beijing (part 4): treking through history -- epic last days in

The last 2 days in Beijing

On Saturday, I opted out of going to the Great Wall with my teacher and a couple classmates. Instead, I decided to SLEEP IN. Although that was as an epic fail, because I woke up at 6am, wondering WHY I was awake, and tossed around in bed until 8am --when my classmate woke me up fully by telling me he wanted to eat brunch. I told him to give me a few, so I could shower and get ready. By 9am, we were all ready, so me, Tim and Wes took a taxi to get to GuoMao (huge skyscrapers, fancy hotels, expensive shopping area). In a hotel, there's a restaurant that served buffet breakfast. IT WAS THE MOST EXPENSIVE BREAKFAST I EVER ATE IN MY LIFE. The 3 of us = 717 RMB, which is about $113.7.  No doubt it was good. They make anything you want and it's all fresh. Not only that, but they make fresh juice, and smoothies upon request.

Yes, the green juice is cucumber juice :)

After munching down breakfast, I took the subway to meet my uncle. We went to the Old Summer palace, a place I've been to in 2002, but haven't been back since. So I thought it'd be interesting to go. It was bigger than I remembered, but then again the last time I was there we only went to a small section of it.

So basically this entire place comprises of the Old Summer Palace. It's even bigger than the Forbidden City. The Old Summer Palace was destroyed in 1860 when European soldiers set the entire place ablaze. Only a few things remained, including the Xi Yang Lou, which are buildings constructed in the European Style -- since those were made of stone and not wood.

so pretty

One of the ruins, a partially destroyed bridge

Labyrinth

Labyrinth

Very pretty and would be prettier if it were during spring or summer. I'm glad I got this chance to go back to see it again.

That night, we had a MIIS alumi event which we all attended. It was for the 25th anniversary of the Chinese Translation and Interpretation program. It was nice meeting new people, eating and having fun. Oh also, my friend with whom I had studied abroad with was passing through Beijing that day before transferring to Taiwan the next day. So he managed get ahold of me via public telephone at the airport, got a one-day visa. I was scared that I might not find him (since he doesn't have a cellphone), so I gave him step by step instruction on how to get out of the airport. Then afterwards, I raced out of the event, took the subway to get to the transfer station. Lo and behold, he was the second person to get on the escalators.

And there he is, having his first meal after the flight. It was such a coincidence that this happened, but I'm glad it did.

So there goes a week in Beijing. Intensive, stressful, fun and awesome. Being it my first professional experience, I think it went pretty well!

Cheers to the next upcoming adventures. I'll never know what God has in store for me next, but I'm happily following Him wherever He'll take me.