First: Congratulations to Dennis and Linda!! I'm so sad I missed the wedding, but I heard it was amazing! I can't wait to see pictures! annnnddd...Happy Birthday Dad! Hope it was fun celebrating in Seattle!
While my family was all enjoying Seattle, I was in China. Here you are!
1. Beautiful:
-The mountains in China are nothing on Korean Mountains. Not to say Korea's aren't beautiful, but China's are much larger and more magnificent giving a sense of aw and breathlessness when you scan them late at night and early in the morning.
- The cities that aren't named Beijing. A city three hours outside Beijing (the name eludes me) was clean, landscaped and beautiful. There aren't nearly as many high rise buildings in China. At least not the area's I travel. This would be due to the fact that China is much bigger than Korea and doesn't have to cram everything into small spaces.
2. Culture: Chinese culture is SO different from Korea! Kris and I spent all week making a list of everything we found different from Korea. Here's a sample. I won't write everything, but it was a LONG list.
China VS. Korea:
1. Koreans are better looking. Men and women, but especially the men.
2. The Chinese lift their umbrellas instead of running into you with them. (yes, they are just like the Koreans. Scared of the sun)
3. The country, in general, is dirtier. Korea is very clean, neat, and business like. No one in China dresses up. Koreans never dress down.
4. Due to the above comment, Chinese men walk around with their shirts rolled up their chests to cool off and not sweat so much. You would never catch a Korean baring that much skin!
5. The Chinese are fatter, in general. Maybe due to the rolled up shirts we noticed it more, but most men (well, all really) have nice round and plump potbellies they enjoy caressing like a pregnant mother might.
6. They are more forward than Koreans when asking for pictures taken with you. We lost count after our first HOUR out on the streets of Beijing of the number of people asking to take pictures with us.
7. The Chinese tend to use gestures and no speaking when communicating with foreigners. Koreans use less gestures and more loud and repetitive speaking like we'll understand the slower and more they say it.
8. The Chinese carry your traditional fans whereas Koreans have adopted the floppy (and ugly) dollar store fans to cool themselves off with.
9. There are line ups for the bus stop, marked with paint on the ground for each bus number. In Korea, you push, shove, scratch, and elbow to get on the bus first. The little old women (Adjummas) and men (Adjashis) usually win. Unless I have my guitar with me. Then I win.
10. Subway is cheaper. In Canadian dollars: 40 cents. In Korean it's $1.00 or more depending
11. Security EVERYWHERE. Baggage checks are not only for the airport in China. They're for the subway at every stop, entrance into Tian'anmen square as well as every other major people place. Obvious police presence everywhere standing under tall bright umbrellas as well as many undercover cops as well. I'm told hundreds in the major areas.
12. Cameras. Korea is obsessed with them. China, not really. Most have digital cameras. The normal kind. Korea, fancy SLR cameras.
13. Babies are naked. All the time, everywhere. It's a fact of life.
14. Cable buses in China.
15. Traditional dresses are MUCH nicer than Korean Hanbok.
16. PDA!! I never really realized how much I appreciate Korean lack of PDA until we went to China and couple were making out on the subway. Get a room!
17. The Chinese don't seem to be as attached to their cell phones as Koreans are, but maybe I just didn't notice.
18. No Noraebongs! The best thing about Korea.
19. China is way more of a tourist country than Korea. Korea is where people go to live. China, they tour. Korea doesn't have all the touristy things many countries have. They don't chase you around to buy stuff and beg to barter. I'm not sure I could live in China because of that.
20. Shoes fit!
21. There's signs for public toilets. Not that they're clean, but at least you don't need to know where they are to use them.
22. Less crosswalk flashy things and where they are, they are strongly ignored.
23. Bikes. Everywhere. Bicycle capital of the world for a reason.
24. Garbage cans. Korea lacks those.
And last and the most important difference....
25. In Korea, you can use facebook! China has a ban.
3. Hot: By hot, I mean hot. So hot you can hardly breathe at times and the annoying vendors selling water at every corner suddenly become your best friend. So much so that when they're not shoving water in your face, you miss them because that's when you need them most. Even in the morning it's hot. Korea was a nice welcome. I even enjoyed the monsoon season rain we got today. Cooled things down quite nicely.
Day Two:
1. Tian'anmen square
A guy I talked to in our room said he was there when there was hundreds of soldiers doing the high stepping march. I was so jealous! When we were there it was normal as anything. Boring. But incredibly busy and full of people.
