Hong Kong, Macau, Beijing, and Xi'an

Arrival Day, Thursday August 3rd, Hong Kong

When we arrived we had a bumpy approach, there were a lot of clouds and also a bit of rain, Marcus and I were surprised that we did not do a go round. Then we think our pilot missed the taxiway he was supposed to turn on. Suddenly he slammed the brakes and then realize he missed it and kept going, so we had a very long taxi to the gate. We took a taxi to our hotel, the Intercontinental Hong Kong, and arrived at approximately 7:30 AM. Luckily we were able to get a room, despite being very early for check-in. Here is the view from our room of Victoria Harbour.

We showered and took a nap. When we got up we walked to a nearby mall to find some food. Then we walked to Kowloon Park park and saw some flamingos. Which as you know, are my favorite bird. 

We wandered around the park, and saw people doing kung fu in a kung fu area and various people doing tai chi throughout the park. This is also the location of the largest mosque in Hong Kong which we walked by. When we left there we tried to go to the Hong Kong Space Museum, however, all of the exhibits are closed for refurbishment and the only thing they had was the IMAX theater. So, we went back to the hotel and showered again as is extremely humid. That night we went to an Italian restaurant for dinner because we knew it had gluten-free pasta, however, my carbonara was covered in enough cracked peppercorns to season seven people's dishes.

Then we went back to the hotel and had our welcome drink in the bar with the great view of the Victoria Harbour.  

Friday August 4th, Hong Kong 

Up early, we took the metro, which was extremely clean and very efficient compared to WMATA in Washington DC, over to Lantau Island. We took the 360 Gondola up to Ngong Ping. We selected the 'crystal' gondola, it has a "glass" floor and supposedly a better view.














It was a nice ride up, some rain along the way. The Tian Tan Buddha is after you walk through Ngong Ping. 

 He is up 268 steps. A dog was hanging out near a store up under his plateau. 

After we walked up to the Buddha, we walked to the Po Lin Monastery. You can't take pictures inside most of the buildings since it is an active place of worship and several people were praying. 

Then we took the gondola back down, and hopped in a cab to...DISNEYLAND!! 

First we rode Hyperspace Mountain, a faster and more windy version of Space Mountain at Disney World. Then we went on a quest for food, after stopping by 3 restaurants and striking on on their ability to accommodate me, we finally found something at Park Place. Then we rode Mystic Manor. It is kind of like haunted mansion mixed with Night at the Museum, all these artifacts that this explorer and his Monkey have collected come to life, it was absolutely pouring while we waited in line but most was covered and we had an umbrella and our rain jackets. Then it was off to Adventureland. 

We tried to ride Grizzly Gulch Mine Cars but the line was too long so we passed by it. Then was Toy Story Land, none of the rides looked worth the wait, so we proceeded to Fantasy Land where I rode my favorite ride.

Marcus doesn't like the tea cups, so I had to ride alone. He said that I was the fastest cup out there and that I was the only one that had to be mechanically stopped at the end of the ride because I wouldn't stop spinning the cup. There was a family in a cup next to me that was completely mesmerized by my skills. 

Then we went and rode it's a small world. It was very similar to the one at Disney World, except it's broken up more and labeled, like certain parts of Africa or the islands. Also, throughout it there were different Disney characters. I spotted Ariel, Belle, Lilo and Stitch, and some other characters. Then we rode Buzz Light Year, Marcus's score was much higher than mine. After that we went and saw the Lion King show which was okay. Then we went back to Grizzly Gulch because I really wanted to ride it, it was great. Then we thought about going on the Carousel but when we walked over there there was a long wait and we were pretty tired and there were lots of kids and we were just ready to go, so we decided to leave. I really wanted a Christmas ornament but there are absolutely no Christmas ornaments to be found and all of their magnets were ugly. We rode the metro back to the hotel and then found a place nearby called BLT Burger for dinner. They had alcoholic milkshakes and the burgers were pretty good.

