World China Beijing Badaling

Jen and Johnny's Excellent Adventure

Beijing Nov 28, 2005

Ahh... Beijing Let me start by saying that Beijing can be a wonderful city. If you don't really have anything specific to do or you have enough money to pay your way out of any problems that arise, you're all set. However, if you don't enjoy being ripped off, have an idea of what things should cost, need to get something specific done, or at any point need to interact with any government organization...Beijing is extremely frustrating. Jen was going to write on Beijing, however she said she was little too frustrated today and her depiction of this city might not be too flattering. I don't want to give the wrong impression; there are a lot of wonderful sights and interesting things to do here. Jen and I have both been here on previous trips and enjoyed ourselves. However, this trip we really weren't here just to sightsee. We needed to get Visas, ship packages, buy new clothes, arrange train tickets, etcetera, etcetera. Compared to the previous ten countries we've been to, China has actually been the least tourist friendly of them all. I apologize about not writing sooner, we fully intended to be in Russia at this time. Unfortunately due to countless unforeseen difficulties, we have been in a hold here for about a week. We will finally be leaving tomorrow morning at 7AM, and to quote Jen from earlier today, "I can't wait to get out of this country". Okay enough about all the negatives, for the rest of this entry I will focus only on the highlights. As I mentioned earlier we have both been here before, so when we got to Beijing we tried to focus our attention on things that neither of us had done. The first order of business was the Chinese acrobats show. Honestly this was probably one of the most amazing shows either of us has ever seen. We made it to the Cirque du Soliel performance down in Hong Kong, but this blew that away. The Cirque performance has more lights and better music and maybe a slightly more artistic presentation, but the Chinese acrobats here in Beijing just leave your jaw on the floor. From a couple dozen girls climbing on top of each other while spinning 10 to 12 plates, to guys who climb up and down stairs on one hand, to more girls who contort their feet over there heads all while supporting their body weight biting on a bit in their mouths. It's difficult enough to say and write, let alone the effort to actually do this stuff. Anyway, the acrobat show was amazing. We also decided to take another trip to the Great Wall. Jen and I had both been to the same section (Simitai) on our last trips. This time we decided to do a day trip that included the Wall as well as a stop at the Ming Tombs (one attraction neither or us had been to). It was a nice day, and our group was very small - just the two of us, a Kiwi named Harry, and our guide. The Ming Tombs were a little less than amazing (since only one has been excavated, and you don't actually go into the tomb itself), still it's one of those sights that most visitors to Beijing are supposed to go see. The section of the Wall that we visited was really nice, but it is a newly reconstructed section. It wasn't quite as awe-inspiring as Simitai, but when you're standing on the Great Wall of China it's hard not to be excited. For those of you in America, or from America, I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. Jen and I managed to find a place here in the city called The Texan Bar & Grill that was serving turkey complete with a Chinese wait staff dressed in cowboy hats, flannel shirts, blue jeans, and boots. It was actually a really nice Thanksgiving and we remembered to give thanks for all the amazing things we've been able to do this year as well as all the support and love that we've received from all of you reading this right now. NOTE: (SPECIAL PRIZE OFFER) We decided we would spice things up a little and try and make our website interactive. In this section there is a picture of a bunch of Chinese Acrobats on a bicycle. Anyone who can tell us the correct number of Acrobats riding the bike will get a free Beijing 2008 Olympics t-shirt. I'm serious; we would really love to hear your guesses. If you live in Columbus, Memphis, Phoenix, or L.A. and you win we'll bring you the t-shirt in person. Otherwise send us your address and we'll mail it off to you when we get back to the States (since the China Post is one of the most difficult agencies on earth to deal with!) Take care everyone and we'll write next time from Mongolia! - Johnny

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