Waking up for day two in Beijing was surreal. It was the first Friday in a long while that I wouldn’t be teaching, and in total transparency I was already missing the kids. That said, it was 7 o’clock on Friday morning, and I was waking up in China!
I had received strict instructions the night before to meet my tour guide at an adjacent hotel down the street at 8:10 a.m., which is where I was introduced to Mike, our tour guide for the day. I’d signed up for some small group tours to try to get the most out of my limited time in Beijing, however, when the van door opened it became clear that I would more likely be intruding on a family’s private tour. With just four of us in the group, I met two lovely sisters along with one of their sons who were touring Beijing and Mongolia on holiday from the Philippines. They could not have been more lovely. We spent the day exploring the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, and the Summer Palace, with a quick lunch in between.
The Forbidden City was our first stop, and I was already blown away. Before entering the palace we waked alongside the moat which was surrounded by beautiful weeping willow trees and offered the perfect calming introduction to what was about to be a very busy day.
We had arrived right as the gates were opening which was lovely as I’m sure it got much more crowded throughout the day. Mike walked us through every inch of the palace sharing with us the history of the dynasties that lived there. He also shared with us the difference in politics and economics from then and now which I thought was particularly interesting. He was so passionate about that specific time in history and it was hard not to be intrigued by his knowledge.
After the Forbidden City we moved on to the Temple of Heaven. This time Mike gave us a brief overview of the history and then allowed us to explore the temple for ourselves. The coloring of this structure stood out to me as it was blue rather than red which covers most of the structures we visited. As I learned, blue was used to symbolize Heaven throughout the buildings which really made it stand out in my mind compared to everywhere else we visited.
When we had finished touring the Temple of Heaven it was time for lunch!! The food was marvelous. We went to a small local restaurant and had a sampling of traditional Chinese food including Kung Pao chicken, sweet and sour pork, and the most delicious broccoli I’ve ever eaten in my life. Commonly found Chinese food is entirely different in Korea and it had been, literally, years since I’d tasted some of my favorites.
Following lunch we made the drive to see the Summer Palace. It was immense and incredible. We didn’t cover nearly a fraction of it, and that is something I would go back to Beijing to see more of. But Mike led us around explaining to us the history of the 17-arch bridge and the palace itself, happily answering any questions we asked. I have to say I think my favorite part of the day was getting to chat with him about his life in Beijing and his passion for Chinese history.
Just like that the tour was over. I was dropped off back at the hotel in the mid-afternoon and was excited to have time to visit Tiananman Square which was just a couple of subway stops away from where I was staying.
I jauntily walked into the hostel to grab my sunglasses, as the overcast day had turned sunny, when I was greeted by the sweet front desk manager.
“Ohh, Briana?”
“Yes?”
“The police came to look for you… We told them you were out, but they will be back soon to talk to you.”
“. . . ”
My heart and stomach fell to the floor simultaneously. This was it, I was being arrested in Beijing. Something must be wrong with my transit stay. I couldn’t think straight. The sweet girl calmly told me, “Just go to your room and take a rest, we will get you when they come back.”
For the next fifteen minutes I did nothing even close to resembling rest. I tried to be productive and re-pack my backpacks, but I wasn’t doing a very good job of consolidating. What are you supposed to do while waiting for the Beijing police to come talk to you????
Then there was the knock, “Briana? They’re here.”
I tried to smile and politely nod all the while not wetting my pants. The police officer starts asking me something in Mandarin. I look to the girl from the hostel for help answering his simple questions.
“Why are you here?”
“Just sightseeing”
“When are you leaving?”
“Tomorrow.” {so long as you don’t arrest me}
“Where are you flying to?”
“Tokyo.”{or anywhere where the police don’t look for me}
He nodded his head signaling that I could leave. I went back to my room holding my breath. Two minutes later I heard another knock at my door.
“Briana?”
“Yes?”
“They left.”
“Ohh thank goodness!! Is that normal?”
“Sometimes. For some people.”
Apparently they like to check-in occasionally, perhaps it was due to the 72-hour transit stay I was doing rather than an actual visa. Nonetheless, I was ready to move on to my travels in Japan. But I still had one more day in Beijing to visit the Great Wall. And that that was worth everything and more. Pure magic.
