Visit China - Completed 12/9/2010

I was so lucky to have a friend stationed in Beijing who I could visit for this list goal. Mindy Frost, a friend from CDC was working in the CDC Beijing office and her family was so kind to let us stay with them. I was visiting my parents in Thailand which made it easier to get to China. My mom was happy to join me for this trip and we squeezed in as much as we could.

One of the first places we visited was the Forbidden City. Since it was wintertime, everything was frozen, but we could see and feel the history!

Mindy, Jay, and the girls took us to a delicious Sichuan style hot pot restaurant and recommended we go for a tea tasting. It felt like walking back in time, as the neighborhood for the tea shop was designed in the old Siheyuan style with a courtyard in the middle.

Then we took a trip to see the great wall. We stayed at a lovely hotel called the Brickyard Retreat that was close to a less touristy part of the wall. The wall is just as grandiose and impressive as you think.