seekingmygreaterperhaps

Sorry dear readers (and parents), the WiFi at the most recent place I stayed at left much to be desired, so I passed on writing. Then, since we did a lot of sight-seeing, the backlog became overwhelming. So now I’m going to do my best to catch up with as many spicy details as I can recall.

After Xian, we took the night train and were greeted at Beijing Normal University by our lovely tour guide/ angel, Frannie. Instead of chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool, we went straight to the hutongs, and the Old Alley to get swarmed by people and haggle our way to souvenirs. It was actually really great and I picked up a few things for my family and boyfriend, and my boyfriend’s family. It’s a funny thing about money. For me, when I don’t have it, I want to spend it on everyone but myself. I’m working on it, because every so often I deserve some nice things too. Anyways, that’s a blog for another day.

Here’s the one picture I have of exploring the hutongs. Which to me, are just alley’s that look old and smell similarly to toilets depending on which way the wind is blowing. I should probably mention that this was the day where my stomach pain was at it’s most intense point. I was doubled over in pain quite often, getting overheated, and feeling like I was going to throw up and poop myself at the same time. I repeat do not drink the water in China, even if it’s just while brushing your teeth. I thank God my friend Melissa had immodium, I took some this night and was feeling improved by the next morning, not completely up to one hundo, but better. So going souvenir shopping on this day wasn’t the most enjoyable experience, but it ended up probably saving me a lot of money because I couldn’t browse efficiently. I also bought a neat fan because I was overheating so much, and it was a health choice.

This is Jill. She accidentally drank some train water and was dealing with some similar pains. I was definitely more vocal about mine because I’m a baby when it comes to being sick, but this was about how it was. The lake was pretty, but I didn’t capture much.

This is Frannie and Josh. They bought drinks that were smoking, but cold. I’m assuming it was dry ice, but they were flavored differently. (Also, notice the nice stranger in the back staring at us?)

A note about Chinese juices- they are AMAZING. China has really juiced up some great flavors and bottled them for all to enjoy. I had fresh squeezed pear juice at dinner one night, discovered grapefruit tea, and tasted pomelo and honey juice. All of them are delightful. I think I want to try a different juice daily, it’s a burden I’m willing to bear.

That night we had some barbeque that was quite tasty… I hear. I stuck with the yogurt.

And with that, day 1 of Beijing sightseeing was over. I went to bed super early because I didn’t feel well and prepared to trek the Great Wall the next day. Tune in for more soon! 😉