Lot of people in Beijing

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Our first full day in China was a wonderful learning experience! We were up and out for breakfast at 7 AM. Our breakfast here is a buffet with many options both Chinese and Western food. Of course I brought my bran so I took my container and first stop was to get milk. It is quite difficult with the language and writing barrier, very few people in this hotel speak English. I found a dispenser that appeared to be milk and poured it in my bowl and headed for the table . Yuck! What I had put on my bran was a sweet yogurt drink! Awful! Not able to waste my precious bran I had to suffer through it and hopefully I will reap the benefits!

Bonnie enjoyed her breakfast with lots of fruits, hard boiled egg and Chinese greens. I did top off my bran with a fried egg and sausage.

The morning was partly cloudy with temperatures in the mid 50s when we boarded the bus and headed to Tian'an men Square in the Centre of Beijing. We met our tour guide Leo, who will be with us for the duration of the trip and our Beijing guide, Lisa, who is with us for our days in Beijing. The bus ride was about 45 minutes and Lisa told us many interesting things about Beiging as we travelled. China only opened up to foreigners in the mid 70s and there have been massive changes since then. The population of Beijing is 23 million people and there are 8 million cars in Beijing. There must be just as many bikes /scooters as well. To curb pollution, each day certain vehicles are prohibited to enter the city by a number in the lisence plate. For example, if you have a 5 or 9 in your plate you cannot drive into Beijing on Tuesday. You must come on public transit or car pool with someone else.

We were dropped off near the Square and we were in the midst of huge crowds of people. It was very hard to keep your eyes on the guide with her flag as well as watching your step so you didn't fall on the steps or uneven paving stones. There was a big political meeting here today and the Square was going to be closed this afternoon so that may have increased the crowd plus there was increased security. We saw soldiers and police on every corner of the area around Tian'an men Square. Last week was their National Holiday week and thousands of Chinese come to Beijing so I think some of them had stayed on this week!

We walked through the huge square towards the Forbidden City which was the home of the Emperor. It was called the Forbidden City because no commoners were allowed inside.

We left this area around 1:15 and were taken to a traditional Chinese restaurant where we had our first round table meal. The food was very good but the decor was nothing special and the waitresses seemed to be stressed by "demanding"westerners. ( not us)

After lunch we went to the Temple of Heaven, another huge area with lovely gardens and many buildings that today are not used for anything except tourism. We saw many seniors gathered together in some of the pavilions playing cards and other games.

By now it was getting on to 4 PM and the bus driver was worried about traffic, so instead of heading to a hutong area and having our rickshaw ride, the guide decided we would head back to the hotel. I think everyone was happy with that decision because the jet lag is starting to set in. We are dining in our hotel tonight so we can relax and get rested up for a long day tomorrow.

The forecast is rain for tomorrow and we are off to the Great Wall so hopefully it will be over before we get there. We are on the bus tomorrow at 8:30 and back by 10 PM. Long day!

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Comments

[Paul]

Greetings
Great to read of your experiences. Yes, tons of people and huge crowds. Air looks relatively clean. Hard to imagine being in a city with over 20 million inhabitants. Keep sending the pixs. Hope you enjoy the Great wall. Read somewhere that it's a major tourist trap!!! Watch out for each other....