Taiwan or Bust: Beijing with the Sisters

Well, I've been a little late on this update due to a busy week back at school, but Beijing with the sisters was a TOTAL success! I had my expectations of a good trip with maybe some stumbling blocks here and there, but I really can't say we even had even the slightest slip-up.

Ok ok, that's a little bit of a lie, we did have some issues getting to our hotel the night of our arrival. We have come to the conclusion after the fact that we ended up with a driver who was illiterate. The hotel sent me detailed, step by step directions in Chinese for a driver from the airport which he couldn't follow. So near the end of our trip, he parked the car on a corner, got out, and proceeded to ask a small schoolgirl how to get to our hotel. Pink backpack, pigtails, the whole works; she was probably 9. Eventually we made it, but it was funny to say the least.

And I guess there was my departure which was a little too close for comfort. I had a flight leaving from the Beijing Airport at 8 p.m. the night before the sisters left. I knew I wanted to get there at about 6 p.m. thus wanted to leave the hotel via taxi at about 5:15. Well, we got to drinking beers on an awesome rooftop bar in between the Drum and Bell Towers and misjudged the time it would take us to get back. Because at about 4:50 we were racing down the street to get to our hotel from the metro stop and my bag was completely unpacked still. When I opened it up in Taiwan again, my things were literally in ball form from my rushed packing. However, I did make it to the airport in plenty of time, so I can't really complain.

So like I said, minor minor travel blunders but nothing to really tarnish my memories of the trip. All in all, I had a wonderful time in Beijing, and more importantly a wonderful time with my sisters. We saw the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, and just about everything else. We had Peking Duck (YUM!) and other traditional dishes. Melissa kept us on track the whole time so we utilized every second of every day to the fullest, hence we went to bed at 9 p.m. every night! It is a trip I will not soon forget, Beijing is really a great city and it was a really amazing time I got to spend with my sisters.