...you find:
1) cold weather this side of the continent,
2) people with the Beijing cough as a result of the terrible air pollution,
3) the steering wheel on the left side of the car, not like Hong Kong where the steering wheel is on the right side of the car,
4) traffic jams at all times of the day,
5) unregulated firework displays which makes it seem like war outside during Chinese New Year (see video below),
6) one cents and one dollars, but no change in between,
7) one cents that come in two forms: heavy and light metal (the latter feels like plastic money),
8) lots of people,
9) lots of historical Chinese relics,
10) large disparities between the rich and the poor,
11) kind, but cautious people,
and 12) delicious lamb's spine restaurants!

Delicious Lamb's Spine!

Take a look at the fireworks above during Chinese New Year!

Dear friends,
I spent one day at the Great Wall and one day at the Temple of Heaven and Tiananmen Square. I'm jumping on the Great Wall in the above picture =D.

When we went to the Great Wall, we woke up at 6:30 and left at 7am. It took us an hour to get to the Badaling portion of the Great Wall. When we were there, it was about 8am and we were surprised to find it closed, well, at least that particular entrance to which we went. We went to another entrance and they were accepting tickets so we quickly got in. There was virtually nobody on the Great Wall when we got there, but after half an hour, we saw lots of people coming in the other direction! They were coming towards us because I presume they had taken the train/cable car to the top and decided to come down the Great Wall instead of first climbing up.

The weather was pretty cold, but not as cold as that first day we went to the Forbidden City. We decided to go to the Great Wall the day we went because the weather was 19 degrees Celsius, but at Badaling it was about 4 or 5 degrees lower so we still dressed warmly.

We climbed about 2/3 of one side of Badaling then called it quits and headed to the other side where there were no people. The other side did not attract tourists because the slope was 65 degrees, very very steep. Of course, we didn't go to the 65 degree slope portion, we just climbed to the point where it became 65 and then we stopped and turned around. We got some great pictures, though, because there was nobody on this side of the Badaling Great Wall.

The day we went to the Temple of Heaven and Tiananmen Square, the weather was "hai hao," or okay. When we entered the Temple of Heaven, there were several gates you needed to get past. The outer perimeter was the sacrificial pit area and the second, third gates were more temples. When you finally arrive at the center, or the Hall of Prayer, you pray for good harvests. It was all very beautifully sculpted. When we went to the innermost Hall of Prayer, they were actually filming a movie or something at the site and we saw some traditional robes of the Emperor's advisors and servants. They roped off the area so no tourists could disturb them while they filmed.

The film crew filming at the Hall of Prayers

When we spent the other half of the day at Tiananmen after going to the Temple of Heaven, the weather was warming up slightly. Tiananmen was huge. It was hard too imagine that the June 4th incident happened here only 20 years ago.

You can find more pictures of the Great Wall here: China Photo Set 4
and
photos from the Temple of Heaven & Tiananmen Square here: China Photo Set 3.

Dear friends,
On my second day in Beijing, my friends and I went to the Forbidden City. It was so incredibly cold! At first I thought it was me, who just came from Taiwan where the weather is about 20 degrees Celsius, but when I checked the news, it was the coldest time of the year in Beijing; the temperature was -7 degrees Celsius and the windchill was -17 degrees Celsius (All below 20 degrees Fahrenheit)! Can you believe it?!

Two other Fulbrighters and I (Billy & Kate) were so cold, we had to find indoor museums or gift shops in the Forbidden City to warm up. We felt rather ridiculous, but everyone was doing that. Because it was so cold, there were not that many people at the Forbidden City. You'll see in this photo album, China Photo Set 1, that there's virtually nobody at this tourist attraction.

See more pictures here!

Dear friends,
I am gearing up for my trip to Beijing for Chinese New Year break. I imagine the weather in Beijing is going to be very very cold. Check back later for a more extensive blog post... I'm very busy right now wrapping things up in Taiwan.