Saturday August 5th, Hong Kong

Got up early, and walked over to the ferry terminal so that we could take the ferry across Victoria Harbour to Hong Kong Island. Then we took a double decker bus up to the Peak, because we were unable to find the correct bus that would take us to the tram. It was a crazy drive up there and very small winding road. We passed really neat houses on the way as well as a house with a big American Flag but it was not the Consulate. We went to Peak 428 observation deck, 428 because that's how many meters above sea level it is. (1,404ft.) We took lots of photos and we saw an interesting scene where some Eastern European girl or maybe Russian had pointe shoes on and seemed to be being forced by her parents to pose for photos, it was odd.

On the Ferry

 

Me pointing at our hotel.

 The tram that we took down

Instead of getting on a bus back to the ferry we walked to the zoo and botanical garden nearby. 

We saw monkeys, birds, and plants. 

Then it was back to the hotel on the metro. We relaxed a bit and then we went to The Peninsula Hong Kong for drinks. I had an "Unaged Old Fashioned,"  it was made with white whiskey and was very good. Then I had a Smokin' Ginger. It was quite the complex drink. And delicious.

Then we went back to our hotel where we had reservations at...

...which was a 2 star Michelin restaurant. It was very good, but I've had great food at other places that are not Michelin rated. They made us a ridiculous fruit platter for dessert where fruit was shoved into this huge tower of shaved ice and had battery operated candles inside, they called it the fruit volcano. 

Sunday August 6th, Hong Kong

Our first day of sleeping in a bit. I had breakfast downstairs alone before it ended at 11 and did some Facetiming with Brenna from my corner seat by the stairs. We took the metro over to Sha Tin and followed the directions we had found online to the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery.  

There were also several temples and ancestral halls where people's ashes are, but you are not allowed to take pictures in them. Buddhist temples have one thing in common with Kanye West, please no photos. There were fake monks along the way that try to offer you a blessing and give you a bracelet and then exploit you for money, but I had already read about them and there were signs. Despite this being called a monastery there are no monks at it and it maintained entirely by volunteers. Then we walked all the way back down. We were super sweaty as it was hot and very humid, so we went into a nearby mall to cool off and then decided we'd eat at IKEA. 

Then we took the metro to the Ladies' Market. It is basically like the souqs here, you need to know how to negotiate but the sellers don't harass you too much. We walked through and then took the metro back to the hotel to shower.

Then we went to dinner at La Vache! It serves one dish, steak frites. The wait was 1.5 hours when we got there so we gave them our number and went around the corner to a French wine bar. They had an awesome light fixture.

 Then we headed back to the restaurant.

It was delicious!! We think the owners of the restaurant might own the wine bar because they are close to each other and the restaurant apparently always has a wait...also, all the other patrons in the wine bar were French except 2. We went back to the hotel and passed out. 

Monday August 7th, Macau

We got up early-ish and had breakfast. The Heavens were pouring down, so we decided to take a cab to the Ferry Terminal, as otherwise we'd have gotten soaked. We bought our tickets, passed immigration, and got on our Ferry to Macau. It was about 1 hour and very comfortable.

 

Our first stop was Fortaleza do Monte, were the Museum of Macao was, I wanted to go, but it was closed Mondays :-(

 Then we walked over to Ruins of St. Paul's. and passed this statue on the way.

Statue of Matteo Ricci, S.J.

Only the facade of the church remains. Behind the facade is the Museum of Sacred Art and Crypt.We walked through it, it had several lovely relics and artifacts.

St. Francis of Assisi

Friendship Statue in Senado Square, a Chinese girl giving a Portuguese boy a lotus.

St. Dominic's Church

We continued walking around and saw more UNESCO sites, like St. Dominic's and Holy House of Mercy. It also had a visiting area, but again was closed :-( Monday's are the day to be closed, apparently.

