Beijing, China
December, 2012
Tuesday, December 18 Beijing
We were up early and walked to the forbidden city. At the entrance, we found a tour guide, Tom, who was happy to show us around the city and take lots of photos for us. The city was built in the 1400s and housed all the ming and qing emperors. Although it was cold, the city was not very crowded. Apparently, in summer, you can hardly move! We even met the nephew of the last emperor. He tried to sell us some calligraphy, but we politely refused.
We exited the city into Jingshan park. We had a tea ceremony and sampled five different chinese teas. My favourite was the lychee tea. We learnt that gus must hold their tree like a dragon and the girls must hold their tea like a phoenix. We climbed to the summit of the park and took some photos overlooking the forbidden city. We could see all the ancient historic buildings in Beijing are all on a straight line. The emperor designed it this way because he was the centre of the universe.
We walked to the main shopping strip, Wanfujing Street, and had KFC for lunch, before heading to the markets. We saw scorpions on a stick to eat, but we were too scared to try. We bargained and I bought a coin purse and some gloves because it was freezing. We walked to Tiananmen Square, where we saw the famous sight of the 1989 tanks during the student revolution. We saw the chinese museum and Mao’s mausoleum. We also saw the changing of the chinese national guards and the national flag.
We took the train to kung fu show. First we ate some peking duck at a nearby restaurant. It was delicious. The kung fu show was good fun. It was a story about a young boy who grows up to learn the art of kung fu. The kids loved it. We took the train back to our hutong, but when we got off at our station, we walked 500m, before we realised that we were walking in the wrong direction!
Wednesday, December 19 Beijing
We were up early, because Dina, our tour guide, picked us up at 8am to take us to the great wall of china. It was a 90min drive, but dina kept us well informed about what life was like in china today and how it has changed. She explained to us about the hutongs and what it was like living under a communist regime.
We went to the Mutianyu section of the great wall. It is 70km northeast of Beijing and not as popular with tourists due to the distance, but it is much more scenic. We took the cable car up to the top. At the top we had the choice of walking along the wall left or right. Left was crazy as there was no stairs and the ice on the wall made it impossible, so we went right. We walked past two watchtowers. The photos were amazing. The kids loved it, and they were having snowball fights and sliding down the wall on their bellies.
Dina took us to a nice restaurant for lunch, then we went to visit the ming tombs, where 13 emperors were buried. One was buried 27m underground. They call it the underground palace, and we were able to go down and see his tomb. We drove to the sacred way, where they have 24 animal statues and 12 guard statues in a line leading up to the ming tombs. The kids could not resist and they had to climb up onto as many statues as possible.
We were back at our hotel by 5pm, and we went back into the city for dinner. We explored Donghuamen night market, where you could eat almost anything. We saw one british guy trying to impress his girlfriend by eating a fried tarantula. He let zeke hold it for a photo, but there was no way that we were going to touch it!
We discovered a big shopping centre on wangfujing street, we had fun looking around, but we did not buy anything. The traffic in Beijing is crazy. 22million people live here, which explains why cars keep driving thru even if the pedestrian signal is green. If they stop for one person, they will have to stop for everybody!
Thursday, December 20 Beijing
We took it easy this morning. After breakfast, we took the train to the temple of heaven. The place was packed with people doing all kinds of exercises, dancing, shuttle kicking, playing cards, dominoes and knitting. We learnt the art of shuttle kicking and an old guy gave us a shuttle to take home.
We explored the temple of heaven. It is one of the most photographed temples in all of Beijing. The surrounding parklands were huge. We spent all morning there, but only saw a small fraction of the entire park. We had lunch and took the train north to the lama temple. In this temple is the largest wooden Buddha in the world, carved out of a single tree.
We took three more trains to get to the Beijing Olympic Stadium, or the birds nest, as it is affectionately known, due to its appearance. We took many photos and also saw the water cube across the road. There were tourists everywhere taking photos still, despite the Olympics ending here over four years ago.
