Blogs from Tian'anmen, Beijing, China, Asia - page 3

The 104th day after the winter solstice here in China marks the beginning of Qingming Festival, or Tomb Sweeping Day. This is a time for the Chinese people to visit the graves of their ancestors, so the students had an opportunity to go home to visit their families on a long weekend. This allowed Nick and I to spend a few days in Beijing. Among the several ways to travel the 700+ miles from Changzhou to Beijing is the over night train, which takes about 10 hours. We left late Saturday evening and arrived just before 8 Sunday morning. It was quite the experience... We were put in a compartment with four other people like luggage and Nick and I were confined to a top bunk where we had about two feet of head room. We ... read more

Across the street from Tian’anmen square on the west side is the National Museum of China. We noticed a lot of the architecture in Beijing is very grand and impressive. The museum is no different. A huge majestic building the museum was a great escape on an extremely cold December day. From the main entrance there is a huge room that is dedicated to Mao. The red communist banner frames the entrance and there are wall sized paintings that depict the communist struggle in China. Many of the painting are quite moving, capturing the mood of the farmers struggle, the freedom of communism and the heroism of Mao. The paintings show the transition from Mao as a young boy and the story of how he helped to unify China by the farmers. You are not allowed ... read more

Across the street from Tian’anamen square on the east side is Qian Mein. This district is a funky, cool area with commercial and local shops. You will know you are in Qian Mein when you see a large red landmark welcoming you. Looking down the street is a long wide pedestrian road with a street car that runs every so often. The road is quite long and lined with commercial shops such as H&M, Uniqlo, etc. Many young people come to shop in this area where they can find all the hip brand name shops. The road is quite long and would take you a good 20-30 minutes to walk from one end to another. As you walk down the street on the south side you will see a few narrow streets that lead into back ... read more

(written on Tuesday night) And here we go - a full day in Beijing under our belt (or, our shoes, actually, LOL!) - Had a fabulous breakfast at the hotel and then we were off for a great day of sight-seeing. Weather was absolutely perfect (by my standards, anyway) - sunny, about 21 degrees celsius (roughly 70 degrees F. ), no humidity - couldn't ask for better than that. It's so interesting to visit the places where so much history has taken place (is that an oxymoron?) - first stop - Tiananmen Square - holy smokes, Batman - the number of people there - Wow!!!! The pictures show it all. (be sure to click below and see ALL the pictures I post, too, ok?) - We then spent a fair bit of time visiting the Forbidden ... read more

Saludos varios a todos. Gracias por seguirme el rastro... Os sigo contando un poco, para que os entretengáis un ratillo, ok?? Allá voy... Después de una majestuosa, prolongada y plácida noche de sueño (3 horas escasas con resaca incluida!!!), nos fuimos a la estación la pareja francesa que había hecho el tour conmigo y un servidor. Y dio la casualidad de que íbamos a estar en el mismo compartimento del tren. Genial!! Imagino que ellos pedirían los billetes el mismo día que yo y nos tocaron camas contiguas. De cualquier manera, se agradece saber de antemano que no te va a tocar ningún “rarito/a” en el tren, así que, allí que nos fuimos los tres más felices que para qué! Además, y a pesar de que este tren ha sido el más barato, el vagón es ... read more