Donghuamen Night Market 东华门夜市 (✿...✿)

Thanks Blogger, I really appreciate you saving the post that I spent so much time on and when I hit Publish, you decide to crash. 

With that said, let's try this again. After we rested from our whole day at the Ming Tomb, Great Wall, and the whole tour guide fiasco, we had two options for our last night in Beijing. 1.) Enjoy what Beijing is most famous for-- the Peking duck. 2.) Dinner at the Donghuamen Night Market! It is a night market located near Wangfujing with 5-6 blocks of unusual food stalls. Amar's goal was to try something he would never try and this was the perfect place for that. There are stalls with deep fried crickets, centipedes, worms, scorpions, lizards, snakes. You name it, they probably got it. I actually really wanted to do both but too bad my stomach can't handle that much food..  so a difficult decision had to be made. Amar doesn't like duck much anyways so Donghuamen it is! This was easily the highlight of my trip. I love food! So when we arrived, 

All my favorite foods (and more) on the same street. I was in heaven. #isthisreallife 

This stall (above) had all the raw foods on a skewer ready to be grilled or deep fried, however you prefer. I was watching her grill the centipedes and then squish them flat so it's easier to eat. So strange!

My favorite! 

This is also the stall where Amar decided to go for it and try grilled spicy snake. I hate snakes and all reptiles. I had to pass but apparently it tastes like chicken with a lot of bones. Shivers.

Crab soup dumplings!! So delicious.  

Quail eggs. O.O

Stinky tofu!! So good.

TARANTULAS ON A STICK!

 As if one picture's not bad enough. Here's a close up!

Hot and sour clear glass noodles. Perfect for a cold winter night!

We probably spent around RMB$60-70 on a range of different foods from dumplings to different skewers to desserts! The fried caramelized banana mochi (above) was one of the best desserts everrrr. It was so good and so cheap! At the very end, we discovered a mall with all the American stores like Apple, Gap, AE, Sephora, etc. It was like we're back home! 

The night can't end without trying out a new tapioca place! This was located inside the mall and Amar enjoyed their fresh banana milk with tapioca. Super fresh and not powdery at all.

Before we left, I just had to go back and get my favorite candied fruit on a stick! This time, I got the strawberry and kiwi combo which was good but not as good as the RMB$2 one from the guy on the bike! I wish they had these in Hong Kong.. But then I'd be 500 pounds.

I'll squeeze in our last day in Beijing here as well. Our flight was at 2PM the following day and we were able to sleep in and grab lunch nearby the hotel before leaving! We picked Flying Noodles because it had the most people inside and the name was quite catchy. 

It's quite interesting how these little modern restaurants work. The waitresses sit you, take your order, gives you the check, and you have to pay before you eat. I guess it prevents a lot of dine and dash-ers. But it's quite an interesting concept. Much more efficient.

I had a wonderful time in Beijing (like I do all the other places I've been). Spending New Years here was definitely an experience to remember, especially being able to say I visited the Great Wall on New Years Eve right before the spectacular fireworks! It was also nice to spend time with Amar after being apart for 2 1/2 months and being able to see the beautiful historical sights. Despite almost being unintentionally spit on on several occasions and watching people sneeze and cough without covering their mouth, Beijing will always have a special place in my heart. The good food, great people, and spectacular views. Until next time, 再见!

Review of BeijingToursGuide.com

This post will essentially be (like the title said) a review of BeijingToursGuide.com. Hopefully it will help other savvy travelers on a budget determine whether this company is right for them.

Like I've blogged about earlier in my {Beijing Adventures} Ming Tombs 31.0, I found the website online and after doing some research, it was a real company (yay!). I honestly believe that the major concern, as a foreigner traveling to China, is trusting a random company to do its job and mainly take you to visit the site safely. (Unless you have the money to spend to hire a private tour guide, which costs at least RMB$1200 per person depending on the sites you wish to visit.) There is aBeijingToursGuide.com, BeijingTourGuide.com, and a BeijingTourGuides.com. How confusing. 

My main goal was to visit the Ming Tomb and the Great Wall. There are a couple options for budget savvy travelers.

• Bus-- This is the cheapest option but one that requires more time. Finding the bus stop would be the first challenge and waiting for the bus to return to the city would be another. I didn't want to deal with that since we were only there for a couple of days. I rather pay a little more to take us there and back. 
• Group Tours-- Less expensive option but still pricey depending on the tour company.
• Taxi-- Most expensive option and there's no guarantee that there is going to be a taxi by the Great Wall to take you back. Being stuck out in the rural parts of Beijing was not apart of my plans. #enoughsaid

After extensive research and considering all the possibilities, BeijingToursGuide.com was the best option to see exactly what I want. I booked the tour via phone for a tour the following day and received a confirmation the same night around 9PM, as promised according to their website, from the designated tour guide. The booking coordinator mentioned that there were going to be two shopping sites but I made him confirm that buying was not compulsory. And the total would be US$30 per person/RMB$200 per person. Our tour guide happened to be Mark. I don't know if it was his accent or he wanted to sound like he was the bomb dot com but he sounded pretty arrogant over the phone. Brushed that off. Fast forward to next morning and we met Mark in the lobby along with a couple from France who spoke minimal English. 

