Beijing-City of Contrasts

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Our flights from Bangkok to Hong Kong and onward to Beijing were pleasant and uneventful. One recommendation though; we found DragonAir to be excellent. Hong Kong airport has free wireless internet and I was able to use skype there.

We are currently in Beijing staying with Chris and Ping and having a great time. Their apartment (like so many here) is high rise, and not in any way like the austere iron curtain cement blocks found in eastern Europe. Rather better I would say. They are on the 9th floor, with security and 3 bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Tuesday was freezing in Beijing. It was 5 degrees during the day and we had snowflakes a couple of times. Pretty cold for a couple from Brisbane, especially two, who 24 hours earlier were sweltering in Bangkok! The snow fell while we were on the Great Wall. It was an interesting drive and there is much more of it than we had imagined. Peter climbed up as far as he could from the main entrance and Sandy took a cable car! We looked for the Emperor Nassi Goering's rabbits, but could not find any.

Just down the road from their apartment there is a large park with a lake, bridges, pergolas, the whole deal. Unfortunately it is walled and nobody is allowed in! There ARE 8,000,000 bicycles in Beijing. I know, as I have been counting them ever since I arrived here. They also have little one person Taxi Trishaws, one being pedaled by an 8 year old girl who had to straddle the bar!!

Food:- Well I have never eaten so much oil (fat) in my life! Everything is cooked in gallons of the stuff and your plate ends up with a 1 cm deep pool of oil after you finish. I wouldn't last here to long. Ah but last night we had the most wonderful Beijing Duck. It's different to the way it's cooked in Australia in that the last course is fried duck bones which were lovely but a bit rich for us. The food is an important part of the whole scene. Found a good draft beer that Chris hadn't seen before, but only at restaurants, not available in the shops.

Between meals yesterday, we managed to fit in a visit to the Summer Place. It was the summer retreat for Chinese Royalty. It covers an area of 290 hectares and was built in the 1750's for the Emperors of the Qing dynasty to escape Beijing's summer heat. There are lakes and palaces and the most amazing buildings and artifacts. One museum contained wine vessels dating back to the 11th century BC! We walked, climbed and walked for 5 hours. A great place even if many buildings were rebuilt after the 1860's Anglo-French war and the Boxer rebellion of 1902.

The Dowager Emperess Cixi, originally a concubine, later a regent to her son and nephew, and finally empress alone put her stamp firmly on the site, commissioning amongst other things a marble boat, built with funds intended for the enlargement of the Chinese navy! Our favourite places were the Garden of Virtue and Harmony where Opera was performed and the Garden of Harmonious Pleasures, where Eunuchs swam underwater and placed fish on the end of Cixi's fishing line! She was also given a car (on display) in the early 1900's but she found sitting behind the driver demeaning, so had him kneel, but the driving was so bad then, that she refused to use the car.

Thursday we are off to Tian'an Men Square and the Forbidden City, where the Emerors lived from the 1400's.

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Photos

At Chris and Ping's house
In the background you can see Chris and Ping's poster sized wedding photo.

Restaurant at Great Wall
Ping had just bought Sandy a jumper because she was so cold inside the restaurant!

Ornate Ceiling
And we thought some of the ceilings in Europe were ornate!

Out in the cold
Just before it snowed at the Great Wall

Peter at Great Wall
At one of the towers at the Great wall.

How to buy rice in China
We were amazed at how people buy rice at the supermarket. Talk about buying in bulk!