Beijing

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 16^th 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.