Our itinerary was: Ming Tombs, Jade Factory, Lunch at the Jade Factory, Great Wall, Pearl Factory, then taking pictures outside of the Olympic Stadium.

In the beginning, it was obvious that Mark tried his best to engage everybody. Even though he didn't get much response.. At least he had Amar to talk to. He did try to tell us facts along during the ride to the Ming Tombs. So I'll give him that but as soon as we finished "shopping" and "learning" the facts in the Jade Factory (below) and we all didn't buy anything, his attitude totally changed.

Talk was minimal (which was fine with me) and he would walk really quick like he was trying to get rid of us. But we all knew that he would get commission if any one of us buys anything. One of the Jamaican guys we befriended said he overheard the owner of the Jade Factory tell his associates to bring the group to the cheaper area to get us to buy anything. I have to give them props for trying, especially since we were walking around to get rid of the associates following us.

Lunch was decent as I didn't have high expectations. One of the German guys asked for mineral water.

Really.. You're in China. Give it up. Great Wall was great as always but Mark didn't explain much. I basically told Amar everything I knew about it.. After we all tobogganed down the Great Wall, we were all exhausted and ready to go home. But guess where we went next! Yes, that is correct. The Pearl Factory! Yay! It was located near the Olympic Stadium so we went to take a few pictures first. Mark said the Pearl Factory was apart of the government's.. weird. The tour of the Pearl Factory basically told us pearl's history and how to tell real from fake. 

This is where we were all like =__________= and ready to go. (Their pearls weren't even that nice. They all looked fake to me.) We were standing in a circle, all talking when Mark came up to us to tell us to look around and to not stand around. Um, how about no. We basically walked to another area to start talking again. We all looked around and decided we didn't want to buy anything. Therefore, we were waiting for the time to be up and to be taken back to our respective hotels. The guys got fed up and decided to confront Mark after awhile to let us leave to take the subway/taxi ourselves so we can get away from the Pearl Factory. He then targeted ME. Yes, me (since I was the only Asian person in the crowd, he decided to target me hoping I was going to stand on his side. Hellno!) He asked me during a heated argument whether I read the itinerary before booking the tour. I ended up telling him Amar booked it. Lol! Mark said if we don't stay, it would affect his salary. And then the boys were saying that it's irrelevant since we paid for the tour and his salary had nothing to do with us. That's some personal business you got with your company. When we finally got to leave after 15 minutes of arguing, you can tell was Mark was:

Oowee. When we were boarding, our Jamaican buddies bid their farewells and went to take the subway themselves so they left us with the devil. Once we got back in our mini bus, he whipped around and went on a rant about how we should look into the itinerary before booking etc etc etc. And how if we wanted a tour without all the factories, we should've booked a private tour. 

Sounds personal. This surely cannot be the only tour he's taken where nobody bought anything from the factories. During his rant, we hit heavy traffic (awkward) and the driver figured out what happened and was literally trying to kill us. It was to the point where Amar and I were dropped off at our hotel and the other three people got off with us cause they couldn't stand being in the car and would rather take the subway/taxi back. 

//end of rant//

Overall I think if you are patient and willing to wait and brush the sales associates off, you'd enjoy the tour especially if you are visiting those places that are in the outer areas that is harder to get to. I definitely enjoyed the sites but the tour company needs to reconsider who they hire. #ohChina. It is definitely the most reliable, budget friendly company out there. 

A RECAP:

The Good:
1. Ease of booking and confirming
2. Transportation from site to site
3. Meeting people from different countries! 
The Bad:
1. Tour Guide and Driver's attitude
2. Shopping sites-- Honestly, I don't mind going to the shopping sites as it is a good experience, especially since we all know it's a tourist trap. However, to be so persistent to the point where standing in a circle with my fellow tourists was not allowed. Are you serious.. 
3. Shopping is not compulsory but forced

Mutianyu Great Wall 慕田峪长城

The Great Wall of China is made up of stone, brick, wood, and (from what the tour guide said) people who have died working on the Wall. The Wall was built in the 200 BC by the first Emperor ever and reconstructed later during the Ming Dynasty. It was built alone the east to west line across the norther border of China to protect the Chinese Empire from the nomadic tribes. There are different parts of the Great Wall but the most popular (and crowded) one is the Badaling section. However, the Mutianyu section has been said that it has the best view (but just a bit further from Beijing than Badaling) because it's at the very "end" of the Great Wall. As soon as we passed through the extremely steep parts, the views are spectacular. 

