I flew from Hanoi to Beijing to catch up with another tour, this one is 17 days in China and Tibet. New group, new personalities and a pretty hectic pace to see everything. Beijing included the Square, Forbidden City and The Great Wall and of course a rickshaw ride!
There was a 3-hour line to see Mao’s tomb but fortunately we bypassed it and spent most of our time exploring the Forbidden City. The stories of the Emperor’s and thousands of concubines living together conjured up a world far from glitz and glam that is today’s China. There were a lot of tour groups, but most of them were Chinese traveler’s. As westerners we really stuck out and many of the locals wanted to take our pictures and seemed genuinely curious about us and what we thought of their country. My first impression of China was enthusiasm and prosperity.
WanderlustandWhimSea 