Beijing Pictures September/October 2008

David "the Energizer Bunny" giving us the drill for the tour of Tiananmen Square. We were in a van that is made in China and the interior was quite comfortable.

The plaque in front of the Monument to the People's Hero's in the middle of the Square

This is the Monument. When I was here just after the 1989 fracas, you could see the tank treads on the edges of the steps going up to the monument. I thought that it was a bit ironic then, but there is no evidence of anything left now. In fact, the guide knew very little about this topic ....

That is the line up at 8:30 in the morning to go into Mao's Mausoleum

Lots of huge flower displays in the Square left over from the Olympics. Really spectacular!

Entrance to the Forbidden City. Had to wait quite a time to get a picture with no one in it. It was really crowded!!!

The city is guarded by two carved lions ... one male and one female

Changing of the Guard at the Forbidden City

The Bunny" went to get the tickets and the school kids began to show up

Once in the gate, the number of visitors became evident. No place to sit!!! Check the epistle as there is a map in there that names the different "gates"

This place is huge and this is the river that was the moat in past times

All those people with yellow hats are with one school tour. This is a common thing for chinese tours to do as well. Makes it easier to pick out your people in the huge crowds that were everywhere

Walk and walk and then climb stairs and then back down and walk and walk

As you go through one Gate you see the next

The place is Beautiful!!! much of the woodwork was retouched for the Olympics

Walk walk walk ... climb climb climb. The City stretches far beyond that Hall

If you can make that out, it is quite interesting

Elsie and David looking up at the next Hall to visit

very elaborate

incredible detail

Elsie the new Forbidden City Tour Guide

Single cast bronze pots for water in case of fire. There is a place underneath that a small fire can be built to ensure that they did not freeze in the winter

By this time, we could not remember which Hall was which, so I took pictures as a reminder

Each hall has a throne

I had to push through a huge crowd to get this informational shot

Another Throne .... beautifully carved

Informational

This is one stone ... and the stairs go up ... hard to see that they do go up

Yet another hall, but the last one .... we were exhausted by this time

Walking around trying to find the Van, you see some of the old Beijing

and some of the new as well

After a lousy lunch, we headed to the Summer Palace. This Lake is man-made

Lots and Lots of people

Everywhere you look, there is some thing to see

Marble Boat. We had just completed the walk along the "Long Corridor" and were about to take a boat back to the gate we entered. See epistle for map

A "Cultural" visit. Making silk duvets. Really spectacular, but how would we get them home?

The obligatory "We were there" shot. We could not get into the Bird's Nest as they are making it into a Shopping Mall ...

The Tea "Cultural" visit. We tried 5 different types and were expected to buy. Again, where would we put several pounds of tea???

That night was the Chinese Acrobatics. Impressive show

Just like the Ed Sullivan Show

It was neat

Another "cultural stop" this time a jade shop. Nice stuff but ....

We spent some time wandering around the Emperor Yongle's Tomb. Nice I guess. But, we did find a bench to sit on. When I asked David why there were so few places to sit and people watch, his answer surprised us ..." If we had benches, people would sleep on them" So no benches as crowd control???

Burial objects found in the Tomb

This is Emperor Yongle's crown

The another "Cultural Stop" this time in a cloisonne factory (copper wire and copper pots)

Beautiful work but again ... what would we do with it?

The Great Wall "Before Climb" shot

"The Bunny" went to get tickets ... then headed off to the shade after pointing us to the stairs. Wave he said.....

The obligatory warnings as you start to climb .... and I mean climb!!!!!

They were serious...

Looking down as we went up

It was steep

After 360 steps of changing rise (anywhere from 10 inches to several feet) we said enough

I liked this sign

Someone said that this is a Praying Mantis ... anyway it was one big bug. Only a few more sets of stairs and we would be back to the valley floor.

Off to the Zoo

These guys are sure cute

It was late afternoon and they were soaking up as much sun as they could.

It must be remembered, though, that they are really bears and as unpredictable as the ones we have at home.

Still .... they are cute

"Temple of Heaven" Park.

Lots of people ... mostly though it is for the elderly ... everywhere you look, exercise was going on with lines of people participating

Neat ... 500 years old

The bark did look like dragons if you had a bit of an imagination.

This was neat .. supposedly this is the centre of the world and if you stand on it and make a wish, it will come true. The interesting thing is that there were at least 100 people trying to get their picture taken there and jostling to get on the spot, but when Elsie walked up they all parted and let her have the spot. The chaos returned after she stepped down.

Plaque indicating the beginning of the Hutong (old village area of Beijing)

We got into the rickshaw they indicated and waited until the poor sot who was to peddle the two of us was chosen ... the newest one ... seniority has its value???

This area is set up as the night club centre ... it has a lot of bars and clubs in it

Not the old Beijing I remember .... far too clean

The marriage bed in one of the "authentic" homes we visited

You just can not get away from "Bud" eh ....

Our hotel room ... a 3 star Canadian standard.

How we survived the long days and hard beds

It is 7:30 AM and we are at the Beijing airport for our flight to Xi'an