In saying goodbye to life in Korea, I’ve said hello to an exciting three months of traveling throughout Asia before returning home to Chicago. The first flight out of Incheon brought me to Beijing where I would have approximately 60 hours to explore all that I could of this dynamic city.
Anyways, back to Beijing. So I opened the door to the hostel and was amazed. It was beautiful. White walls were adorned with wooden beams and strong pillars in the center of the room. Worn wooden tables were dressed with bright pink flower arrangements and surrounded by mismatched, yet complementing chairs. The whole space was filled with lush greenery hanging from the ceiling and sprouting from planters along the walls. GORGEOUS. And exactly the breath of fresh air I needed as I was officially feeling overwhelmed from traveling and being away from my home away from home. Mind you it had only been about 6 hours since boarding the flight to leave.
Following our 
After a couple of subway transfers we got to our stop and followed the crowds to help lead us to our destination. Once we saw the mystical white clouds of steam rising from the water we knew we were in the right place. A stone pathway allowed us to walk right over the crystal clear cyan water, getting just close enough to feel the heat and lean over for a quick steam facial. We were lucky in the fact that it wasn’t terribly busy for a holiday weekend and we were able to peacefully enjoy the hot spring. I’ll chalk that up to the Lunar New Year and so many people being out of town to visit their families.
Now it was time to journey out to visit Jiufen. We’d come across this day excursion via a couple of blog posts which had compared the small Taiwanese town to Santorini as it too sits cozily on a mountain next to the water. We spent the next few hours exploring all of the back roads of this small mountain village, trying different foods, popping into different shops and wandering a temple. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon out of the hustle and bustle of Taipei. We explored just long enough to catch the sun setting behind the mountain and see the blue sky fade from yellow to red to black, at which time the city began to light up. I couldn’t have asked for a better day in Taiwan.
The weekend started off with a great flight from Korea to Taiwan and an easy bus ride from the airport to the hostel that my friend and I would be staying at for the weekend. After arriving in the center of town we ventured off for a quick dinner and explored our new surroundings into the evening. Something that Taiwan and 
Once we had our fill of the square we decided it was time for lunch. Something we weren’t expecting about traveling during the main weekend of the Lunar New Year was that most of the city had gone back to their hometowns to be with their family. This meant that the city was unimaginably peaceful, but it also meant that a lot of storefronts and restaurants were closed for the week. Luckily for us we found an incredible restaurant tucked away on a little side street that served absolutely delicious dim sum.
As the evening of day two was approaching we wanted to explore one of the markets that we’d researched. A lovely taxi driver dropped us off at Raohe Night Market which was supposed to be where any locals were likely to be on New Year’s. In theme with the weekend, we were surprised to see just how calm the market was. Nonetheless, we did a bit of shopping and grabbed some street food as we started to find our way to the subway to head home.
As we exited the temple we found ourselves moving with the crowd into the main strip of the Raohe Night Market. We crawled along with the thousands of other visitors slowly taking in all of the shops and stalls along the market until we found a crêpe stand that we couldn’t pass up. We hopped out of the shuffle where we were handed our strawberry Nutella crepes and reluctantly decided it was time to head back home for the night. in preparation for the following day.
After our busy 
A three-day weekend in Korea called for a quick getaway across the East China Sea where we landed in Honk Kong. It only took about 24 hours for this country to captivate my mind and soul. Hong Kong is the ultimate combination of eastern culture and western convenience. It reminded me of being in New York, but then we would simply turn a corner and be in the middle of a night market. I was hooked.
A cable car took us to the top of the mountain where we walked along a shop and restaurant lined street on our way to the stairway up to the Buddha which is where we discovered the Po Lin Monastery also sits atop the mountain. We wandered our way to the Buddha and slowly made it up 268 stairs to the top where we stayed for nearly an hour soaking in the view from the peak of the mountain and snapping countless photos of the Buddha and the surrounding statues.
Once we were back at sea level we took a long yet relaxing train ride to the Tsim Sha Tsui part of Hong Kong which would be home for the long weekend. We spent the rest of the day sightseeing and exploring the city until late into the night. We ended our day at the famous Temple Street Night Market which lived up to all of the reviews of good shopping and great street food.
bbm travels 