purplepink's thoughts: asian adventure: easter weekend in beijing part III

it was only a bank holiday weekend but we have decided from the beginning that we wanted to see and do as much as we could and I think we have completed our mission with success

day 1 we arrived at beijing airport around 3pm and after the check in we went straight to the tiantandongen temple, aka temple of heaven. we arrived there around 5 pm, paid ticket to go in and then we found out that we can only go around the park as to see the main buildings the last entrance was at 4pm. it was a bit of a disappointment not being able to see the hall of prayer and the imperial vault of heaven, but after he initial sadness we have realised the beauty of the park and we were able to take very good pics and most of all have fun.

photo from website http://www.incredipedia.info/2008/04/temple-of-heaven.html

one of the best things of being a western in china is the way we see things, the way the most normal things for the locals are so odd for us

for example, this lady was doing some streching on the park (you will see this in all the parks) but this particular one was so funny the way she was doing it. particularly on this take. what do you think of it??

or on this photo, the way chinese people are so happy to be close to a cherry blossom tree

on day two we went to the great wall of china, or as my dear husband call it, that big big wall :p
as we were on a schedule we decided to go to the part of the wall that it is closer to beijing - badalling. the other part is called mutianyu and it is further away from beijing and less crowed for the same reason. when i was researching this, i found out that this part of the wall alows you to ride a tobbogan. check this video on youtube, it's wicked https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvv1frWim1E

so that you have an idea how far this is, we woke up at 5.30, leaved hotel at 6am, arrived bus station by 6.30, catch bus immediately and arrived to great wall bus park at 8.30, by the time we bought the tickets and got through the gates and the went on the pulley to take us to the wall it was 9am. it took us 3h from door to door. and this to go to the badalin part. to go to mutianyu you have to allow 2h30 just for the journey from the city centre to there.

bare in mind that the buses although they are normal size like in europe, for some reason in beijing they take 2+3. forget about room for your legs, there is no room for shoulders :p

but you know what?? it's totally worth it!!

one of the best things of walking up and down the wall is that after wards you get to ride again the pulley, and this time is way more fun - it's like a mini roller-coaster

on the way back to the bus we have noticed that there were a cow and a camel on the shops area. we thought it was a dummy just for photos, but know. that´s the real think, for photos. it's kind of a depressing view though, having this animals so far away from their habitat to pose for photos. there were also bears like you would see in the zoo, but with not so good facilities