Beijing Day 1

Who would of ever thought that our family would be traveling to Beijing.  Living in Singapore has allowed us to do a lot of travel that just simply would not be possible for our budget from the U.S.

Caleb turned 16 on March 16, 2012, yes, it was his "golden" birthday and we wanted to make is special.  I must say I don't think he will forget it.

We left Singapore on March 11 and traveled a budget airline to Beijing China. 

It was the wee hours of the morning when we arrived, 2:00 am.  We were tired and really just wanted to arrive at our hotel so we could go to bed.

Immediately upon exiting the plane we knew we were in a different land, the language was different, it was cold and it smelled smoky, both cigarette smoke and garbage burning kind of smoke.  It was also very hazy at the taxi stand.

Ahhh yes, the taxi stand.  Here we are, four Americans standing out in the crowd needing to go somewhere with four carry on bags, two backpacks, a computer case, a purse and two big suitcases, and let me tell you there was no way we were going to take two different taxis as we don't know the language or where we are going. 

We were approached by a "driver" that was not part of the taxi stand, in our guide book it said in no way should you go with random drivers from the airport, you never know where you will end up.  We declined his offer and waited in the line for about 30 minutes to get a turn at a taxi.  I must say I was sorry I wore my flip flops as it was all of 30 degrees outside, I put on a pair of socks with my flip flops, fitting in with the culture right away.

The taxi we got was SMALL, this is not a problem, when there is a will there is a way and we will fit all of us and our luggage into that taxi.  The driver was saying no way.... you must take two taxis to which we said no way, we are not taking two taxis, we will fit and fit we did, luggage everywhere and on everyone but we fit.  The driver shook his head, started laughing and showed us off to his friends then came to take us where we wanted to go.  As he approached the car he hit his face on the door.  Ouch.

We eventually got to Lee Garden Apartments in Downtown Beijing where we would be staying for the next five days.  It really is a nice place to stay with a great staff, big rooms, and a great location.

We were up early the next day and decided to go out and explore our surroundings.  Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden city were with in walking distance so off we went.

We took in many different sights along the way.

This game is Chinese Chess.

It really was a beautiful day with blue sky, we were told that if you get blue sky it is a lucky day in Beijing.

The Forbidden City is huge, today we just explored the outer court yard.

From the Forbidden City you can easily walk to Tienanmen Square, they are connected.

This picture is leaving The Forbidden City and you can see the guards and the center point of Tienanmen Square. There is a huge set of red, gold studded door that lead you out of the city and into the square.

The other side of The Forbidden City is where you see the famous picture of General Mao.

This is the view from Tienanmen Square, one of the largest public squares in the world measuring 440,000 square meters. 

The square is named for Tienanmen Gate or  Gate of Heavenly Peace that leads into The Forbidden City, here is the gate from the square.

It is where you see the picture of General Mao. 

I must say, standing in the square is a bit surreal, so many things have taken place in this square and the size of it really can not be captured in pictures, it is.....grand.

There are many different food stands, trailers, bikes etc... all over Beijing, no need to worry about being hungry.

If you are brave, there are public toilets everywhere too, some in our family were brave, I was happy to just wait until we got back to the hotel.

Here are some street scenes we came upon on our walk.

This street looked fun with all the red lanterns hanging down so we decided to go down the street and are we ever glad we did.  Caleb has been wanting to eat a fried scorpion for years now and little did we know that we were going to have that opportunity on our very first day in Beijing.

I have video of him actually eating it that I will post in a different blog, Scott and Keegan also gave the scorpion a go along with snake on a stick.  As for Randi, well, she ate some of these yummy strawberries dipped in sugar and a stick along with the rest of the family.

Peking Duck is named after Beijing, this is the place it originated so if you are going to eat it this would be the time.  We did some research and got some recommendations and decided on Da Dong restaurant, it was voted the number one place to eat in Beijing with the best Peking Duck.

The ducks are roasted right on the open fire, then the chef brings it to your table side to carve it into 120 pieces for you viewing and eating enjoyment.

The duck comes with a set, there are wraps, sort of crepe like wraps, radishes, onion, plumb sauce, cucumbers and some sugar.

The skin is eaten dipped in the sugar. Then the meat is placed on a wrap with all the fixings. It is then rolled up and eaten with chop sticks.  We really, really enjoyed the Peking Duck.

It was the perfect end to our fist day in Beijing.  Who would have ever thought we would have this opportunity.