We took another train to the chaoyang district where we found a nice hotpot restaurant. The food was amazing and we spent two hours there, waiting for the acrobat show to start. The show was unbelievable, 7 motorbike inside a steel ball was the highlight, along with the two guys on the hamster wheels. The show finished at 9pm, and we took the train and then walked back to our hutong in the snow
Friday, December 21 Beijing
We took the train to the Summer Palace today. Actually we took three trains, after the two changeovers. We decided to get off at the top of the hill and enter the summer palace through the back entrance. We walked over the frozen river and saw Shanzhou Street where the emperor used to do his shopping when he was on holidays. We climbed up the steps to the palace. Coming down the other side was like a maze, weaving in and out of snow-covered rocks and trees.
We finally found our way to the famous long corridor, 700m long and full of paintings of images from all over china. The corridor runs along the banks of the Kunming Lake, and was used by the emperor to relax and reminisce about the places that he had visited throughout china.
We noticed many people walking on the frozen lake, so we decided that we wanted to have a go, but there was no access to be seen. We walked toward the marble boat, took some photos but still could not get onto the lake. We walked from one end of the long corridor to the other, until we came across a pier, where people were jumping two metres onto the ice lake. Of course, we had to do the same. The view of the summer palace was amazing from the middle of the lake.
In summer, people pay for a ferry ride from the marble boat to the 17 arch bridge. We walked it. At times, the ice looked and felt quite thin, but we survived. When we got to the island in the middle of the lake, it was a challenge to get out of the lake, but by helping each other, we escaped.
We exited the park at the main eastern gate, and walked the 1.5km to the train station. It was 2pm, we were starving, there were lots of nice looking restaurants, but we couldn’t find an ATM to withdraw any money. So, we jumped onto a train and went into downtown Beijing. We got off at wangfujing and found ourselves in the heart of the orient plaza. There we found a bank and had a late lunch at the French bakery. We walked back to our hutong with the kids, and took a rest.
At 7pm, gwen and I took the train back to downtown and had dinner in a chinese restaurant. We did some shopping, bought some KFC for the kids then went back to our Hutong, with the KFC under my jacket to protect it from the snow. We packed our bags, because tomorrow we are leaving at 6am to make our way to hong kong.
We were up early and walked to the forbidden city. At the entrance, we found a tour guide, Tom, who was happy to show us around the city and take lots of photos for us. The city was built in the 1400s and housed all the ming and qing emperors. Although it was cold, the city was not very crowded. Apparently, in summer, you can hardly move! We even met the nephew of the last emperor. He tried to sell us some calligraphy, but we politely refused.
We exited the city into Jingshan park. We had a tea ceremony and sampled five different chinese teas. My favourite was the lychee tea. We learnt that gus must hold their tree like a dragon and the girls must hold their tea like a phoenix. We climbed to the summit of the park and took some photos overlooking the forbidden city. We could see all the ancient historic buildings in Beijing are all on a straight line. The emperor designed it this way because he was the centre of the universe.
We walked to the main shopping strip, Wanfujing Street, and had KFC for lunch, before heading to the markets. We saw scorpions on a stick to eat, but we were too scared to try. We bargained and I bought a coin purse and some gloves because it was freezing. We walked to Tiananmen Square, where we saw the famous sight of the 1989 tanks during the student revolution. We saw the chinese museum and Mao’s mausoleum. We also saw the changing of the chinese national guards and the national flag.
We took the train to kung fu show. First we ate some peking duck at a nearby restaurant. It was delicious. The kung fu show was good fun. It was a story about a young boy who grows up to learn the art of kung fu. The kids loved it. We took the train back to our hutong, but when we got off at our station, we walked 500m, before we realised that we were walking in the wrong direction!
Wednesday, December 19 Beijing
We were up early, because Dina, our tour guide, picked us up at 8am to take us to the great wall of china. It was a 90min drive, but dina kept us well informed about what life was like in china today and how it has changed. She explained to us about the hutongs and what it was like living under a communist regime.
We went to the Mutianyu section of the great wall. It is 70km northeast of Beijing and not as popular with tourists due to the distance, but it is much more scenic. We took the cable car up to the top. At the top we had the choice of walking along the wall left or right. Left was crazy as there was no stairs and the ice on the wall made it impossible, so we went right. We walked past two watchtowers. The photos were amazing. The kids loved it, and they were having snowball fights and sliding down the wall on their bellies.
