北京 | MY TRIP TO BEIJING

My last post was about my trip in Shanghai. My grandparents took me on a trip to China as a late high school graduation present (better late than never right?). We stayed in Shanghai from March 21 to March 28 and stayed in Beijing March 28 to the 31st. We took the bullet train from Shanghai to Beijing in order to get there faster. It was fun watching China go by!

In Beijing we stayed in a place called the Sihe Courtyard Hotel, which was hard to find because it was down an alley and we didn't think we would be staying in an alleyway. We arrived the night of the 28th and as it was too late to go on any excursions, we just settled into our hotel, chatted it up with the hotel manager and then walked around the area to say hello to Beijing, get a feel of our surroundings, and of course grab a bite to eat! We found a place nearby called JL Gatto Caffe. Though I was immediately attracted to this place, as it had a cat sign on the building and they made specialty coffee (coffee addict coming through), I was skeptical as I don't like sandwiches but I figured they would have other things on the menu. Turns out they really had only sandwiches but I set my feelings aside and ate a sandwich anyway without a fuss (I'm a very picky eater). I got an order of Kenya AAA coffee and a ham sandwich. Funny part is, I liked the sandwich more than the coffee.

The next day we had to get up and have breakfast really early as we had a full day ahead of us. We started our day going to the Great Wall which took 2 hours to get there. My grandpa and I hiked the great wall for about 2 hours. One part was so steep we had to stop about 8 times to catch our breath. My advice if you ever go to the Great Wall is to bring lots of water! You can bet I wore lots of sunscreen too. 

After an exhausting yet exciting hike at the Great Wall, we then headed over to the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace was so beautiful I can't even begin to tell you. It was absolutely breathtaking and my grandma and I got stopped a few times with people wanting pictures with us, which is always fun! I really wanted to take a boat across the water to the Palace but there was so many people in line we would've been there all night!

 The next and final day in Beijing we visited the Forbidden City. It was within walking distance from our hotel so that was fun walking around the busy streets of Beijing and passing by all the fun and cute shops. The Forbidden City was pretty crowded but the atmosphere and architecture was so lovely. The little garden was my favorite. 

Now I love cats so I wasn't about to leave Beijing until we went to a cat café called 'Cats Love' which is a cat shelter/sanctuary for stray cats. We thought the cafe was not far from the Forbidden City so we thought to walk. We weren't finding it and got passerby's to help us and it seemed the cafe kept getting farther and farther away. Not to mention it was so hot outside! After a two hour walk we finally made it and it was so nice to sit down and relax with the cats. I purchased a package of cat food to feed the cats and curry for myself. So we all ate together and everyone was happy. Something I definitely want to do again. Oh, and we were smart enough to take the subway back to the hotel!

 We had a really nice stay here and the staff was so generous and tended to our every need. Beijing was more what I thought China would've looked like as it had more peaked roofs and traditional buildings while Shanghai was more modern. I'm so glad I was able to go to China. It is definitely a place I want to visit again. I also posted a video of my trip (here).

我会想你,

Mickey