We spent time in Beijing at the beginning of our trip and at the end. It took a few days to adjust to the culture as it is very different from the Japanese culture. Along with the initial frustrations of getting train tickets, our second time back to Beijing was much more pleasant. It probably helped that we actually saw the sun and some blue sky in Beijing, which rarely happens, especially in the heat of the summer. In Beijing we enjoyed roaming around The Forbidden City and Palace, it really is a city, it's huge! There were some renovations going on so the main courtyard area wasn't as picturesque as we would've liked.

By far the best part was our visit to the Great Wall at Simitai. It was a beutiful day, we took the 2 1/2 hour drive from Beijing and couldn't have asked for a better day to do it. Never mind the fact that we had tried to go the 2 days prior but something always got in the way of us actually getting there. Anyways, you could see the wall stretching for miles along the hills and countryside. It was nearly deserted which was surprising. You usually see photos of massive amounts of people crowding the wall from one end to the other (of the tourist area). They were 14 watch towers we could visit. This was strictly for tourists and parts had been rebuilt. Once we got to the 14th tower there was a big sign that said if we trespassed it would be an equivalent to a $10 fine, not nearly enough to stop some people, we thought.

Also in Beijing, we got to see a Kung Fu performance which was good, Nick would've like to have seen some more fighting though, as it was very artistic. We visited the different temples and on the last two days shopped till we dropped. Our bargaining skills have never been better, we actually had to buy a new backpack to bring our things back. Thankfully we went over there with nearly nothing in our bags.

Overall the food was a bit disappointing, of course edible, at least most of it. But it would've been ideal to have a Chinese person with us reading menus for us and recommending places and things to eat. On the other hand we never went all out on an expensive dinner, so maybe that's our fault. One of our best meals happened to be a Japanese all you can off the menu restaurant, kind of pathetic!

We're looking forward to seeing the Olympics next summer and what things will have changed and what things will have remained the same since our travels there.