Elizabeth Esteban - May 25, 2026

 5.25 Agenda Overview: The Great Wall + Tiananmen Square

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We started our day earlier than we have the previous days, start time at 8 in the morning. 👀 It was looking to be rainy weather, and we had an outdoorsy day ahead of us. The first thing on our agenda for the day was to go the Great Wall of China! This part of the trip was one that the group has been looking forward to the most out of the different things we've done in Beijing.

The Great Wall was an amazing experience. To get up to the wall we had to take the gondola instead of the toboggan because the weather. The rainy weather also made the Great Wall look misty and in turn very aesthetic. 

Jack E and I were hiking buddies, and we made our way all the way to the peak tower (Tower 23). Kudos to everyone's own progress! || Josh also made it to the top, and a lot of the group almost reached the top, peaking at Tower 20 or 21. The journey was super surreal and cool, and on top of that it exhausted me. This experience allowed us to gain a sense of cultural history of Beijing and see a modern wonder of the world. At the bottom of the wall, we looked around the shops where the guys enjoyed haggling sellers to get better deals^^

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After the Great Wall, we went to eat lunch at a buffet style restaurant. It was definitely a different experience from the family style places we have been going to so far, but still very good. Along with the lunch break our guide also gave us time to explore a jade shop on the first floor of the buffet restaurant. I dropped some money here 💸, but I got two necklaces and I know others bought some gifts for themselves and their family/friends. So, I'd say time well spent. 

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This was originally all I had to blog about today when I signed up for 5.25, but plans change and we have to change with them 💪. The day we were supposed to go to Tiananmen Square to view the public square got rescheduled for today because the President of Russia (Vladimir Putin) was there and he took priority over our sightseeing. However, when we got to Tiananmen Square today it was also closed off. Our guide asked the security why, and they said that the President of Pakistan (Asif Ali Zardari) was here on a visit. At this point we lost hope to visit the public square, so we pivoted our plans again and decided to take the group to Wangfujing street to shop. 

On our way to the shopping street, we got word that they reopened a section of the square and we ended up being able to go again. This experience was definitely unforgettable. Since it was previously blocked off there were not too many people walking around, so it gave the space a more eerie feeling than usual, but I was still grateful to at least view the area. 

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After visiting Tiananmen Square, a group of us did end up going to Wangfujing street to shop. We hit up the Nike store, where the guys bought most of their stuff. Then we did some window shopping. After that, we were starving so we got dinner at the mall too. 10/10 dinner even though it wasn't the hot pot we were looking for. When we finished dinner, I needed to spend more of my yuan, so we got some gelato. Enjoy the few pics I snapped:

- That's all from me | Last day in Beijing & my last blog post | Elizabeth signing out 💖-