Around The World With Stops Mostly In Beijing, Shanghai, China and Chennai, India- Beijing, Forbidden City, Hutong Rickshaw Tour, Tienanmen Square, Temple of Heaven

So I get to mark flying around the world off of my bucket list. Flights were SLC, UT to Seattle, WA, to Beijing, China (3 days), To Shanghai (3 days), China, to Kuala Lampur, Malasia 1 day), to Chennai, India (5 days), to Madras, India, to Paris, France to SLC, UT. It was pretty cool but since it was only 2 weeks we really didn't get to see much considering. One day in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia just wasn't enough. We looked around and said "we need to come back here". I saw more foreigners there than either China or India. Really we spent a week in China and a week in India.

The first 3 days in Beijing were a bit of a repeat since we were there a couple of years ago so this time we different things.

Beijing

The view out our window

We stayed at the Regent Beijing and it was the nicest room I have ever stayed in!

Our hotel was close to the Scorpian market this time so we walked there a couple of times

They sell everything there but mostly food. It's kind of a lunch place

They have some strange fruits in China. I tried some of this spiky one. It's called Durian fruit

The first day there we got taken in by the "I'm an art student and it's the last day of our exhibition" scam. David bought a bunch of art and then walking home he saw it somewhere else a lot cheaper. So he got hotel management involved and they helped David get his money back.

It had a bedroom separate from the sitting room

Sitting room

The bathroom had a glass wall between it and the bedroom.

Jingshan Hill is the highest spot in Beijing and has a pagoda that overlooks the Forbidden City. Only there can you really get an idea of the scope of the Forbidden City. It was amazing to me! I had walked through it before but didn't realize how huge it really was!

From Jingshan Hill which overlooks the Forbiden City on the other side

Pagoda at the top of Jingshan Hill or Park

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City is the central point in Beijing and there are Towers North, South, East and West from there. This is in the Pagoda at Jingshan Park

After Jingshan park I walked out and this cute Chinese man sold me a tour through the Hutong in a Rickshaw. Umbrella's on a cloudy day. I think it's a trend

He biked me through a different part of the Hutong that I hadn't seen last time and gave me an excellent tour though I can't say I understood all of his English

Then he dropped me off at Beihai Lake which is right there by the Forbidden City

It was beautiful and I loved all the lilly ponds

The next day I took Viators Beijing Classic Full Day tour that included The Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, a silk factory, The Temple of Heaven and The Summer Palace. The lines were mostly Chinese waiting to get into Mao's Mausoleum. They said the wait was at least an hour and a half

The flowers were lovely there and looked like a lot of maintenance

Then we were on to the Forbidden City. I won't put up more pictures of this since I already have in another post

The silk factory shows the progression of growth of the silk worm

More on this in Sozhou

I saw this cool looking man sitting at the Temple of Heaven.  I think he had some sort of instrument with him. Or maybe it was a smoking pipe of some kind?

Groups gathered here for games and recreatioin

Lastly we saw the Summer Palace again. I am really glad I got pictures of the marble boat last time because this time it was all covered up or remodeling

This time we got to take a boat ride across the lake

We went to a pearl factory after the silk factory and I bought some green pearl earrings (although they looked kind of black to me) for $50

The intersections in China never cease to amaze me but wait till I get to India!

I loved this cute old couple riding around the city probably going shopping

To The Great Wall Before Our Flight To Shanghai

There is a lot of shopping before you actually take the tram to the Great Wall

We went to the same part of the wall as last time but this time we climbed right instead of left and saw different views. It was really hazy this time and so it was hard to get good, clear pictures

The wall was steep on this section

Same guys waiting for us at the bottom, I think

We ended up eating at the exact same place as last time

So I thought I would copy this picture too