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Published: April 18th 2015
Our First Glimpse of Beijing
We were surprised at how clean the city is.Because of the move into the new school at KAS, we were given a 19 day holiday, enabling us to embark on our longest sightseeing tour of the year.
We were very pleased to discover that Lulu, the other grade 4 teacher at KAS, also wanted to visit China and was interested in joining us. Maurice and Lulu did a lot of research and put our itinerary together. It helped that Lulu has traveled to 30 different countries, is fluent in Mandarin and was able to research Chinese websites. To be able travel with a multi-lingual young lady who also happened to be very tech savvy was a huge help for us.
Facts about traveling to China: When we first started researching, Canadians could get a single entry visa for 30 days for about $40CAD. However, just as we applied, they changed the rules for Canadians matching us with Americans. We then had to get a 10 year multi-entry visa for around $240CAD, WOW! We may visit China again to make better use of the costly entry visa.
Money: $1CAD=$5.06Yuan (Chinese currency also known as Renminbi)=$.817USD=$25.38NT(Taiwan dollars).
Chinese airlines: Chinese airports we
On Our Way
We just arrived at the entrance to Mutianyu, one of the sites on the Great Wall near Beijing. visited (Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu) were new, modern, efficient and fancy, much nicer than Canada or US. Jiuhzaigou airport (very small) was freezing....snow outside, doors open and NO heat! There are many Chinese airlines and we only paid between $100-125CAD for flights between cities in China and to Chiang Mai. We used the website C-trip.
On Mar 28th, Saturday, we were up just before 5AM, showered and dressed, collected garbage and headed to airport to catch our 8AM flight to Beijing via Hong Kong. We noticed as we flew over the country of China and into Beijing air space that the white cloudy sky became brownish cloudy with pollution. Luckily, it didn't worsen during our time in China and we didn't find the pollution too much of an issue for us. We landed, and were shuttled to terminal 3 where we promptly lost Lulu, our traveling companion. Much later we went through security and purchased a Chinese SIM card for our phone so we could communicate with Lulu, who we knew already had one. We managed to catch up with her at the Dongzhimen metro near our home stay at Miyo Gee. We have found that most large cities have
Map of Mutianyu (Great Wall of China)
The map shows the museum, the venues at the bottom, and the names of the towers on the wall. a metro line from the airport into the city, and having done our research, we knew taking the subway to our homestay's area would be quicker and cheaper than a cab. There, we caught up with Lulu, and made our way to Miyo's B&B. The homestay had no expectations therefore we could come and go as we pleased, help ourselves to water, use their glasses and could help ourselves to alcohol if we wished. There was only 1 bathroom for the 4 bedrooms and the person using the couch... and it is questionably clean. We suggested to Miyo that a mirror and a small garbage can in the bedroom would have helped. After settling in we went for a walk in the neighborhood and got our bearings in the city.
Next morning, we were up at 6:30 and out the door to go to the Great Wall of China. We grabbed coffee and a sandwich, caught the 916 bus for an hour and a half hour ride to the end of the line. There, cars were waiting to take tourists the final 35 minutes to the Beijing 'Mutianyu' Great Wall. Linda was very excited as visiting the Wall has
The Cable Car to the Top of the Wall
We chose this site to visit because of the cable car to the top, and the slide coming down. There are 3 different sites near Beijing. always been on her "Bucket List". The Great Wall was constructed over a period of nearly 1850 years, beginning in 221BC. Stretching over 5,660 kilometres in length, construction ended around 1644AD. The Wall hugs the contours of the land and climbs up and down the mountains, creating strategic defensive positions with guard towers, lodging quarters, and signal stations. It is said that 1 man could defend against 10,000 invaders. The section we visited was rebuilt in 1569. It now boasts a cable car to take tourists up the mountain and then a toboggan slide for those choosing to make a more exciting descent after trekking along the wall and through the towers.
We took the cable car up and hiked for 3 hours along the wall ( up and down the uneven, slanted and rutted walkway along the top of the wall). It was amazing and scenic! The project dwarfs the ancient pyramids of Mexico and Egypt. Spring had just arrived here and the brown trees were bursting with pale pink blossoms; plums, cherry, mayday, etc. The leaves on many trees were also budding out, creating a pale green backdrop for the colourful flowers! We took the stainless steel
Look up! See the Wall?
We are heading up on the cable car. The Wall creates a formidable skyline. toboggan chute down to the bottom of the mountain but had to go slow because the Chinese in front were not very brave at all. It was still fun! We left with our same cab driver and managed to get the rear seats on the bus, right over the engine. We spent the next 2.5 hours dozing and sweating as we jerked along in the heavy traffic! It was a long weekend in China!
From the bus stop we headed directly to Tiananmen Square via the metro. We wandered about and then stood in a huge crowd waiting to see the flag lowering, but after 30 minutes of watching the military parading about, we gave up and left. We headed south of the square to a street with quaint shops and restaurants and wandered around just looking. After a noodle bowl we decided that we'd had enough walking and metroed back to our room.
Mar 30th, Monday
We slept in until 8:15AM. Our legs told us that we'd done a fair amount of walking, however after coffee and breakfast at the French Café, we caught the metro to the Temple to Heaven. It is a 273 hectare park
Bucket List...Look at the Smile!
