We got up early the next day and headed to the train station to scope out tickets to Beijing. We got there to find out that they were sold out till the 31st!!! OH NO I thought! They told us to check if we could cross into mainland China and get another train from there. So we checked with this lady and she said if you leave right now you might just make it! At that we bought our tickets and rushed back to the hostel. Actually running out the door of the hostel I tossed the keys at Mr. Chan and said thanks (didn't even stop to get the key deposit back haha)... we were running out the door and Nancy leaped to hail a cab and the cab slams on his break to stop and get us and in Hong Kong the back right door is operated by a button by the driver so the cab comes to a screeching halt (tires squealed and everything) an the door justs pops open and Alicia and I actually jump in!!! Nancy almost got in on the drivers side (they drive on the left side but sprinted to the otherside of the taxi) and we were off to the train station! We hopped on the MRT to the mainland train station and freaking missed our stop! We finally arrive and get through customs and are running to our gate... can't find it for the life of us and because we were officially in the mainland NOBODY spoke English... we were sprinting up stairs.. down hall ways... asking chinese people where to go and they would just point and answer in Chinese. I was losing faith of making it to Beijing when one man finally escorted us to this exchange counter and said train gone! Crap we missed our train! We get to the counter and the lady starts to give us a refund on our tickets. We were trying to see if there was another train but she couldn't understand us.... finally after loosing all patients I scream out "DOES ANYBODY SPEAK ENGLISH??" This little young guy out of nowhere goes "I know little bit". He told us there were no sleepers on the next train only hard seats. We didn't give a hoot we needed to get to Beijing so we booked it and spent the next 24 hours sitting up on a cold domestic train that did not sell coffee or tea! HAha it was some experience let me tell you! I was froze but shared a sodoku with some Chinese lady and laughed with some men when I decided I needed to drink a beer to deal with the current state of affairs. They cracked up when I tried to pronounce it and waited in anticipation while I took the first sip and cheered when I gave them the thumbs up!
We finally arrived to Beijing and surprisingly had no problems getting a taxi to our "Happy dragon hostel"! BEST HOSTEL EVER!!! The people could speak English and they wrote addresses down in Chinese for you and helped you as much as possible! We booked to see an acrobatic show that night. It was neat... I didn't think it was possible to put 12 Chinese women on a bicycle but you totally can! The next morning was Sunday and there was an AWESOME weekend market called the Panjiayuan market! I bought some silk paintings, a tea set and a tea mug! Also got Theresa some China from China for her China cabinet hahaha thats all she wanted! LOVED IT!
We made it back to the hostel, dropped our bags off and started off looking for these neat little mugs that everyone had on the train! I wished I had one the entire train ride. It was a simple double glass mug with a mesh on top and would be perfect for tea or coffee. We couldn't find them though but ended up at this huge mall looking for some warm clothes to wear to the Great Wall. I bought a pair of hikers and a fleece (Thank you Family that was your Christmas present to me :) )! I was froze to death up until that point (Palawan = 27-32degrees, Beijing = 0-5 degrees) big difference! After we made our purchases we went to "Beijing DoDong Roast Duck Restaurant', apparently a must go in Beijing and Peking Roast Duck is Beijings significant dish! So we arrived and realized we were very under dressed!! hahaha! We went in toques and all and ordered some Peking Roast Duck and Bamboo shoot! It was actually delicious! I was impressed with myself for being so adventurous in my eating.
The next day was THE day. I felt like a child on Christmas morning on the bus driving to the Great Wall. We hauled up and the lady explained our options we had three hours on the wall, we could take the chair lift up, stairs or gondola and you could sled down or take the chair or gondola back. We opted for the chair lift up due to timing and of course the view and headed up! I hopped off the chair lift and the first thing I see is a cat! Just chilling on the wall near an entrance. hahaha. I finally get on the wall and there is a lady serving drinks and stuff who jumps up and takes our picture, pretends to salute and screams out army orders in Chinese and is just hilarious. So we promised her we would come back and buy beers off of her later. We started walking along and I fell back a bit and just leaned up against the wall and just took a moment and thought about everything that has happened in life and WOW just wow. I thought about people who think dreams can't come true then thought about how that is complete BS!! Disney happened for my family and I and I was currently on the Great Wall of freakin China!! It was a bucket list item of mine since I started making bucket lists! Its true what Walt Disney says All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them!The view of mountains and the wall were spectacular and the stairs proved to be a bit of a workout haha. We of course opted to sled down this weird bobsled type thing and bought beers from that lady! She loved it and it was just awesome!
That night we went to a Kung Fu show! Holy Spectacular! I want to become a Kung Fu master! The next day was our last day so we got up early and hopped on the subway to Tiananmen square! It was a bit confusing trying to buy tickets and figure out if you were in the square or the forbidden city but we managed and had a blast checking out all the old temples and emperor houses. We were about to leave when we noticed this "Dragon Screen" on the map. So we went to check it out. We realized that we needed another ticket to see that part of the forbidden city but then I noticed the security guard was asleep!! I nodded to Nancy and she just smiled and we snuck right passed him we did! I know Im shockin but we cheats the cheaters in China hahahaha! The dragon wall was pretty cool and we scoped out this really tranquil garden/house. After that we got the Subway to the Hard Rock Cafe but it was booked for a private party so I just picked up a glass to add to the collection and we got the Subway to the olympic park. Took some pics of the famous "birds nest" aka the olympic stadium and by that time it was time to get back and head to the airport. We had the red eye flight back to Manila then Palawan.
We of course were delayed twice but made it back exhausted and a lil sick due to hot cold hot cold. Nancy is here with us for Christmas and we have purchased an abundance of food and drinks for Christmas day! I am super excited about it! A bit sad not to be with my family and friends for the holidays but grateful to be with my friends here too :) I do have one kick ass room mate!
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