as I imagined. Scorpions, centipedes, snakes, pigeons and more. And all on a stick!
My biggest surprises were 1) the scorpions on display were fully alive and flailing about while they were impailed with said stick. I think they might do this for effect just for the tourists(?) and 2) I was a little disappointed they do not let you 'try' anything. Even with my local Chinese translator they were very pushy about only selling things in sets of 5 or 10 or more. I wanted to try some of the local bao and ended up with a whole plate full.
Hugely popular Beijing yogurt drink.
Juice + dry ice? Is that healthy?
Squid salad.
And finally we stopped in a local hutong. I understand that hutongs were created for the purpose of villages surrounding the local well or water supply. Now with the price of land in Beijing so high, original hutongs are becoming more and more rare.
The outside of a hutong is designed to show one’s wealth and status. As I was told, 0 stars above the door means the family is 'poor'. Next is 2 stars followed by 4. The one pictured had four stars and was stunning (I shamelessly peaked inside). The max amount a person can have is 4, with 6 being reserved exclusively for the emperor.
That about wraps it up! I did not show all the wonderful meals we had while in Beijing (top notch Peking duck and Beijing-style hot pot), but rest assured we ate well. It was wonderful to experience such a large and powerful city in such a short amount of time. I left feeling happy, full and thankful for each and every experience we shared. It was excited to get back to Singapore and ditch the coat for shorts, but I'm already looking forward to a return trip to China.
Until next time!
XO,
CD
P.S. next on our travel agenda is our much anticipated, much overdue honeymoon! LGE will be reporting on our time spent up in the tea trails of Sri Lanka and the archipelagos of the Maldives. We can't wait! #Blessed