Map of Beijing

The aim was simple, spend a week in Beijing and try not to speak English the whole time I was there. Of course the second part was completely unrealistic but we lasted a good 10 minutes or so! We did aim to spend a week in Beijing though, and what a week that was. We managed to save up a bit of money on the side, but we needed that little bit extra, as a flight to China is quite a bit expensive. We looked at a few different holiday loans that we could find and found the perfect one for us. We were then set for our holiday. I should probably clarify that we was my girlfriend and myself! We’ve been travelling to plenty of places recently so we can now check China off our bucket list! Here were my best bits from the trip.

The Forbidden City

This was nothing like I’ve ever experienced before. A city within a city, this amazing place was a haven for the ming dynasty. It served as the home of the emperors and their family for about 500 years. I can’t really describe how unique and incredible these buildings were, you really have to see it for yourself. One thing I will say, I don’t think I’ll ever go somewhere quite like it ever again.

The Strange Strange Food Stalls

I’d watched an Idiot Abroad with Karl Pilkington so I prepared myself for what was being sold on those food stalls. Well I got there and was greeted with cooked tarantulas, scorpions on kebabs and small bugs skewered on bite sized wooden splints. Yep I chickened out of the hairy spiders, but I manage to eat a couple of the small bugs. I put so much salt on them just to mask the other flavours and to be honest it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I’ve had worse in a pot noodle to be honest! Still, it was an experience that I’ll remember for a while!

The Great Wall

You cant really comprehend how great this wall is until your standing on it and trying to walk along it. It completely boggles the mind how they managed to build this wall along all these mountains before the use of heavy machinery. Honestly I can stress enough how impressive this man made creation is. Make this one of the things you see before you
die.