my first Beijing autumn weekend

I spent practically the entire last weekend with R, my friend from my master who's doing her thesis research in Beijing Institue of Technology. On Saturday we went to Xiangshan (Fragrant Hills Park) along with two of her Spanish friends B and V who live in the same dorm. Xiangshan is famous for its red autumn leaves and also there's a great view over all of Beijing from the top. Unfortunately the entire city of Beijing decided to go on Saturday afternoon as well. The first Xiangshan bus was totally packed and we decided to wait for the next. The next one was also totally packed, but somehow R and I managed to cram ourselves on (and not fall off or get stuck between the doors). B and V weren't able to get on and ended up taking the next bus. So we were awkwardly crammed in that bus for about 45 minutes, and  as we were nearing Xiangshan there was a huge gridlock that most of the passengers got off and walked the remaining 2-3 km to the park. En route and inside the park, it felt like we were in some kind of amusement park because of all the crowds! This is definitely one of the biggest downsides to traveling in China. Inside the park, by chance we found B and V and then we climbed up the mountain together. It wasn't an easy hike, but at the same time I think we've all done worse. Along the way, we saw some interesting displays of Chinese culture... for example, a guy climbed onto a persimmon tree inside the park, broke off a large branch, and all the by-standers rushed over for the up-for-grabs persimmons. As always, there were women climbing the mountain in crazy stiletto heels. And of course, everybody came super prepared and everywhere I looked, people were snacking on fruit, chips, popsicles, whatever!

The next day, we met up to visit the Beijing Underground City. There's a huge network of tunnels and rooms that Mao built in case of nuclear warfare with the Soviet Union, and apparently the tunnels lead all the way to Tianjin and there were huge storerooms and even a movie theatre. This was definitely well thought-out, and perhaps a tad more extensive than UCLA's. The lonely planet told us where to go, but when we finally reached the unassuming grey house in a hutong, it was closed. I guess the government has been closing many of the tunnel entrances. We were disappointed but determined to not let that get us down, so we continued exploring the little hutongs in that area. In the end, the rain forced us to go shopping in the shopping centers.