Julia's adventures and thoughts!: China – Beijing

For our first day in Beijing, we took the suggestion of my friend Miriam to stop by the Nanluoguxiang Hutong area for good food and shopping. Well originally we had a different itinerary for our three days in Beijing until we found out that Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City were going to be closed 2 out of the 3 days we were there! The areas were closed off in preparation of the October 1st celebration, which marked the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. So off we went instead to the see the hutongs, a former style of neighborhoods and housing in China that are disappearing in favor of large apartment structures. After buying some cashmere scarves, we noticed a long line out the door of a shop. We got in line despite not knowing what the store sold except that in came in a small white cup. The store turned out to be called Wen Yu cheese, and we bought 1 cup of cheese curd with mango on top, 1 cup with red bean on top, and a box of cheese curd/red bean swirls. I generally avoid cheese and find the word ‘curd’ to be gross, but since we didn’t know what it was at the time I proceeded to eat the dessert. I found it completely nauseating, but proceeded to eat it hoping I would increasingly enjoy it with every bite. That experiment failed, and I ended up with a stomach ache for the rest of the day. From there we headed over to the bell tower and Hou Hai lake. We enjoyed a stroll around the lake, stopping to view minor sites. I wasn’t feeling too well from the Cheese dessert, but couldn’t stop from breaking into laughter when a Chinese man looked at me and said “smellll!”. My mom thought he said we smelled, but he was actually trying to tell me to smile, which I immediately did of course!

Wen Yu Cheese. Popular, but not appetizing for this girl.

Mom shopping and exploring the Hutong.

After the lake we headed over to the Olympic area to see the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest. We didn’t go inside either of them, opting to enjoy the unique architecture from the outside. Among the masses of people, the one that most stood out were the 20 couples wearing matching tops and posing for a photographer. That would not fly in the US.