Arrival Day
I didn’t really take notes about my travels during my stay in China but I did take lots of photos. I will post some, OK a lot, of them to my flickr account and probably drop a few into this thread.
On the day we arrived my friend took me down to the silk market that was a couple of blocks walk from our hotel. What a crazy, bizarre place this was. It is a building with four floors of people trying to sell you ‘genuine’ name brand goods that were clearly fakes. There was a lot of grabbing and pulling going on as the staff attempted to get you to part with your money.
It was a bit of fun to start the holiday although I do wonder what sort of people buy the junk they are selling.
After this we walked up to a local park to of all places a German bar and restaurant to meet up with a fellow FTer. We spent the afternoon drinking and chatting and had some sausage for dinner. We were starting to crash by around 9 and headed back to the hotel to chill and get some sleep. Arriving at 9ish in the morning is a tough slog after a relatively short flight where sleep time is limited.
Day 1
My friend had been to Beijing before but was willing to appease me in my desire to see some of the main sites. The Forbidden City was at the top of my must see list as I have always been fascinated with Chinese history. The cinematography in the movie The Last Emperor makes the place look stunning.
We walked a block up from the hotel to the subway where we had our bags sent through a scanner before going down to the trains. We grabbed two tickets from the machines that do have instructions in English. The trains were packed to the gills and lots of pushing and shoving involved getting on and off, but it was a fun experience none the less.
Popping up to the surface we were at one corner of the two streets that run down the sides of the Forbidden City. I looked across the street to see Tiananmen Square that was a large expanse of nothing. That is about as much as I wanted to see of that site.
We made our way into the Forbidden City, doing our best to avoid tat sellers and proceeded to wander around for a good four hours. The place is enormous.
I will let the photos do the talking for the remainder of this part of the trip. Inside the city you can pay extra to go to some other exhibition halls and we did, on recommendation of our guidebook, go to the clock exhibition. Many, many intricate and ornate clocks were on show and a short video showing the action of some of the more interesting ones.
After we exited the other end of the city we made our way over to Beihai Park to wander around for a while. The gardens and lake are quite nice and there is a large Stupa atop an island in the middle of the park. The views from up there could have been good if it wasn’t for the smog and haze.
A little about our weather misfortune is in order I think. As a contractor I tend to organise trips for end of contract times and it so happens that the end of August was going to be a good time for me. However this is not a good time to visit China. The heat was OK for me but the humidity was shocking.
Walking out of the hotel produced instant beads of perspiration. The whole of Beijing and surrounding area was a complete haze for the whole four days we were there and visibility was very limited.
After our walk around the park and the four hours or so in the Forbidden City we were a little exhausted and sticky and wet. We attempted to grab a cab back to the St Regis but the guy wanted 100 Yuan for it so we walked away. The trip should have only been around 20 Yuan. We decided to walk the length of the Forbidden City on the outside to get us back to Tiananmen Square where we caught the subway back to the stop near the St Regis which cost us 2 Yuan each.
After a much needed shower and relax and a couple of glasses of wine at the St Regis daily wine ritual we grabbed a cab out to Houhai lake to find a restaurant for dinner. Houhai is just north of Beihai lake and is surrounded by many restaurants and nightclubs. We circumnavigated the park and settled on a restaurant for dinner.
I opted not to take my camera for the evening, which in hindsight was probably not a good idea. Oh well.
I hope you enjoy my picture of the Forbidden City. Next up day 2 and the Summer Palace.
More Photos