Advertisement
The traffic in Beijing has to be seen to be believed. Thee are bikes, mtor bikes taxis and cars everywhere not to mention huge coaches who think that being the largeset vehicle on the road gives them monopoly for pole position on the the many busy and confusing roads that sweep around the city. In particular one coach driver suceeded to 'squash' the taxi we were sitting in up against the kerb and a brick wall! the driver then proceeded to chase the coach driver who had not stopped to then stop abruptly in front of the coach, get out rant and rave at the driver, punch him a few times and then grab him round the throat throwing verbal abuse at him which in any language is easy to understand! After a while Seband I decided it would be better to let the two drivers sort their differences out so we got out of the taxi and hot footed it across 4 lanes of traffic to the relative safety of the pavement and hailed another taxi! We ahd not started to sight see yet either, all good stuff!
The Summer Palace was built for the Emperor as a Summer
retreat for the Empress Dowager Cixi and family back in the Quing Dynasty supposedly to be an escape from the intense heat of the city. It is ceratinly an impressive place and set in the most beautiful surroundings covering some 700 acres with lakes and parklands. Following a map in Chinese and a plan that does not quite follow your english version of the same place was interesting but if you you follow the crowds and listen to some of the guides you get an idea of where to move on to next, its quite fun not knowing exactly where the paths lead as you were invariably in for a very pleasant surprise. The entire palace has been built aound the lake and has various different 'Halls' built at different heights along the way to catch the breeze and look out over the lake. The Graden Of Virtue and Harmony comprised of an old concert theatre with musical instruments and stage designed to entertain the court from different galleries with opera and mime. The Long Corridor consisting of 1,400 scenic painted beams meandered along the lake edge and provided seating for the many people wandering along its lentgh. Halfway along
the corridor Longevity Hill stretched upthe hillside and towered over the lake, leading to the Tower of Fragrance where a Buddha dominates the slope surrounded by impressive buildings.
Further along the lake a Marble Boat Folly was built on the lake shore line to please the Emperess who was given the money to help build an improved navy and then promptly spent it on herself. She justified the expense by not building the structure in real marble and had it painted instead! The navy was then defeated in a later battle and she was blamed for the loss!
Due to the size of the lake we took a boat back across the lake and retured to the city in another taxi to explore more of the city.
On the way to The Lama Temple we were fortunate enough to drive past the new Olympic Stadium and see the wonderful struture in all its glory the Chinese people are very proud of their achievemnet and love to show it off to passers by.(and justly so)
Yonghegong was converted into a Tibetan Lamastry in 1744 and consist of five different halls with beautiful painted beams and rooves with tiled detail
and brass bells hanging from the highest points. The rich orche and reds of the paint blend with the dark blue and turquiose details on the walls all very impressive, especially the huge wooden Buddha that towers 55' high up into the roof of the last temple covered in gold and draped in cloths and flowers. It even made the Guiness Book of Records as being the tallest icon carved out of a single piece of wood.
The atmosphere inside was very serene and calm and the smell of incense wafted around the courtyards as people offered up their prayers. We saw a few monks weave about the temples in their dark brown robes and bare feet clutching beads and prayer books but all too quick to be caught on camera!
Seb and Tristan decided they were all Templed and Palaced out and so went in search of some retail therapy whilst Kevin Dominic and myself hired some bicycle rickshaws and went around the Hutong Area of the city, reputedly to be the oldest part of the remaining housing district, containing traditional courtyard buildings and now mostly social housing. The lanes were very narrow and th single storied buildngs
all looked the same, there were some higher ranking houses with distinctive signs and symbols above the door determining rank and position in the lane and then the other dwellings were stark in comparison with exposed wiring and broken windows, doors with only half their hinges and drain gulleys dispelling all manner of waste. Everyone shared the communal toilets and wash rooms in each of the lanes and washing was hung about on any forseeable hook and pole. Despite its chaotic ambiance it had a definate charm and everyone one we saw appeared to be extremely happy. There were people playing cards and Marjon and the children run around barefooted playing imaginary games. What was also interesting was that they did not mind the invading tourist into their world and were quite accepting of it all, it was quite humbling. You could have been travelling back in time and hard to elieve that in a Comminist State where all are equall there are alot of people who kave been forgotten.
So good bye to Beijing and our train to X'ian awaits. We have an overnight sleeper to the city of X'ian and a date with the Terracotta Army!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.058s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 9; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0384s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb