By the third day I was pretty tired out but at least my pick up time was 8:30. I had time for breakfast this morning and got a waffle from the hostel.
It was only a small van and not a tour bus because I was the only one that day. It was nice because I got to decide what I wanted to see at the zoo. We first stopped at beijing zoo, mostly to see the exhibit with the giant pandas. They were absolutely adorable. I wish I had their life of just waking up to eat all morning and nap the rest of the day.
It was a little heartbreaking after being on a safari where you’re in their habitat and then seeing them in cages. We didn’t have all day for the zoo so he asked me specifically what I wanted to see. I told him elephants because they’re one of my favourite animals and they’re different in every country. These ones were almost the same but maybe a little smaller and I saw a pregnant elephant too.
While we were walking around I got to see a tiger and some foxes. Besides that we left the zoo after about an hour.
After that we visited a place called the “birds nest”. It had a very weird design and my tour guide said from the top view it was shaped like a birds nest. This was the national stadium where they held the 2008 olympics. They also had a swimming pool area which they called the water cube and the outside design was very cool. In the area they also had some interesting buildings around.
Afterwards I got to visit the Lama Temple. It was a very interesting place and a lot of locals go there everyday to pray. To pray you light 3 incense sticks for each god and have to pray and bow 3 times in each direction (N,E,S,W). After you were done you threw your incense into the burner which created so much smoke. Even though we were outside in an open area it smelt strongly like incense.
I felt it to be inappropiate to take pictures in the temple with the buddha statues that everyone was praying at. But the one I did take a picture of was 18 metres tall.
Lunch was quite an experience itself. We took a rikshaw down some small streets and alleys to go to a house for lunch. They had their own little restaurant set up there. It was quite small so I was surprised when I asked if they would still come here if they were more people on the tour and he said yes. My tour guide went away into another room for something and I was left eating alone. I ended up talking to the chef who surprisingly had very good english. It was such a nice experience getting to talk to a local for awhile. My tour guide was also a local and since I was the only one we got to talk with eachother as well.
After lunch we went to Jingshan Park which is actually across from the forbidden city and looks over it. Unfortunately it was foggy that day so it was hard to see it clearly.
Lastly we visited a silk factory which was interesting to me because my grandma makes silk art. I’ve heard of silk worms but I didn’t actually put two and two together that worms made silk. Their cacoons are silk that can be taken off in threads. Unfortunately I have no pictures to share from this place.
That was the end of my 3rd day touring and it was such a good experience each day.
They call the swimming facility you mentioned Water Cube, at least that’s what I remember when I visited it in 2009, after the Olympics. At the time, it was a revolutionary design because of the materials used in the walls of it.
Haha you are right, swear I heard my guide say it was called the ice cube but I just looked it up.