China January 2013 Part 1 Mutianyu and The Peking Opera at The Egg

Hello Again Everyone!

I've totally taken my time since my last trip posting about it! Sorry about that! I am a student so I've been super busy with classes, but now I am going to be giving you all a little insight into my latest trip to China! This trip I took one of my aunts so the trip was a little bit repetitive HOWEVER I have to say going to China in the Winter while it was very very Cold it was a great time for sight seeing since no one was at any of the sights and I have to tell you I got some of my best pictures ever.

Mutianyu Winter Time 

Mutianyu - The Great Wall of China <-- Click the Link for more detailed information on going to Mutianyu

I went to Mutianyu again with my aunt and my mom just because my aunt has never been to the Great Wall of China.  Going to Mutianyu is a perfect Great Wall Day Trip - we left early in the morning from Beijing went to see the wall then went to lunch at The School House, saw a glass blowing show and headed home.  I  was happy to see it again because I wanted to see it with SNOW! It was very cold but also extremely beautiful! Defiantly didn't do a long trek like last time but if you wanted to now would be a good time since you could get amazing pictures. 

The Peking Opera at "The Egg"

"The Egg" as is a nickname for The National Center for Preforming Arts in Beijing. It it named this because well it looks like an egg and when the water around "The Egg" reflects it correctly you can see the whole egg shape.  You have to go to "The Egg" during the day in order to buy tickets, there is a metro stop right inside of "The Egg" to see the shows visit their website http://www.chncpa.org

The Peking Opera is one of the first things that I was looking at that I wanted to go see, and what better place to look for one than the National Preforming Arts Centre in Beijing. The National Centre is a tourist spot on its own. Now some things to know about going to a Peking Opera, it is NOT for everyone they sing in very HIGH pitched voices, it is visual beautiful though, some americans find the need for ear plugs since they can't deal with the pitch. Personally I didn't think it was that bad however since it is all in Chinese it was hard to follow the story, I would almost recommend bringing someone who could help you follow the story. We didn't stay for the whole thing because we were confused and had seen enough of the beauty of the show to satisfy out tourism. Do not bring Camera's or large bags to the Opera because you will be required to use their bag check system. Below is a Youtube video of a Peking Opera so you can get an idea of what to expect. 

The pictures below are when we saw the show so it is all lit up inside and of us checking it out during the day to be able to see "The Egg" reflection correctly.

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Mutianyu - The Great Wall of China

When I was last in Beijing I was visiting my mom who lives there at the moment and we decided to visit the Great Wall of China at Mutianyu now I have to say this was a great visit for me and I highly recommend a place to stay called the Brickyard Inn it was originally a glazed Brickyard but now its a small boutique hotel where every room faces the Great wall. All of the rooms are the same and they are open concept, literally everything including the toilet. When we arrived in the early morning they didn't have our room ready but they locked our bags away and let us have some of the delicious breakfast buffet. Now Brickyard also owns a restaurant called The Schoolhouse which used to actually be the Mutianyu Schoolhouse. It is a western style restaurant and they also own a shuttle service that takes you from the hotel to the wall to the restaurant. 

On our first day we went to the wall you have to buy tickets to take a sky rail up.

Once we were on the wall there was a lot of walking involved and I don't know if I thought it was flat but I didn't bring my tennis shoes from Beijing only my FitFlops which was a mistake because the soonest down point is from Tower 14 to tower six its is a LONG Walk this is a map with the trails and we are not hikers so no trails for us we took the sky rail up and the Toboggan down.

Here is a map of the area from The Schoolhouse you can see the trails. 

Here are some pictures from our walk on the wall...my legs were shaking tword the end. 

After this we decided to walk down to the Schoolhouse you will pass many pushy vendors just remember this the only way they make money you can find some cool cheap things here as well as really nice expensive things. When we got to the SchoolHouse we had a lovely lunch and headed back to our hotel...we stayed a few days at Mutianyu but its really up to you we decided to go back because when we first arrived it was cloudy and on our second trip is was sunny which made for better pictures :) I hope you visits Mutianyu it is only about an hour outside of Beijing!

Also on a side note they have a beautiful glass working shop at The Schoolhouse I got an amazing Vase their but they also have these wineglasses that make music notes you can view demonstrations twice a day when they make the pieces. I got to watch my vase being made so I have pictures of it being made which is really cool. I would recommend seeing the free show.

If you have any questions please feel free to message me or leave a comment. 

-Tanya

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