We FINALLY are on our 3rd leg of our trip: Beijing. Did you know that in Mandarin, to say "Hello," it's Ni Hao, pronounced: Nee-How. In Beijing, their dialect is slightly different and they pronounce it as: Nee-Har. TRIPS ME OUT. I, personally, don't like it, but to each their own. It may be because I'm used to it the other way. Whatever. Anyhow, let's move along.
We got to our hotel, and it was pretty late already. Not "late" but after landing, customs, driving to the hotel, checking in, getting our room and getting situated - it was probably 7 or 8pm. We decided to go to this Duck Place for dinner as it was open and walking distance away. We thought we googled this fancy place, but it ended up being like a McDonald's, but specializing in duck. It was ehh, but I was starving and needed food so that we could get to bed and go to The Great Wall the following day.
The Great Wall - almost didn't happen. So, I, hahaha, forgot to book a tourist guide to get there. I wanted to go to a specific location of The Great Wall, but didn't know it was a whole day's trip to get there. Woops. So, when we woke up the following day, I was scrambling around trying to figure out how to get there. We argued, and then I was frustrated, but thankfully, Ricky put his game-mode map reading skills and walked us to the train station, hopped on the correct train, walked us to the correct bus station, and jumped on a bus and got us to The Wall. It was CROWDED AF. We didn't know that the weekend we happened to be in Beijing (and Xi'An) was a holiday weekend. EVERYTHING was crowded. I think next time I'll be better prepared and find a more secluded Wall area. Anyways, check out the pics. The wall is massively huge, and completely destroyed by asshole tourists. Seriously, this is a national monument for you folks, and you degrade it by carving your names into the wall?!? WHYYYYY???
When we arrived back, we decided to make our attempt to find that fancy duck place again, Da Dong Duck. This time we found it and it's been over a year since I've been and I still desperately dream about that duck. I don't even like duck as I hate dark meat, too game-y for my taste, but this was no ordinary duck. No, no, no... this was what heaven would taste like if it came in meat form. It melted in my mouth, it was an experience, not just a meal... I miss you. Ricky and I still talk about it. We told our friend about it when she went, and she messaged me immediately (while she was consuming) and told me it was the best duck she's ever had. So trust me, go there. You will NOT be disappointed.