48 Hours in Beijing

Yup, think I was a little mad to have spent only a weekend in Beijing. But you make lemonade out of lemons right? So while it wasn't my original plan, I made the most of annoyance my airline left me with. 

Having been to Beijing twice before, my priority was to visit the Great Wall, as I never had the opportunity to do so before. Didn't get to do everything I had wanted to do, but ended up doing a few other things that were not originally on my list so it kind of balanced out at the end.  I don't plan on spending my hard earned cash to visit the city again - but should it ever happen, there are definitely a few more places I'd like to check out. With a city as huge, old and innovative as Beijing - you will surely not run out of places and things to do and see. 

Itinerary - 

Day 1

• Arrived at almost 2 in the morning and froze my bum off waiting for a cab into the city
• Hopped into a hired car at 8 am and made our way out of the city for some site seeing!
• Cloisonné museum
• Great Wall (Mutianyu section)
• Lunch at some random resto out in the province - a bit dodgy but damn good food!
• Back in the city
• Coffee Break + Summer Palace
• Learned all about how to make silk 
• Drive by Olympic Village!
• Quick BBQ dinner (gah soooo goood) 
• Beijing Opera 
• Night cap with the girls at the hotel bar

Day 2

• Left hotel 10 min's before 8 to catch an 8 am Easter Mass.. only to get properly lost
• Found refuge (ie: breakfast!) at the Hilton
• Finally found our way to the Church - only to have JUST missed the mass :-/
• Peking Duck lunch
• Hutong Tour which included:
• Rickshaw ride around the area
• Drum and bell tower + performance at the drum tower
• Visiting a family living in one of the compounds
• Coffee break!
• Tried and learned all about Chinese Tea with a Chinese Tea master!
• 798 Art District
• Hot Pot dinner
• In the airport by 11:30, for my 2 am flight... which then got delayed till 3:30 :-/

Random musings, in no particular order:

• So excited to get up on the Great Wall, that I only realized when I was sitting in the cable car (think.. ski lift) on my way up: SHET. I AM SCARED OF HEIGHTS. 
• Beijing's MASSIVENESS never ceases to amaze me. Massive buildings, massive stretches of land, massive massive massive!!
• Getting a tour guide was the smartest thing we did. Primarily because it's so damn hard to make your way around, order tickets and even order food if you don't speak the language! Added benefit of course is the fact that you learn all about the China's history and your guide takes care of buying all your tickets and shuffling you about from one place to another. 
• Don't buy food at the Great Wall! I was so excited to try this one dish that (1) bought the wrong thing, (2) spent over 20x more than what it really cost!
• Food in Beijing is awesome
• Buildings in Beijing are amazing
• I will never understand why Asians love to collect all their phlegm at the back of their throats then spit it out
• I would love to spend more time in a country that experiences cold weather (though with how bitter cold can get, I know that'll bite me in the bum one of these days should that ever come true)

And as always, pictures pictures pictures: