We were ready to meet the group by 8:45. We were already feeling better with more oxygen in the air and a filling breakfast - my appetite was returning too. When we walked into the lobby, we could tell right away which group of people was our tour - what nice folks! We naturally fell into conversations with them and then Chris, our tour director, summoned us all and away we went! We were so glad to see Wendy again - she was to be our local guide - and her articulate English and friendly personality were a pleasure.
Our first stop was Tian'anmen Square. Mao's tomb is there and we saw an enormous line of people, Chinese and foreign tourists, walking in a huge procession and waiting for their turn to shuffle past his coffin. It supposedly took about an hour to get in and we didn't wait. The square is huge. It can hold many thousands of people. We walked toward Mao's famous portrait which is on the wall on one side of the square. At one point we stopped and there was a photographer to take a group picture with the portrait behind us. We all opted to buy the picture and accompanying book about Beijing.
After leaving the square, we walked across the street and into the Forbidden City. It is a huge complex which seems to go on and on. It is, of course, where the Emperor lived for centuries and looks very much like it does in the film "The Last Emperor". Parts of the buildings were being renovated but we could see much of it. The official rooms, gardens and furnishings were visible and quite lovely. In a strange way, it reminded me a bit of Vatican City - a completely separate physical space where one kind of life goes on and is completely surrounded by an entire other entity.
When we exited the palace, we went on to a nearby hutong neighborhood. The hutongs are what the city used to look like - little warrens of homes built around central open common areas with narrow alleys to connect them. We had a bicycle-powered rickshaw tour through the neighborhood. It reminded me a bit of what one would see in a small Mexican town, with little cafes, carts of vegetables and fruit, open air butchers. We stopped at one alley and walked through an even narrower walkway to a courtyard. Opening onto the courtyard was a home that served lunch to visiting small groups. The wife did the cooking while the husband entertained us with a few English words and gestures about the food we would enjoy, Chinese beer, and later, his prize cricket rearing business. It turned out that he raises fighting crickets, huge ones that were about 2 inches long, and sells them in the market. He has quite a reputation and is very proud of this! Lunch was delicious!
We were in for an even better dinner, however, as this was the night that our authentic Peking dinner was scheduled. We went to an upstairs restaurant (many in China are a few flights of stairs up from the street level) with a large dining room that was occupied by many Chinese patrons - a very good sign. We had a private dining room. We had many courses with the crowning glory being the duck. It was delicious, moist and flavorful and we were able to watch the chef carve it. The proper way to eat it was to put some pieces of the meat in the center of a thin, tortilla-like wrapper, add some vegetables (like bean sprouts or cabbage), add some special sauce, fold it over and eat it. We loved it and ate several of these morsels even though we'd had plenty of other food.
As you can tell, our days were very busy and the next day brought the event that many of us had anticipated most - the Great Wall. There are many places to access the wall and we drove to one of the more popular, about 45 minutes from Beijing. The drive gave us a chance to see some of the countryside, including more of the extensive freeway system, farms and small villages. The wall itself is as amazing, as you might imagine. It stretches away into the distance as far as you can see, undulating up and down, following the contour of the land. It is beautiful. We were blessed with a gorgeous blue sky day, one of only a few that we had in China. Jon and I opted for the less strenuous
route, which was still amazingly steep in places, literally almost a 45 degree angle long series of steps. We walked for about a mile and halted before that length of steps, stopping to having our pictures taken and to take photos ourselves. It was one of those "pinch yourself" moments.
On our way back to Beijing, we stopped at a cloisonné factory. This is a dying art since the time and precision needed to create a single piece is overwhelming. Not many workers can be found who are willing to do the work for the pay that is offered. The process involves attaching a metal strip to a clay form in a complicated pattern and then filling in the spaces with up to 8 layers of paint, firing the piece between each layer. Good eyesight, well coordinated hands and the patience of Job are required!
And then we were on to another big name in Chinese tourism, the Summer Palace. This is located in the heart of Beijing, just far enough away from the Forbidden City to have cool breezes and a bit more moderate climate in the summer. The largest feature here is the manmade lake, only 5 feet deep, and its wonderful dragon boats. These open air vessels hold about forty people and crisscross the water ferrying visitors to different points on the lake. There is also a walkway all around the lake. We rode across to the Stone Boat where we disembarked and walked back to the entrance area. On this day, the breeze was cool but we could see how welcomed it would be in the summer heat.
The next day was a travel day, to Xi'an, but first we visited the Temple of Heaven. The weather had turned cold and rainy so our visit was a bit hurried but we had time to watch an elderly gentleman do some calligraphy on the pavement, some folks do tai chi, some musicians make music together and to try out some of the adult playground exercise equipment. All of this on the way to the actual temple. We were quite cold by the time the visit was finished so we were grateful for some hot tea when we stopped at a pearl shop on our way to lunch. And then it was on to the airport.
Our time in Beijing had come to an end, all too soon. We were not aware of the air pollution while walking around the city and breathing didn't seem to be a problem. We were aware of the green spaces and trees that have been planted to help the issue. We saw some folks with masks but they were a definite minority. The people were friendly and the architecture was unique. We wouldn't want to live there but we are glad that we had visited!
Photos: (above) pearls in the oyster; (below) Tian'anmen Square, Jon posing for a picture for a new friend, inside the Forbidden City, part of the grounds of the Forbidden City, ready for our rickshaw ride, the chef carving Peking duck, the remains of our dinner, a cloisonné worker placing metal pieces, our great Beijing guide Wendy in action, the entrance to the Great Wall, proof that we were there!, those stairs were STEEP!, a dragon boat on the lake in the Summer Palace, Beijing architecture, the "Bird's Nest", calligraphy with water, the adult playground, tai chi.
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