Travel through China: Forbidden City and Bird's Nest Olympic Arena

Just to let readers know, we went on this trip ourselves without any tours or guidance. We mostly did the planning ourselves and from helpful travelers we met. We initially had a itinerary planned but talking to all the travelers our plans drastically change from all the suggestions and recommendation from them.

We went to Forbidden City in Tienanmen Square and the Bird's nest Olympic Arena. We met 2 British guys in our dorm and decided that we should all go together to these places. Funny story how we met. They came barging into our dorm pissed off because they just gotten scam by the locals. Its quite common that people in beijing scam foreigners because our money is worth more than yuan.

Anyways our two British friend got tea scam. The way how it works is usually two asian girls will come up to foreigners and tell them their student as well and their studying in China. They will also humbly invite you to join them for a cup of tea to chat. They will take you to one of the tea shops they know of and help you order which tea. As a foreigner you are being nice and dont want to refuse a generous offer. Then when the bill comes its like an arm and a leg. They charge you so much and the girls expect you to pay. How much does a cup of tea really cost? Thats what my friends question themselves. There are many scammers in beijing but this is just one of the very few. Since Alan and I look "asian" we didnt stand out as much as foreigners. I felt sorry for our two friends so I made a suggestion that they come with us and we can help them out.

#1 we pass by some cute ducklings

#2 Alan's new Luffy shirt

#3 Our new friend Richard

#4 He's quite photogenic

#5 Richard and Aidan

#6 Alan's lying pose

#7 he drop my bottle of water so he's jumping off the ledge to get it

#8 yay he got it!

#9

#10 cute

#11 my second pooch

#12 sorry Rebecca we found a second pooch

#13 relaxing

#14 looks like he start already

#15 super blonde

#16 so these little soldiers are guarding that man in green, i think he's like some official government person VIP. But the guards are so rude they push you around to let that VIP go through. We try to get away from this chaos

#17

#18 fire pooch

#19 his rock

#20

#21 alan thinks i look like a lifeguard

#22

#23

#24

#25 i could never reach on top

#26

#27 this guy try to scam us with this peanut snack

#28 i straighten things out by yelling back in mandarin

#29 they were scared to do it

#30

#31 YUM justice

#32 Richard didnt want this at first, but then i persistently tell him to try it

#33 looks like they love yogurt

#34 must try in Beijing

#35 Only in China

#36 Glamour Shot

#37 we didnt know what this is, but it looked pretty cool

#38 so cute

#39 kites!

#40 Bird's nest Olympic Arena

#41 shes so cute, i stood next to her and pose too

#42 at the palm of my hands

#43 we got this in our hands

#44 coke taste better under a umbrella

#45 group shot

#46 my sweet tea drink

#47 coke taste better in china

#48 Aidan's mango yogurt drink

#49

#50 close up on the structure

#51

#52 weather pole

#53 can you tell what this is?

#54 the only okay looking guy in china, cool shoes

#55 lunch at McDonalds

#56 waiting until the lights turn on

#57 so beautiful

#58 nightlife

#59 this was awesome

#60 he did open the subway door

#61 silly Richard

next stop Great Wall of China...