China. Where do I even begin? It’s a place I’ve always wanted to visit with the boys (especially given our proximity to it), but it’s a strange dichotomy. On one hand, the sights, landscapes and history are amazing. There’s no place in the world quite like it. But on the other, the culture, crowds and massiveness of the country can be shocking.

Beijing. Our first stop was Beijing, where we stayed for 6 nights. We knew it was going to be cold in January, but you can’t get a sense of how cold until you feel it. And boy, it was brutal. Temperatures were in high 20s to low 30s, plus wind chill. Coming from Taiwan, we didn’t have a lot of cold-weather clothing so we tried to layer up, but I still felt freezing all the time. It’s no fun putting on 10 layers every time we had to go out either.

We visited all the major sites in the Beijing area: Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and of course the Great Wall. I won’t go into too many details of each place or else this post will never end, but here are some highlights.

Summer Palace: A summer garden retreat built for Empress Cixi and the royal family, it is unsurprisingly vast and beautiful. But it was so, so cold and windy we didn’t spend too much time here.

Temple of Heaven: The circular architecture of the temple is stunning. It’s massive, so it’s even more impressive in person. The main temple was very crowded, which as I realized, would be a recurring theme throughout our time in China. 😬

Tiananmen Square: We had watched an intriguing documentary about Tiananmen Square before coming to China, and to be honest, if it weren’t for giving the boys a glimpse into its history, we would have skipped it. For one thing, the security to enter was intense. Our passports were checked three times, and we had to wait in a security line (in the cold!) for 45 minutes. Word of advice: if you visit Tiananmen Square, do NOT bring bags, backpacks or anything! There was virtually no line for visitors without bags.

Another reason why we would’ve skipped Tiananmen Square had it not been for the boys? It’s literally just a square. 😅There was nothing interesting to see there, other than knowing the history. Also, the air quality that day was so horrendously bad we couldn’t wait to leave.

Forbidden City: Visiting the Forbidden City is a must though, and luckily it’s across from Tiananmen Square. (When I say across, I mean we still had to walk 30-40 minutes because Beijing is just humungous.) I’ve watched a lot of Chinese historical dramas that take place here, so I’m always fascinated by the Forbidden City’s legacy and mystery.

The palace was another site that felt incredibly crowded. While walking around felt fine, any relatively famous sites such as the Hall of Supreme Harmony 太和殿 or Hall of Mental Cultivation 養心殿 would be packed. To take a photo, you’d either have to wait for a spot to open up and try to squeeze in, or hold your camera above your head and hope for the best.

Great Wall. This was probably the highlight of our Beijing visit, if not our entire China trip. The last time Baba and I visited the Great Wall, we felt rushed and the wall was jam-packed with tourists. This time, we hired a private driver to take us to Jinshanling 金山嶺, a more remote part of the wall about 2.5 hours outside of Beijing.

It was so, so worth it. We hiked about 8 miles, and had the wall mostly to ourselves! We also explored an original section of the wall, which was very cool to see as the majority of the wall that is open to tourists have been restored. Every chance I got, I would remind myself to stop and admire the magnificence of this man-made wonder. And every time, I was wowed.

Other notable experiences: We also visited Universal Studios in Beijing, which opened in 2021. We decided to go only because the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was there, and O in particular is a big fan of HP. It’s a nice park – not too big but still had many fun attractions. The highlight was Baba winning a dead hang contest at Kung Fu Panda Land, and our prize was a ginormous monkey that we had to lug around China. 😆

Another unique experience was biking on a frozen lake! Every winter, Houhai 後海 lake freezes over and people can bike or sled across it. We discovered new levels of faith while biking on this ice 😅.

When in Beijing, you have to eat Peking duck. We went to probably the most famous Peking duck restaurant called Siji Minfu 四季民福. I normally don’t eat a lot of duck, but this place was just heavenly. Thin, crispy skin wrapped over tender, juicy meat – it’s no wonder this place is so popular! Luckily, our hotel was literally right next to the restaurant and the concierge could help us get a queue number while we did other things. Otherwise, the wait could be 2-3 hours long!

Because it was so cold, we often ate a lot of hot pot (not complaining, because I’m hot pot’s #1 fan). Beijing’s famous for their chimney copper pot filled with mild broth. Always hit the spot on a cold day.

Last but not least, we fell in love with Beijing style yogurt! There were many shops selling these, but the most popular variation is 奶皮子酸奶, or milk skin yogurt. It’s creamy, rich and smooth with just the right amount of sweetness. We often ate these for breakfast.

While Beijing is a must-visit on any China itinerary, admittedly it is not one of my favorite cities. It is too vast and sprawling, which made it feel impersonal. I also don’t know if it was because of the frigid weather, but Beijing looked bleak in a lot of areas, possibly due to the large number of grey brick walls surrounding old houses.

Xian. After Beijing, we took a high speed train to Xian and stayed there for 4 nights. I am incredibly impressed with China’s rail network. Within a decade, the country built an extensive rail system to support 1.4 billion people. The trains are clean, on time and fast too. We traveled about 683 miles from Beijing to Xian in 4.5 hours! (For reference, that’s almost the same distance between SF to LA.) Catering to massive numbers of travelers, the train stations were unsurprisingly crowded and chaotic. Some even looked like airports!

We came to Xian to see none other than the Terracotta Army. We booked a half day tour and while it was convenient, we probably could’ve visited on our own. A lot of the information the guide told us we already learned from watching a documentary and, the tour arrived at the museum around 10am, which is when all the other tours arrive. Needless to say, it was super crowded. Still, the history, art and scale of this place is mind-blowing. I still cannot comprehend how this was all made by hand over 2,000 years ago.

We also tried a VR experience that offered a glimpse of what Qin Shi Huang’s tomb might look like. His burial chamber has never been excavated, so everything we saw was just based on historical documents. It’s unlikely we’ll see the tomb opened in our lifetime, but if the army guarding him is any indication, I can only imagine how extraordinary his final resting place must be.

What surprised us most about Xian was the food! We had never heard about Xian food outside of China before, but it is DELICIOUS. From left to right:

• 肉夾饃, or Chinese hamburger – It doesn’t look like much but the meat was so flavorful and juicy stuffed inside a crispy flatbread.
• Biang biang noodles – The noodles were wide and soft, mixed in with a symphony of flavors – salty, spicy, and sour. We loved it so much we ate this dish twice and will be dreaming about it forever.
• 涼皮, or cold noodles – This was so good! A cold noodle dish that’s spicy and vinegary.
• Skewered meats – Super popular in Xian, these are influenced by the city’s large Muslim population. The meats are often grilled with cumin, chili and Sichuan peppercorn.

We really enjoyed Xian. Our hotel was right inside the Muslim Quarter, so delicious food and lively streets were literally steps away. That same energy seemed to ripple through the entire city – everywhere we went, the streets were filled with fascinating sights and tempting foods. ☺️

Ok this post has gotten long enough! I’ll end it here and save Luoyang, Huangshan, and Shanghai for part 2.