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Published: April 30th 2011
Sunset....
....over Tiananmen Square, day 1!So, here goes....
We arrived early on the 7th, after a loooooong trip, and spent the first day and a half wandering around the city, overcoming jet lag, working out the metro...all the boring stuff you do on the first day anywhere i guess. Then on the saturday, the 9th, we headed to The Summer Palace in the north west of Beijing. I'll spare you the history lesson, but as far as huge, sprawling, former imperial summer residences go, it is an impressive sight! it is set in a huge park, overlooking a lake, and in total comprises around 100 different buildings; halls, bedrooms, courtyards, temples, galeries etc. it served as the summer home for a dozen emperors or so, or the Ming and Qing persuasion until we (the British) with the help of our then allies the French (incoyable, non?!) burnt it down in about 1860, as punishment for refusal to sign or adhere to a treaty, i forget the exact reason. Long story short, even in its now restored state, it is worthy of mention, we spent most of the day there before heading to the Olympic Stadium in the evening (see photos!).
On Sunday we had a
lazy day and me thte rest of our group and went out for a meal, ready for the trip to begin for real on the 11th with a trip to the Great Wall, not a bad start. As you can see from the photos (hopefully, i am writing this before trying to upload any, so fingers crossed), the scenery is amazing, as is the wall itself. It is a baffling structure in many ways, its size, location, the reason for its construction....all suggest madness really. And in many ways it was a crazy idea, but one that was carried out nonetheless and has stood the test of time (not to mention invasions) and is still in remarkable condition. We wandered along it for about two hours or so, then somewhat unbelievably took the toboggan ride to the village at the bottom of the hill!
Tuesday was spent at Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.
In the west Tianamen Sq is of course famous for the events in 1989, whereas to the Chinese it is the home of Mao's Mausoleum (they queue from 6am for a three second view of his body apparently) and various other significant buildings.
The
forbidden city is the former home of the Emperor, a city within a city really i suppose, comprising 8000+ rooms for the Emperor, his family, their staff, siginifcant political figures and no doubt various hangers on to live and work. The size of the place is hard to guage from within, and is best appreciated from the top of the park that lies to the north of the city, see photo!
Wednesday was a free day of wandering and more sight seeing, followed by the night train to Shanghai....more of which later!
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Guti
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Looks amazing big fella, hope you're enjoying the sights! Although, I'm surprised you haven't been arrested for that dirty beard...Joey Barton would be proud! I'm interested to know what you thought of China? Enjoy Hong Kong, I'm eagerly awaiting your next blog. Your boys are still in mid-table obscurity and Shola still hasn't hit that barn door! Excellent new albums from The Strokes and Bright Eyes must be bought if you get chance! Take care TomAnja! Ben & Lauren x