Tick .... the Great Wall of China off Linda's Bucket List. Linda has always dreamt of walking on the Wall, and here she is! with numerous temples containing sacred writings and was dedicated to bring the promise of a good harvest, rain, and so on. There were many pavilions which housed various writings, artifacts and sacrificial items. It was very peaceful and smelt of spring. From there Lulu, being fluent in Mandarin and tech savvy as well, searched the net and found which bus would get us to the Forbidden City. Forbidden City is the largest ancient palatial structure in the world and measures 960m from north to south and 750m from east to west. The massive walls of the city deterred attacks on its' occupants. Imagine, an entire city created simply to house the Emperor, his concubines and his entourage! What power! Males were only allowed into the city as 'eunuchs' so as not to desire the Emperor's concubines, and once inside, were never allowed to leave. The City itself is a huge complex of tiled roofed buildings separated by extremely narrow alleys. Seeing as we couldn't enter because it was a Monday, we proceeded to Jingshan Park, a man-made mountain, which overlooks the Forbidden City. Back then, only the Emperor could climb to the very peak, but now tourists climb to the
The Wall is Reconstructed
They have reconstructed parts of the wall to show the tourists what it was like. Most of the wall is now deteriorated and littered with fallen bricks and debris. top to enjoy a panoramic view of the Forbidden City. The pavilion at the top of houses a huge golden Buddha, surrounded by a boardwalk, and we took the opportunity to rest. We took the path less traveled down the hill, enjoying the smell of spring and attempting to ignore the pollution. Maurice seemed to think we were in the Orange zone (100-150 for air quality). Once again we took a bus to the area south of Tiananmen Square where the quaint buildings and many alleys invited us to wander, dine and purchase unique items. Lulu, being able to read the menu and talk to the waitress, ordered Beijing Duck with all the fixings, 2 sides of green beans with eggplant and Chinese broccoli, with beer for a total 187Yuan, or under $40 for the 3 of us.
Tuesday, March 31st, we were up at 6:45, showered packed and were off to the airport destination for Xi'an. Once again, because of the research we had done prior to leaving Kaohsiung, we knew to cross over to the bus terminal, and take the 45 minute bus ride to downtown Xi'an. Once settled in our small room for our 1 night
Look at the Smile on Her Face
The watchtowers in the background were built every 500 meters and served as lodging, storage, and defensive positions. It is hard to imagine that this structure extended over 5 600 km. stay, we headed to the Bell Tower (which is gorgeously lit at night) located right across from the Drum Tower (quite a sight when lit up at night). Both border the Muslim Area which houses the famous Great Mosque of Xi'an, one of the oldest, largest and well-preserved Islamic mosques in all of China. What fun exploring the streets and alleys filled with throngs of people, nuts, dates, walnuts, dried fruits and almost everything else you can think of. Stall after stall of food were open. We finally agreed on goat and beef on a stick, with compliments of ribbon noodles and Nan. We found one of the public washrooms, which seemed vary a lot in cleanliness. Some have doors and paper while others have neither. We wandered back to the hotel, picking up Lulu's favourite dessert, black sesame seed ice cream, from MacDonald's on the way.
The next morning, we were up early and on our way to visit the famous Terra Cotta Warriors. As we checked out of the hotel, we overheard a man asking how to get to get to the Terracotta Warriors. We decided to invite Mike, a 65 year old widower from California, to
Lulu On Her Way Down the Slide
Looks like fun! Notice though the line of people on the slide. We quickly ended up going at the pace of the slowest frightened Chinese person on the track. join us to share the cab expenses for a ride to and from the "The Subterranean Army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang". The site is located 30 kilometres east of Xi'an.
Upon arrival, we engaged the services of a guide to guide us through the site and give us information we wouldn't otherwise have.
Here's what we learned. In 1974, farmers were digging a well and upon reaching a depth of 4 meters discovered a layer of hard baked clay. Archaeologists were brought in and by 1976, had discovered 3 different "pits" with a total area of more than 20,000 square meters. They discovered more than 8,000 Terra Cotta soldiers and horses and more than 100 wooden chariots. Emperor Qin Shi Huang was the first Chinese emperor and reigned from 259BC to 210BC.n He began building his mausoleum around 220BC and it is estimated that more than 700,000 slaves were sent to work, constructing a burial chamber within an underground palace. A mountain believed to have been 115 meters high was constructed over the palace, then mercury was deposited on the summit which still today restricts any plant growth. The Terra Cotta soldiers were built about 1.5 km
We Have Walked the Wall
Our cab driver took us from the bus stop to the Wall site, and walked us to the entrance. He waited for us, took this picture, then delivered us back to the bus stop. from the palace and were to protect Emperor Qin Shi Huang in his afterlife.
The soldiers were all arranged in rows of 3 or 4 abreast, and each soldier was uniquely different from all others in facial expression, rank, task and job. Many have been painstakingly reassembled, and this work continues today. They have determined that the life-size clay soldiers were kiln fired at temperatures of between 950 to 1050 degrees Celsius, with a degree of skill which experimental firings have not been able to reproduce even today! They were then carefully painted and placed into position. After Qin Shi's death in 210BC, his son took the throne. After only 4 years of reign, because he was too busy enjoying his many concubines and other pleasures of the throne, invaders conquered the lands. They stripped the entire Terracotta Army of its' valuables and then destroyed them by burning the pits and smashing the warriors and horses. Only one soldier has been discovered completely intact. Please check out the pictures below for more details of this amazing archaeological find!
The rain came down as we left the site and drove back to the city. We returned to the Muslim
Beijing Metro Map
Metros provide more efficient transportation for Beijing's 11.5 million people, and helps reduce pollution. While we were in Beijing, the pollution was noticeable, but not terrible. quarters where we enjoyed lamb/goat kabobs and a noodle bowl with Mike. We headed out to see the Great Mosque within the quarters, do a little shopping, have a final dessert of millet honey cake and deep fried banana. We walked back to the hotel, said our goodbye to Mike and caught the metro, then bus to the airport. Lulu was able to retrieve her forgotten E-reader from the airline, and an hour later we were on the plane to Chengdu. Tank picked us up at the airport and drove us to Mrs. Panda Hostel. We arrived at 1AM.
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