The Temple of Heaven and Blue Skies at the Summer Palace

 Hey guys! This will be the last part of the series in Beijing. I'm almost done my trip, thanks for hanging on with me!

After visiting the Forbidden City, we then went to Beijing's other very famous landmark, the Temple of Heaven. As you know, Chinese people can be very superstitious and back in the day, the Emperor ( link to God)  would try to appease the gods in many ways, including worshipping at this temple every year.

Of course before we went in, we stopped at a Chinese Bakery for some eats. God the food was so good and cute!

Almost makes me not want to eat them

Apparently the Temple of Heaven is a local hangout and all the seniors come here to chill with their friends.

The most iconic building in this area was the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, with its triple decked roof.

The inside of the circular building was absolutely gorgeous. I think I almost like it better then the Forbidden City.

Ancient Chinese Door-knocker

 Summer Palace

For our last day in Beijing, we went to the Summer Palace, unfortunately, since we were visiting in Winter, the sights weren't as great as they could be. But luckily we finally saw the clear blue sky for the first time since we were in China. 

We got to walk through the Long Corridor where each beam and overhead area is hand painted.

As far as the eye can see

We found a guy selling sugar art, where you take malt candy and blow different shapes into to make edible art.

We each got a candy figure :D

The Summer Palace was a great place to visit and it probably would've been better if we had came in the summer time. 

We got to try the famous Beijing Tanghulu before we left the city. This is a snack that has candied hawthorn berries on a bamboo stick and I've been seeing these on TVB dramas ever since I was little. We got a modern version with candied fruits too and it was so much better then I expected! Not too sweet, not too tangy and the texture was so nice and crunchy! 10/10 would try again :)

Thanks so much for reading everyone!

Into the Forbidden City and Peking Ducks

Our next adventure in Beijing was dedicated to going to the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. However, due to the large number of photos I took, I've decided to split the posts into two so you guys won't be overwhelmed ( or be here forever while the pictures load). But I will say that today's post will be very photo heavy.

The Forbidden City, if you didn't know was the home of the Chinese emporer for the last 500 years (spanning the Ming and Qing Dynasty). I believe it is one of the largest wooden palaces in the world and only a small part of it is open to the public. 

We started the day with another Beijing specialty, almost a salty crepe with meat and vegetables. So fresh, so good ^^.

Yum!

The weather was starting to cooperate and you could almost see the blue sky!

This photo makes it seem like the place is empty...it's not

Each of the halls inside have a plaque stating the name of the hall and elaborately decorated roofs and support beams.

Smile!

They had water spouts in the shape of dragons to prevent flooding when it rained.

The halls ranged from places the Emperor conducted his affairs with his ministers, to his office to places he hung out. You can't go in but you can try and look from the outside to get an idea of how it looked back then.

Love the throne chair!

There were these giant urns outside that had gold scratch marks on them. According to Chrissy's relative, that was leftover from when the English and French raided the palace and evidence of their attempt to scratch off all the gold.

They did a pretty good job with getting most of it off

The entrance to each of the halls had a middle section that was sectioned off since that used to be exclusively used by the Emperor.

Dragons everywhere

The palace grounds were so large that sometimes you feel like you're just walking around and around in a circle.

Found a few stragglers outside

On our way out we went to Jinshan Hill, one of the highest points within Beijing. The view of the Forbidden City was breathtaking.

This was another nice view of the city from the outside. Interesting how the moat has frozen over.

At night, we tried another famous Beijing dish, the Peking duck! I've tried this dish many times before in Toronto but of  course, I had to try it again in Beijing. The skin was much more crispy and the duck meat was really tender. The best part was that the duck didn't feel fatty at all.

I'm so hungry

Overall, I loved visiting the Forbidden City and I'm glad I had the chance to do so.

Thanks for reading everyone!

Hiking on the Great Wall of China

I've now completed the Shanghai portion of the trip and we left for Beijing on a nine hour train from Shanghai.

I must say that the train station in Shanghai was one of the nicest and newest train stations I've ever seen. Everything was really modern and clean. The trains were comfortable, and the seats had lots of legroom. It was much better then I had imagined.

Train platform in Shanghai

Comfy for the ride

 Our first stop in Beijing was to visit the Great Wall of China.

A lot of tourists will typically go to Badaling, a section of the Great Wall that’s closest to Beijing but luckily we had Auntie Janet's cousin bring us to a more interesting part of the wall where we were free to explore on our own. Jinshanling is a part of the wall that has appeared in numerous films and TV sequences. The first part of the wall was very well maintained but soon, we begin to see more imperfect parts of the wall.

Lots of crumbled walls and incomplete sections

 But it was great to get away from the crowds of Beijing and really spend some time exploring the Great Wall of China.

On a clear day, you can see for miles

 It was quite dangerous climbing the wall since there were many high and uneven steps and it began to snow while we started climbing.

Broken, jagged, slippery steps

The climb itself wasn't too physically taxing, there were lots of flat-ish sections for us to walk. Going down was more awful since it was so slippery.

Of course since this is China, you can get food everywhere. I found a local selling coffee, tea and snacks on the Great Wall.

Good selection of items too

Of course I had to try a cup of coffee!

Good way to stay warm too

 On our way back, we met another local farmer who was selling souvenirs on the wall. She was extremely fit for a 60 year old and even helped some of us come down on the more steep parts.

Here's a picture of her trying to give us directions

Overall, it was an amazing experience to get to climb the Great Wall of China. I'm happy to say this is another item off of the bucket list.

Gotta leave my mark on the wall :)

 Thanks for reading everyone!

Crab Eating in Suzhou

On my next leg of the trip, we stopped in Suzhou to visit a five hundred year old home built in the Ming Dynasty by one of the designers of the Forbidden City.

The home was beautifully preserved with the original furnishings and a well manicured garden. 

Serene

The museum was very interactive and you got to walk around as if you were the owner of the home. 

Oh, hello there :D!

Nice place for photos too :D

Crabs from Tai Lake

Tai Lake is one of the largest fresh water lakes in China. The crabs from this lake are world famous for their taste and meat texture and are highly desired each year during the fall and winter when they taste the best. My mom told me that my great-grandmother tried the steamed crab from the lake once and remembered the taste for the rest of her life. So of course I had to try one while I'm in the area to see what all the fuss is about :D. 

They come bound like this after being steamed. Steaming is the preferred method of cooking since it retains the original crab flavours the best.

Looks like a normal crab, but the legs are smaller

There is a big difference between the male and female crabs and I typically prefer the taste of the female crabs. This is how you tell which is which. 

Male crab example:

Narrow flap at the back means it's a male

Female crab example:

See how the flap here is nice and broad? It's a female

This is the inside of the male crab once you lift the outer shell.

For this type of crab, I actually prefered eating the male crab. As for the taste and was it as good as my great-grandmother suggested? Meh, it was OK. I prefer the ones we eat at home in Canada. 

Thanks for reading everyone! Stay tuned for my adventures in Beijing!