Beijing!!!!!

Korean people have a holiday similar to Thanksgiving. It's called Chuseok, lots of food and giving thanks to their ancestors. There are many festivals, family reunions and gift giving abound. Unfortunately this holiday kind of sucks for foreigners...as many shops are closed and the highways are clogged with domestic travellers. So...what is a waygook(foreigner)to do...? Well.....leave! Travel! 9 days of freedom! Thanks to my best buds Carol and Vanessa..i was able to hook on to a traveling pack of foreigners heading for Beijing. We joined up with a package tour...yes...i know..you are surprised...no backpack and tent. I traded them in for a huge empty duffle bag and the yuppiest Holiday Inn (Zen style) this side of the prime meridian. Yes, I am now a mass tourist! But hey, i lived in luxury for a week. The trip was fantastic. After meeting up with a seasoned traveller and friend of Carol and Vanessa, Mary. We were off to explore the the Forbidden City, The Great Wall and many markets.Mary and I almost jumped up and down...almost? I think we actually did jump when we opened the door to our room. It was the nicest hotel room that i have ever stayed in. Cushy beds, with cool comfy duvets, mood lighting and a telephone beside the lou. We also took advantage of candle light swimming, the steam room and sauna at the end of each day. The most wonderful thing about this hotel....was the breakfast. As you may know...Asia doesn't DO breakfast...at least not how we know it. They eat the same rice, fish and seaweed for breakfast as they do for dinner. So, you can imagine our suprise when we walked into a beautiful dining room full of big comfortable chairs and every kind of breakfast food you can think of. I think Mary went to bed early every night, just so she could dream about breakfast...i think this was definately her favourite part of the trip...not the Wall, the pearl market or the temples... Breakfast and shopping! I can't really disagree though. I never thought of myself as a shopper but when you are faced with floors upon floors of super cheap STUFF, you can't help but fall deep into the consumerism pit. I fell hard. Silk, pearls, silver i felt like a kid in a candy shop. We left with bags of goodies, and didn't break the bank. As much fun as the shopping was, I also enjoyed all of the sight seeing. The Beijing area is FILLED with many cultural treasures..but i think my favourite had to have been LOTUS Alley...this is a strip of restaurants and bars all overlooking a lake full of chinese style gondolas and peddal boats behind this strip are a number of other alleys which are a prime example of old Beijing. We explored most of them at night, our last night, by bicycle drawn ricshaw...it was amazing. We were able to see people in their daily routines and NOT be surrounded by tourists..there were only a handful of foreign faces amongst the 1000s of Chinese locals and domestic tourists. After our evening of touring and drinking lakeside, we returned to our snazzy hotel to be pampered. Fuzzy robes foot massages all around! Thanks Girls! I must say...this was a brief...but fantastic trip. I look forward to travelling with these girls again. Thanks Mary, Carol and Vanessa for a great time!