Blogs from Beijing, China, Asia - page 14

Four world heritage sites and one site which isn't In and around Beijing there are so many cultural heritage sites that you can't possible visit them all in such a short trip as the one I made with my mother last summer. We had to limit ourselves to the most interesting ones. If we had tried to squeeze in too many it would have killed all the fun with the trip. I have been to Beijing several times before and I have in previous trips visited most of the sites we wanted to go to. I could therefore give suggestions on which ones we had to see and which ones we shouldn't bother going to. I also had some idea on how long a visit to each place would take so you might say that I ... read more

5 jours n'étaient peut-être pas assez pour Pékin. Pourtant je n'ai pas chômé. Disons que j'ai profité de la partie "ancienne" mais pas de la"partie moderne. En tous cas, je n'ai pas été déçu. Le moins quel'on puisse dire,c'est que c'est très chinois. Il suffit de se balader dans le quartier de la cité interdite (en particulier au nord et à l'est) pour profiter de l'atmosphère des hutongs (ruelles) des parcs et des temples. On échappe assez facilement aux grandes avenues à 8 voies et la ville est finalement très verte dans un sens : des arbres partout dans les rues, et de nombreux parcs. Donc c'est très agréable de s'y promener,si on fait abstraction de la circulation sur les artères, de la pollution qu'on ressent quand même un peu et SURTOUT des gens qui ... read more

About the Great wall, I can say that a dream come true. Since I was a kid, I watched so many documentaries about it and dreaming one day to be there on it. I visited the Great Wall from Beijing, precisely, in Badaling. Badaling is a quite touristic place and it was not my first choice, at the beginning,because I heard of more secluded parts of the Wall with very few tourists and more adventure. But I did not have that much time to visit far away places and I decided to choose the most convenient one and headed to Badaling.A train trip till there was about one hour and a half from Beijing central station (try to get there early in the morning to avoid masses of tourist). A bit of ... read more

What a day! Our wake up call came at 6:30 am, which is three hours earlier than I usually get up for work! Once again we enjoyed a sumptuous breakfast buffet in our hotel, then out to the bus by 8:00 am for a full day of touring. Our first stop: The Scared Way. As many of you know, the Chinese have a great respect for their elders both living and dead, we could learn a few things from that concept. Our touring family headed out to the tombs of the Emperors and Empresses of China from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. When we arrived in Beijing on Monday, the holiday called "Tomb Sweeping Day" was just ending. On this holiday you are expected to visit your ancestors to pay them respect and to clean their ... read more

I climbed the Great Wall today, as I lifted my feet to climb each step, I thought about the countless number of people that perished trying to build the wall. Great amount of toiling and labor went into this GREAT wall. I neglected to mention that I am a celebrity here in China, today the camera's were extra busy, people stop and ask to take pictures with me, most of them have never actually seen a "black person" in real life. Women, men, teenagers, elderly, familes with small children all asking for pictures. It is sight that you cannot believe, they line up, some times in groups, smile and utter something in a unknown language, which I know means "can I take a picture with you", sometimes that just try to sneak a picture without you ... read more