~*October Holiday in Beijing*~

We had a week off of school so we decided to go to Beijing! For starters we got our train tickets to Beijing just a little late and got a slow train with seats, no sleepers. :( We searched for hotels for a while and finally found one that wasn't full and made reservations. So Saturday we are packed up ready to go and the hotel called and canceled our reservation because you can't check in after midnight. So we searched again for a hotel and luckily found a cheaper hotel. We got to Beijing around 3 in the morning and we decided to get our train tickets back to Weifang and it was INSANE!!! We stood in line and just as you get up front there are so many people trying to push their way through. I finally had to elbow people so we could get our sleeper tickets! Well we had to sleep in the train station until we could check into our hotel and while standing in line we found a friend that followed us around. We finally had to split up and Adam had to lose him! We found a pretty clean spot on the hard marble floor and slept until a security guard woke us up to have us move. We then went into a waiting room and slept on the chairs which was way more comfortable till we got woken up again because you can only take up one chair! So I slept on Adams lap until about 7ish and got breakfast at McDonalds. We then got a taxi and we were so happy to get to our hotel and of course our hotel did not let foreigners stay......ok so we were exhausted and had to find a hotel that let foreigners stay. It didn't take too long only the first few were full but I was so happy to have a bed and a real toilet even though it was expensive, Harry went out and found us a cheaper hotel for the week! The next day we shopped and went to Tianamen Sqaure and walked around this cool park and enjoyed this night market that went for a half a mile of these chefs and food vendors, it was great. Then Monday we were going to go into the forbidden city and as we got out of the taxi Adam forgot that his wallet was on his lap and got out of the taxi. So we spent that afternoon trying to find that taxi driver and of course the night before I had read in a book to get the taxi receipts, they can be useful if you forget something and I thought about it before we got out, but I didn't act on it!! So we acutally did see the driver drive past and Adam and Harry ran after it and Harry got a taxi to try and follow it but to no avail. Thank goodness Adam didn't have too much cash but his Visa, and our train tickets lost. So we had Adams dad western union some money to us, thank goodness we had enough money on us to last a few days but we still had to buy new train tickets. We went to the Forbidden City on Tuesday and it was awesome. Wednesday we went to pick up the money and they couldn't give it to us because we didn't have the control number, well the western union that Brian sent it from said that we wouldn't need it. Hahah wow! But we got the number, Brian had to go back and get the number and we got the money. Then my contact solution emptied into Adams suitcase and the day we went to the Great Wall one of my eyes got all infected and sensitive so I had to take out my contact and I had forgotten my sunglasses. So we decided not to walk up the wall because of the lack of time, we rode the cable up and enjoyed the great wall, it was magnificent. We then walked down the great wall which was enough for me and tobogganed down the mountain side! We got a van back instead of the bus and rode it back with a couple that lived in Kuwait, he was Irish and she was Armanian. It was a lot faster and so much nicer. We stood in line for train tickets again, Harry still had his ticket so it was important that we get on the same train. They had standing tickets so we just got them thinking that we would have to stand for an hour at the most and hopefully we could get to our sleepers and those tickets hadn't been pawned off. The last day we went to the summer palace which was way cool. Of course I went shopping again and got some cute things! A pair of sevens, true religions, rock and republics, ugg boots, some scarves, a pearl necklace, coach bag, and a Chanel bag, a sweater and a wool coat! and the best part is I spent maybe $200 american dollars! Well we left Saturday and we were getting on the train and I showed my sleeper ticket and he let Adam and I through but then he checked Harrys ticket so then he checked Adams and kicked them off the car. I was all alone with these Chinese girls that didn't speak hardly any English, but they were so nice and kept me from crying and fed me. Then a student from Beijing, Leo came and thankfully knew English and the two sleepers we had originally paid for hadn't been taken!! I didn't have Harrys number but luckily I had our friends Blanches number, we called her and got a hold of Harry and Adam. They said that the train was packed. They had been standing for almost three hours and there was only space for their feet. So Leo went to find them and they had just a got a seat but they weaved their way through and had to hold the suitcases above their heads and payed for sleepers. Which was way nice because then our train stopped for almost 3 hours to get fixed or something. So we left Beijing around 3p.m. and got home around 6 a.m. and spent almost 1000 Yuan just to get home. It felt so nice to be on our hard bed in Weifang! What an experience!!