Santa Casa da Misericórdia (Holy House of Mercy)

Belchior Carneiro Leitão on the premises of the Holy House of Mercy

 We continued walking about and I found this gem. 

After finding a Portuguese restaurant we took a cab as it was a bit far. It was called Albergue 1601. I ordered a Portuguese dish and Marcus got a Macanese dish. They were both delicious! As was the sangria.
 

Cool wine wall in the restaurant

Short ribs and potatoes

Macanese Chicken

Courtyard where the restaurant was

Just a street

 After we ate we saw another church. I'm a sucker for old churches.

St. Lazarus' Church

Then we decided to go hit up a casino just to say we went and to play an awesome looking mini golf course at the Venetian. It was more like a shrunken golf course.

Then we spent 100HKD in slots and on roulette, just to say we gambled. They asked me how old I was and I was flattered/flabbergasted since you only have to be 18. It was amusing. 

We had been booked on the last ferry out of Macau but didn't want to wait until then to we did standby and got on an earlier boat. We then picked up our laundry that we had dropped off the night before at a local laundromat as it was significantly cheaper than the hotel service. We then decided to just eat on the way home so stopped at a place that I thought had Gluten Free pizza. Well, I got it and another location which wasn't exactly far but also not close, mixed up and only the other location had it, so I had a salad and a cider from Australia. It was a lonnnnggggg day but fun!

Tuesday August 8, Hong Kong

We got up at 10 o'clock and had breakfast. Then we went on a hunt for snow globes because one of Marcus's coworkers asked us to get snow globes everywhere we go for his granddaughters. The concierge was unable to tell us a place to get them and said that honestly not a lot of people asked, so we decided to set out on our own and first we checked the ferry terminal. The concierge did say that they would be calling around and trying to find a place and that they would call us if they had any ideas. Luckily the ferry terminal had some so we bought them. Since were already over there we decided we would take the ferry across Victoria Harbour again and go back over to Hong Kong Island to Central. There were several markets over there that we wanted to look in to see if we could find ourself some souvenirs. We saw a lot of the same things that we had seen in the ladies market, electronics and accessories, fake bags, belts, and watches and various knickknacks. 

I found a promising gluten-free place on my gluten-free restaurant app and we went there for lunch. I had an exquisite ham and cheese sandwich and then a nice big slice of strawberry shortcake. It was probably the best meal I have had since we got there. Our dogs had been barking so after lunch we went to our foot massage appointment which we had a buy one get one free voucher for. Then we went to some different shops and secondhand stores. I almost bought Jade earrings but I decided not to because most of the Jade comes from Burma and I wanted something from Hong Kong or China, they also were not exactly what I wanted, so why spend the money? Then we went in a few more stores before heading back to the hotel. 

The whole time we had been in Hong Kong I had been admiring a dress on a mannequin in the metro station where our hotel was near, so I decided to stop in. It wasn't on the mannequin anymore so I was nervous but Marcus said to go in anyway. Luckily they had two dresses left and one of them fit me, I bought it and I consider it my Hong Kong souvenir as the company started in Hong Kong. :-) We then hung out in the hotel for about an hour and a half so that we could go to the night market. At the night market we were able to find a Tian Tan Buddha figure for our shelf of world knick knacks, and we think we got a decent price for it. I wanted to get a little coin purse because sometimes I dig around in my bag for change at home and I wanted something to put them in. So, I choose one and then Marcus said you should probably get two for when zipper inevitably breaks. So I bought two. Then we went to an Irish pub for dinner, and we were served by a Chinese lady with what I can only assume was a true Irish accent but I guess could've been a total ruse, if it was, she was very good at it. We then headed back to the hotel as we were leaving in the morning. As we were packing up I was putting coins into a coin purse and I looked over at Marcus and I said remember how you said I should get two for when one zipper inevitably breaks… well it just broke. Such is life. Ha. 