Dina took us to a nice restaurant for lunch, then we went to visit the ming tombs, where 13 emperors were buried. One was buried 27m underground. They call it the underground palace, and we were able to go down and see his tomb. We drove to the sacred way, where they have 24 animal statues and 12 guard statues in a line leading up to the ming tombs. The kids could not resist and they had to climb up onto as many statues as possible.
We were back at our hotel by 5pm, and we went back into the city for dinner. We explored Donghuamen night market, where you could eat almost anything. We saw one british guy trying to impress his girlfriend by eating a fried tarantula. He let zeke hold it for a photo, but there was no way that we were going to touch it!
We discovered a big shopping centre on wangfujing street, we had fun looking around, but we did not buy anything. The traffic in Beijing is crazy. 22million people live here, which explains why cars keep driving thru even if the pedestrian signal is green. If they stop for one person, they will have to stop for everybody!
Thursday, December 20 Beijing
We took it easy this morning. After breakfast, we took the train to the temple of heaven. The place was packed with people doing all kinds of exercises, dancing, shuttle kicking, playing cards, dominoes and knitting. We learnt the art of shuttle kicking and an old guy gave us a shuttle to take home.
We explored the temple of heaven. It is one of the most photographed temples in all of Beijing. The surrounding parklands were huge. We spent all morning there, but only saw a small fraction of the entire park. We had lunch and took the train north to the lama temple. In this temple is the largest wooden Buddha in the world, carved out of a single tree.
We took three more trains to get to the Beijing Olympic Stadium, or the birds nest, as it is affectionately known, due to its appearance. We took many photos and also saw the water cube across the road. There were tourists everywhere taking photos still, despite the Olympics ending here over four years ago.
We took another train to the chaoyang district where we found a nice hotpot restaurant. The food was amazing and we spent two hours there, waiting for the acrobat show to start. The show was unbelievable, 7 motorbike inside a steel ball was the highlight, along with the two guys on the hamster wheels. The show finished at 9pm, and we took the train and then walked back to our hutong in the snow
Friday, December 21 Beijing
We took the train to the Summer Palace today. Actually we took three trains, after the two changeovers. We decided to get off at the top of the hill and enter the summer palace through the back entrance. We walked over the frozen river and saw Shanzhou Street where the emperor used to do his shopping when he was on holidays. We climbed up the steps to the palace. Coming down the other side was like a maze, weaving in and out of snow-covered rocks and trees.
We finally found our way to the famous long corridor, 700m long and full of paintings of images from all over china. The corridor runs along the banks of the Kunming Lake, and was used by the emperor to relax and reminisce about the places that he had visited throughout china.
We noticed many people walking on the frozen lake, so we decided that we wanted to have a go, but there was no access to be seen. We walked toward the marble boat, took some photos but still could not get onto the lake. We walked from one end of the long corridor to the other, until we came across a pier, where people were jumping two metres onto the ice lake. Of course, we had to do the same. The view of the summer palace was amazing from the middle of the lake.
In summer, people pay for a ferry ride from the marble boat to the 17 arch bridge. We walked it. At times, the ice looked and felt quite thin, but we survived. When we got to the island in the middle of the lake, it was a challenge to get out of the lake, but by helping each other, we escaped.
We exited the park at the main eastern gate, and walked the 1.5km to the train station. It was 2pm, we were starving, there were lots of nice looking restaurants, but we couldn’t find an ATM to withdraw any money. So, we jumped onto a train and went into downtown Beijing. We got off at wangfujing and found ourselves in the heart of the orient plaza. There we found a bank and had a late lunch at the French bakery. We walked back to our hutong with the kids, and took a rest.
At 7pm, gwen and I took the train back to downtown and had dinner in a chinese restaurant. We did some shopping, bought some KFC for the kids then went back to our Hutong, with the KFC under my jacket to protect it from the snow. We packed our bags, because tomorrow we are leaving at 6am to make our way to hong kong.