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Published: January 29th 2009
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It was the great thinker, Confucius, that said: "when a friend comes from afar, is that not delightful?". The people of Beijing really took those words to heart surpassing themselves by showing extraordinary hospitality and offering an unforgettable welcome during the 2008 Olympics. As soon as we alighted from our train at Beijing Railway Station, there was a veritable taskforce of English-speaking local volunteers offering assistance for getting around and expressing how pleased they were that we'd come to visit beautiful Beijing. Such earnestness, it was hard not to be touched. One of the great themes of the Beijing Olympics was 'One World, One Dream'. In many ways, it was the melliflluous conduct and impeccable courtesy of the volunteers and Beijing people that really actualized those words' meaning. Well done, Beijing!
Of course, what made our time in Beijing so extra special was having the lovely Sarra with us. Out to support Chris and the other olympians of Team GB, Sarra met with us when she could, filling us in in all the goss from home and even joining us on some of our sight-seeing. Wonderfully generous of her, she treated Kerry and me to a day trip to the
Ming Dynasty Tombs and The Great Wall of China. Thanks so much, Sarra!
Also, we had the great pleasure of joining Sarra and the Hoy family at the stunning Laoshan velodrome to help cheer on Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny and Jamie Staff compete in the Team Sprint event. I had my hair all dyed blonde/gold for the occasion! It was incredible to see them win, and that by a clear margin. Hilariously, camera footage of the crowds including pics of Kerry and me were being beamed back home live. Folks from home texted there and then to say we were at that very moment on national television - gold hair an' all. It was my mother who said 'you look just like Oor Wullie'!
Here's an overview of some of the amazing Beijing sights we packed in to our 9-day stay:
Ming Dynasty Tombs - Emperors of the Ming Dynasty as far back as the 1400s have their tombs here. Following the 'Spirit Way' into this huge complex of tombs, we entered the Great Red Gate and visited those tombs open to the public - only 3. Best part of the tour was having some fancy dress
fun. You will see from the pic that I got to play Emperor while Kerry was Empress and Sarra my concubine!
The Great Wall of China - What with the jostling crowds and precarious footing of The Great Wall steps, it was a wonder that none of us lost balance, toppling to some bone-breaking injury. A madding crowd, it was not pleasant to be a part of. And as if the situation couldn't get any worse, rainclouds rolled in leaving us each singly sodden. Nothing else for it, we had a swig of local liquor (which fortunately we had brought with us for good measure) and, our spirits raised, we laughed and joked and were otherwise uncommonly merry in spite of circumstances. A marvellous day out!!
The Forbidden City - Bang in the middle of Beijing, the Forbidden City is every bit as imposing and as awesome as I had dreamed it would be. A complex of palatial gates, halls, courtyards and gardens, it has an impressive 980 surviving buildings and covers 72 hectares. The sense of past and veiled goings-on created wonder and intrigue which made the exhausting exploration all worth while.
Gardens/Parks of Beijing -
There were many sensational parks and gardens throughout the city to enjoy and take rest in. Some had especially beautiful water features. Most tended to be the sacred sites of ancient times. On a visit to the Ditan Park, I had the very good fortune to witness Tai Chi being practised. All very iconic!
The Lama Temple - Formerly an imperial dwelling, the Lama Temple (otherwise known as the Yonghe Temple) is not only an extremely busy working temple but houses a significant Buddhist monastery. I loved all the names of the various halls - Hall of the Heavenly Kings, Hall of Everlasting Protection, Hall of Harmony and Peace and, my favourite, The Pavillion of Ten Thousand Happinesses.
The Kong Miao Confucius Temple- Despite being built in 1302, I thought the temple had been really well-preserved and that notwithstanding China's Cultural Revolution. There is a famous tree in the courtyard which according to legend can judge a man's character. Apparently, so the story goes, a notorious corrupt official walked past the tree and on his way a branch snapped knocking off his hat. I managed to walk past completely unscathed - a very good judge of character indeed,
I'd say!
The White Pagoda Temple - The temple famously contains China's largest stupa. A stupa, as I learned in Ladakh, is a Buddhist religious monument often containing special Buddhist relics. This stupa dates back to the days of Kublai Khan. There were some interesting exhibitions in the surrounding temple buildings but unquestionably the highlight was the Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas. The hall was literally teeming with thousands upon thousands of Buddha statues - all of varying size. It was quite marvellous to behold even though there were in fact only 7,000 and not 10,000 as the hall's name suggested.
The Ming Dynasty SE Corner City Watchtower (Dongnan Jiaolou) - This huge watchtower is part of the Ming City Wall Ruins Park. It's an impressive huge stone fortification. I particularly liked how the eaves of the roof were painted with large bulging watchful eyes - the threat of unrelenting observation. The watchtower also contains the Red Gate Gallery which displays contemporary Chinese art. There were some outstanding sculptures inside as I seem to remember.
Tiananmen Square - Absolutely enormous, I struggled and struggled to get a good pic showing something of its true scale. I failed.
The tiny lens of my very ordinary fuji digital camera was not up to the task. At 40.5 hectares, it's the largest open urban space in the world. Smack bang in the middle of the square is the mausoleum of Mao Zedong. No bags allowed inside, Sarra and I took turns to queue up (it was hugely popular!) and go in to see the embalmed body of Chairman Mao. Walking past, I had to wonder whether the pickled corpse was for real and wasn't some waxwork counterfeit. Back out on the Square, domestic tourists wanted their photo taken with me. Never shy of centre-stage, I was only too happy to oblige. Wandering the Square, to the fore of my mind the whole time was what happened in 1989. Of course, there at the Square itself it was the great unmentioned. There was no memorial to those who had died. It was the perhaps the silence that made it so haunting.
Wangfujing's Snack Street - If you've ever watched 'Celebrity Get Me Outta Here' and thought you'd fancy a go sampling some wacky food stuffs then this is the snack street for you. Impaled on skewers, you could have any
of the following - beetles, scorpions, starfish, eel, seahorse and a whole host of other exotic type bugs and sea creatures. To satisfy customers that everything was sufficiently fresh, the stall-holders continually tapped the skewers causing the tiny impaled creatures to convulse distressingly. Not finding these exotic delicacies in the slightest bit appetising, I took the safe option - a chicken kebab around the corner away from the scary snack stores.
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