Beijing

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A lazy morning saw us sleeping in until 11.15. Oops, we missed the 8.30 alarm clock! Nonetheless, I'm sure it was well-needed sleep after our long haul flight.
We ate breakfast in a great hutong street full of funky cafes and little groovy shops where I'm tempted to spend a lot of money. It's called Nanluogu Xian street and I'd recommend it to anyone wanting cool places - a bit like Melbourne's Brunswick Street. I was craving a tuna sandwich so that and a watermelon shake was my start to the day. Dan overdosed on fruit - fruit shake, fruit platter - he must have been craving it.
We ventured to the Lama Temple, a 17th century Tibetan temple. It's a series of decorative pagodas, each with a Buddha or many inside. At the entrance to each temple there were dozens of people burning incense and kneeling before the incense cauldrons. The air was thick with smoke and the sweet smell of the incense sticks.
Then it was on to the Beijing Zoo to see the Pandas. We had to jostle with seemingly hundreds of others to see the bears, but it was worth it. They're such roly-poly creatures, big and floppy, with not a care in the world as they munch their bamboo. We also saw the big cats - lions and tigers - but I couldn't stand viewing them for long as they're each in a small concrete prison cell with no foliage and nothing to do. Very disturbing. There is a large, green area where they can go outside but it must only be at certain times of day as the doors at the back of their cells were closed. I guess zoos do good in that they help breed near-extinct species, but sometimes you wonder about the conditions the animals live in.
A lazy late afternoon ensued sitting by a lakeside cafe. It was a public holiday today so masses of people were out and about, mainly young people in their twenties or couples with babies or toddlers. There seems to be a thing here about having your baby's trousers undone - does this mean Beijing babies don't wear nappies? Dan was careful not to walk behind any babies on their father's shoulders with bottoms bared! There also seems to be a trend here for couples to wear matching clothes. Something I haven't seen since seeing Japanese tourists on the Gold Coast years ago. I don't think we'll be adopting the trend anytime soon!

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Comments

[Nicki]

Hi!
Hi Guys, Finally I get around to reading your blog! It seems I have some reading to catch up on!! Sounds like you are having a really interesting cultural experience in China. I have to say, I was disappointed Dan that you didnt try the fried snakes! Hope everything continues well.. we are off to Germany in the morning for ten days. Keep posting, is good to see what your up to x