Buddha's Birthday in Beijing

The only right way to spend your first Buddha's Birthday is by visiting Buddhist temples in China, right? While this wasn't really my intention, that's how it worked out! For Buddha's Birthday, we were given a four-day long weekend, so we seized the opportunity and took a trip! Having previously visited the Roman Colosseum and Peru's Machu Picchu, I made it a short-term goal to visit all of the New Seven Man-Made Wonders of the World. With China being so close, how could I resist a trip to the Great Wall of China?! Along for the ride were two of my fellow 2016 international exchange students in Chile, Megan & Riley! (Michael & Donna, too.)

We arrived in Beijing at the early hour of 2am after a short, two-hour flight from Seoul. After catching a few ZZZs, we headed out on a private tour of Beijing! The first stop of the tour was the Forbidden City, which was used as the Chinese imperial palace from 1420 to 1912 during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1636-1912) dynasties. We walked down the center line of the Forbidden City from front to back, which took a leisurely 40 minutes. In essence, the Forbidden City is an enormous collection of traditional Chinese architecture (some of which has been restored, some has not) protected from the outside world by a 20-foot-deep moat, and walls standing 26-feet-tall on all sides. Though it now houses the Palace Museum, the Forbidden City served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of China, for nearly 500 years (Wikipedia).

On the way to our next big destination, we stopped-off at a Chinese jade factory, where we were briefly walked through the premises and shown how it is carved, as well as various facts about jade and it's physical properties. After a quick scan around a GIANT room of expensive jewelry and sculptures made of jade (all the while being followed by a sales lady that said "Buy for girlfriend! Buy for mom!" every time I stopped), we headed off toward the Great Wall of China!

At the base of the mountain, we enjoyed a traditional Chinese family-style lunch, then made our way to the top of the Wall via ski lift. Though I don't enjoy heights, (or Michael's numerous comments, like "if we fell right now, we'd die,") the view, despite the unfortunately smoggy day, was spectacular!

Once at the top, we decided in which direction to walk, then set-off. This was when the 13,000-mile expanse of wall truly unfolded before our eyes, dancing jaggedly across the mountaintops in seemingly every direction. We spent two hours walking the steep steps of the Wall, taking photos, and chugging beer (obviously) before we were to head back to Beijing. We each hopped in a toboggan and were along for the winding ride to the bottom. (Tobogganing was perhaps my favorite part of our trip. So fun!)

Since we got the major sites out of the way on our first day, the remainder of our time in Beijing was spent diving into the (truly) divine cuisine that China has to offer and navigating the massive city via subway to see various parks and temples.

Here are the highlights:
-We went to DaDong by recommendation and absolutely did not expect the fancy dining experience that we left with. I ordered roasted duck and cheese-covered mushrooms from an actual book of food options. After eating the hand-carved-at-our-table duck, we were served a bowl of grapes on shaved ice. Not terribly note-worthy, until I mention the fog that billowed smoothly out from beneath the bed of ice. Fancy. (And delicious!) Bonus: this was one of the only places we managed to find that accepted Visa in Beijing.
-Din Tai Fung fed us dumplings, dumplings, and even more dumplings. (Like, we actually ordered three different times...) We tried chicken, vegetable, mushroom, and, most notably, chocolate. (I can't even express my adoration for those chocolate dumplings.)
-The Yonghe Temple is a Tibetan Buddhist temple featuring various prayer rooms that, as you advance through them, feature a bigger Buddha than the last. The final Buddha was easily four-stories tall.

FUN FACT: The Great Wall of China was originally built between the 5th century BC and the 17th century AD (yeah, over 2,000 years!!!) as various fortifications, which were eventually connected. Over time, much of the original structure eroded and crumbled, and has now been restored. The walls and fortresses were erected for protection from northern invaders, such as Mongolians.