Once we arrived, I wasn't sure what to expect because I don't remember much from the last time I've been on the Great Wall. But my first question was: How are we going to get up there?! Since it IS a wall. O.O There are two options going up-- the obvious one: Walk. Or a cable car! 

I'm not really sure how much to enter the Great Wall is since it is included in the tour price. 

Once we entered the area by the ticket offices, we had to make our way through many souvenir vendors trying to sell us Great Wall/Beijing shirts for RMB$1! It was tempting.. but it'll probably shrink as I get back down from the Great Wall. It was really pretty though. A very different side of Beijing.

The map above shows the route* map of the Mutianyu section. There's two ways up like I mentioned earlier, but three ways down which includes walking (again), cable car, or toboggan! 

Such a pretty view.

Everyone bought round trip tickets to and from the Wall. Coming down, we have the option of taking the cable car again or the toboggan. The cable car.. was the scariest thing ever. It creeks and you have to dangle your feet. As someone who is afraid of heights. Amar has a video of me where I was just sitting really still and not moving at all. It was absolutely terrifying. Such a pretty view though. You can tell straight off the bat that this part of the Wall is more rugged with minimal tourists with a great deal of plants and trees all over! Apparently over 96% of Mutianyu is covered by tress and orchards, keeping the air fragrant with chestnut blossoms in the spring and fresh all year long. 

You can see the Great Wall peeking!

Oh China..

Once we got to the top and finally away from my death trap, 

The view was absolutely stunning. This was definitely the highlight of my trip. The Wall at Mutianyu stretches over 2 kilometers long which is 1.24 miles. Since the Great Wall was built because of military reasons, this particular part has 22 watchtowers every 100 meters, which is nice especially during the summer so people can rest in the towers/shade. 

This dude in the camouflaged overalls? is so smart! I guess he carried all these snacks and drinks with him, got up the Wall, put up his shop, and started selling his snacks! He even had coffee in his little mug. When we were on our way back, we had to hike past a steep part and he was rooting us on lol!

 Mutianyu is definitely a section I'd visit again as the view is absolutely breathtaking!

The stairs were so steep. I had to use my hands to get up the steps.

Gives us girls a bad rep! JB's just a little baby.  A baby who made $100 million last year...

This was taken at the very end of the Wall before the last wall tower. 

Once we made our way back down, everybody-- especially Amar was so excited to toboggan down. I had my reservations in the beginning but I would never voluntarily stare death in the face by taking the cable car again.

Here is our lovely Jamaican friend assuring us (his friend, who loved the cable car and thought the toboggan was a death trap) that there was nothing to worry about. Except that we are in China. And if we do go off the rails, no one will find us.  

Just kidding, there were guards or government workers at every turn-- some on their phones and some were napping. But they were there! 

 Of course this one had to go first. I was second, and the rest of the group was behind me. Which was a bad idea because I was being extra cautious! I videotapped the whole thing. Every time I watch it, it cracks me up. You can hear the guys behind me go "HURRY UP. GO FASTER!!!" And of course, once Amar slid down the first curve, he was gone. He went super fast that I didn't see him until I got to the bottom when he was waiting for the two slowpokes in front of him. The guy on the left was yelling for him to slow down. 

It was freezing by the time we got down, but it was fun! I would much prefer freezing and risking to fall off the rails than dropping hundreds of feet down into the unknown forest of Mutianyu. ^___^

Ming Tombs 明清皇家陵寝

While planning this trip (meaning booking the flight and figuring out the distance between the airport and the hotel, cause God knows I didn't spend much time planning), I knew that I wanted to visit the main attractions, especially the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall (because anytime you visit Beijing, the Great Wall should be on your list to visit no matter how many times you've been). Throughout the whole time Amar and I was in Beijing, I've been on the lookout for one day tours that include those two attractions since they are the ones that cannot be reached via the subway or by a reliable transportation since it's 1-1.5 hours outside of the city. Since we visited Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City the days before, I didn't want a tour that included those in a day as well. (So much research put into this.) My mom and I literally sat down (across the world from each other and she's still my most trusty advisor (TripAdvisor is a close second) and researched different tour companies in China. Like I mentioned earlier, researching anything in China is an extremely complicated task since the translations are always off or it's not clear, or there's hidden prices, which is why it's really important to search for reviews of the company before reaching out. I compared the one day tours offered by the hotels (both Holiday Inn and Marriott) and they were both around the RMB$600-800 range for ONE person. That would make it RMB$1200-1600 for the both of us, who got money for that. TripAdvisor had some really great ones but they were pricey as well. My mom sent me several links and we narrowed it down to one okay company called: BeijingToursGuide.com. It had many mixed reviews, which is good because it means it's a real company and won't leave you stranded in the middle of the road by the countryside (or at least none of the reviews mentioned anything of that nature). 

