Beijing Day One

Our last few days in China were JAM PACKED!  We arrived at around 7 in the morning and went straight to business.

Our Hotel

Our hotel was fanciest hotel that I have ever stayed in!  It’s called the Jingya Hotel, which has a neat and wavy black cage that wraps itself around the building.  My hotel room was similar to the basic hotels we’re used to, but it was very spacious with wood floors, a flat screen TV, internet hookup, two queen sized beds, a large bathroom, and a mini fridge.  Some of my friends were lucky and got to stay in the suite, which looked like an apartment with a living room, two full bedroom with two queen sized beds in each, a large bathroom, and multiple internet hookups.  The staff were the friendliest I’ve ever encountered!  I returned to my room on the second day to find a handwritten welcome-to-Beijing note on my desk.

Confucius Institute Headquarters

We immediately went to the Conficius Institute Headquarters after dropping off our bags in the hotel.  The Conficius Institute is a non-profit (but was started by a council headed by the PRC’s Ministry of Education) that promotes the teaching of Chinese language and culture worldwide.  Our brief tour took us through their interactive exploratorium.  We first walked past a wall of Chinese knots, which are a form of art in which the red knots are made with one thread and hang.   After that, we watched a video of the evolution of the Chinese characters through a giant artifical bowl.  There were computers that had a simple database of important sights in many Chinese cities.   The rest of the tour involved viewing exhibits of Chinese instruments, art, and clothing.  We ended the tour by taking a short quiz about Chinese culture and language on a computer, which printed me a cute “Certificate of Participation” as my prize.

Great Wall

Words can’t express how lucky and honored I feel to have been able to hike the Great Wall of China!  We hiked up a section of the Juyong Pass.  We encountered mild foggy conditions which I liked because I felt like it added a peaceful element to the hike up the mountain.  The wall wrapped around many lush mountains in this section.  There of course was many steep stairs and watchtowers, but Zhangjiajie prepared us for this!  Lakeshia and I were the last to arrive at the peak, taking about one and a half hours.  However, we took our time and soaked in the beauty of the Great Wall and the mountains!  One of our stops was a watchtower on which we failed at taking pictures of us jumping.  Lakeshia’s bracelet flew off her hand and went over the wall!  I got an amazing shot of her expression when it happened.  At the top of the mountain (end of this section of the wall) everyone hilariously cheered for us, and Dr. Ping took pictures of our reactions.  We all hiked down the steep stairs, which was very stressful on my knees.  My legs were shaking by the time we reached the bottom.

Olympic Park

Our bus took us to the sight of the 2008 Olympics after our Great Wall trip.  We only toured the outside grounds for about an hour, which I was originally disappointed in because I really wanted to tour the interior of the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube.  I got over it pretty fast.  The Water Cube looked just like it does in the pictures, very blue and cube-like.  But!  The Bird’s Nest was a giant beauty!  The pictures can’t compare to seeing this amazing architecture with your own two eyes.  The way the beams weave in and out in an intricate fashion definitely makes this stadium live up to its name.  I honestly couldn’t stop staring at it the whole time I was there.  The Bird’s Nest completely overshadowed the tall Olympic Torch… which was cool too.  The Olympic Park was very peaceful, minus the merchants.  It’s very spacious and the athletic venues aren’t too close nor too far from each other.  This is a place that I will thoroughly tour in the future.

Pictures from our time in Beijing can be found at:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1855279547784.2095760.1414680180&l=481e43ab2c

– Mike L.

Xi’an day Three – Dayan Ta (Giant Wild Goose) Pagoda

Well I’m back in the United States now, but I’m going to keep updating this blog. I haven’t been able to update it lately because our last week in China was jam packed with excursions and travel.

I spent my last day in Xi’an by visiting the Dayan Ta (Giant Wild Goose) Pagoda and returning to the Muslim Quarter.

The Dayan Ta pagoda was built during the Tang dynasty and was used to hold figurines and sutras of Buddha. A Buddhist monk named Xuan Zang traveled to India to collect Buddhist writings, knowledge, and art for China. When Xuan Zang returned to China, the emperor built the pagoda in his honor.

The pagoda’s complex is a very large. Buddhist shrines, halls, a garden, and a pavilion surround the pagoda. The pagoda itself is almost 200 feet high. The shrines hold many old and very detailed art that people still use for prayer today, which can be seen in my photo albums.

A fire pit for offering sacrifices is located near the entrance of the pagoda’s complex. I saw quite a few people burning small Yi Jiao(10 cents) and Wu Jiao (50 cents) bills.

I entered the pagoda after touring the surrounding shrines, and climbed up the stairs to the top. The climb was interesting because each floor housed a Buddhist relic with art on the walls. I got an amazing view of Xi’an in every direction at the peak of the pagoda. I saw endless developed and developing buildings in each direction, especially apartment buildings. This view allowed me to witness the results Xi’an’s special economic status for high technology development.

After the pagoda trip some friends and I took a third and final visit to the Muslim Quarter for last minute shopping. It was bustling like always, with crowds moving like a current past the many shops and restaurants. We bought some scrolls from a woman named Helen, who prides herself in painting Biblical passages in Chinese. I bought a scroll that has “peace be upon your home” written in Chinese. She did something that’s completely unheard of in the world of Chinese markets… she told my friend Chris to go to another shop after he tried bargaining something down! I never thought that I would see a merchant tell someone to go bargain with her competition!

That afternoon the whole group took a bus to the train station for a 12 hour train ride to Beijing! I got stuck in a room with three random people which I was upset about at first, but I enjoyed the smooth and calm ride.

I’ll continue to update about the rest of the trip and post-trip refection ASAP!

Pictures from our days in Xi’an can be found at:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1789621746380.2093840.1414680180&l=11c0b42fa3

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1855279547784.2095760.1414680180&l=481e43ab2c

– Mike L.