Malaysia Trip Part IV - Beijing Layover

penang and ipoh were fun, time to head back home. what do you do on a 14 hour layover in beijing? visit the great wall of china! rather than try to figure out the transit system, we made a great choice by hiring a tour company that picked us up at the airport, included a driver and english speaking tour guide, and dropped us right back at our terminal. it was easy, informative, and not very expensive for the convenience and quality of service.

arriving at the great wall. this is chris with our tour guide mary. she was very knowledgeable, super sweet, and adorable!





getting to the wall via ski lift



here we are... surreal... and COLD AS SHIZZ!!!













bffs!











with mary



and the coolest part... riding back down to the base of the mountain on a tobaggan! i have to post a video, if you ever get a chance you need to do this! this is only half the ride, it was about 3min total...



an added bonus, the tour guide took us to tiananmen square, one of the top ten worlds largest squares in the world, and the site of many important events in chinese history



monument to the peoples heroes, and behind it the national museum of china



great hall of the people



tiananmen gate, which separates the square from the forbidden city



chris and mary in front of the gate





meridian gate, the entryway into the forbidden city. the forbidden city was an imperial palace that served as home to the emperors of china, as well as a place to hold most political activities.



the amount of symbolism mary described in the construction of the palace was crazy. everything means something in terms of philosophical and religious principles, from the location, to the colors used, to the animal statues displayed.









the hall of supreme harmony, the most popular structure in the palace







one of the coolest parts of the trip happened to be on our layover. funny that nanci has been to the philippines and i havent yet, not ive been to china and she hasnt yet. vacation is over, time to head back to the states!

speaking of nanci, final and biggest shout out goes to her for watching the kids for 12 days while i went galavanting on the other side of the globe. love you dear!!!