Advertisement
The Big Countdown
These boards all over Beijing are building up the excitement to the 2008 Olympics After 7 months of being in Warren's pocket, it was time to be a brave girl and finally head out to do my own thing, and what better than meeting my favourite sister Huma in Beijing?! The last time I was in Beijing was 10 years ago and I was really looking forward to experiencing all the recent changes and seeing the city prepare to wow the world at the 2008 Olympics. On arrival at Beijing airport, the first excitement was seeing a young chap caught by the police for shoplifting a bottle of CocaCola - a true post-communist statement.
Arriving in Beijing in Spring means DUST STORMS. This year is particularly bad with Beijing already having more than the annual average. So far 363thousand tonnes of dust from the Gobi desert and surroundings has dumped itself on the city, and the inhabitants cope by wearing masks or even plastic bags over their heads! Everyone has very black bogeys.
We stayed in the Dongchen district of the city a couple of kilometers east of Tiannamen Square and the Forbidden City. It has one of the city's main shopping streets, Wangfujing, but this area also has many of the traditional
Little Girl in Tiannamen Square
Chinese babies are so cute! I have been a bit of a crazy tourist asking local mums if I can photograph their kids. Beijing Hutong. The Hutong are the old alleyways which crisscross the city, many being pulled down in the rush for development. As you wander around you get a taste of the more traditional side of life as a lot of the city's older residents live in these areas.
Another great place to experience the traditional way of life was Chuandixia village, 90km from Beijing. Although it takes over 3hrs to get there on public transport, it makes a fantastic daytrip and there's the possibility of asking one of the local householders to put you up for the night. The lifestyle there is a sleepy pace, only to be interupted by the odd loudspeaker over the valley as another tour group passes through.
One of my favourite places was (of course) Tiannamen Square - a total Mao Zedong trap, but a fantastic place to watch people. Little kids would be all dressed up, flying kites and waving flags; older people are in tour group gangs wearing their baseball caps and getting group shots taken; touts have Chairman Mao paraphenalia to sell and art 'students' wait to rip you off!; and of course it is an arena for lines of
Chairman Mao watches
These watches make great tacky souvenirs for friends. Wind up Chairman Mao and he will wave at you all day. soldiers marching around. I queued with thousands of Chinese people to file through Chairman Mao's mausoleum. Although it is almost 40 years since his death, it is amazing to see the deep respect that people still show, kowtowing and laying red roses at his statue.
Another highlight was learning a bit of Chinese Calligraphy at FESCO cultural institute. A very beautiful artform but incredibly difficult to learn! We learned how to control the brush and ink, create the various strokes, and learn a few Mandarin characters. Our teacher Guan Lin (Gary) was fantastic and gave us Chinese names. I am Lan Tien (blue sky) and Huma is Bei Ewing (white cloud). Blue sky and white cloud should always be together, just like sisters - the Chinese are so poetic! Unfortunately the pollution over Beijing is so bad that it was only on a couple of days that we actually saw Lan Tien and Bei Ewing!
Gary accompanied us hiking on the Great Wall. We avoided the touristy Badaling section which I had visited before, and instead went further north to experience the quieter Janshanling to Simatai section. We timed this nicely because it was Huma's 30TH BIRTHDAY! (forgive
Soldiers, by Tiannamen Square
Boy, do the army love to march, usually 'Goose stepping' when they really want to show off. for announcing to one and all Humie), and it was an experience that neither of us will forget. We walked 10km, parts of which were very steep, and other sections in great need of rennovation, passing 32 watchtowers along the way. The highlight for us was when Gary recited Mao Zaodong's famous poem Operatic-style (startling some of the other tourists!)
'He who has not walked on the Great Wall is not a true man!" At the end of the trip I was a brave girl and didn't cry this time when saying goodbye to Huma! We will meet again in Saigon for the wedding in September. Hopefully Huma will have many fabulous photographs documenting the fusion of tradition and development that is China's capital. I will let you all know when the exhibition is ready! So after all that culture and excitement, it is time to say cheery-bye to Beijing. I hope I get to visit again before it is swallowed up by the encroaching desert...
I now head off to settle with Warren in Saigon - and here is the scarey bit! - my hippy hair is already shorn and it is time for me to finally
Huma on the Beijing Underground
The Underground Dragon is a fantastic way to get around town. Huma, the professional as always, finds something interesting to photograph with her 170degree fish-eye lens (yes, she has me well trained in the lingo now!). look for a JOB!! Beware children, here I come...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.077s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 10; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0363s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb