Beijing Day 1

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I missed sending a blog yesterday because I was too tired at the end of a long day of travel and there wasn’t a whole to say anyway. In short, I flew from Kyoto, Japan to Beijing, China. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Air China, but it turned out to be pretty nice, including large and comfy seating. My hotel is downtown and fairly near the tourist sights, so today I set out to see the Forbidden City, the palace complex of the Chinese emperors for more than 500 years. The grounds are huge and well-maintained and 16 million people visit every year. If today is any indication, the vast majority of those visitors are Chinese. (I think I only saw 25 Westerners all day today.) I took a photo of myself in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the central building in the Forbidden City. Besides the impressive buildings, there are other features of interest, like the stylized lion guardians that stand outside many of the entrances. I had worried about the famous smog in Beijing and it was certainly evident today when I took a photo looking back on the palace from Jingshan Hill across the street. But I didn’t feel any breathing difficulty or eye stinging as I feared I might. Weatherwise, it was a lovely autumn day here and many families were out enjoying the parks. Beihai Park has a little lake with small paddle boats, including some shaped like yellow duckies. Unfortunately the ferry that crosses the lake was not in service today, so I had to walk from one end to the other in order to visit the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower. I was just in time to see a drum demonstration and it made the steep climb to the top of the tower worthwhile. (I hope that this blog goes out all right. China blocks all things Google, as well as several other websites. For the time being I am without email access because I have a gmail account.)

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