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The three of us head to Beijing for the weekend for a little fun ! This is a picture of the Jinan train station as we board for our bullet train to Beijing. Total travel time approximately 3 1/2 hours going 200km/hour. Seats were spacious and comfortable with Piju on board ! (beer).
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Arrival at the Beijing train station. We get our bearings and discover that we are a 10 minute walk from our hotel from the train station ! It was hot and muggy in Beijing when we arrive.
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We head to our hotel called the Beijing Zhong An Hotel. This is a picture of the courtyard. Great location, free internet access and friendly English speaking staff......Oh...and really cold beverages !
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On our first full day in Beijing we head to the "Happy Valley" amusement park. We had a ton of fun laughing and screaming on the rollercoasters and other rides ! It resembled a smaller version of Disneyland and was a great add on to our trip ! Good times....good times !
After a hard day of playing in Beijing, Mitch and Debbie enjoy some cold beers in the hotel courtyard on a nice warm evening.
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The next day, we head to the "Hongqiao Market" (Pearl Market) to do some shopping ! Negotiation is as much a skill as it is an experience and we really enjoyed getting to know the process of shopping here !
The Hongqiao Market is a big building with 4 floors of shopping and contains everything you can imagine including some top end pearls in the upper floors of the market, and a variety of "knock-off" merchandise.
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On our last day, we head to the Panjiayuan Market (Dirt Market). Rows and rows of vendors selling everything you can think of...all outdoors. Amazing shopping !
This is Mitch and Rick just inside the market.
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A glimpse of the Dirt Market.
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After shopping the market, we head to the Summer Palace but only have a short time to spend there before leaving to catch our train home to Jinan. We see only a small portion of it but what we do see is quite beautiful !
This is a picture along one of the paths we walked.
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An area at the Summer Palace called "Suzhou Street". Named after the city Suzhou near Shanghai which is often referred to as the "Venice of China". Very pretty.
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Mitch in front of the lake at Summer Palace.
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The lake at Summer Palace.
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A temple on the grounds of Summer Palace.
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A little girl poses for us along a pathway at the Summer Palace.