Heya there,

It has been pretty busy the past 2 days... Let me give you the run down.

Friday -Xingqiwu

We went to the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven and a Tea House! It was VERY busy!!!

The Summer Palace was a beautiful place, but seeing it with the snow from Thursday made it look magical! When we arrived all we saw was this mass of whiteness. The sky was white, and it met the ground which was white, till you realise that the ground was in fact a lake which had frozen over and had snow on it!

So our tour group played around in the snow for a bit, taking photos and what not. I spent most of my time snowballing people... but hey... you only live once right?!?!? Afterwards we made a move on and started exploring the palace!

Afterwards we went home, rested had lunch then headed out to the Temple of Heaven! This was beautiful as well!!! And just to think I remember doing my year 7 assignment on China and I remembered this place!

It was getting dark pretty quickly so we headed out for dinner. We ate at this jaozi place... and I ate... like SOOO MUCH! Like when you think the meal is up, and your content, they bring out 4 other dishes!!! Awwww....

After dinner we made our way to the Tea house called "Laoshe Teahouse" It is a pretty famous place as a lot of famous people have visited it. It was pretty cool, like you sit as they serve tea and then there are a bunch of performances ranging from Opera to Kung Fu, and just pure entertainment!!!

Saturday - Xingqiliu

Today we went to a Zhongguoren family! (Chinese Family) The family we went to was the family of Yin Jing Laoshi. We spent the day with them, talking in Chinese... It was really good. Very fun, I had a great time trying to talk! It was difficult at first, but then soon after I didnt care how I was saying things, I thought that I'll just say what ever is on my mind, and if its wrong grammar they can correct me. But yea... it was good = ) I think they understood me most of the time = )

They then took us to a restaurant for... Beijing Ka ya! (Beijing duck!) I can never get tired of it!!! It was soooo good!!! Very yummy!!!

Afterwards, we went to Mei Shan (Coal Mountain) it is a hill that is directly behind the Forbidden City and it was built for the purpose of setting the feng shui correct for the Beijing government. It was to make the government "stable." So for the correct feng shui, they had a mountain behind the Forbidden City and then a lake in front (and surrounding) it. At the Mei Shan there are 5 pavilions which over look the city of Beijing. The middle pavilion is positioned dead centre of the Forbidden City!

As we were leaving, we saw one of those guys who write chinese charaters on the floor with water! There was a man who did it in Hangzhou at Xi Hu (West Lake), he saw us and he asked our Laoshi where were were from and she told him we were from America and Australia (2 of my classmates are from American and Michelle and I are Aussie of course) he then wrote on the floor, "Huanying Meiquo he Aa Da Li Ya Pengyou!" (Welcome American and Australian Friends)

I took a photo and video of it, and then the man asked for my name. I was like "Wo shi An Na" He then started to write my name too!!!!!!!! It was sooo cool!!! He wrote "An Na Xiao Jie!" meaning "Miss Anna." He then wrote it again but in like Chinese running writing!!! It is soo cool!!!! hehehe!!!..

Anywho, I am pretty pooped, the nets messing up so I cant upload pics... but I'll upload later or check out facebook.

xXoo

Labels: Beijing, China, Culture, Food, Sightseeing