bejing: the great wall

we woke up early to drive 90 minutes out to the great wall at mutianyu. 

at some points we were the only people on the stretch of the wall.
rugged jungle surrounded ethereal mountains, and we finally saw blue skies.
it was...steamy. hot and sweaty. i can't imagine hiking in the afternoon! 

 

sage loved toddling around on the flat-ish parts of the wall.

this was my favorite thing we did, and definitely something to check off my bucket list.

one of my friends told her husband she'd only move to singapore if he would take her to hold pandas in china...why didn't i think of that? i could have had some awesome terms and conditions...built-in monthly pedicures, a promise to scuba dive together in thailand, skydiving off the petronas towers, multiple plane tickets for my mom to come visit...just kidding. 

i really am counting my lucky stars that we got to hop on a plane to china having booked it the week before. i love that nate wants us to experience these cool countries with him.

there is a marathon/5k on the great wall next may, and i'm hoping to return for it. 

who's with me? (bridgette w...i'm looking at you!)

beijing: parks + markets

on sunday, we went to church and ran into old friends of my parents who work for the embassy. they kindly invited us for dinner and gave us tips for our sightseeing. that night, we went to check out olympic park too. summer 2008 was defined by michael phelps's race agenda for us. back when life was simple, we scheduled our days around the olympics, so we had to see it all for real.

lots of people milling around, smoggy skies, and terrible iphone quality...but we were there!

we spent monday morning at beihai park before nate went to work. it used to be the emperor's private garden and lake, but now it's like beijing's central park--complete with paddle boats and elderly chinese practicing tai chi, waltzing, worshiping, ribbon dancing, jazzercise, and singing "material girl" off-key.

we hiked up the stairs to the top of the hill overlooking the park and the forbidden city. the sleepy temples and quiet worship made it so peaceful.

 

unfortunately, it took us 45 minutes to finally get a cab driver who could understand our gestures and who would actually let us get in! so frustrating. it ruined our other morning plans, but we loved beihai.

we spent a good chunk of time at the hectic silk market haggling for cheap prices. we have a pretty good system...i tell nate what i'd like and the top price i'll pay for it, then i walk away and let him haggle. works like a charm. 

the subway was crazy at night. the trains were so full, we literally had to throw our bodies into the crowd and hope the doors didn't close on us. probably not the best choice with a baby, but we made it to the wangfujing night market to see these beauties...

skewered scorpions, anyone?

we didn't try the snake meat either

  i feel like we got a good look at the juxtaposition of china...the beautiful parks and temples full of culture next to the dirty, smelly, teeming markets of insects on a stick.

beijing: forbidden city + tiananmen

hellllooooooo china.

i had a total home alone moment in the airport, but instead of "KEVIN!" it was "CAMERA!"

(and then i cried)

sage and i met nate in beijing since he had business there, and while our baby had plenty of food to eat, diapers galore, and backup hand sanitizer even, the camera completely slipped my mind when i walked out the door. i felt like an idiot since we may never return to beijing, but at least we had an iphone i guess? lemonade out of lemons.

a friend said that beijing makes singapore look like disneyland--how true! 

we wondered if it was just really foggy in beijing, but no...the air quality was pretty terrible during our trip. we only saw clear blue skies when we drove out to the great wall.

we started off exploring the forbidden city with our guide, "hi my name is lin lee choy hok zhang, but you can call me michael"

 

the overwhelming thing about this place is the HISTORY. so much happened here that has shaped china and the world. 

the heat was stifling, though.

sage was obviously not super stoked about the picture taking. the best part is that these people don't even know each other. one girl asked to take a photo with the baby, then random people walking by jumped in.

 

the emperor's number was 9, so each door has nine gold knobs. touch them for good luck as you pass.

we ordered a whole duck at quan ju de, the oldest peking duck restaurant in beijing. yum!

we finally caught a breeze in tiananmen square and let sage roam. she made some friends...