My Asia trip- part 4 (!)

By robert | December 20, 2014 |

I know, I know–‘enough already with these damn China posts’ you’re saying…

So as part of our tour we strolled though the Beijing Night market ( except we went during the daytime) which was probably a good thing since some of the sights were haunting enough in the full sun [i’ll warn you now this is kinda creepy] This was the only place the guide ever said to “watch your belongings…” I;m assuming after walking through that an agitated scorpion might have made a go for my wallet…

Some of the more tame food items, although i’m STILL uncertain exactly what they were. Do you suppose Chinese visitors here are equally horrified by The Cheesecake Factory or Olive Garden and the mysterious things THEY sell as ‘food’?

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OK, here’s were it gets haunting. What you cannot see (be thankful) is that these little buggers are still SQUIRMING on these sticks as they are uncooked. My first thought was “Aren’t scorpions pissed off enough as it is–now you have to skewer them alive?” My second thought was, “Whose job is it to pop them on all those little sticks?” And you think YOU’RE job is bad….

Oh yeah–and here are some delicious grasshoppers for you as well as Starfish (right behind them to the right)

This was one of the less offending trays of eats

None of us could figure out what these small, scrumptious baked birds were. Pigeons maybe? I didn’t ask, and don’t really want to know, thank you very much.

Ssssssssh! No talking: It’s KFC!!

I really loved the signs. That’s why traveling with me is so annoying–i’m always stopping to photograph stupid signage.

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So we then hit up The Great Wall (quite a shift from the ghoulish Market-Of-Terrors I know)

So all this construction is apparently quite new, but what you enter first is quite similar to some sort of outdoor mall/ski town (at least it felt that way to me) And you’re greeted by haggling t-shirt vendors, snack shops and of course – The Burger King. Who knew The Great Wall was ALSO home of the Whopper?!

I had this weird impression that you drove up a mountain (again, like at a ski area) and walked over and BAM – The Great wall. Yeah well, not so much. First you get on a bus that takes you to the aforementioned Burger King, then you walk up a STEEP hill to THEN get on a cable car!

Your first good peek at it from out of the tram.

The scale and scope of the Wall is very difficult to take in, particularly since it goes as far as you can see and you realize you’re only seeing a very specific, small chunk of it. It’s really quite amazing. A number of these are multiple frames stitched together to get a wider perspective.

The intrepid travelers.

I tried my best to make the Wall look as empty and ‘pristine’ as I could, but it was really difficult due to the crowds. We specifically went on an off day to avoid the crowds, but there was some sort of Chinese track team al running around and yelling in their matching blue outfits. It was like a swarm of Tweens.

I’ll say this too–it’s a lot more vigorous a climb and walk than it appears—that thing is STEEP. I would not have made a very good Mongul Invader, as I would have been looking for the Monorail to avoid walking.