China, Oct. 3-5th

I have been needing a break from work so when I saw we got three days off from work the first week of October I jumped at the chance to plan a trip out of town. I have never traveled completely on my own and felt this was something I needed to do. So I booked tickets and headed to China for a week. This also coincided with my birthday, which meant for the first time in my life I wouldn't be talking to anyone on my birthday and the people I would be with would have no idea it was my birthday.



In my Hutong



So after reaching China I had some time to wander around the streets and Hutongs (living area's for people) that were around my Hostel. I had a fun going into shops and seeing all the food people were cooking.

My Hostel

Homemade Noodles!!

Hutong area

On my birthday I went to the Great Wall. The trip started off with a Jade Factory, the Ming Tombs, the Wall, lunch, a silk factory, and then a tea shop. The day ended with the best Kungpow Chicken I have ever had and birthday cake at the Hostel. I had a great day exploring the wall, eating a peach, and drinking lots of tea!

Ming Tombs

Bells inside the Temple

Cable Car ride to the top!

On the Wall!!

My wonderful Chaco's!!

So many steps and such a great view

This guy was waiting at the bottom...I couldn't say no to a picture

At the Tea House

 The Tea house was amazing! You just sit and they make you tea to try. You can just keep drinking until you can't take another sip! I was in heaven and did buy some tea from this place and another little shop. I can't wait to drink it. They whole presentation is cool as well. They have a whole set up for preparing the tea, teaching you how to drink different kinds, and explaining about each kind of tea. There are also certain streets in the city were everything on the street is restaurants, which is amazing. Plus people love sunflower seeds and will just sit in groups outside while they wait to eat, munching on seeds and spitting the shells out.

At night on the street full of restaurants

My cake was good, very light with fresh fruit inside. I even had a group of people from Spain there and they sang to me in Spanish, which completely made my day! I loved getting to hear a language I understand besides all the Chinese. I tried learning some words but I just kept wanting to speak Khmer to everyone, which is a good and yet bad thing.

Me with my crown and cake!

The next day I went to see the Summer Palace with two of the people I went to the Great Wall with. We had a fun time walking around the grounds. There was so much to see and TONS of people. The first week in October is a week holiday for everyone in China so there were a lot of tourists at the different sights. The Palace has a huge lake on it as well so we took a boat over to one of the little islands and then walked back around.

At the Summer Palace

Some cultural dancing

They have a really cool area down along the water way as you come in. It is all shops and places to eat. It was all quite enchanting and I loved seeing all the different things people were doing and making. One of the guys on the bridge was making little dolls out of clay but we weren't sure how you would even get it home or how long it would last. But it was amazing watching him do everything.

Shops along the water, entrance of the Summer Palace

Making dolls out of clay

T-shirt they had for sale

This guy was using a hula hoop that looked like a giant slinky

People at the Summer Palace

One of the many buildings on the grounds

I have to include this video as well... and let you decide what you think. I loved that she looked like a bee!