10 北京!

北京! 

This Tuesday, the students Jiao Da Fu Zhong's international department packed their bags and hopped on the overnight train to Beijing. 

Overnight train rides are some of my favorite things in the world. Although you can take a high speed train that only takes a total of 5 hours, we opted for the less expensive option that took 15 hours...It was great though. 

My five bunkies were Johanna (from Estonia) Maike (America), Julia (Russia), Carmen (America) and Meru (Kazakhstan). 

I don't exactly feel like I can describe the atmosphere of or what happens overnight trains. The culture of them is something that's pretty magnificent, it's something you just have to experience for yourself.

I was pleasantly surprised by Beijing (the city definitely outdid my impression from my last visit in the summer of 2011)! 

We went to many of the famous tourist sites. In general, I'm not a huge fan of tour guides and structured sight seeing, but it was cool to visit some of the most important historical sites in China. 

The first day, we went to the Temple of Heaven （天坛），Tiananmen Square （天安门广场） and the Forbidden City (故宫). 

Temple of Heaven

Tiananmen

Alley at the Forbidden City

In the evening, we we went to Wang Fu Jin, Beijing's largest shopping are for dinner. We found some really interesting street food (tarantulas, cow stomach dumplings)! I tried a leg off my classmates' scorpion shish-kabob, some famous Beijing hot yogurt and noodles from a delicious "hole-in-the-wall" type place. 

The second day, was slightly colder than the first day but had an outstandingly blue sky that surprised us all! That day we went to the mausoleum of Emperor Huangdi, the Great Wall (长城）, and the Bird's nest! 

The third day, we hiked the Fragrant Mountain (香山) where Mao first lived when he came to Beijing. We then went to the Summer Palace (颐和园) and explored the streets of the city for a little while before heading back to the station for the 15 hour ride back to Shanghai. 

The trip (and city of Beijing) definitely exceeded my expectations, but it still feels great to come home to Shanghai.