Beijing May 13-17

Here are some pictures of my visit to Beijing. Enjoy!


This is the type of loft bed I slept upon at the Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology. It looks savvy, but the mattress is made of 2x4s. The drawers/cabinets in the steps were a cool idea though.



So the dorm bathrooms were quite interesting. Here we have a nice Western-style toilet. But oh, what's that to the right? Yes, that is a shower hose and a drain. In China, you can do your business and shower at the same time! Such efficient people...


And in case you still don't feel clean enough, guys, you can shave at the sink too! Talk about multi-tasking!



The guys of our group had their own song, "Rain, Rain, Beautiful Rain".



This is Travis, one of the main leaders from the BIPT who started off our first "Engrish/Chingrish Corner".



Here we have a few of our own students attempting Tai Chi.



This is a typical street in Beijing. Please notice the plethora of lanes and the smog.



Beijing has been working hard to get ready for the Olympics... by giving all their tourist sites a tune up! This is the main gate to the Forbidden City (no longer forbidden if all I paid was <$10 to get in).



Here is some detail work of the gates. The color blue is significant because it shows the emperor's desire to have his power reach even to the heavens.



There were MANY throne rooms.
Throne Room 1

And Throne Room 2



This is one of 3 major guardians in Chinese culture. The two lions guard the entrances of most businesses, corporations, and temples. This is the female lion because she has the cub under her paw.



I just thought this sign was funny... and it was more like a 3/4 of a star toilet by American standards. Quite frightening.


I'm not sure if you can tell...


...but the Forbidden City is HUGE! Rumor has it that long ago, someone set fire to it and it burned for 3 months!

And of course, the Great Wall of China! It was a hazy day when we went but that made the hills all the more mysterious and cloaked in history.


When traveling, it's best to have family around. =) Here is my cousin, Alex, NOT falling off the GWC.


To get to the GWC, the group took a gondola lift to the wall, hiked about 3 miles of it and then took the 3,000+ stone steps down back to the bus. Everyone's legs were trembling when we met at the bus and everyone was sore the following day. The GWC is no joke. The Mongols/Huns were crazy to think they could get over it. On top of the wall, you will notice many steep steps between towers and some places are wide (approximately 10 people across) while other places, like stairs, are narrow and have large intervals, some so large I had to sit down on the step to reach the next one!