Beijing was a blessing for these weary travelers. Of the 45
days we had been in China, we had only rested two. Rest days are also seldom
actually spent resting. When traveling as we are one has to plan in some
capacity pretty much every day. So, when we have a scheduled ‘rest’ day that
usually means ‘spend the day planning the next 7 days’ day. By the time we made
it to Beijing we were both jonesin’ for some serious down time. The first five
nights we spent in a lovely place tucked in an alleyway near the morning
market. After we were switched to a room with a bathroom that was big enough
(the first one had a toilet with the front no more than 6 inches from the wall), we had a
great stay and met a delightful young lady named Lemon. She was so cheerful and
greeted us by name every time we saw her. We came back one night and she was in
the street hula hooping. It was a great place but on our last day/night we
opted to use our free Marriott stay and booked a room in a real hotel! There
was a pool, a bathtub, a giant comfy bed and a gym where we were able to lift
weights for the third time in 4 months. We were so relaxed and able to
rejuvenate some in preparation for Europe.
Our Happy Dragon alleyway- this whole street filled up with vendors in the mornings for the morning market!
Jared: "Christy, it's just a Marriott."
Beijing food street can't handle the Hedges.
Seahorse and scorpion on the menu.
The following day we went to Tianamen Square and the
Forbidden Palace. I told Jared as we walked up to the complex area that
Tianamen Square has always felt very remote to me. He asked, “Like different
and foreign?” I told him no, it’s not that it seems foreign, everything in
China seemed foreign to me before I experienced it but Tianamen Square for some
reason felt very far away. I think because of my age and background this
particular cultural landmark seemed more inaccessible than the rest of China or
Asia for that matter. The experience itself was actually not that remarkable.
It really is just a square that you walk through in order to get to the
Forbidden Palace. I kept thinking we had missed something. Perhaps if I were
someone else, I would have seen something else.
At Mao's gate about to go inside.
Walking up to the first building in the palace complex
This little temple was nestled up on a rock in the palace gardens.
The Forbidden Palace is worthy of
the mysterious, almost mythical name. The place matches all of the cinematic
ideals you might have about China. The colors and designs were a nice
culmination of the imagery we had seen elsewhere. There were also audio guides
available which gave us some insight to the architecture and purpose of the
buildings.
After the Forbidden Palace we
went to the Summer Palace. This particular palace was built by an Emperor as a
gift for his mother. It sits on a manmade mountain by a manmade lake. The land
which was excavated to form the lake was used to form the mountain. The main
area was along the edge of the water. Several of the buildings were closed but
the ones that were accessible provided nice shade to escape from the heat of
the sun. I especially enjoyed the pagodas and buildings that appear to be a
part of the mountain itself. These look as though they were constructed around
the jagged outcroppings and do a superb job (in my less than novice opinion) of incorporating the natural beauty
with the architecture.
Along the river where there used to be shops
Little yellow glazed buddhas
A marble boat- used for gatherings, not boating.
So beautiful
Just tucked in next to the natural scenery
Our third day in Beijing was our
Great Wall day. We both had been looking forward to this day for quite some
time. This would be our third great wonder of the world and we spent quite a
bit of time investigating our options to make sure we got the kind of
experience we wanted. After being in crowds at almost every major site we
visited in China we really wanted to find a way to be among as few people as
possible. There are several sections of the wall that are open to the public
and these range in popularity as well as degree of renovation completed. While
we wanted to see some of the restored wall we thought it would be pretty nice
to see a part that had not been “patched up.” The tour option we found involved
the Jinshanling section of the wall that is in the mountains and has some
serious up and down. We walked a total of about 6 km and started in a restored
section then traversed to a portion that had not undergone any construction for
around 100 years. There were probably only 15-20 people total on the same
section and we were able to have some moments where no else was around. The
Great Wall is unbelievable and the experience is one of those that subtly
expands your perception of history and mankind. This did happen and people
built it and that’s pretty cool.
It keeps going and going
Wow, that's a lot o' wall
Amazing
She wanted to take a picture with us. How could we say no?
The rest of our time in Beijing
consisted of shopping in the famous silk market, shipping the stuff we bought
in the famous silk market, visiting some of the architectural sites of the city
and relaxing in the Marriott. I was too tired to go see the Olympic Village
when Jared went but we both saw the CCTV tower and the SoHo neighborhood.
This is the Temple of Heaven where the Emperor would pray for good harvests
SOHO
CCTV tower- talk about a corner office
I just loved this little flower shop
And so it was that we said
goodbye to Asia.
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