Beijing

If you want to learn 1000 years of Chinese history, Beijing is the place to go, it's location as the imperial seat of several dynasties, including the Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing.

1. Tiananmen Square
There is a line to get in the square. Police are everywhere to ensure no public protests. This is the world's largest public square, where communist buildings and monuments hold court.

2. Forbidden City
At the heart of Beijing is the Forbidden City, I didn't realized how big it is, it's like a maze, it took 4 hours to walk from one side to the other, full of temples and shrines, after awhile, they start looking the same.

3. Jinshan Park
North of Forbidden City, it's a man made mountain that has a great view of forbidden city.

4. Wangfujing Street
Beijing's premier shopping street, and it has a night market with live scorpions there.

5. Mutianyu Great Wall
The highlight of Beijing! We took the ski lift up and toboggan down just like Michelle Obama :)

6. Temple of Heaven
One of the largest temple in China, completed in Ming dynasty. It's a big park! You can see people play chess here.

7. Eat Peking duck

8. Walk on the street of Beijing you see lots of cars and bikes

9. Summer Palace
It's a famous UNESCO site. Formally summer retreat for imperial family in Qing dynasty. It has huge lake, garden, famous for it's long hallways. We also took a boat ride.

10. Hutong (alleyway)
We took a rickshaw ride along the old Beijing alleyway, it was fun!

11. Where to stay? We stayed at Crown Plaza which is located on the 2nd ring, it has a shopping mall next door which is very convenient for food and shopping. Also, it has a very nice breakfast selection.