Yes, after almost five and a half years of living in China, I have finally made it to Beijing, the cultural and political capital of China. I had originally intended to go last summer, but then I realized that I needed all the money I could get to help with the move from Guangzhou to Shanghai.

I decided that a good time to go was during the week off from school that we had for the Labor Day holiday. Officially, the holiday was only scheduled to be one day (Wednesday, May 1), so while I was making my plans, I thought that I would be fine with only having to deal with one day in Beijing, where the crowds would be huge. However, in classic “this is China” style, the government later decided they would extend the holiday to four days with a make-up work day on Sunday. This meant that now I would have three days of major crowds instead of just one. This complicated matter matters in some ways, but luckily, it didn’t ruin my trip.

I was hoping that at this time of year, the temperature and pollution would be at acceptable levels. However, when I arrived, the pollution level was much higher than I had hoped. It stayed this way until Tuesday, when suddenly the skies were blue and the pollution was (almost) all gone. This lasted for three days, in which I got to spend a lot of time walking around outdoors and getting tanned (OK, singed) by the sun. I was surprised by just how dry Beijing is, especially since I’m so used to living in southern regions where it’s much more humid. It was so dry that I ended up having nose bleeds three times that week. The dryness and the pollution together were a bad mix. This often made me feel parched, too. I was also surprised at the architecture in Beijing. It turns out that Beijing has quite a few interesting buildings (designed by foreigners) all over the city; it’s just more difficult to see that because they are so spread out, unlike in Shanghai, where many of them are situated close together to form a skyline.

For my first day, I had a bike tour through the “hutongs.” It was only me and two other women from Amsterdam, together with the guide. I was worried that I might get too winded along the way since I’m not exactly a fitness instructor and the pollution was heavy that day, but luckily, it ended up being a very leisurely ride. The hutongs (meaning “alleys”) are an area in central downtown that are mostly single-story grey brick buildings that reflect the old style of architecture in Beijing. There are houses, restaurants, and other little shops throughout the hutongs. There is even a more ritzy, high-end part of the Hutongs where the price of a house is astronomical. We were told that the government intended to level the whole Hutong area to build other buildings, but that eventually the city realized that it was important to keep at least some of these Hutongs around to preserve the historical nature of this area.

Day 1: Hutong Bike Tour and Drum Tower/Bell Tower

While biking through the hutongs, we also went to see the performing arts center (which can only be entered using an underground tunnel), which was located across from the Congressional building. I could have captured more visually pleasing photos if the pollution wasn’t so thick.

Our guide also took us through an area where there were some Buddhist temples and quiet spots. In the photo with the crouching figures, our guide told us that they represented the informal meetings that farmers would have and how they would squat during these meetings.

There was one temple that housed numerous Buddhist and Taoist statues that had a rather interesting figure at the entrance to the temple. It was not something old, but something made by someone from the younger generation. He said that the gesture of the statue was not something that is commonly seen in traditional Buddhist or Taoist art. See if you can guess what the young-generation gesture is.

While biking, we also went past the old drum and bell towers. We didn’t stop to go inside that day, so later in the week I went back to look inside. The drum tower was used to announce the time of day.

Day 2: The Forbidden City

The second day was going to be one of the central points of my trip, this being none other than the Forbidden City (also known as the “Palace Museum”). It is known as “forbidden” due to it once being restricted only to those in the royal family and government officials. It is closed on Mondays, so the only other day I could go here without the official holiday crowds was Tuesday. Luckily, the weather and pollution were cooperative.

You can get tickets here at the ticket window after passing through a security check. Or, if you are in town and have a Chinese friend, you can ask them to buy the ticket online for you. I tried doing this myself, and I almost succeeded, but the website was having issues while I was trying to process my payment. Ultimately, I had to have a friend here do it on his computer.

This place is definitely huge and requires at least a few hours to get through. It is located across the road from Tiananmen Square. Just to give you an idea of how big this area is, I have included a map.

I didn’t end up going into Tiananmen Square or seeing any of the other monuments there because they looked closed off. This area didn’t interest me as much as the Forbidden City, so this wasn’t a problem. There was a lot of security the day before and during the holiday. China has a massive surveillance system in place with cameras everywhere, which already gives it a rather Orwellian, 1984, Big Brother feeling, but with all the extra guards and policemen around, it felt even more like a military zone. Even the subways had guards and uniformed men that stood still as statues. It was weird.

Inside the palace grounds, there are other temples and areas that are set in their own locations. There is a “Palace of Prolonging Happiness” tucked away in one of the far-off sections.

Some people also find it fun to dress up in period costumes to further get in tune with the history (sort of like people dressing up at the Renaissance Fair back home).

There was even an opera house to entertain government officials and royalty.

After making it through in less than three hours, I was determined to continue on behind the Forbidden City to the area known as Jingshan Park. This is a nice little park area situated up on a big hill that conveniently overlooks the Forbidden City.

Jingshan Park

Beihei Park

Just when you thought I couldn’t possibly see more, I did! I still had just enough juice left in me to power walk over to Beihai Park, beside the Forbidden City.

Day 3: Summer Palace

Finally, the official holiday was here. I knew that wherever I went today was going to be even more crowded than usual, so I had to choose carefully. I was told by my bike guide before that going to the Summer Palace might be a good idea simply because it is further out from the city. This is what I originally planned, so off I went. After waiting for the driver to turn around after taking a wrong turn, I got out and sifted through the crowd to get my ticket.

