China

My trip started off with a series of frustrating events, but thankfully it got a bit better. 

Day one...a tale of frustration. This day started with me buying the wrong bus ticket. I got the Gimhae bus stop, not the Gimhae airport. Not a huge deal, but after exchanging the ticket, I had to wait an extra 30 minutes for the next airport bus.  Next, my flight was delayed 1 hour.   Again, no biggie, but this did put me into Beijing at rush hour on Friday night. Talk about feeling like a sardine in the subway. After checking into the hotel and giving them a $30 deposit, I set out to see Tiananmen Square at night. This is when I realized that the only "nice" people in Beijing are actually scam artists preying on English speaking foreigners. I fell for a tea ceremony scam, but I'll look at it as a $70 education. Live and learn. I looked at a couple of shopping streets, told a few more scam artists where to go,  then went back to the hotel.  At 10:30, the desk called me and said that I was at the wrong hotel and that I had to leave or pay for the night. Turns out that my hotel, same chain, was a couple blocks down.  I am confident that they knew this when I checked in because they looked  at the address.  But rather than telling me, they gladly took my deposit, "which would be returned," and gave me a key.  When I asked for the money back, they told me that it wasn't their fault that I went to the wrong hotel. Jerks. So, between the tea scam and the hotel, day one proved to be a bit more expensive than planned.

Day 2 was better.  I got up early and headed to the Great Wall. I took the subway to a bus. Round trip transportation cost me about $5. (Good thing I didn't fall for the "you need a private driver & tour guide" scam, also offered to me the night before. For a "$100 he'll drive you to the wall and anywhere else you want to go. It is better. The bus will take you all day and you won't see anything else") Anyways, the wall was amazing. The only bummer was that a billion other people had the same idea. I took the "slide car" up and down from the wall. I thought it was a typo and that they meant a cable car, but nope, they meant a slide car. On the way up we were basically pulled up by a chain...similar to when you're going up a roller coaster. On the way down, gravity pulled us down as a train of cars. It was so silly and fun. When I was on the actual wall, I was able to walk quite a ways. It was awesome. Being a tourist area, I was again targeted for a scam.  This time, the sales person gave me the wrong amount of change. (basically gave me a .50 bill instead of a 5 bill).  When I handed the incorrect bills back to him, he acted surprised, but the gal working with him snickered and I could tell it was intentional. They never give up.

After the great wall, I went to the Lama Temple. Very cool. As I walked to the temple, there were tons of shops that were selling incense. I thought it strange, but once inside the temple I understood. Buddhists were paying their respects to Buddha by burning 3 sticks of incense at a time then chanting or praying. Everywhere I looked, people had fistfuls of incense.  It was pretty cool.

Day 3.   The plan was to visit the Forbidden City,  Tiananmen Square, and the Temple of Heaven. The Forbidden City was so crowded and the line was soooo long, that I visited the adjacent areas instead: Zhongshan Park and the Working People's Cultural Palace. (Although, I was approached 3 times by people who offered to be my personal tour guide and could get me into the Forbidden City for a price. Jeez!)  Zhongshan Park was absolutely gorgeous.  I especially liked the beautiful gardens and the people who were gathered for a tai chi workout.  To the east of the Forbidden City was the Working People's Cultural Palace.  This spot must be popular for wedding pictures as I saw several brides in beautiful gowns.  I popped in  Tiananmen Square for quick peek, but didn't stay long. Instead of facing a super crowded Temple of Heaven, I thought I'd give Olympic Park a shot instead. Good choice. It was a large outdoor area. Though still crowded, it was more open. I was able to see the "birds nest", the aquatic center, the Olympic pagoda and a few other things. There were also several venders selling kites and families who were enjoying them.   I wished it had been a little less muggy, but still very nice.

Day 4:  Shanghai.  I had about 5 hours to do some exploring in Shanghai.  The feel here was completely different than the feel of Beijing.  There were fewer people, although that may have been due to the fact that it was a Monday, and it was much newer and cleaner.  I decided to check out  Nanjing Road  and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower.  Nanjing Road is a 3.4 mile long shopping street that allowed for lots of people watching.  The Oriental Pearl TV Tower is the worlds 3rd largest TV tower and was quite a site to see.  If the weather had been nicer, I would have gone to the top to see the view.

So, all in all, I'm glad I made it to the Great Wall and was able to see something different. As far as returning to China...highly unlikely!!