Near the Night Market

Near the Night Market

Walking back to our hotel, or this might have been the night we stopped for the light show, I am not sure :-O

Me with our hotel's sign

All in all Hong Kong was great. It was easy to get around with their metro and basically everyone spoke English since it was controlled by the British in the past. Taxi's were a good price but we mainly metroed. Breakfast at the hotel every morning was great and had a gluten free corner with cookies (yes at breakfast), little sweet breads (very yummy), and everything had allergen labels. Also, they had cream for coffee 😍. We sincerely enjoyed our time there. Macau was also awesome and I am glad we took the day trip, it was totally different than HK and looking up some streets honestly you felt like you were in Europe. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wednesday August 9, Hong Kong to Beijing 

We got up at 5AM for our 9AM flight to Beijing, We took a fancy hotel provided Mercedes to the airport as we were leaving early and you can't book taxi's. We cleared immigration and were ready to go. Then our flight was delayed on the ground for 1 hour, apparently almost 80% of all domestic flights in China and to HK/Macau/Taiwan are delayed. It was about a 3 hour flight and they fed us and I got my gluten free meal. Nice since we were gone too early to have breakfast at the hotel. We were picked up at the gate by a guy from our first hotel, the Conrad, in Beijing. We went through immigration easily (have 10-year multiple entry visas). He then help up get our luggage and got us through customs and to our car to take us to the hotel. Very nice welcome service.

The View

Then we had afternoon tea in the executive lounge and it was Chinese wine night. Very tasty. I forgot to take a picture of the bottle. 

Next we had our night tour of Beijing which started at 6:30PM. First we went to 'snack street' where you can find all sorts of gross food. We saw shellfish (not so gross), donkey meat, cicadas, silkworms, snakes, starfish, crickets, and scorpions, among other things. 

Entrance

Various shellfish

Donkey meat, which we were told is second only to dragon meat, and since you cannot get dragon meat, donkey meat is very popular. 

Bugs 😖

Fried starfish 

 

It was packed

Then we drove to Hou Hai. It means back lake, and it was named when invaders came and they thought it was an ocean. On the way we grabbed a few shots. 

Forbidden City Entrance

Beijing Opera House

Then we got to Hou Hai. 

Strip of bars, popular with young locals and also occasional tourists.

A store where fans cost around 200 USD

We ended our tour of Hou Hai at the drum tower, which is how those in ancient China knew what time it was as the sundial was in the Forbidden City and commoners were not allowed in there. 

We then drove to the bird's nest where the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony was held. 

Bird's Nest

And also the water cube. 

Random pillar on the overpass. 

Then we drove to the Central Business District past the CCTV building and stopped at the HUGE LED screen, it is 1376 square meters. 

Here we took a picture with our guide Roy Li under the screen.

Roy was a very informative guide and we enjoyed our tour with him. He said he was from the countryside about an hour or so out of Beijing in a different province. He'd like to go to Dubai one day and maybe the US. We also got a great recommendation for food from the driver, which comes later in the blog! 

When we got home we decided that afternoon tea had not been enough and ordered some room service, I was able to get vegetable fried rice made with no soy sauce. It was pretty good. 

Thursday August 10th, Beijing

Today was a HUGE DAY. We got up early and headed off to two parts of the great wall. Our tour guide was Albert and our driver Mr. Jung (or Jong, not sure). First we headed to Mutianyu , about an hour away from our hotel. We rode a chairlift up.

Holding on to my hat just in case. 

It is one of the more popular areas with tourists. We walked from watchtower 5 to 1 and then back to 5 and almost to 6 before riding the Toboggan back down. Albert didn't walk the whole thing with us as he does this all the time. 

Inaccessible

  

Toboggan down, Michelle Obama also took this toboggan, but a girl a few in front of us got the actual one.

It was so humid all of our clothes were soaked through, and we weren't even halfway through the day yet!!

(I have a zillion more photos on facebook of not just this but our whole trip, if people want to see them, just send me an email, I can share them with you even if you do not have it.) 

