Girlawhirl's first impression of Beijing was that it is huge, and the traffic is horrible! But once you get where you're going, the sites make the traffic jams worthwhile. Thankfully, the first stop for Girlawhirl and her Super Pal was within walking distance of their hotel. They strolled over to Tiananmen Square where they could have seen Mao Zedong's body, which is on display for a few hours each day at the Mao Mausoleum (they chose not to), or visited the National Museum of China on the east side of the square and the Great Hall of the People on the west. Instead, they just meandered through watching people fly kites and fending off vendors who wanted to sell them everything from those kites to Mao watches.

They kept walking north past the “Tiananmen,” which means “Gate of Heavenly Peace” to the Forbidden City. A huge palace complex surrounded by a moat and a 26-foot high wall, inside there are hundreds of buildings to explore. But Girlawhirl's favorite part was the beautiful imperial garden. After leaving the Forbidden City, they hopped in a cab and headed south to see the Temple of Heaven. One of the best sites there is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, which is a huge circular building that was constructed without using any nails. In the parks surrounding the buildings they watched people dancing, singing, doing Tai Chi, painting and generally enjoying the grounds.

The next day, Girlawhirl and her Super Pal decided to spend most of the day at the Summer Palace, which had been a royal garden and summer retreat and is now a huge park open to everyone. Located about nine miles from central Beijing, it took them a while to get there but they were rewarded with spectacular views. They went for a boat ride on Kumming Lake, checked out the famous Marble Boat and wandered through the gardens.

After a relaxing day at the Summer Palace, Girlawhirl and her Super Pal decided to check out the Beijing nightlife. For that they headed to the city's Hou Hai or Back Lake district. It's one of Beijing's old hutong (translation: narrow alleyway) neighborhoods that has recently also become one of its trendiest – full of cafes, teahouses, restaurants and clubs. After dinner, Girlawhirl and her Super Pal walked through the alleyway checking out the shops and stopped for a drink. They also decided to come back the next day to take a rickshaw tour and see the old neighborhood in the daylight so they could get an idea of what life was like in Beijing before skyscrapers and highways.

But the highlight of Girlawhirl's visit to Beijing came on her last full day there – a trip to the Great Wall. She has to say, if she could only see one thing there, this would be it. After all, how often does one get to visit a wonder of the world? The section she visited is called Badaling and it is very popular (translation: crowded). But most of the visitors only go up so far and because she and her Pal had plenty of time, they kept climbing until they were past the crowds. That's when the awesomeness of the Wall became clear to her. Standing on the steps with no one around her, looking out on the length of just that one section, she marveled at the massive effort it must have taken to build all four thousand miles of it. It was spectacular.

Coming down off the wall, Girlawhirl and her Pal headed back to the city and their hotel, happy with their Beijing experience and looking forward to their next stop: Shanghai!