Dec. 5th- First Day in Beijing

Our train arrived in Beijing at 7:15 and when we got off we were hit with ice cold wind. Thank god I got my long coat made because I never would have made it through the weekend. I had my coat, hat, and gloves on and was still freezing. We left the terminal and headed over to McDonalds. I got pancakes and was so happy! I miss American breakfast like crazy!!! We stayed in McDonalds until our hands thawed and then we headed back outside to the subway station. There were two entrances, or so we thought, to the subway. Apparently one of them was the exit and one was the entrance and they were on opposite sides of the train station square. Of course since it was 10 degrees outside and we were freezing we accidentally walked to the exit first and then had to walk all the way back across to the entrance. We finally got down to the subway and I immediately noticed how much more convenient the Beijing subway was. The subway in Shanghai is very spread out and you have to walk a bunch to transfer from line to line. All the lines in Beijing are near each other so it's much easier to navigate. We took the metro from the train station to Tiananmen Square. 

At this point we had gone through 4 security checks. When we got to Tiananmen we had to go through another security check. There were guards and military stationed everywhere through the square. We tried to get in to see Mao but they told us we had to check out bags across the street. We went back out of the square, checked our bags, went through security again, and went in to Mao's tomb. We had to go through another security check at the entrance and then we finally got in. They ushered us through like cattle so Bill and I went through twice. It was so immense to see Mao in his tomb with the communist flag draped over him. You could hear the Chinese people holding their breath as the line moved past him. A few of them kneeled down in line. Again, you don't realize how big he was until you see how much they still revere him. It's still considered a huge honor to be a member of the communist party here. After we left the tomb we walked around the square. It's huge and you can definitely see how so many people could gather there during the riots. Of course, certain areas were blocked off so we had to walk in a very roundabout path and turn around and double back several times. Once we made the rounds we claimed our bags again and then headed into the Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City is absolutely huge. We spent three hours walking around and got so cold we had to take a break in a small tea cafe. It was hilarious watching Bill trying to text using only his index fingers because his hands were numb. I couldn't even hold my tea because it hurt my hands too much. While we drank our tea we both mentioned how we had Ritz crackers and Doritos for snacks. Bill made the suggestion that we take pictures of us and our snacks in front of all the places we went to. Since I spent $10 on my chips and waited for a month to open them I decided there was no time like the present. They were sooooo worth the wait! Never have I been so appreciative of Cooler Ranch Doritos. When you've been eating Chinese food and snacks for 4 months a little taste of home is fantastic. We walked around the city for about one more hour and we took many pictures with our respective snacks. Once we reached the end of the city we got a cab to our hostel. We were numb and tired and we wanted a little time to unwind.

Our hostel was located on a pedestrian street with several artsy shops, restaurants, and bars. It was very cool. We checked into a room with 4 beds and when we first arrived we didn't have roommates yet. We hung out in the room for about an hour and then caught a cab to the National Art Museum. It looked small from the outside but the inside was very windy and the art was great. Even modern artists in China hold true to the traditional style so most of the paintings from the 2000s still looked old fashioned. We spent about an hour in the art museum and then returned to walk around our street. We went in to a small CD store to browse and I was hoping to find a Patsy Cline album. When we were in Shaoxing someone had mentioned Patsy Cline and I sang "Walkin' After Midnight" in my head the whole weekend. I know the song by heart but I was desperate to hear it. I was appalled when we returned from the weekend to Shaoxing and I discovered I didn't have Patsy on my iTunes. When I didn't see an album in the CD store Bill mentioned that he had her greatest hits on his ipod so when we returned to the room I stole his ipod for an hour and listened to the playlist over and over again. After we ate dinner we went to the experimental theatre next to our hostel. They were showing the musical "Fame" in Chinese but we didn't have tickets so we just stood there until the security guard waved us in. We must have looked so pathetic standing there trying to get in :) Overall I would say the musical was a combination of High School Musical, Rent, and every high school movie ever made. It was extremely entertaining because the translations from English to Chinese didn't make sense sometimes. After the play we went to a bar, had a few drinks, and returned to our hostel.

Two Australian guys were in our room when we got back. They were just staying the night because they were heading to Mongolia the next day. It was 10 degrees in Beijing and apparently -20 in Mongolia. As a citizen of Texas for the past 13 years I can't even imagine going to such a place, I wouldn't last a day. We went straight to bed and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. We planned to wake up at 7:30 and head to the Great Wall the next morning.