Home...where my thoughts await me...
Home! What an amazing month it has been. I got back from five days in Beijing on Thursday, left Hong Kong on Sunday night and arrived in Perth on Monday morning (and straight to uni!).
Beijing was absolutely amazing! I joined a tour kinda thing which was actually pretty good because all the accomodation, food and entry fees were covered. Helpful for me because my mandarin is shocking! The first day I arrived the weather was max -2C and it had been snowing heavily the days before so eveything was covered in snow.
The first stop was Tiantan Park, where the Temple of Heaven is located. It is an absolutely beautiful 267 hectare park with cypress trees everywhere. The snow made it extra beautiful and i became a typical tourist going crazy with my camera.
The next day we went to the Summer Palace and the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is amazing. It is so big that we only had time to look at the three main halls inside it (apparently it would take months to explore the whole thing). The architecture and sheer size of it is beyond words. The Forbidden City has all these strangely dressed guards that just seem to randomly march around.
We also got to visit the Ming Tombs, I bought a bracelet made out of Ming Jade...it is very pretty, although probably not worth as much as i paid for it. After the Mong Tombs we went to The Great Wall (Badaling side) which in my opinion, is the MOST beautiful place in Beijing. Walked as much of it as I could but it is a lot harder than it looks. As it had been snowing the days before the steps were covered in ice and were really slippery. In some parts of the wall the steps are knee high and practically on a 90 degree angle, so walking/climbing it is a bit of an effort. The mountains and snow made the walk a lot less painful and I kept on stopping every couple of steps to look at how pretty it was (much to the annoyance of the people behind me...).
On our last day we went to Tiananmen Square, which is an absolutely huge space that seems to be filled with not much at all. Visited Chairman Mao who was 'sleeping' in his Mausoleum. Mao's preserved body is really creepy. You have to walk through it really fervently...single file, hats off, no talking kind of affair (there were guards everywhere with guns that will probably shoot you). That night was the last night of the Spring Festival/Chinese New Year Holiday and the Lantern Festival and being China with all their illegal fireworks, there were all these little fireworks going off everywhere AND it was snowing... Snow and fireworks...who'd thought it possible? But it was so cool and seeing snow fall for the first time made me one happy lass :)
Beijing airport is the dodgiest international terminal i've been too. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 12.55 back to Hong Kong and we started to board the bus that drives you to the planes at 12.52. The bus drove us around the tarmac for 15mins [have YOU ever been in a bus that had to give way to a plane?] and then drove us back to the departure terminal where we waited three and a half hours while they fixed our plane.
Left Hong Kong on Sunday night with 40 kilos of clothes and stuff... [in all fairness though, a girl from coming back from Hong Kong...20 kilos over the limit is the least you can expect...there is just so much shopping!]. Luckily my dad bought nothing so I used his luggage allowance.
After I came back from Beijing i felt a bit sick and cold-y and and was like, OH MY GOD I HAVE SARS. Luckily i didn't contract SARS or bird-flu, but I am sick now which is a bit arse.
I have heaps of photos from Beijing (which i will photobucket sometime) and Hong Kong so feel free to do something with me if you want to see them...I missed everyone so much! Uni on Monday was death although not too bad today...now off to some much needed sleep.
Beijing was absolutely amazing! I joined a tour kinda thing which was actually pretty good because all the accomodation, food and entry fees were covered. Helpful for me because my mandarin is shocking! The first day I arrived the weather was max -2C and it had been snowing heavily the days before so eveything was covered in snow.
The first stop was Tiantan Park, where the Temple of Heaven is located. It is an absolutely beautiful 267 hectare park with cypress trees everywhere. The snow made it extra beautiful and i became a typical tourist going crazy with my camera.
The next day we went to the Summer Palace and the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is amazing. It is so big that we only had time to look at the three main halls inside it (apparently it would take months to explore the whole thing). The architecture and sheer size of it is beyond words. The Forbidden City has all these strangely dressed guards that just seem to randomly march around.
We also got to visit the Ming Tombs, I bought a bracelet made out of Ming Jade...it is very pretty, although probably not worth as much as i paid for it. After the Mong Tombs we went to The Great Wall (Badaling side) which in my opinion, is the MOST beautiful place in Beijing. Walked as much of it as I could but it is a lot harder than it looks. As it had been snowing the days before the steps were covered in ice and were really slippery. In some parts of the wall the steps are knee high and practically on a 90 degree angle, so walking/climbing it is a bit of an effort. The mountains and snow made the walk a lot less painful and I kept on stopping every couple of steps to look at how pretty it was (much to the annoyance of the people behind me...).
On our last day we went to Tiananmen Square, which is an absolutely huge space that seems to be filled with not much at all. Visited Chairman Mao who was 'sleeping' in his Mausoleum. Mao's preserved body is really creepy. You have to walk through it really fervently...single file, hats off, no talking kind of affair (there were guards everywhere with guns that will probably shoot you). That night was the last night of the Spring Festival/Chinese New Year Holiday and the Lantern Festival and being China with all their illegal fireworks, there were all these little fireworks going off everywhere AND it was snowing... Snow and fireworks...who'd thought it possible? But it was so cool and seeing snow fall for the first time made me one happy lass :)
Beijing airport is the dodgiest international terminal i've been too. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 12.55 back to Hong Kong and we started to board the bus that drives you to the planes at 12.52. The bus drove us around the tarmac for 15mins [have YOU ever been in a bus that had to give way to a plane?] and then drove us back to the departure terminal where we waited three and a half hours while they fixed our plane.
Left Hong Kong on Sunday night with 40 kilos of clothes and stuff... [in all fairness though, a girl from coming back from Hong Kong...20 kilos over the limit is the least you can expect...there is just so much shopping!]. Luckily my dad bought nothing so I used his luggage allowance.
After I came back from Beijing i felt a bit sick and cold-y and and was like, OH MY GOD I HAVE SARS. Luckily i didn't contract SARS or bird-flu, but I am sick now which is a bit arse.
I have heaps of photos from Beijing (which i will photobucket sometime) and Hong Kong so feel free to do something with me if you want to see them...I missed everyone so much! Uni on Monday was death although not too bad today...now off to some much needed sleep.