Finally made it to China

Great Wall of China

A few years ago I wanted to visit China. I went to the embassy, filled out the visa and I can't remember the reason but I got turned away to redo the visa application. Now after standing at the embassy for a half day at that point I just chose not to return.

This year however, I was determined to make it happen. The trip started with filing out the visa application online and then downloading a barcode to take to the embassy with the application filled out. As of this time your unable to enter without a filled out application. Go early because these lines take some time. Of course I opted for the ten year visa at I plan to make multiple trips over the years but my first would be to Beijing.

After over eating in Taipei, I landed in Beijing. I could have flown directly but who turns down the opportunity to visit another country. My only question was why was I in Beijing and my bag showing up in Alaska. After realizing my bag didn't makde the journey I filled out a claim and made my way to the exit. Now ubers don't run in mainland China so I downladed the Didi app. I called the car and paid using Alipay. These are two of many apps you need to downlaod in China to make the experience as close to seamless as possible. After some time finding the driver we were on the way to the hotel. At this point, I'd been traveling for two days almost so I called it a night.

The next day proved why you should always have two sets of clothes in your carry on. I still had no luggage but had a few items I could wear. The item on the agenda today was a trip to the Great Wall of China. I just had to get to the pick up point. From there we took a bus the two hours to the Mutian Yu section of the Great wall. Tickets were included but we had to buy additional tickets for the lift. There are three sections of the Great Wall here. Section 1-6 where its a great walk and those willing to exercise, section 6-14 where you can take a ski lift up and the toboggan down and section 14-21 where you can take the lift up and down. I was short on time so I bought tickets for the lift and got taken up the mountain via bus.

Visiting the Great Wall has steadily been on my bucket lsit as I was actively trying to visit the Seven New Wonders of the world. After an almost two hour walk, I made it to the furthest point on that section of the Great Wall. The wall dates back to 3rd century BC under the Qing Dynasty with a rebuild in1368 by the Ming Dynasty. It was built by a few different dynasties but stretches over 13,000 miles. This is an amazing example of ancient enginerring and an incredible sight up close. The only person that wasn't happy were my legs as the ascent gets steeping to the top. It's shorter coming down as momentum tends to push you along. I had lunch on premises as it was included in the meal before taking a separate bus back to the city.

Summer Palace

The second part of my tour was the Summer Palace. We first took boats around the lake there before walking the grounds to understand the history of the palace. I pretty much spent the remainder of the day here (8 hours at least) as it has great history and things to do. From here took a Didi back to the hotel as I had a reservation at Cai Yi Xuan at he Four Seasons Resort Beijing. Did I mention that was my hotel? This was my first try at Cantonese food and it was amazing. The experience was a 10/10.

The next day I managed to get my bag after about four days without seeing my luggage. Thankfully, It was the least of my problems. I spent the day walking around Beijing heading to the mall and neighboring areas and even though I couldn't communicate with most people, they went out of their way to make sure I got what I needed. The language barrier is strong especially among older Chinese but the hospitality is world class. Can't wait to be back!

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