Day 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, & 124

May 5


Wednesday. Took a lil nap..then got lunch with Theresa. Then went to shenzhen ..omg we got off at lok ma chau so I ws like "how come the border looks different?" Then bam my frds told me. Such a hassle, lo wu is so much easier. Took foreverrrrrr. Took a subway. Then missed
the bus then went to take taxi. Got to shenzhen airport. Flight got cancelled. So we were put on an earlier one. Tiffany sat in another section of plane..got to beijing early..driver didn't come so we hadda call..then he came but we weren't in the right spot. Then we got to
hostel..at like 12. Slept around 2? We're staying at Downtown Backpackers hostel

my normal roommate. ah, i just woke up

beijing airport with haibao, expo mascot!

May 6

Thursday. Woke up early at like 9am. Had free breakfast at hostel restaurant then took subway. Went to Tianamen Square. And went to Forbidden City next door. So many palaces and old buildings!! Emperor's throne and all. Then took bus 5 back to the main street near our hostel. Got this chicken sandwich thing for 4. Mm and got green tea gelato! 18 For the first time. Then went back to hostel to nap and got up to eat korean food at 730. Then got green tea gelato at another place..15. Then came back to hostel to chill and sleep. There's so much pollen flying everywheree. I think I'm allergic to something, keep sneezing.

army marching

i touched it like everyone else

someone's pet we met while walking ahahaha

May 7
Friday. Got up at 10..realized my luggage combo changed, prob messed up when I was locking..so I couldn't change outta my big tee and shorts..but went down to breakfast, tried combos after we came back but didn't work, went downstairs to get pliers or something, I brought my luggage down with me and told them I locked myself out..and they got this young guy, comes over with a lil knife and opens the lock within two minutes!! WTF. So much for preventing people from stealing my shit, the lock can easily be opened! Then got lost for a lil..got my china mobile sim card, used my limited mando to buy it. got on the bus to get to subway station and went to Summer Palace..omg the place is huge!!! I wish I lived as a princess back then!! Looked at pics of the empress "Cixi" and I haggled in mando for first time! Got a mirror and comb for 50 instead of 55! Yay, I need to learn more mando! Beijing is really nice..street food everywhere..lots of places speak english..could def live here!! Spent abt 5 hours at the place..got meat on a stick.. Then went ard guloujie where there's soo much food! And..bars! Hit up a bar and got mojito and pina colada..sooo strong then went to a different place and got drunken noodles for myself..and then came back and got green tea gelato..mm called my aunt then mom..

dress up! what i woulda looked like in the past...

at the end...so gorgeous

Walked by food again...T asks me what are those the guy was roasting..and the guy points to the sky and we both started cracking up..roasted pigeons!!

I picked something more normal, pork meat i believe

the view from our table at dinner

May 8
Saturday. Got up at 930am, got breakfast, eggs, bacon, orange juice, and toast. Then booked a spot for great wall tour tomorrow. Then we headed to a confucious temple. But we almost mistakenly went to the "lama temple" the dalai lama? But we found ours then we tried to go to the underground city but we couldn't find it though it had 90 entrances. We ended walking to tianamen square again. We THOUGHT we found new china but it was a china we had already discovered. Followed white people there, ahahaha. Then went back to nap, after getting meat on a stick on our "alley". Then at night went to a nearby restaurant to eat "peking duck" BUT I understood in mando that they ran out. Grrr, so just ordered shrimp and this sweet pork thing with rice. Pretty good. Walked around our street and alley after that. Then back to hostel. We moved into the first floor room for 4 people though we have 3 as someone booked our 3 person private room. (209 to 102) it ws pretty noisy at night since we are so close to entrance and front desk, so hard to sleep!

what a big fluffy dog

At the entrance

I don't know why..but I see this type of stuff everywhere

The bottom

Basically the whole place was full of these... They have chinese writing from ages ago..you aren't suppose to touch..but i did

Confucius

lunch! Eeel!

forbidden city

FRIGGIN ROASTED BEETLES

on the street of our hostel nomnom

May 9


Sunday. Got up SO early at 615am to get ready to go to great wall. It was a 2 hour ride with no breakfast in my system. When I woke up it felt like I didn't even sleep! So along the way after   left downtown it felt like home..highways and trees..and really nice looking houses that resemble rich american houses. Wtf! Crazyy, if I lived here I'd have to live in one of those. They all looked the same and were in rows. Got to great wall ard 830 am and climed it..for over an hour then headed back down for lunch. Then we went to ming tombs..it wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. Just saw vases and where the coffin was buried. Then went back to hostel, napped then went to a dumpling place for dinner. I got noodle with pork. It wasn't that good booo:( then came back to hostel and I watched wicker man then slept around 12am?

Walking up we see a guy on a donkey..."NO PICTURES!!!!"

THEN HE LEFT HIS DONKEY

YAYY upp there...kinda

Cannon

Then off to Ming Tombs...hey a chinese tour~!!

May 10


Monday. Woke uppp around 830ish to go eat breakfast and checkout. Sooo bad news..no tickets FROM Xi'an to shanghai.. Hmm we already paid abt 40 for our tickets on train to Xi'an. But anyways, we went to the Beijing Zoo. Saw pandas! Omg, soooo many! And lions and bears and birds..then went to look for the "natural museum"? But didn't find that at Tianamen so we went to this roast duck restaurant since we been dying to try Peking Duck. Oh man it was DELICIOUS!!! And we got those beef chow fun as well but this tasted much better..then headed back to hostel. Went to supermarket, I got tissues since you gotta bring your own tissues when you wanna pee..and pocky. I showered in the community shower.. It was only one bathroom so it was fine. Then we had to decide whether to scrap the xian trip or not though tickets are not refundable and js stay in Beijing an extra night and fly to shanghai or continue to Xi'an and HOPE 3 people cancel their seats. They said seats were booked til the 19th WTF. In the end when tiffany was about to book another night at hostel I was just like.."Let's just do it. " Cause yenno its my frigging childhood dream to go and I'm sooooo close.. So we went to the railway station by taxi and waited forever..omg so gross, everyone spits everywhere and people looked mad sick and some old lady was puking into a bag. This is def a WTF Moment.


I saw a white girl plus a chinese girl so when we got up from the area we were sitting, as something didn't feel right there..I walked by and was just like where are you guys going? To Xi'an! Hahaha, I got their hostel name just in case we needa stay at a hostel. They're Canadian and are getting masters in Australia. The train there is around 12 hours..shitty cause people kept smoking. FML. We had "soft seats". I sat next to a random lady and her baby boy. Currently dying on the train..ughhhh. Met this other black girl on the train. She sat in front of me..she's going to Xi'an for a conference for her research project? She's in grad school.

we see a panda

it left

then food appeared and it came back

YOU PIG!

inside..more pandas!! sleepppyy

baby pandas!

"diane dooo it!"

lazy thing...it gets up and spins once in a while