Great Wall of China

YOU CAN WATCH OUR VIDEO TRIP HERE

Our last visit from our 3-day trip was China’s famous Great Wall! It’s roughly an hour journey away from the city of Beijing so you have time to regain your energy in case you need to. The Great Wall trip was really one of the memorable vacations I had since…

1. First, it was one of my dream place.
2. Second, aside the fact that it’s my dream place. It’s also one of the world’s seven wonders.
3. Third, we were able to visit the place before Christmas eve. In short, it was God’s christmas gift!

Taking a picture of my sister having her forty-winks. I wasn’t taking a nap since I was way too excited to close my eyes and rest.

Upon seeing the beautiful view of the wall, I was all prepared to jump out of the bus and kiss the ground. :))

Weeee! It was a first time for me to witness snow. Unsurprisingly, there is snow here towards the Great Wall as it is in a mountainous terrain farther up north. In fact, as far as I remember it was already -13 Degrees Celsius at that very moment. More freezing and it was much colder, with below freezing temperatures and strong winds.

While climbing all the way up, I saw Yogi bear! Hahaha! The bears would perform for treats purchased by tourists. I felt sorry for the bears and wished I could take them all home.

As we walked closer, the revelation of what actually constituted a trolley ride greeted us. Our tour guide said that it was a Toboggan car. It is more like a series of trolleys on rails, sort of like a roller coaster, that bring you down from the top of the wall.

In all fairness, the trolley ride got me even more excited because you can control the speed of the car yourself! Such a nice alternative to hiking/walking.

And Lo! we have arrived!

Words and pictures can’t describe the beauty of the walls as it stretches on as far as you can see, it has to be seen to be really appreciated. It’s majestic and powerful and makes necessary saying the word “wow” without meaning to an unnecessary number of times.

Beijing, China Part 2

YOU CAN WATCH OUR VIDEO TRIP HERE

Day 2: (-10 Degrees Celsius)

The last day of our 3-day trip in Beijing was continuing our city tour and visiting the most awaited Great Wall of China. Not bad for saving the best for the last!

Here’s a picture of myself early in the morning tryin’ to expose my skin outside the -10 degree celsius temperature. My objective was to be able to get use of the cold since we will be visiting the Great Wall after the city tour and it surely is freezing above the mountains. They said here in the city would be -10 degrees but above would change to -15 degrees or more. Wow! That’s too cold!

Matching winter outfits with my twin sissy, all bundled up!

Taking pictures with our elder sister.

Ming Dynasty Tombs 

This is considered to be one of the places that you should be visiting in Beijing! Ming Dynasty Tombs is where the Emperors were buried but no one actually knows where the location is. Maybe the people who buried them but it’s already centuries ago so no one really knew it.

Inside is a museum of the Jade collection of the Empress and the Emperor. All of their accessories and things were made of Jade. Isn’t it amazing that they managed to preserve those things?

This one’s a beaut! The Empress’ Head Dress.

That’s the statue of the Emperor and below are a pile of money. Have noticed something different in the picture above?

 Yhup! You got it right! Someone threw a 20 peso bill. Hahaha! I’m not sure if it was my dad but this totally made me laugh.

Beijing, China Part 1

It has been a great opportunity to be able to visit Beijing which is the capital of the most populous country in the world. Beijing is by far one of my favorite places that I have been thus far. They have thousands of ancient temples mixed among gigantic parks, a modern downtown with skyscrapers, mazes of hutongs, and LOTS and LOTS of people. Clearly the absolute must see if you are in China is the Great Wall, there’s just no denying that.

But before we proceed, just please pardon our clothes. Haha! This was our fashion disaster days. Few weeks before leaving for Manila, we weren’t able to anticipate the winter season in China. Yes. This was my first winter experience. We didn’t have winter clothes except for my dad and mom so we bought for just a short period of time. Boy, it was hard looking for cheap winter clothes since it is really expensive. We ended up buying any winter clothes just for our comfort instead, making sure that we wouldn’t freeze when we arrive there.

1st Day: (0 Degree Celsius)

The Forbidden City is the largest cluster of ancient buildings in the world, a city within a city and a symbol of China’s cultural heritage.

We were strolling down the streets of Beijing with our not so comfortable and two layered winter clothes (Which in about 10 minutes, I thought I was nearly going to die due to the uncomfortable stress of being cold.)

While traveling around the world, a person can visit many wondrous and mysterious sites that conjure up images of historical events of long ago. One of the most fascinating sites in existence is the Forbidden City. Yhep. This beautiful icon at the back. So rich in history and mystique.

This should give you an idea of how consistently cold it was. No time for posing. As you can see I was already covering my face with my scarf. Frankly speaking, I COULDN’T FEEL MY FACE that time! It was all NUMB. Like, every part of it. Good thing, at about 20-25 minutes exposure to the freezing air, the bus arrived and all of us came running like we were some kind of beggars who just saw a mouth-watering food displayed in the middle of nowhere. Hahaha So yeah, to be able to sit inside the bus with the heater was like HEAVEN.