Day 2 in Beijing: Of Guided Tour Food and Food Court Food

The day started off with what I call a typical Chinese experience in China.  We have signed up for a tour to the most popular Badaling ??? section of the Great Wall .  As the most magnificent section, it is also the most touristy. Obsessed with architecture, I also hope to do a tiny detour to visit the Commune By The Great Wall ???????, a boutique hotel near Badaling.  In fact, I was quite confident in getting what I want because we book a cosy private tour with just ourselves.  However after boarding the bus, the tour guide insisted on taking us to Juyongguan ??? after 1001 reasons.  Well, the justifications from the guide are aplenty and outcome straightforward - we do not have a choice :P 





Other than being it being forced upon us, Juyongguan is a meaningful place to go.  Completed earlier than Badaling, Juyongguan screams ancient charm.  No wonder Karl Lagerfield chose this section of the Great Wall as the runway for his Fendi's show in 2007.





Juyongguan is also known for the First and Foremost Pass Under Heaven ?????? along with the First Pass Under Heaven (Shanhaiguan ??? in Hebei) and First and Greatest Pass Under Heaven (Jiayuguan ??? in Gansu).  So many passes in China and all are somehow first under heaven.  I shall file this under my typical Chinese experience in China once again. 





The vertically extended Juyonguan is indeed a strenous section to climb, much more difficult than the stretching Badaling.  After going up the steps for about 20mins, we get to reach the souvenir shop to buy a I have been to the Great Wall certificate.  But we didn't bother.  Well after Juyongguan, we got ushered to a serious tourist trap and had a surprisingly yummy lunch at a so-called jade factory. 









Well, all the dishes and a not at all photogenic but equally delish tomato soup were just for the 4 of us!  We ate and ate and ate till we were still stuffed during dinner time.  Very memorable guided tour lunch indeed!





After lunch we went to the Ming Tombs ???? when I became extremely restless and bored.  I took an interested in all the peach stalls that lined the ground of Ming Tombs.  Too full to eat anything that afternoon, I made a mental note to try Beijing's peaches before I leave Beijing.





It was late in the afternoon by the time we went back to Beijing's city.  With my brain totally bogged down by Chinese everything, there was an urgent need to surround myself with western consumerism.  I ventured to Chongwenmen to find Xara, H&M, Gap, Uniqlo and myself.  Chongwenmen ??? (just exit from Chongwenmen subway station) is a compact shopping area for these high street brands.  Let's just say that I got a pair of Uniqlo's skinny pants for 199RBM and H&M jeans for 125RBM.  I got acquainted with the hypermarket chain New World in Wellington and was pleasantly surprised to see New World ????? in the form of 2 huge blocks of 6-storey retail outlets at Chongwenmen.  Dinner was sichuan spicy hotpot at New World's foodcourt.  Basically, I was too tired to remember much about that evening but the spicy hotpot was numbingly good and came up to just 98RMB for 4 pax.