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Published: March 29th 2008
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Forbidden City
...one of the many gates and courtyards.. So much has happened we thought we had better do an interim blog update whist we are in Beijing. A few facts - there are about 19 million people living in Beijing; I don’t know if there are 9 million bicycles but there is a pretty large traffic jam; there is an avenue here that is 50 kilometres long (yes 50 km); streets are 50 metres wide; everything is spotless and there is NO rubbish in the streets, there are huge new office and condos built and it is BIG. The people are really friendly and open with a great sense of humour and the food is pretty good as well. We were a bit apprehensive but all of that has been blown away. In fact if we had the opportunity we would like to do a couple of months in China (by the way China in Chinese means Construction, of which there is a lot going on)
. The days are sunny (so far) and delightful spring days with the almond blossom out which is a startling white against the Wedgwood blue skies.
There is everything in the shops - very few people speak English but we are able
...what a clever panda.....
The Giant Pandas put on a real show....this one swung on the bars and waved its backside at us before almost falling and landing on his head! to get by with sign language, a smile and speaking very loudly!
What have we been up to? Well when we first arrived we had a walk out to get some water etc. It is cold here around 12 degrees down to 4 degrees at night.
Our hotel is 20 minutes walk from Tiannmann Square and the Forbidden City so we spent the first day (9 hours walking!!) there. The Forbidden City is a wonder of the world. We got the auto- guide which is a nifty bit of technology which combines an audio guide with GPS - so when you walk around it automatically tells you about that place - the map which is part of the device also shows you where you are and which bits you still have to do.
The Forbidden City covers over 1000000 sq metres and was completed in 1420 and now contains over 1.5 million objects. It consists of a series of gates, courtyards, gardens, pavilions, and halls with names such as Gate of Supreme Harmony; Palace of Heavenly Purity, Garden of Benevolent Tranquillity, Palace of Celestial Favour and Pavilion of Spreading Righteousness.
I nipped to the loo and
whilst there the audio started to play the description of the Hall of Mental Cultivation?!
On the way back we went to a restaurant along one of the streets and had duck with leeks, fish in ketchup, steamed vegetables and Yuchatan rice (rice with egg and ham in). A ton of food came - and a whole big fish which had been fried after being sliced so that the fish looked as though it had lots of fingers. Difficult to describe and I wished I’d photographed it. Altogether £10 but it was near the centre. We have subsequently eaten lunch and had lots for £3 (2 pints chicken soup with ingredients you then add including egg and thinly sliced raw meat which then cooks in the very hot soup plus a massive salad along Thai lines).
We spent 6-7 hours at the Forbidden City and still didn’t see everything and we hope to go back before we leave.
Next day set off walking hoping to see a couple of museums in the area but both closed as part of the massive programme of refurbishment - walked along on of the main shopping streets - all modern malls
A day of Pandas and Palaces
One of the best days in our whole trip yet!! and huge. Went into the flagship Olympic shop - the 5 characters representing he Olympic colours and circles are called
Bei Bei (Blue)
Jing Jing (Black)
Huan Huan (Red)
Ying Ying (Yellow)
Nini (Green)
When you put the names together it spells - “Bei jing huan ying ni” or “Welcome to Bejing” in Chinese!!
Later that evening went to a Kung Fu show which was astonishing for the grace, athleticism and power - best bit was the hero and heroine flying through the air holding onto banners - a great evening out. Watching people break bricks against their heads reminded me of some of the places I have worked! On the way back we went into a local market and bought a £2 bottle of Chinese wine Pinot Noir 1999 (the lady put my original choice back as it was an old bottle and gave me a newer bottle??!)
If we thought we had had a good visit to Beijing so far the next day was outstanding - one of the best days of our whole tour so far.
I had always wanted to go to the Summer Palace and whilst we were in Beijing we
A Birds Nest
Olympic Stadium under construction also had to go to see the Giant Pandas - so we saw a tour and signed up for it.
We were collected before 8am by the guide David (a Chinese) and got a taxi as we were the only ones on it. By 8.20 we were at the zoo watching the Pandas have breakfast!!!!!!! How cool is that!!! They are amazing creatures and you can’t help loving them. They are very human as well - they sit doing nothing except chewing on bamboo shoots and then they will stir themselves as if to say “Oh well I had better do my tricks for the visitors now” and start off with a few poses to get the visitors going “OOhh” then move onto climbing the frames - finishing off with hanging upside down - and all the time looking at the visitors to gauge whether they are getting the appropriate reaction - then after 10 minutes you can se them almost looking at their watches as if to say “OK that’s it bamboo shoot break time!” at which point they sit down with their back to the visitors.
Seeing the Giant Pandas were a real highlight - Carol bought me a Panda glove puppet to shut me up! So now I have a new friend.
Then onto a pearl workshop and shop - which was the usual selling trap but interesting - saw freshwater oysters opened and about 28 pearls dropped out - all small - the lady there remarked on the small necklace of pearls I had bought Carol up on the Burmese border in the North of Thailand for £4. She showed us the test for determining real pearls (rub them together and see if there is a fine dust) and lo and behold they weren’t fake but real which was a nice surprise!!
Then onto the Summer Palace which is in the North West corner of Beijing - a massive park and lake with pavilions and palace - utterly beautiful and recently renovated. Again originally 15th century. There is a marble boat at the lakeside which in the late 19th century had steamship paddles added to it! All in all a real pleasure palace that could be reached by boat from the Forbidden City. A fantastic location and a perfect clear spring day with lots of Chinese walking around enjoying the warmth and the almond blossom.
In the afternoon went to a silk shop (again touristy) but they showed how the silk from the cocoon was boiled for an hour and then opened and stretched over a half moon shape (like a tea cosy). Women in groups of four then take the tea cosy shapes and gently pull them into duvet sized sheets. If you wanted a silk stuffed duvet they were about £40.
Had a quick detour to see the Birds Nest Stadium which is being built for the Olympics - again a huge construction site - the workers there are on £300 month instead of their usual £100 month. Then onto the Llama Temple which is a massive Buddhist temple which was originally used as a palace and built along the lines of the Forbidden City though much smaller. A number of Buddhists praying in these difficult times.
Finally a visit to a tea shop where we tasted different teas - black, green, white, yellow and oolong. Also one which was black tea infused with lychees and brewed with rose petals - delicious. Then home.
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Carl and Mary
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Wow!
Continues to sound amazing.... ...We are thinking of letting the local estate agents know about the wonderful Chinese marketing ploy with respect to bathrooms..... Hall of Mental Cultivation indeed.....surely it is a Palace of Mental Cultivation and Serenity!