***This vacation was taken before I started blogging and before I started photos of my meals. It still contains relevant info on sightseeing and dining.***
My holiday in Beijing was filled with everything I desire on a trip – adventure, scenic landscapes, cute and fuzzy animals, culture, music, and wonderfully vegan cuisine!

The first day’s activities included a city tour by bus. We then proceeded to some of the main attractions in the city. Tiananmen Square, the largest square in the world is the large plaza near the Forbidden City. The “Heavenly Gate” was built during the Ming Dynasty, 15th century and separates the Square from the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is a palace built during the Ming Dynasty. The square was a great location for photo opps! My tour group was allowed to visit inside the section of the palace where the king would meet his court. The guide also brought us to a section of the palace where the king’s concubines resided. Finally, we made a stop to the National Museum Of China to see historical artifacts. It is very common here for vendors to persistently try to jump onto tour buses to sell their goods.

In the evening, my tour group was scheduled to eat at a local restaurant. Much to my delight, however, there was a vegan restaurant directly across the street from my hotel! The restaurant is called Green Tianshi. I dined on gourmet style faux meats and veggies. Since I could not speak the language, I found it easy to request a meal by just pointing to the photo of the entree in their menu.

The next morning, my tour group got into the tour bus and headed to The Great Wall of China. What a site to behold! This massive structure continues for thousands of miles, perched on a hilly incline. I was one of just a handful of tourists who decided to climb the wall. We were given 1.5 hours to accomplish this endeavor. I am proud to say that I was the first one in my group to reach the top of the section where we visited! A group of locals and myself exchanged “thumbs up” when we accomplished this feat!

Our tour group were scheduled to dine at a local restaurant in the region. My guide was kind enough to translate for me and convinced the chef to bring several vegan options. That is quite common on group vacations. Vegans do not always have to worry as the English-speaking guides will communicate to the chefs or waiters to find something vegan. There are several vegan restaurants in Beijing including Bi An Ai Zhi Su, Elaines, VeganHut, and LovingHut. There are dozens of vegan-friendly, vegetarian restaurants in the city also. It is a veggie-lover’s paradise!

The next day was another highly-anticipated and exciting activity for me. We visited a panda bear research center and zoo. I had the opportunity to see baby pandas taken care of in close quarters and adult pandas out in nature munching on palm leaves. They were adorable!

Next stop was a visit to a factory shop called “Industrial Art Factory” where craftsmen manufacture cloissonne products such as vases, chopsticks, and jewelry. This is a process involving enamel and gold craft-making. I purchased some fancy chopsticks, bracelets, and a simply gorgeous, elaborately detailed vase.

In the evening, we attended a wonderful performance of Beijing acrobatic performances at the Beijing Chao Yang Theater Acrobatics World. I was really impressed at their feats such as performers standing upside down holding plates balanced on another acrobat’s palms.

My trip was filled with incredible memories of adventure, picturesque landscapes, adorable pandas, culture, and great vegan foods!