Next we set off to Huanghuacheng. About 45 minutes on the way we stopped for lunch. Albert had had two people with celiac the day before so he understood it and I also had a translation card. First we got a fried egg thing that I think had lotus leaf or root in it, or some other thing to give it a different flavor, it was actually really good. There there was a fried pork and celery dish (mainly for me), steamed rice, Kung Pao Chicken that I couldn't have but Marcus loves, mu shu pork that I could not have, and Marcus had a beer. It was a good meal. 

Aftermath

Marcus's beer

It was about a 15 drive from the restaurant up to Huanghuacheng. 

 It is one of the only parts of the Great Wall that you can bring pets on, and there was a puppy kicking my ass running up those stairs. 

Snake. We also saw a frog, silkworms, and cicadas.

 

The water is not actually because of a lake, it is because a damn was built and the water level rose. 

Albert and us. 

Unrestored part. I wanted to walk on it. 

We got to a point where Albert said we could go back to the car or we could continue and walk around the lake, he had never walked around the lake before because no one ever wants to. He was pleased to do it for his first time. We were also congratulated at the end for being "true men" as only true men go to the Great Wall. 

 

Original part of the Great Wall, unrestored.

Rickety ass bridge.

It was a 2.5 hour drive home. We chatted on the ride about life and stuff. Then we got back to the hotel and took a MUCH NEEDED SHOWER. Then we popped up to the executive lounge for a drink before going to the restaurant that the driver the day before recommended to vehemently. Hai Di Lao Hot Pot. A traditional food. 

We had read there was almost always a wait and the wait was 1.5 hours. The majority of the employees could not speak English, we only encountered two that could hold a conversation and 2 valet/security guys who could help us know how long we had to wait. The valet/security guys also set up chairs for us, and the others waiting, on the sidewalk and brought us tea and snacks. We people watched for and mused about passersby lives as we waited. 
Once seated, we were a spectacle, it was clear tourists don't usually go. The waitress asked in Mandarin if we could speak it (or so I deduce by context) we shook our heads and gave dear in the headlights looks. They had to find someone in the back who could speak enough English to walk us through the menu. We chose NZ lamb, beef, lotus root, some green vegetable that I regretted, potatoes, shrimp, and Marcus got their special chicken. We got the least spicy and the most spicy broths in two different parts of the pot. I had iced Chinese tea, sweet but not overly, thank god that I had that because the least spicy broth had my mouth on fire. Various staff would come by to refill our drinks but speak Mandarin, I would derive by context that they were asking to refill it or how the food was. At one point Marcus was using a little built in strainer thing and a chef walked by and said a bunch of stuff in Mandarin and gently took it and put it back, probably because it was hot. Then a waitress came by with a waiter and had him translate some questions. Where were we from, why were we in Beijing, etc. Then later she asked in Chinese if she could take our picture (I think). Later the waiter came back and the photo she had taken on her phone had been printed and put in a frame and had a nice message written on it. They were all so happy we had come to the restaurant. We had a great time and it was delicious.

Friday August 11th, Beijing

We took this day to relax. First we got up and had breakfast in the lounge and then checked out at 12PM. We were switching to the Waldorf Astoria that day(Maximizing our use of Hilton reward points!). It was about 12:45 when we arrived and we were able to check in. We has a lovely room on the 12th (top) floor. After settling in and enjoying the comfy bed and me writing some trip recap, we ventured out. 

Writing notes for the blog

We headed over to a mall nearby to buy socks and have a look around. We saw animatronic rideable dinosaurs, but you had to be between 8-12 :-(

Then I went for a Dunkin Donuts Fix, but found out that the People Republic of China doesn't have cream, only HK did. We went back to the hotel and relaxed some more. We had dinner downstairs at Brassier 1893. We both had wagyu beef and it was DELICIOUS and not as expensive as it is in Dubai or the US. Then I took a bath in the wonderful tub that I wanted to take home with me and we slept well. 