What we were looking for was basically: Transportation to and from the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall. A little narrative and history would be helpful but not necessary, thanks to the advancement of technology (soon there probably will be self-guided tours for cheap, where they hand you a phone *like the one in Toronto's Casa Loma* and learn about the attraction.) And last but not least, $$$PRICE$$$. Because God knows we broke out here in these streets. BeijingToursGuide.com seemed to be a perfect match because it met all our expectations. The itinerary is as follows: 

"Hotel pickup at 7:30-8:00.The guide will call you one night before to settle the exact pickup time. Visit the spectacular Mutianyu Great Wall and the underground palace of Ming Tombs. Lunch is included. Be escorted back around 17:30. During the trip, 1-2 handcraft factories tours will be arranged for free and each for 30 minutes." -Copied directly from their website. 

For a whopping USD$30/RMB$200 per person, we were instantly sold. It was also the two places I REALLY wanted to visit during this trip. I called them to reserve our spots for the 31st, which was tomorrow (then) and they were happy to comply, which was nice since it was so last minute. At 9PM that night, our tour guide, Mark called the hotel (since my phone doesn't work in the mainland) to confirm the reservation and that he will be picking us up at 7:30AM in the lobby. 

Fast forward to tomorrow (the 31st, NYE), we met Mark as well as another couple in the lobby and got into their mini bus. We (our hotel) apparently was the last stop before heading to out of the city and our first stop was the Ming Tombs!

The first time I went to China, we visited all the tombs that were open for tourists but that was in like 2005. This time, we only visited the Dingling Tomb which is an Underground Palace. The Underground Palace houses the Emperor Zhu Yijun and his two empresses from the Ming Dynasty. Usually, the tombs only house the emperor and his favorite empress but this dude couldn't choose so they both got to live in an Underground Palace after they died. It was interesting because this particular Emperor occupied the throne for 48 years, which is the longest among all the emperors in the Ming Dynasty. The tour guide mentioned that Emperors don't live very long, most of them die before the age of 30/40. The Underground Palace was discovered in the late 1950's and it's the only underground tomb out of the 13 Imperial Tombs of the Ming Dynasty. 

We were dropped off at the entrance before the parking lot of the Underground Palace and instructed to head to the marble stone while our tour guide buy our tickets at the ticket booth. 

Once we got closer, it was a Bixi, which is a figure from the Chinese mythology. A turtle with a neck with the head of a dragon with a stone sculpture stele to commemorate the Emperor. It is also worth mentioning that allowing this tortoise-based stele at their funeral sight means highest rank of nobility. Touching both the head and the bottom of the Dragon Turtle promotes positive feng shui, symbolizing courage, determination, fertility, longevity, power, and success. So of course, Amar and I rubbed our hands all over the Dragon Turtle!

Of course..

There were different gates to go through before actually getting into the Underground Palace and that is because it is the gateway or symbolization of exiting the real world and going into "heaven" or the not so real world with the dead. 

This might just be the ticket office though. But there are different gates! 

We got there pretty early, around 8:30/9AM so there were hardly anyone around so I was able to snap a photo of Amar in the ancient solider cut-out, which apparently would cost RMB$5 per photo if the sales people were there.

The trees stretching to get some sun.

Our tour group! We met some wonderful people during this trip from all over the world like Germany, Jamaica, and France. So very nice! 

If I got it correctly, the reason behind this hole/tunnel to nowhere is because people back in the 1950's knew there was an underground palace somewhere around this area and so they built this "entrance" where people can enter. But the thing is.. this tunnel was too far off from where the underground palace is. Failure. This lock-picker? was eventually the one who found the Underground Palace but his whole purpose was trying to sell the things he find there. He was eventually jailed and the funny thing was that he was a government worker! Strange. 

Here we go! There are five vaulted halls, the front, middle, rear, left, and right halls. Each were made of sculptured jade. Fancy fancy. The Underground Palace apparently unearthed a total of over 3,000 pieces of cultural relics, including four national treasures such as the gold imperial crown, etc of the Ming Dynasty. 

This was the Emperor's tomb. People put money down because they don't want the ghost of the Emperor to follow them home. 

Once we stepped outside of the Underground Palace, this was the pretty view! The imperial tombs were placed in this area of Beijing by the Ming Dynasty emperors because it is in between the two mountains for feng shui reasons as its enclosed by the mountains in a pristine, quiet valley full of dark earth, transquil water, and other feng shui necessities. 

It was sunny but so cold and dry!