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Published: October 23rd 2015
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When planning for a trip, people often choose Hongkong, Thailand, Japan, Singapore and South Korea as destinations. Seldom do we come across those whose first choice is to go to Beijing. For us, it was a choice between Beijing and Shanghai. Weighing the pros and cons, Beijing won. There are more interesting places in Beijing, I think. And these places have a history behind it. History that shaped the people and culture of China. We went to Beijing couple of years ago (2009) but the experience I got from the trip is still fresh in my mind. I guess this is one of my favorite trips so far. We stayed in Beijing for 4 days. It may be short but with proper time keeping and itinerary, we were able to visit almost all of the most interesting places the city has to offer.
From the airport, our tour guide, Leslie, brought us straight to Tiananmen Square. Walking along the square, you will find the Monument to the People’s Heroes and the Great Hall of the People at the background. The Monument to the People’s Heroes was built as a tribute to all the people who fought for democracy. The Great
Hall of People is where international diplomatic gatherings are being held and as well congress meetings. The square is quite big and sort of a long walk, too. It took us about an hour or so before we reach the end of the square. Leslie, would stop us once in awhile to explain or relate significant events that happened. Of course, photo op takes a lot of time as well. To date, Tiananmen Square is considered to be one of the largest square/plaza in the world.
Just across the street from Tiananmen Square is the entrance to Forbidden City. Outside the main entrance are row of stores that sell souvenir items, food and beverage. Make sure you get some water or snack before entering since it’ll be quite a while before you can grab a bite. There are also some vendors selling umbrellas or raincoats just in case it rains or the sun is too hot. In our case, it proved to be useful since it started raining just before we got inside.
Forbidden City is a huge expanse of land that housed the Chinese Imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty.
It has served as the home of emperors and their households. It was also the ceremonial and political center of the Chinese government. Today, Forbidden City is also known as the Palace Museum.
It was a long walk from the entrance to the exit. Imagine a place where there are about 980 buildings, and these buildings were not built alongside each other. It took us more than 2 hours just to go around it. And if you’re thinking of backing out, you can’t because there’s only 1 exit. If you decide to go in, bring a lot of endurance and perseverance with you to survive the long walk. The architectural design of each building is unique and intricate. The buildings are adorned with different precious stones. Our minds cannot even begin to comprehend how many stones were put in each building and where did they get all these stones.
We also explored the Ming Tombs. Ming Tombs, as the name implies, houses the mausoleums of the 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty. It also houses the tombs of 7 concubines and 1 grave for eunuchs. About 2 to 3 tombs are now open to public. The other tombs
can be viewed from the outside. The architectural structure and design of each tomb has similarities but they vary in size.
Our next stop is the Great Wall is one of the most visited tourist destinations in Beijing. In fact, it will be a great disappointment if you will miss it. Great Wall’s history dates back 2000 years. According to history, it was built to protect China from invaders or armies of other countries. Most of the section of the wall are now in ruins or have already disappeared. There are around 5 sections of the wall that tourists can visit. They are the following: Badaling Wall, Juyong Guan Wall, Mutianyu Wall, Ji Shan Ling Walla and Simatai Wall. Of the 5, Badaling Wall is the commonly visited. And that’s our entry point as well.
Looking up from the bottom of the steps, the task was not too daunting. But when you are doing the actual climbing, it’s really hard, as in like trekking. For starters, the steps itself is not polished, it has cracks and holes on it plus the distance of the steps from each other is inconsistent. Some have bigger gap than the others. And
it’s really, really difficult to go up. When we reached the 1
st tower or the fire platform, I was out of breath and sweating profusely since it was the middle of summer. And it didn’t help that many people, mostly tourists like us, decided to go the same day we were there. After all the hardship, I still consider this one of my greatest experiences. Oh, make sure you have water with you- you will need it. Trust me on this.
Our next destination is the Summer Palace. It was the summer home of the imperial rulers. Upon entering the palace ground, I noticed that it was surrounded by gardens all around. It also has a lake where you can ride a boat to go around the whole property. I later found out that the lake was called Kunming Lake. The place also boasts of brick houses and an ensemble of impressive buildings. Walking around the premises was also tiresome because of it size, about 294 hectares. But it’s grandeur and one of a kind architectural design was definitely worth it.
Since it was the year after the Beijing Olympics, the Olympic Village is still open to the
public. For a minimum amount, you can go inside the Bird's Nest. Speaking of bird's nest, I cannot imagine how difficult it must have been to construct. This impressive structure was made out of steel, giving the message of strength and stability. Across the Bird's Nest is the Cube. It was the venue for all aquatic sports competition. Too bad it was closed when we there. Due to limited time, we weren't able to wander through the whole of Olympic Village.
Of course, our trip wouldn't be complete without a little shopping. I said little because we really didn't prioritize shopping on this trip. But our tour guide was able to bring us to a couple of shopping centers just we can unwind after a dose of history.
The shopping areas we were able to go to were: Wangfujing Street, The Silk Market, Ya Show Market and Sanlitun Village Mall.
Wangfujing Street is a shopper's paradise. It has a department store and international brand boutiques. Aside from these, tourists can get souvenirs at a bargain price. Food stalls, restaurants and coffee shops line up the street.
Silk Market and Ya Show Market are quite similar. They
have stores that sell gadgets, clothing, shoes and accessories at a lower price. Bargain shoppers would love it here.
The Sanlitun Village Mall is a sort of a high-end mall, housing international name brands. If you don't want to spend money here, you can definitely window shop or spend your day at a coffee shop.
To say that I enjoyed Beijing is an understatement. I believe there are more to Beijing that can be explored and immerse yourself into. I would definitely go back.
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