Saturday August 12th, Beijing

Up early, our tour started at 7:30AM. We first went to the Temple of Heaven. It was huge and is a popular park for locals. We saw several older people playing card games and board games and some ladies crocheting. It was drizzling there but not too bad. The Temple of Heaven is huge and we lost track of what was what because there was so so much. Here are some photos from there. 

God of Heaven altar

Lesser deities 

Old lantern post

We also saw the sacrificial animal house, the kitchen where they were cooked, dressing temples that were temporary tents at the time. We saw the temples worshipping the God of Heaven and the God of Earth. It was raining while we were there, but we had our rain gear.

Next we went to Tiananmen Square. We were told to bring our passports because sometimes they check them, but no one did. 

Monument of the People's Heros

We had a look around and saw the building where Chairman Mao's crystal coffin is (did not go in). There were a lot of military, they had helmets, clubs, and riot shields. We also saw our tour guide Albert from the Great Wall! He came over and said hi to us. 

Once we went through Tiananmen Square, we headed to the Forbidden City. We did not go through the main entrance because it was insane with people and umbrellas. The Forbidden City has official government buildings that the emperor and other officials used. It also has housing for the Emperor, Empress, and the help. The whole time we were in the Forbidden City all I could think of was Mulan. The insides of some buildings are visible, but there were too many people around and even if you got up close, it was very dark inside so you couldn't really see things. Some had grimy glass up to which made visibility really bad. At one point it was absolutely pouring and everyone was trying to hover under what shelter there was, I thought I was going to be in a crush situation. Also, my sneakers were breathable so my feet and socks were completely soaked. Shorter people kept poking me with their umbrellas. However, when the rain stopped it was nice to walk around in the big courtyards and look at statues, buildings and painstaking details that went into everything. 

After the Forbidden City we went to lunch. We had Peking Roast Duck at a place famous for it that the tour guide Helen said was very popular with wedding parties. I did not think I would like it, but I actually did. Even though I was unable to eat the XO sauce. Overall it was a good meal but I was not in awe. 

A duck wrap that Marcus was taught to make 

Peking Duck, some cold salad, and a shrimp and celery dish for me.  Also not picture some broccoli with garlic that Marcus tried and steamed rice.

I was very skeptical when trying it.

Next we were off to the Summer Palace. Empress Dowager Cixi revolved around a lot of the stories, she was basically a regent. Helen said she was "the power behind the throne." She was regent when both a 6 year old son and then a 4 year old nephew were emperors. One emperor she built walls around a little area of the palace to keep him in. 

Where Empress Cixi put bricks to keep one of the emperors in

Lotus flowers

There were bats everywhere because the word for bat sounds like happiness, so they are associated.

Dragon boat we took across the lake at saw a lot of replicas. Garden layouts that were copies, paintings and bridges that were copies.

Then we went home for a snooze. We had dinner and drinks at Peacock Alley in the Waldorf. It was still raining, and we did some serious people watching. We were to go to Xi'an the next day as long as the weather cooperated. 

Sunday August 13th, Xi'an

We were up very early, picked up at 5AM for our 7AM flight to Xi'an. Even though the weather was not fabulous took off on time. The first stop was the ancient Xi'an City wall. 

We walked around and took some photos. Then we headed over the Muslim Quarter. There was more weird snacks there, we saw more deep-friend starfish. Also saw whole lambs being hung up and filleted right there. We did not see much Arabic. 

Muslim High School

More fried weird things

One of the entrances to the quarter

Then we went to lunch at Da Fa Chang, famous for dumplings. I could not have them but Marcus did. 

See the brown one cutely shaped like a walnut?

The one on the left is shaped like a duck.

So many dumplings for him. I had broccoli and lotus root and some tasteless soup and tea. I also had the cold dishes where were cucumber and shrimp dish and a salad of prickly lettuce in some kind of chili/Italian dressing. 

