Beijing - Tiananmen Square

We couldn't leave Beijing without seeing Tiananmen Square. It was a much bigger square than I thought. It was also very open, no shade, on a very hot day!

 

 

 

 Hot day means serious measures: ice cream bar AND coke combo is a must.

Peking Duck at Quanjude

Quanjude Restaurant is the most famous Peking duck restaurant in Beijing.

Now I can say: I had Peking Duck at THE most famous restaurant in Beijing. Booyah!

 

Minced duck serviced in a crispy potato wafer on a lettuce leaf: 

 

Our duck being roasted in a hot stone oven.

 

Table carving of our roast duck!

 

The Peking Duck experience:

 

 

Verdict: Delicious

(But actually same quality level as Toronto)

Beijing - Temple of Heaven

Temple of Heaven was built in 1420 and used to be a place where emperors of China went to worship Heaven and offer sacrifices to pray for good harvest. It became an official UNESCO World Heritage site in 1998.

The Temple of Heaven is in the middle of a large park:

 

In this park, people were doing taichi and even ballroom dancing!

 

Trees and grass are rare in Beijing, so it was great to see there were so many of it in this park and how well it was maintained!

 

The entrance of the Temple of Heaven:

 

The doors opened up so we could take photos of the inside. But no one is allowed entry into the actual temple.

 

 

This is the East Annex hall used to house and worship the divine tablets of attendant gods.

 

 The temple is surrounded by a marble fence. Lovely, isn't it?!

Great Wall of China - Jinshanling

Hiking along the Great Wall of China has always been a part of my bucket list, things to do before I die, so it was extremely exciting for me to be able to actually do it.

We picked the Jinshanling section of the Great Wall for several reasons:
1. It was 2 hours from Beijing, so it cut down on the volume of visitors
2. There were some ruined parts along the path
3. It's one of the oldest parts of the Great Wall of China

There are many more pictures and I will put them on DropBox. Let me know if you want to see them as well and I will send you the link.


Map of the Jinshanling Great Wall, along with a welcome mural in marble depicting the history of this section.

 

Along the great wall, there are many tunnels, watchtowers, stairs, and little hideaways. Matt looks like a giant in the doorway!

 

The more renovated parts of the section:

 

This part of the great wall is NOT FLAT. Very curvy as it follows the top edge of the mountain.  Here are pics from several points along the hike.

 

Matt and I at one of the watchtowers: 

 

 

The exterior side of the wall:

 

The remains of a watchtower:

 

Very steep part of the section. The slope was ridiculous. Notice how the walls are missing on both sides! Scary, as it is a long way down the mountain and it was a breezy day.

 

This is a far shot of what we climbed. See how steep it was!!!

 



 On the way down, we decided to take a cable car:

 

And then relax a little before our bus ride home with a couple cans of beer. Well deserved!!