Seeing the Sights

-Written August 15, 2011-

Uftah! I did some sight seeing today. Starting at Tianamen Square and ending at the Olympic Park, Alex and I spent 10 hours walking around the center of Beijing. Along the way we took plenty of pictures, had a few laughs, pondered life/history's mysteries, and all doing so while only spending $23 USD. Starting in the Communist hay-day era at Tianamen Square reminded me of Romania and its wide streets and block style architecture. Through the arch adorn with the head of Mao we entered the Forbidden City. it coast $10 USD and was worth every penny. The grand size of the complex makes the human feel very small. No doubt the emperor was respected or maybe feared is a better word. It was a rainy afternoon and I forgot my umbrella so I bought one from a peddler for $1.66 USD. It was pink and a fashion statement! On the north side of the Forbidden City is Jingshan Park where you can find Coal Hill, by far my favorite place of the day. The view from the top and the beautiful park surrounding it made it pleasurable and peaceful even when we were in the center of Beijing. After all that walking we had lunch at a local eatery. We had dumplings and fried rice. Delicious and cheep! We devoured the rice and enjoyed the dumplings for only $7 USD. From there we decided to visit the Olympic Park. Taking the long way around, we were able to finally board the subway to the park. By this time we are worn down but not out! We had it in us to make it to the Park. The sub system is very English speaker friendly. We had no troubles navigating. On the subway it was always wall-to-wall people, body odor and all. Many people used their phones as a game system to pass the time. The Olympic park was grand and awe inspiring. This grand complex showcases the potential of China and what its future has in store. On the flip side it had to destroy parts of its identity, the hutong, to make way for this progress. it will be an interesting balancing act of keeping heritage and progression if china wants to thrive. Before heading to the apartment we stopped at a local eatery where we had Alex's favorite dish, tofu. I ordered chicken. Delicious. I need to learn more Chinese to converse with locals and vendors. It will get us far.
AND next time we need to bring a map when we go sight seeing.