On the way out we saw thus dog who was waiting for his family.

Next we were off to the Big Wild Good Pagoda. It was famous for a monk who translated the texts from Sanskrit to Chinese. We walked up the Pagoda, there was a nice view of Xi'an from the different levels.  

Pagoda

Either a drum or bell tower. 

We also saw the steeples. Only esteems monks may be buried there, their relics are buried under these steeples. I am not sure if it is only their relics or also their bodies, there was a bit of a language barrier. However, the monk who the Pagoda was built for is not built there, he is somewhere else at a special place.  

Steeple example

Then it was off to one of the most anticipated parts of the trip. THE TERRA-COTTA WARRIORS AND HORSES!! We went to all three of the pits. It was so amazing. There were a ton of people there though and most are quite rude when it comes to letting others see. I finally had to push ahead so I could have a good view and also take photos. I loved staring at it. I wish it had been a weekday so that the archeologists would have been there and I could have seen them working. 

One that has remaining colors

Look how intricate!!

Then it was back to the airport to fly back to Beijing. Our flight was delayed 3 hours and 5 minutes. A few people were interested in us, as we were a couple of the few white people in the airport. Particularly two little girls. They walked by at one point and then were hiding behind a bush. They plotted and then the older one walked by with her phone up near her face and said "hello" and I said "hi" and then the little girl who had been hanging back ran after the older one giggling. I'm 99% sure she was recording it. A little later a boy and a lady walked towards us with a purpose, then right by us and looped around and went back to where they came from. Finally we left. At the end of the flight we were waiting to deplane and the guy who was next to Marcus was texting someone and I saw him write loawai, which means foreigner, I guess he was telling his friend about his row mates. We got back to the hotel at approximately 2AM. It was a super long day. 

Monday August 14th, Beijing

We slept in, got breakfast before it closed, and then went out to shop for souvenirs. Found chopsticks, and then went back to hotel for a bit. Then we went to the silk market, which is basically like a souq. We found a terra cotta warrior and also a good luck fish. We ended up with some magnets too because the girl didn't want to give change 😑. When we left a cabbie tried to rip us off but we weren't that dumb. We started to walk back and got a bit lost, but ended up walking past some embassies, Russia, Poland, and even the US! Also Greece and a few others. We got tired after a while and ended up finding a cab, turns out we were walking in the right direction, but probably another 35 minutes of walking away from the hotel, so were glad we got the cab. Then we went to a place called Drunk to get some Western food. I had a sad chicken salad. 

Then we went back to the hotel. And saw this on the way back.

Then we decided we would go to the Peninsula Beijing since we had gone to the Peninsula Hong Kong. We went to their Restaurant and Bar called Jing. First we had some house champagne 2 for 1 because it was Happy Hour and it was so smooth and delicious. There was also some tasty popcorn. 

Then I moved on to a bourbon cocktails served in a teapot.

Then Marcus and I started talking to the girl from the US who was there for work and had some nice conversation. Then the bartender, Jessie, made me and the girl a Kiwi cocktail on the house because she was practicing. 

so pretty!!

Then we headed back to the hotel about 12:15AM and took a bath and went to sleep. 

Tuesday August 15th, Beijing - Hong Kong - Dubai

We woke up at 6:30AM for our car at 7:15AM that took us to the airport. We connected through Hong Kong and then on to Dubai. All of our flights went smoothly and we actually got into Dubai an hour and a half early. Marcus was very happy about this because he had to work in the morning.

The People Republic of China was great. Communicating was more difficult there than in Hong Kong and Macau. There was a lot more looking up words on my phone and eating more bland food. We might go back one day. I would probably go to Shanghai, I mean, there is a Disneyland there :-D. 

Here are our knickknacks in their places. 

Portuguese rooster from Macau, Terra Cotta Warrior from China, and Tian Tan Buddha from Hong Kong. 

Love,

Megan

(with editing and additions from Marcus)