Beijing: Day 1

I just arrived back in Korea this morning, after spending two great days in Beijing. We saw most of the great sites (Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palaces, Great Wall), which were all very cool. We did run into some problems from some less-than honest Chinese, but the overall experience was great.

As soon as we landed, on Saturday, we were subjected to the Asian Paranoia of Influenza. They wouldn't let us off the plane without first shooting some kind of heat-sensor gun at your face, to make sure you're not running any kind of fever. They had two people, scanning a few hundred less-than-happy passengers.

It took a while.

After we checked in to our Hotel, we decided to make our way toward Tiananmen Square, which was supposed to be a 15 minute-walk. Once we're halfway there, we get stopped by guys offering scooter-rides. We say 'Tiananmen', they say 'OK, OK!', and proceed to go completely the wrong way.

Not only did they not bring us to Tiananmen, after a 'scenic' tour of decrepit, destroyed buildings; they also wanted to charge us 300 Yuan for each scooter. That's about 60$ (so 120$ for two). Needless to say, we learned the valuable lesson of not trusting guys on the street, and to always alllllways make sure about the price first.

We eventually reached Tiananmen (where i'm posing with the Korean-style peace sign), and made our way to the 'Palace Museum', popularly referred to as the Forbidden City. The museum had a fair deal of genuinely interesting places and artifacts, but a great deal of it has been converted into Restaurants and Gift Shops, so the entire experience didn't feel very genuine.

From the exit of the Palace Museum, we went to the Summer Palace, which was a little less crowded, and a little more interesting. It was the summer retreat of an Emperor or Empress, a few hundred years ago, built next to a lake.

For dinner, we stopped at a restaurant that offered the famous Peking Duck (Peking being the former English name of Beijing). The duck is sliced right in front of you, and served with several condiments (I'd name them, if I had any idea what the heck I ate). We were also served duck soup (which strangely didn't have any duck meat in it) - maybe it's the water where the duck was cooked?

Either way, it was very, very good.

After dinner, we booked our trip for the following day to the Great Wall, and proceeded to go to several bars, one club, and even squeezing in a good 5 hours of sleep! I'll write up about the Great Wall tomorrow, but i'll say this: it was absolutely spectacular.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!