Blogs from Summer Palace, Beijing, China, Asia - page 2

I guess the best place to begin is at the beginning. We arrived in Beijing after about 15 hours in the air, tired, grumpy, sleepy and slightly smelly. The thought of vegging out in our hotel room was very appealing at the time. That was not to be the case. Our first day in China, after a too brief respite to clean up and brush our teeth, we were off to our first attractions, The Temple of Heaven and The Forbidden City. The immenseness of these places is hard to describe. There are huge edifices everywhere, large, paved open spaces, gardens and artwork. By the way, our tour was put on by China Spree. Our guide, Clevin (his made-up English name) was great. The entire tour was action-packed, every day. If you go, DO BUY the ... read more

Looking out over the City from the running machine in the gym does not bode well. It looks wet, with visibility in the smog down to about 1km. No sign of the sky, clouds or the sun. You can even tell there is smog in the air by looking across the street to the other buildings. After checking our washing, which is still very damp, we rustle the boys up and head down to breakfast. Joseph has pancakes, M&Ms with rice bubbles, and another cereal. Liam has eggs and bacon but probably wished he’d found the M&Ms also. Ky has her usual cereal and yoghurt while I also tried that and found the vanilla yoghurt quite tasty. We meet Tina and the driver, and head off to a tour of the Hutongs. The hutongs are narrow ... read more

Snow is very cold, makes surfaces slippery and has its own set of sounds. In December 2012, China experienced its coldest temperatures for 28 years. Jinhua, with a subtropical climate, receives light snow every few years, but this year was blanketed with 6 inches of snow. In parts of the country, houses and cities are set up for snow, with central heating and warmed public spaces. Other places are not. In my apartment, aka the icebox, the temperature in the kitchen was 4 degrees and wen... read more

The next day Unique Lee and I have decided to go to the Summer Palace. I invite Dom to join us and then Guy – a lovel 20 year old student from Leeds asks if he can tag along. Somewhere along the way - Derek Chang – a sweet 26 year old Canadian with Chinese heritage joins us and also invites along the two american tibetan nuns staying in our hostel and their two friends. S suddenly we hae four sixty somethingswith us as well. Unique Lee turns around and suddenly sees how many there are of us: "NO The group! - too big!!!" he's got a point - its going to be slow going navigating the subway. When we get inside the grounds we split up as Derek and the nuns pay for a tour ... read more

CHINA...Beijing...The Summer Palace...Walking on Water. When I visit Beijing...David & his wife Pauline are in town. David took Denise and I to the Summer Palace...special entry...different to other routes I have taken...old men swimming in parts of the lake not frozen...no way I'm crossing the ice this time...no way...so we sit in a tea house...just us...and David tells us his story. His father was an Admiral in the days of Mao...the Cultural Revolution. David often visited the Summer Palace as a kid...at night...hiding from the vicious guard dogs with his mates...areas out of bounds. As history shows...Mao turned those in favour...to those "Not in favour"...and when it was David's Dad's turn...David at age 17 was sent to a village in Inner Mongolia...for re-education. To break the spirits of the relocated for re-education...the local party boss had ... read more