China is 14 hours ahead of Canada. And no matter how you spin it, Tom and I were exhausted when we arrived in Beijing. Our flight through Vancouver and on to Beijing was blissfully uneventful, but we were both looking forward to crawling into bed and getting a good sleep. Imagine our surprise, when our tour guide picked us up in the airport, and we then spent two hours in traffic. Traffic. I will never be able to think of bad traffic the same way again. The amalgamation of cars, buses, trucks, bicycles, motorcycles and pedestrians in one chaotic mass of merging lanes and honking horns was overwhelming. In some ways, the Chinese are the worst drivers I have ever seen-- but at the same time, they must be the best drivers too. They appear to have a 360 degree awareness of everything going on around them, and they are all so nonchalant about it!
Our first day in Beijing started the same as many to come-- with a breakfast buffet in the hotel. Most hotels have a Western/Chinese mixed buffet, so fried rice next to waffles is not a surprise. In fact, as the days progressed in our tour, I started to enjoy my morning fried rice.
Each day had a busy itinerary. Much to our surprise, our tour guide, Rebecca, informed us that we were the only two who had booked this particular tour, so we would have a personal guide for the entire 13 days.
On our first day, we went to Tianamen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, a pearl market, and finished off the day at a Chinese King Fu Show.
Tian'amen Square was crawling with tourists and giant tour groups. The tour guides were hollering through bullhorns and waving flags so that the tourists could locate them in the crowd. Some groups were wearing matching hats for the same reason.
Tom and I were amazed by the shear size of the Forbidden City. With six different layers, we went from one to the next while we learned about the uses of each building with respect to the emperor and his family. The intricate marble carvings and decorative paintings were everywhere!
Marble bridge in the Forbidden City.
Outside the Forbidden City, a senior was hanging out entertaining himself, and others. He had a mass of fabric rings, and he convinced Tom to play a game with him. From about 5-7m away, he would throw the rings at Tom, and Tom would catch them around his head. At the end, he laid out his rings to make the Olympic symbol, and gave us his address so we could send him a picture. He has a huge mass of pictures from tourists like us with him.
Old man entertains us!
By the second day, I had become a serious toilet paper hoarder. It never occurred to me that TP would be considered a luxury in China It is very rare to find toilet paper in any public washrooms, so I compulsively stuff every pair of pants and shorts or jacket pocket with toilet paper and tissue. And while I am on the topic of toilets... This trip was also my first experience with squat toilets! Squat toilets are not glamorous, and they are never clean. That's all I am going to say about them.
Moving on!
On our second day, we visited the Ming Tombs, and went to a jade workshop. The sculptures and carvings made from jade were truly remarkable. In the afternoon, we drove out to see one of the highlights of our trip-- the Great Wall of China. I was so excited when we pulled up in the parking lot. Seeing the length of the wall stretch out into the landscape is spectacular, and Tom and I took hundreds of pictures while we hiked up the steep stone stairs. We decided that the soldiers manning the guard houses would have had to have been in great shape, otherwise they would have been done for if they had to run up and down the steps during an attack!
Great Wall of China.
Great Wall of China.
On our final day in Beijing, we took a rickshaw around the narrow alleyways known as Hutongs. In this area of the city, some residents open their homes up to foreigners and cook lunch as a source of income. We ate a tasty meal in the home of a lady who owned a small white dog. When we first arrived, the dog was no where to be seen (only photos of it on the wall), but the dog arrived about 2/3 of the way through our meal. It's ears were dyed yellow, and it was wearing a bumblebee costume. It may have been one of the most ridiculous things that I have ever seen. It was also one of the least friendly dogs I have ever met. It barked angrily until we left.
Tom and I in a rickshaw.
Little dog in bee costume.
After lunch, we spent the afternoon roaming the 700-acre Summer Palace. This was basically the Emperor's summer house. In the summer it became too hot in the Forbidden City, so he would move to the Summer Palace which is built beside a lake. The breeze coming off the lake would keep temperatures a bit cooler. Many of the buildings in the summer palace are replicas that were rebuilt after they were burnt down in the 1800's by the French and British.
Summer Palace buildings.
800m walkway in the Summer Palace.
From the Summer Palace, we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Xi'an. It was a little bit of a culture shock (not as much as we expected), but three days in Beijing, well spent.
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