Day 4

On Thursday, I was finally able to meet up with one of my best friends from back home and her husband. It had been about three years since I had seen her and about five years since I had seen her husband. Earlier in April, after excitedly revealing to each other how we’d both be in Beijing at the same time, we immediately planned to do a food tour together through the Hutongs. After they arrived in Beijing, I told them that we could also go together to see the Temple of Heaven park area first in the morning. And so, we did.

We originally intended to take a break so we could go back to our hotels, rest, and then meet up later to see the Lama Temple. Unfortunately, things went slower than planned, and it became too late to rest and see the temple. So, we opted to rest and skip the temple. Instead, we met up later for the food tour. That evening was fun because our transportation was taking tuk tuks that weaved through the streets and alleyways. One of the drivers also kept water and beer under his seat. Throughout the whole tour, our guide, “Moon,” kept offering beer to everyone. We went to four locations, which included Beijing-style cold noodles with bean paste, kung pao chicken, minced pork with tofu wraps, and Mongolian BBQ, among other dishes.

Although I tried to get some good photos of the food, it was quite difficult with such low light. I apologize for some of them not being in focus.

Hutong Food Tour

While talking about food, I am also including some other food that I had while in town.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to have Beijing roast duck, at least not properly in a restaurant. I did end up ordering it on the food app “Meituan,” but the steam inside the box made the skin soggy, so it just wasn’t the same experience.

Wangfujing Snack Street

I did go to the commercial Wangfujing Snack Street area, though. Ever since I saw pictures of people getting skewers of fried scorpions, I was determined to one day be one of those people. However, after getting there and seeing the live scorpions helplessly impaled on the skewers (and being quoted 50 yuan for one skewer), I opted to forgo this experience.

Day 5: The Great Wall

Finally, the other important goal of my trip was to hike along the grand, historical, and, not to mention, one of the seven man-made wonders of the world, the Great Wall!

I had done much research into which section would be best for me. I decided that the most popular (and most terribly crowded) part of the wall, Badaling, was not going to be it. I was looking for a section that was both beautiful and had a good variety of landscapes. I finally settled on Jinshanling, one of the furthest sections out of Beijing. In fact, it’s over 150km outside of Beijing, so it’s technically located in Hebei province. Jinshanling offers both a restored section and an unrestored section.

One of the foods that I had a chance to try was “jianbing,” which means “pancake.” This is a popular Beijing-style street breakfast. I also ordered this on Meituan before heading off to the wall. It’s a thin wheat crepe-style pancake quickly cooked with green onions, an egg, a crispy wonton, savory bean paste, and black sesame seeds all rolled up.

On this day, the pollution had returned, and I had hoped that it wouldn’t reach all the way out to Jinshanling, but unfortunately it did. When I got there, it was busier than I had hoped, although it was still nowhere near as busy as closer sections. I was told later by the owner of the tour company that the driver works for them, and I was lucky because other people had to wait in line for two hours for tickets! Not me. The driver helped me get my tickets and spoke more English than I thought he would, so this helped. He waited around the whole time while I was on the wall (at least I think he stayed there, though I suppose he could have wandered around during that time).

Some quick facts about Jinshanling: 1) The hiking path that I completed was 7km. 2) This section was constructed during the Ming Dynasty in 1368 and later renovated in 1567. 3) The total length of this section is 6.5 miles (10.5 km), a height that varies between 16 feet (5 meters) and 26 feet (8 meters). 4) It has 67 watchtowers, 3 beacon towers, and 5 passes. Now, without further adieu, onto the Great Wall.

Several things happened to me while I was hiking. I ended up getting photographed on four separate occasions, the first being while I was still getting my ticket with my driver. Obviously, I’ve dealt with that before, but usually they ask if they can take a photo, but this woman just said “hello” really quickly, and her boyfriend took a photo. I purposely gave her a dirty look and looked away, so I don’t know how the photo turned out. The other photos were on the wall. Another woman on the wall just said “hello” and tried to photograph me quickly, and again, I was not accommodating.

The other two incidents were with two young kids trying to speak to me in English, saying “hello,” and asking, Where are you from?” When I answered in Chinese, they seemed surprised and happy. Soon after, I waved goodbye and tried to head off quickly. A short while later, I heard them behind me trying to practice, asking, “Can I take a photo with you?” It sort of irked me because I felt like I was leading them in a chase, but it also made me laugh. I decided that I didn’t want them to cause me to move too quickly past spots on the wall, so eventually, I gave in and stopped at a spot, and they asked me to be in a photo with them. At least they were cute and sweet about it. While I was posing, several other people snapped a photo of me. It was a busy day of photos for everyone.

The other thing that happened to me was that while I was huffing and puffing it uphill towards one of the watch towers, a bug flew right into my mouth and hit the back of my throat. It was fast, and it stung a bit. It made me cough and gag, so I tried to hack it and spit it out. It came out finally. That really threw me off track. Later on, I thought perhaps I should have taken a photo of the little kamakazi bug.

Phew!!! And there you have it. A week’s worth of dealing with hot, dry (and sometimes polluted) air, crowds, long car rides, and aching calf muscles finally paid off. I’m glad I was able to make my vision a reality. Now I can finally check off this landmark city from my China to-do list.

As I stated earlier, Beijing surprised me in a number of ways. If it weren’t for things like pollution, centrally controlled heating and A/C, and a constant “Big Brother” surveillance atmosphere, I might consider moving here. Oh well, here’s to my next adventure.