In Tian'anmen Square. 2. Forbidden City
Next we went to the Forbidden City where we spent the majority of the afternoon. It was hot and sunny out, but so awesome to see the city! It was beautiful and huge! It took forever and we didn't even go into detail going through it.
This is in the Queen's garden. It was nice and shady there. If I lived in the city back when, I'd be the Queen and hang out there all day! 
The entrance to the road our hostel was on. 3. Chinese Acrobatics show!
So awesome!
These boys reminded me of the Lost Boys in Peter Pan. About the same size too. They were probably in their 20's, but looked so little!
These boys reminded me of the Lost Boys in Peter Pan. About the same size too. They were probably in their 20's, but looked so little! 
The show finale... best part ever! First one guy went into the metal cage and drove all over the place around in it. Then two went in. Then three. Then four. Then five. It was insane! they were going so fast you could hardly see them moving and none crashed. I do wonder how many crashes they had before they got it right. Day 3:
1. Gringotts Wizzarding Bank. Or, Bank of China that looked like Gringotts.
We went to exchange more money and the stairs were huge stone steps and the door an ancient revolving wooden door. It was beautiful! We had to go back the next day though because I forgot to bring my money the first time... genius. 2. Military Museum.
Kris and I have hit up everyone we can find in every country we've been to. We spent the whole day here. We loved it like WHOA. So much stuff, so interesting!
China's old flag.
Notice my friends in the background. They got into another picture too. It was hilarious. We kept running into them after too. 
The picture gallery that we almost missed. 
This quote sums up everything. Amazing. Take it as you will, but it's true to a dime you can't deny that. 
Mao's!! I searched the whole museum for something about him! I wrote a paper on him in first year at Laurier University. Day Four:
1. Dragon Gorge
Best thing ever. English, Chinese, Korean. Being able to read the Korean at the Dragon Gorge made Kris and I so happy. It's depressing not being able to read Chinese. 
After this we went BUNGEE JUMPING! Check facebook for the video of it. Best thing I ever spent money doing. Until this....4. Great Wall of China!!
Kris and I combined two trips from the hostel together to save time driving and ending up spending a couple hours with the owner of the hostel who also owns two other hostels, two companies and 20% of the Great Wall. Richest guy in China, I swear. He was awesome. Gave us a ride in his sweet car, took us to his restaurant for free and then to a really cheap massage place where he got us a steal of a deal. Then we went to the Great Wall to meet up with the rest of our group.
We were spending the night on the Great Wall. Went for a 3 hour hike with two Danes, three Dutchies, and a lonely Chinese guy we weren't sure spoke English until the last hours we were there. The Danes were cool, the Dutch not so much.
Can't go anywhere without a jumping picture. 
We woke up at 5am the next morning to watch the sunrise. Foggy, but worth the hike to the third watch tower to get the best view! 
Our sleeping quarters. Not very comfortable. Tiny tents, hot and sweaty and stale air, and little sleep. Oh well, we slept on the Great Wall! Can't complain about that! Day 5:
2. (number one being waking up on the Great Wall) Kung Fu show!
Kris made me go to the Beijing Opera which I was bored to death during so I made her go to the Kung Fu show which she wasn't interested in. In my opinion, best money I ever spent! I was so into it. My heart was beating faster by the end. I was just so excited! It was amazing. I can't even describe it. Wow.
I got in trouble taking pictures so I don't have many so these two are the only ones I'm putting up. Day 6:
We meant to do a cooking class, but decided that we ran out of money and were so tired from packing our days insanely full of stuff that we just hung around the hostel reading our books and going down the walking street and buying souvenirs. We had to skip lunch or we wouldn't have money left for the next day's breakfast. Well, that wasn't all that unusual anyway because we skipped lunch pretty much every day.
And that, was my China trip. Beijing is an amazing city, full of culture and things to do. I feel like I've seen China, but at the same time I feel like I've barely dented it. China is huge. Even though I packed in everything I could into a week, China is like every other country. Food, culture, and landscape are different all over the country. I'll have to go back one day and go to another city. First though, I need to go to many other countries on my list. Hong Kong and Beijing are off my lists in China and since the only real reason we were going to China was for the Great Wall, I guess with that accomplished, I need to start working on the rest of my bucket list which seems to be growing the more I learn about different countries and things to do and see there. I just can't get enough of other cultures! It's fascinating and extremely addictive. I'm not sure I'll ever stop traveling. 
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