Beijing
Beijing was a very pleasant
surprise. There was very little
pollution, the traffic was orderly compared to other cities in Asia. We used
the Lonely Planet to find restaurants they recommended and we were looking
forward to eating “normal” food but we were disappointed, the food was not very
good and expensive so we went back to eating local food, we found a great place
not far from the hostel where the food was good and the other patrons noisy and
friendly, perhaps we have become a bit Asianised on our travels because we felt
very comfortable eating there. Beijing
would have to have the most public toilets of any city in the world, all well
maintained. We wondered if this was because we were in an older part of the
city and many of the dwellings would not have their own toilets, not flushing
ones anyway. They looked fairly new so perhaps they were built for the
Olympic games and to stop people peeing in the street, which is not uncommon. This
part of the city has no high rise, unlike other parts where the older areas
have been demolished to make way for modern buildings, it has many alleyways,
or hatongs where we found restaurants, people living behind old walls and small
parks where people played badminton or sat in the sun.
Our first priority on arrival was
to catch up on our washing and book a flight home because we are expecting a
new grandchild to be born and we want to be there to welcome the newest member
of our family into the world. Our visas
were due to expire on 16th and we cannot get a renewal, we have to leave
the country and re enter so we have decided to go home now then return after
the baby is born which will then give us another three months in China if we
need it.
We walked to the Forbidden City
on a very hot day. There were thousands
of people there. We hired an audio tour which explained in English what we were
seeing, it was a great way for us to understand the history of the place, much
better than going on a tour as we could go at our own pace. The size of the place was amazing, housing
many palaces where emporers, their wives and their concubines lived, only part
of it is open to the public,with much more behind locked doors. Most of the
area was paved and the buildings had Chinese style elaborate roofing depicting
dragons. We walked back to the hostel though a park along a river and it was
refreshing to be among trees and grass. We met up with Miles, an old friend of
our son Mark, who lives permanently in China, his girlfriend Wei, and her
parents. We went to lunch with them in a
local restaurant where the food was delicious.
It was great to see a familiar face and talk to an English speaking
person, we asked lots of questions about things we had seen .
We booked a bus tour out to see
the icon of China, The Great Wall. We
were advised by the hostel and Miles not to go to Bandalag, the part of the
wall seen in most photographs, but to go further out, a three hour trip and we
not disappointed – it was fantastic. We caught a chair lift up to mountain,
then a short walk to the wall. We were
enthralled by this place, so old, so beautiful and full of history, 700 years
old. This part is still mainly original,
parts have been maintained and in places it has crumbled. The wall follows the mountain top so we
climbed up and down steep steps, walked through the turrets and had a great
day. Because we were so high up the
views were spectacular, it was a clear day and we could see over the mountains
and the valleys, there were not very many people there so we were able to stop
and look whenever we wanted to. It was a
four hour walk along the wall and back to catch the bus.
The Lama Temple was just a short
walk from the hostel and we visited there one morning, very elaborate as these
temples usually are and worth seeing. We were able to just amble around and
take our time without any pressure.
Our time of departure was
drawing near and we bought some bike boxes, at home the bike shop gives them to
us, and Mike packed them ready for the flight.
The bikes had to be cleaned so they would pass through customs in
Australia. The hostel was allowing us to
leave most of our luggage with them, to be picked up on our return, we were very
happy about this as it made it a lot easier at the airport is we had less
luggage. We took the bikes because they needed a bit of maintenance which Mike
would do at home. We packed our bags for
storage and with help from Miles organized a taxi truxk to take us to the
airport.
Before we left there was one
more thing we wanted to see, the Summer Palace.
We caught the train, had to go through security before we could board
the modern, clean carriage. We managed
to find our way, then a short walk to the Summer Palace, a place where the
royal family used to holiday to escape the Beijing summer. The place was
enormous with 3 large lakes. It was a hot day and the lake gave off a cool
breeze as we walked through beautiful gardens with some trees 250 years old.
There were many old ornate bridges and a covered walkway decorated in the
elaborate Chinese style. Lots of
Chinese people there enjoying a day out but the grounds were so big it was not
crowded. There were places here but we chose to spend time in the gardens and
did not see them.
We are excited about seeing our
family soon and looking forward to the impending birth, Heather’s shoulder is
still giving her some bother and needs to be seen to but we are also sad to be
breaking our trip, we still have a long way to go before we get to Europe.
