The Best 3 Weeks Ever.

The last three weeks have been an absolute WHIRL, and this is me refusing to let them just slip by without adequate documentation. We have done more in the last 3 weeks than we have in the last 8 weeks combined, and we totally have my parents to thank for that. They arrived in Beijing on October 5th and we put my mom on the plane last Sunday, October 23rd. We saw amazing things, ate great food, made loads of memories, came in contact with really neat people, and totally ran ourselves into the ground. So yes, this is the first post of many to catch up on the last three weeks, consider it a travel-log if you like, but I hope that I can do our experiences and memories justice. If you're bored, quit reading, and I'll understand. :)

Wednesday, October 5th - The Arrival.

My dad travels to China for business twice a year - in October and April. My mom has never traveled with him before and he has never been as far north as Beijing, so this month was the perfect opportunity to make both of those things happen. The came together and my dad was with us for 4 days before heading south to begin his business trip. So naturally, we had to make the most of the time he had in the North Capital!

Thursday, October 6th - Death By Sightseeing.

If you didn't think it was possible to die from sightseeing, I dare you to live through the Thursday we had. I'm not saying that we died, but I'm not saying that we didn't want to. Anyone who is familiar with Beijing will understand that to attempt Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, and The Temple of Heaven in the same day, in the middle of the National Holiday, is absolute madness. Not to mention, mom and dad had been here for less than 24 hours = running on jet lag adrenaline. Are we crazy? Yes. Do we regret it? Absolutely not. It was a day of crowds (which my dad loves) but it was worth it.

We jumped on the subway and made our way down to Tiananmen. The square was super crowded (as you can see) but really cool to see because it was all dressed up for the holiday. Now, I know history buffs will say, "Tiananmen Square, dressed up? Isn't that a paradox?" Well critics, hold your political satire for one minute, try to imagine yourself having an ounce of naivety, and just appreciate the pictures, okay? :) The Forbidden City was equally crowded, but equally worth visiting - and visit we did.

One of our favorite memories from the Forbidden City (besides my belt breaking and mom's wallet spilling in the same instance) was a mini art gallery we got suckered into. "Come in, please, look at our work. We are traveling art students from Xi'an and this is the work of me, my classmates, and my professor. Look at this one, this is my Professor's work, it is very difficult and he is very famous." How famous? Famous enough that we saw your professor's work in every market, souvenir shop, alley, street vendor, and grocery store in Beijing and Xi'an? I don't think so. Every time we would see one of the "professor's" pictures we would say, "Wow, the professor really gets around!..."

After the Forbidden City we headed down to the Temple of Heaven and made it to our new favorite restaurant - The Brown Door. Manna from Heaven! Yes they cater to foreign palettes, no there's not a single Chinese patron in there, but am I ashamed - definitely not. Some would say a restaurant like this isn't authentic enough. I say we're in China, eating Chinese food, cooked by Chinese people, paying Chinese prices, at a Chinese restaurant - authentic enough for me. We discovered our two new favorite dishes (pictured below): gan bian dou jiao (spicy green beans), and suan la tu dou si (potato haystack).

Following lunch at The Brown Door was the squatter fiasco I have already mentioned in a previous post (Squatters and Sniffers). However, here is my mom's version on video - absolutely priceless and one of my favorite memories.

The Temple of Heaven was amazing and I thought it was worth visiting. It's one of the most famous sites in Beijing - it was where the Emperors used to go to worship. There was a nice feeling that and lots of beautiful things to see.

Thursday was a long long long day but we had to finish with another yummy meal at our favorite dumpling house with some of our best friends. We met the Carters and the Bassetts for dinner and had a wonderful time. We're really glad my parents got to meet them and see what good company we're in while we're here.

Yes, this is only the beginning. Cue next post: Friday.