Beijing Part 1

We left Hong Kong last night at 8 pm.  But let me backtrack…
On February 18th I left for Beijing.  I went to the dining hall to meet Christina and Alison at noon because we had to catch the same flight and I met this girl Patty who was actually on our flight too!  She is really cool and we hung out the whole time we were in Beijing.
We caught a taxi around 12:45ish and our flight was at 3:50ish I think but we were nervous if it was going to take long to get through customs and everything.  We landed in Beijing probably around like 8 maybe and met our tour guide Tommy who is AWESOME.  I loved him.  We were waiting for our bus at the airport and he looks at us and goes…. “why do you stare at me like I’m crazy?  You think I’m crazy?”  it was so funny.  OH!  And while waiting for our bus this whole big rugby team came out of the airport and ended up being on the bus next to us… but I’ll get back to this later.  We got to our hotel which was literally 2 blocks from the Forbidden City which is so cool!  Christina was my roommate and we got ready and went to eat at the restaurant next door to the hotel.  We got sooooooo many dumplings and really good noodles with beef in them.  While we were at the restaurant there was a table next to us with Chinese people at it and they ended up coming over to our table and buying us beer and we all toasted to the new year and then apparently you have to chug the beer after you toast to the new year for good luck.  Also, they broke a whole bottle of beer onto the ground and that is apparently good luck too.  After dinner, we went out to this area where there were a bunch of small bars and clubs and live music and fireworks going off EVERYWHERE!  I loved it!  I love fireworks in general, and to see them in Beijing during the Chinese new year is AWESOME! 
The next morning we went up and had to pack all our stuff up because we had to check out of the hotel because we were spending the night on THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA!  I know… I know… it’s insane.  BUT ANYWAY… so we had to meet in the lobby at 8:40 to start our day.  We headed out to the buses to put our bags down and then walked to the Forbidden City which like I mentioned before was only about 2 blocks from our hotel.  It’s… I don’t even know… words can’t explain it.  It is HUGE!  And beautiful and so detailed and I still can’t believe I was there.  I am still trying to process that I was in China for the last 8 days.  It still has not hit me.  I honestly can’t explain the Forbidden City besides the fact that it was huge.  While walking through the city though we kept getting stopped by the Chinese and got our pictures taken with them.  It was so funny because we took a group photo in the city and as someone was taking our picture, a swarm of Chinese people surrounded us and kept snapping our picture.  And also when we were walking through a doorway, I felt like the paparazzi were chasing us because we were trying to walk through this doorway and they kept stopping us to take our pictures and actually just snapped pictures as we walked past.  It was odd but very funny.  So we finally made it through the Forbidden City to Tiananmen Square and who was walking into the Forbidden City?  The rugby team from the airport!  Small World!!
We then walked over to Tiananmen Square, and I thought the Forbidden City was huge, but Tiananmen Square definitely was bigger.  We wandered around there and took another group photo, where again, the Chinese swarmed us, and then we left there to go to the Silk Market.  Oh my the Silk Market.  I’m used to going to Rice’s and all so I thought I would be somewhat prepared for it but not at all!  It was way to intense for me.  People would just reach out and grab you and try to pull you into their little cubicle thing.  And then when you did start bargaining with them, sometimes they got physical!  My one friend Brittany got pulled back into the cubicle store thing and then got hit by the person.  When I was bargaining I tried to walk away because I honestly did not want the thing I was bargaining for (a shoulder bag, typical I would get a bag)  and I tried to walk away and the lady grabbed my arm and did not let go and squeezed me so hard.  I ended up buying the bag, but she also threw in a wallet so I got a pretty good deal.  We were walking through the aisles and we heard one lady say to a kid… “Oh you lie!  Your nose grows like Pinnochio!”  Because the trick there is to say that you saw it at another vendor for a smaller price, or you got it for a smaller price at home and that helps you get them lower.  Christina got a North Face and when she was bargaining, she told the lady the price and the lady kept saying “IMPOSSIBLE!”  that is one of their favorite words.  They use that so much when you try to bargain them down.  She ended up getting the North Face for about 110 yuans (or whatever Chinese money is called).  I also got season 1 and 2 of True Blood for about 80 yuans and I couldn’t bargain that one down though because those were set prices and the people didn’t fight with you if you didn’t want it like the other people did.  After the Silk Market, we got on the bus and headed to the Great Wall!  And this is where I will leave you and continue tomorrow because I am exhausted and once I start talking about the Great Wall, I will talk forever and I don’t want too long of a post. Hahah. 
Oh and ps… we gain an hour tonight! Woohoooo!