Monday in Beijing

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Today we visit Beijing - Jade Factory, Ming Tomb, The Great Wall, Chinese Opera

This will be another brief and superficial ovrview of what we did yesterday. We just do not have an extra hour in our schedule to write a lot of notes. I will catch up eventually.

A Word About the Food:
The food throughout our journey has been exceptionally good. I cannot explain the difference of having Chinese food here or in Canada. The best in Canada is very good too, but here it is very fresh and the flavours seem to be even better. Almost all meals are provided as part of the tour. Breakfasts are in a 5 star hotel but buffet in the interest of saving time. Breakfasts are a mixture of Chinese and western. Lunches are typically multicourse meals on a rotating centre piece at a table for 8. Beer, wine and soft drinks are free, as is water. These meals are all Chinese style with at least 10 courses. Each restaurant has its own little subtleties. Every meal includes steamed rice, plenty of vegetables, several meat dishes, and finishes with soup. We have noticed only mild spices. The servers speaking varying amounts of English, are very attentive, and do a great job. They are mostly young university women. All wear very pleasant simple uniforms. All restaurants are very clean and all are equipped with at least some conventional washroom facilities.


A word About the Roads and Traffic:
At times, and in some places, the roads get congested and traffic slows down. Drivers for the most part are courteous and stay in their lane and respect traffic laws. We have had a few traffic delays but they sort themselves out quickly and we are again on our way. Traffic, at its worst, is no worse than Ottawa's Queensway at rush hour, but sldom gets that bad. Beijing has 18 million people in its immediate area and a series of 4 ring roads. There are 4 million cars on the road, and they move quite effectively. Any raod problems that they are having are getting a lot of attention and people are working at solving the issues. Traffic lights are plentiful but not to the point of being annoying. Pedestrians find their way. We have noticed one serious accident between a truck and something else, and the truck was not in nice shape. We have also seen a few minor fender benders but very minor and they get to the side, settle things up, and clear the roadway quickly.


A Note about the Water:
You can drink tap water in HK. You should not drink the tap water in Beijing. Our hotel provides a separate tap which has a filter. Because we do not know how good or fresh the filter is, we do not drink that water either but do wash our toothbrush in it. For showers we always keep our mouth closed and rinse our mouth after the shower with some bottled water. We have not had any health problems of any sort since getting here. THe hotel provides 2 free bottles of water daily and you can purchse it everywhere. It is not expensive ... maybe $1 Cdn or less. Beer costs less per can than water. Soft drinks cost more or same as water. Tea is excellent. Coffee is very good in the restaurant, maybe a little strong but good quality.


The Jade Factory:
On the way to the Ming Tomb, we visited a government certified jade factory. THe jade is of varying quality, hardness and colour, and the assistants will explain to you what to look for. They are honest, patient and very helpful. The worksmanship defies description but it is very detailed. precise and every piece seems to have a story. We negotiated for a very fair deal for a bangle type bracelet for Eva. We got the size and colour we wanted and at a good price.

Ming Tomb:
After the Jade factory, we visited Ming's Tomb. The area has beautiful parks, and palaces throughout and they were much less crowded than the Forbidden City. They still had lots of tour buses and visitors but were very interesting to visit. Several pictures to show and some great scenery.


The Great Wall:
After Ming's Tomb we went to a Chinese lunch which was a bit too much food (my fault not theirs). TRhen our bus took us to the Ba da ling area of the Great Wall. It is really something to se the wall of bricks and stones snaking up through the mountains. The wall is wide enough to accomodate 5 horses side by side or 10 soldiers. In the are we visted the wall is preserved in excellent condition as a tourist attraction and a monument for the people to see. The surface is sort of giant, smooth cobblestones with bars in it help with traction. It has stairs and just smooth areas. It is a tough walk and not for the very young or very old. Eva and I made it through three sections, maybe a few hundred metres before we decided to call it quits and head back down. The descent back to the entrance is perhaps more difficult because you are going down a slope of maybe 20 to 35 degrees, with only occasional hand rails. There were a few peddlers along the way and they are persistent and very annoying at times.

There is quite a strange feeling about being on the wall after you hear some of the history behind it. The scenery is absolutely beautiful and the mountain back drop is really something. This is a must-do if you are heading to China.

The Beijing Opera:
This is a 1 hour series of three mini-play operas about historical events. It is a combination of old style Chinese music, acting, dancing and martial arts style performance. It is very interesting to see this old style culture. The seating was very comfortable specially after our supper.

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