Joy in Beijing....but whatever happened to my tan?


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Asia » China » Beijing
October 25th 2006
Published: November 18th 2006
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GargoylesGargoylesGargoyles

I don't know the Chinese name for them, but I have about 100 photos from around China of these magnificent gargoyles. Different group sizes, colors, animals etc. Just brilliant. These ones were inside the Forbidden City.
After arriving in Beijing without accommodation pre-arranged (sounding like a pattern to you?), I was lucky enough to find a hotel reservation desk at the Beijing train station and was checked into a relatively nice hotel room close to a major shopping area by 8 am!

After wandering the local area all day, I went and met my Dad at the Beijing airport. He was able to join me for the final 2 weeks of my trip and China had always been Dad’s dream destination so this opportunity was perfect.

After too little sleep, we spent our first full day in Beijing wandering around Tiananmen Square (including Mao’s mausoleum) and the Forbidden City (that place just goes on and on and on and on.......).

Next day, we hit the ‘Pearl’ Market (lots of fresh fish and turtles and all sorts of other exotic live treats) as well as all sorts of clothing and souvenirs with store holders very eager and maybe a little too pushy! After a brief shop, Dad and I headed to the Temple of Heaven. Impressive gardens, a fantastic temple and ...........Cynthia and Erwin! I could not believe it. Of the millions of people in
The Forbidden CityThe Forbidden CityThe Forbidden City

The Gates of Heavenly Peace with Chairman Mao's portrait hung as a feature
Beijing, Dad and I ran into my new Dutch friends. They were excited about meeting Dad, as we had talked about him in Walnut Garden (Tiger Leaping Gorge) and gave us some good tips for the Great Wall. (Believe it or not we saw them again that night as we were wandering around town looking for a good dinner spot!)

More shopping the next day, lots more walking, and lots of moaning about the weather. It was overcast and dark by 3 pm! I was so excited about my tan after I left Egypt. It was the best tan I have had since I was about 12 and spending everyday at Torquay front beach. With all his crappy weather, the color was fading all too quickly.

Thankfully, the following day, we awoke to sunny skies and headed to Jingshan Park to take full advantage. It is located behind the Forbidden City and has great views across it and the rest of the city.

In the afternoon, a very special treat - I had a rather emotional reunion with my good friend, Joy Yeo, formerly of DHS and now living with her 2 daughters and husband, Vincent, in
Tiananmen SquareTiananmen SquareTiananmen Square

From atop the Gates of Heavenly Peace
Beijing. Joy took us shopping, and got us bargains that foreigners have no chance of attaining, then out for a sensational dinner before taking us to her apartment to catch up with the family, including her parents who had come to stay for a few weeks.

Next day, and after a late start, we headed to the Ming Tombs. We saw 2 of them, Chang Ling and Ding Ling, the former featuring a magnificent bronze sculpture of the man and the latter gave us the opportunity to go underground to see the vaults where the bodies of the emperor, his 2 empresses and family were housed. But that was not the highlight of our day - that was definitely reserved for being scammed by a taxi driver. We had caught the public bus to Changping and were awaiting another bus to go directly to the tombs when approached by a woman telling us that there was no bus and that she would take us for 20 Yuan. I told her to go away but she continued to hang around and then offered us the fare for 10 Yuan. I agreed and off we went. I should have known something
The Forbidden City overviewThe Forbidden City overviewThe Forbidden City overview

From Jingshan park
was up when I felt were we going in exactly the opposite direction to what we should have been. We arrived in a car park. She got out with us, took us to the ticket booth, all the time saying “Ming Tombs, Ming Tombs”, and then was taking us to the entry when I had a good look at the tickets - they were to a wax museum! After confirming this with the staff at the entrance, I stormed back to the ticket booth expecting an argument at least but instead, I said nothing and was simply given a full refund. Obviously, an all too regular scam. So, where to from there? I grabbed Dad and we headed toward the main road. Several other taxi drivers who were gathered at the wax museum offered to take us for inflated prices but I had cracked it and stormed off. Eventually, one of the drivers agreed to take us for 10 Yuan. We got in and he drove for about 10 minutes and pulled over. I told Dad to remain in the taxi whilst I verified our location at the ticket window. As I suspected, we were not at Ming Tombs, rather
Temple of HeavenTemple of HeavenTemple of Heaven

Me, Cynthia, Erwin and Dad standing below the main Temple.
at the starting point of a 7 km walk to get there. Well, the driver was none too pleased with my request to continue and kept yelling 20 Yuan at me. Once actually at the tombs, I made Dad get out and walk off, I got out and threw the 10 Yuan on the passenger seat and walked off, Egyptian style - never looking back. Much verbal abuse was hurled but that was the end of it. Dad and I got back to Beijing on the supposedly non-existent bus to Changping and then the same public bus we had caught to get there in the morning.

Next day for me was the highlight of the Beijing leg, the Great Wall. Again, we used public transport to get most of the way there and then hired a driver for the remainder. We went to the wall at the Simatai site. It was cool, overcast, and very few visitors were there - perfect for everything except high quality photographs. Dad and I caught the cable car and train and then had a short but steep walk up to the wall itself. We walked up and as far as we could go
The Great WallThe Great WallThe Great Wall

Looking toward Jinshanling
without risking a 500 Yuan fine and arrest by the security staff (who were lying down in the scrub listening to music and reading books!) and then re-traced our steps heading toward Jinshanling. There is actually 10 km of wall along which you can walk in that direction but we decided to save that for another time, we were already tired. The trees were starting to turn to golden autumnal colors and it was a rather spectacular contrast to the wall itself.

We had a farewell dinner and a few drinks with Joy and Vincent that evening and Vincent helped me out with yet a few more purchases - DVDs and souvenirs at local prices.

Our final day in Beijing was spent at Summer Palace. It was a sunny day (yippee) and we wandered up and down steps all day. That was actually a theme of the 2 weeks with Dad - stairs and plenty of them.

That night, we caught an overnight train to Xi’an.


Additional photos below
Photos: 12, Displayed: 12


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The Great Wall IThe Great Wall I
The Great Wall I

Autumnal colors
The Great Wall IIThe Great Wall II
The Great Wall II

Dad with a steep section of the wall in the background
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The Great Wall III

Dad and I enjoying a great day out.
Joy and VincentJoy and Vincent
Joy and Vincent

Relaxing at a bar in Beijing
Summer Palace ISummer Palace I
Summer Palace I

The 17 arch bridge
Summer Palace IISummer Palace II
Summer Palace II

Spectacular! (and Dad and I were both out of breath by the time we climbed ALL those stairs)


18th November 2006

I enjoyed my wonderful visit to China through your eyes and photos! Thanks

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