Going dark

Did I mention that we took a trip to China? And that we didn’t bring our phones? Oh, dear God! you’re probably saying to yourself. I didn’t know that could be done! But also, maybe you’re thinking, I’m not offended anymore that I didn’t get a text from them all week. So relieved they’ve made it back safely from a communist country! We may have acted a bit overly-cautious when we were warned of the whole “they can hack into your devices once you connect to their wifi” thing, but regardless, we spent a whole lot more quality time focusing on the sights around us in Beijing as well as each other.

And the sights to see did not disappoint! The food was strange but delicious. The vendors would haggle like they were born to do it. The amazing architecture of both ancient and modern buildings was more than impressive. Using the subway was a breeze.

Dumplings, spicy chicken, and soup. American Chinese food...I can't even look at you anymore.

When "Hot & Spicy" just won't cut it.

Oh nothing, man. Just taking some leisure time for a meat biscuit. Totes normal.

We wanted to do everything a tourist could possibly do (and I’d highly recommend trying if you ever find yourself in Beijing as well). But even as a very active couple, we found ourselves exhausted by mid-day just from walking around this huge metropolis and trying to overcome the language barrier.

These were actually alive. And moving. So, N to the O.

Tourist trappings

Our initial wanderings involved seeing Wangfujing Street and all the tourist musings it presented. Not a dull place by any means! But certainly a place that is not short on tourists. And a place where vendors target said tourists until they never want to see “made in China” on another item for at least another decade.

These things are edible?

Not sure what was going on here, but it still haunts my nightmares.

On our first full day in Beijing, we began our search for the Forbidden City. And lucky for us, a local had already begun his search for tourists in search of the Forbidden City. I guess it’s not too hard to spot two Americans with a camera and a map in China. So our new found – albeit temporary – friend led us around the area and into an art shop where, conveniently, some of his own art was displayed and available for purchase. Yes, we got suckered into buying some of these souvenirs for ourselves. And no matter what anyone says, I’m going to continue to believe that our artwork really was painted on rice paper, mounted on a silk scroll, and was personalized with our names in Chinese calligraphy. Because, doesn’t that sound so nice?

We purchased paintings similar to the two on the far left

Finally, we were pointed to the direction of the entry of the Forbidden City. The place is huge (180 acres), contains countless pieces of intricate architecture, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Not to mention, we discovered how refreshing it was to have a nice cold ice cream here on a hot day amongst the swarms of tourists.

We saw lots of tourists reaching out and touching this giant pot. For luck maybe? Or maybe to just grab some germs.

After escaping the crowds, we headed next door to Jingshan Park for a lovely, relaxing stroll amongst the peonies and other floral blossoms. And after a quick hike to the top of the park, we could view nearly all of the Forbidden City. The view was pretty cool.

Big & beautiful

It's a wonder these all stay alive in such a polluted city.

But the day would not have been complete without haggling with a local rickshaw driver for a ride. Worth the haggle? Possibly for the experience. Did we get ripped off for the 5-minute ride? Most likely. But we were kind of okay with this time.

This is our "We're getting ripped off but we're having so much fun!" face.

Strawberry wasted

The Korean strawberry is a living legend. And we set the memory in our mind permanently by taking a daylong strawberry themed field trip.

First on the agenda: mix up all the stuffs to make our very own strawberry soap.

Second on the agenda: eat all the strawberries. We were given free reign to wander through the greenhouse and stuff our faces with all the strawberries we could manage…and then we were each entitled to our own box that we could fill with strawberries and take home. Talk about a bunch of kids in a candy store! 

My first instinct, in natural hunter/gatherer fashion, was to grab and eat every strawberry I laid eyes upon. That worked well at first, until I realized that the really good strawberries were a little further from the entrance of the greenhouse. No problem at all though. All I had to do was eat enough of my original collection to make room in the box for those gold-standard berries. And then eat some more, just to make sure I was definitely getting a good product.

It may look like greedy strawberry eating, but I'm really feeding my 6.5-month old peanut!
Okay, it's greedy strawberry eating.

So that brings us to phase two of the eating. There were samples galore of strawberry jam, both sweet and spicy, as well as bread, crackers, and some oddly textured soy product to serve as the base for said strawberry jams.

Third on the agenda: jam hands…aka, squish more berries with our hands to get them ready to make our own jam. And also, mix this with enough sugar to go into a diabetic coma. Winning.

I thought I was doing it right, but...

...it needed more anger.

Fruit and sugar stirring takes some real muscle and stamina.

The 'fruits' of our labor. Lol.

And finally before heading out, we popped our soaps out of their molds and got to fawn over how adorable they all were for a few minutes. And they were so incredibly adorable.

Lately it seems like our outings are not complete without a temple visit. So we traveled onward, bellies full of strawberries, to Gwanchoksa Temple.

The area of the temple grounds was the smallest of any of the temples we’ve seen so far, but it was no less beautifully designed. Plus, Gwanchoksa boasts of its gigantic stone Buddha statue that stands just over 18 meters tall and a stone archway through which one can walk to cleanse themselves of their sins. Oh Buddha, you make this seem too easy!