We spent our first full day in China touring some of the major attractions in Beijing. Our day started off bright and early with a pretty good breakfast buffet at our hotel, the New Otani Chang Fu Gong. The dining room was bright and airy, and there were people doing Tai Chi right outside the window in the hotel garden. We had many western and Asian options to choose from, so we both decided to mix it up a bit.
My breakfast plate:
Steamed pork buns, grilled marinated beef, sunny side down eggs, bacon, and a croissant
Josh’s breakfast plate:
Pain au chocolat, omelet, bacon, fried rice, grill marinated beef, steamed pork buns, peach tart
Our first stop on the tour was a shopping street near Tiananmen Square. There were lots of western name brand stores, but the buildings were all old Chinese style. It was kind of funny to see such a weird mismatch. Our guide didn’t give us any time to go shopping, but we did get to admire some of the buildings along the street.
Pretty blossoms near Tiananmen Square
The entrance to the shopping street
Starbucks, of course
Cool lanterns lining the street
Intricate detail on some of the buildings
Afterward, we walked the short distance over to Tiananmen Square. It’s the largest city square in the world, and it’s quite hard to imagine just how big it is until you actually see it. The square was pretty crowded, and we were shocked to see how many people had already lined up to view the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. We walked across the length of the square, which was quite a hike. The highlight was the iconic Tiananmen Gate to the Forbidden City.
The line of people on the left stretches for longer than the eye can see
Monument to the People's Heroes
Tiananmen Gate
Next we walked through the Forbidden City, which is also massive beyond imagination. There is building after building, courtyard after courtyard, and it seemingly never ends. The buildings, while intricate, all start to look the same after a while but are still incredibly impressive. We walked inside for hours, but I’m sure we barely covered a fraction of the city.
After all the walking we did, we were starving so luckily the tour had arranged for us to have lunch before we toured the Summer Palace in the afternoon. The restaurant they took us to was called “Jing Jiou Long”, roughly translated to “Gold Nine Dragons”. Not really sure if that’s what it’s meant to be called, but this is about as good as my Chinese is.
The name of the restaurant in Chinese
Because all of the meals we had on this trip were arranged by the tour company, we didn’t get a choice of what to eat or where we could eat. All the meals were served family style, and we were seated in groups of 8-10 people. Basically we just ate what they gave us, some of it good, some of it bad. To be perfectly honest, we couldn’t identify a lot of the dishes on this trip (all the meats looked and tasted the same) so we tried asking the servers, or we just guessed. I took notes on most of the dishes but from here on out, I’ll just describe each dish rather than critique them.
Our meals came with a glass of beer or soda, and unlimited quantities of hot tea. The local beers were pretty light and tasteless but refreshing (as long as they were cold).
Assorted sauteed vegetables - onions, carrots, cucumbers, black wood ear fungus
Eggplant in garlic sauce
Chicken in orange sauce - super sweet dish
Pork with a thin, stalk-like green vegetable
Sauteed cucumber with pork and black wood ear fungus
Red and green peppers with pork ribs
Whole steamed fish
Assorted sauteed mushrooms with pork
A light soup with mushrooms and leafy green vegetables
After lunch we drove over to the Summer Palace, which is NW of the center of Beijing. It’s a huge complex located on a lake, comprised of many buildings and gardens. There is a covered walkway, called the long corridor, that stretches for 728 meters and is covered in over 14,000 paintings. The Summer Palace is one of the prettiest places we visited on this trip.
After taking a ride in a dragon boat across the lake, we headed to a Chinese acrobats show, where we watched some talented youngsters dance, tumble, and contort. The highlight of the show though was when five motorcyclists rode inside a not-so-large metal ball cage – terrifying but spectacular!
The motorcycle cage
Those trails of light? The freakin motorcycles!
After the show we headed to dinner at Yu Shan restaurant. Yet another tour company choice, served family style.
Crunchy jellyfish
Slices of sausage
Savory pumpkin "jello"
Cubes of bean "jello"
Black pepper beef
Pieces of fish in a xiaoshing wine flavored sauce
Mushroom soup
Tangerine chicken
Sauteed pork and cucumber
Fried pork strips wrapped in bean curd
Fried chicken strips
Bok choy and shitaake mushrooms
Cabbage soup
Sweet, dense triangles of mantao-like bread
Sesame buns to fill with ground pork bits
Bean paste filled with haw fruit and dipped in sugar
Phew! That was a long post. But it was a long day for us, jam packed with lots of sightseeing and lots of food. I think most of our China posts will end up like this, but please let me know if it gets to be too much – I can always cut back on the pics. I’m just excited to share our experiences with everyone, and I’m glad to be posting again!
Tags: China
Love love love this post. Your photos are really beautiful, especially of the acrobats and the food in the last location. The light is perfect!
Thank you so much for these, especially the pictures of the paintings, ceilings, details! I have been contemplating going on a tour such as this for a while and wondering whether I’d be happy with it or not. Given the huge scope of the place, maybe I should? The food does seem very average, but … that’s a package tour I guess!