BEIJING DAY 1 + 2

The next morning, we packed our bags and headed us to the airport.  The ride was only 3 hours or so and Mr. Ho and I slept for most of it.  After getting off the plane, we had to wait in this humongous line because security required every single person to get their temperature taken - thanks, swine flu!  The taxi to the hotel proved Beijing was a whole new world.  My mother-in-law was in shock at how horrible the drivers were.  I can't even describe how close they cut each other off.  

After checking into the Park Plaza, we walked around Wang Fu Jang, which is a shopping district.  Beijing definitely is not walkable like Hong Kong.  While they have a metro system, it certainly isn't as nice and things are much more spread out.  We ate hot pot for lunch and explored the area a bit more.  There was a street market that I really loved because they served beetles, scorpions, and mini sea horses on a stick!  

Our hotel offered a complimentary happy hour so we took FULL advantage of that!  We called it an early night - we were all still tired from the wedding.  I accidentally blew a fuse while plugging in the blow-dryer.  But they fixed it within 10 minutes and were asleep by 8:30 PM!

My husband is a lot like his father - each morning, my father-in-law woke up around 7 AM to go exploring by himself!  The next day, we took a bus tour.  Amy was our tourguide and we were with 2 other germans, 2 truckers from Ohio, and this other Mainland chinese girl who kept taking pictures of Mr. Ho and myself.  Not posed pictures, but of us walking around and stuff.  We thought she was going to tell people we were her friends - omg, we are mean!

We first stopped by the jade market and then headed to the Ming Tombs.  I was expecting something like the Terracotta soldiers, but it was just mostly a temple and some land.  

Amy then took us to this chinese medicine place, where they claim the "doctors" just have to feel your pulse on both hands, look at your tongue and eyes, and can tell everything about your body.  Mr. Ho went first and he got the 100% healthy pass.  I thought they would say the same thing for me.  But they told me I had low energy, low blood levels, a bad lower back, spent too much time on the computer, bad kidney yang (I guess the ying was fine), and here's the kicker - a cold womb.  WTF?

You know how people joke about 3rd world countries using holes in the ground for bathrooms?  This is no joke.  It wasn't like Slumdog Millionaire, but they had stalls with holes in the ground - and no flushing method.  My eyes were raped with old ladies squatting over these holes without closing their doors, and holes over-flowing with crap.  Ew, gagging right now.

Finally, we made it to the Great Wall!  I never thought in my life, that I would go there.  I was so very happy.  We took these scary-ass train/tram/roller-coaster up to the top of the Badaling portion (the entire wall is about 3000 miles long) and climbed the entire section.  It was HARD.  That damn wall has some really steep section and crazy stairs.  But the view and the mere history of the wall totally made up for it.  Oh, and this is where I got my first taste of awesome pineapple popsicles!  YUM!  

We made it back in time for happy hour and then finished the night off with even more amazing foot massages at Langzi.  All four of us were happy as clams.  We had a late night noodle meal and called it a night!