beijing

We arrived in Beijing at 6.30 AM and took a taxi to our hotel, about 20 miles for £4 which was great. Throughout our 3 week trip we extensively used taxis as they were amazingly good value, I soon got the hang of ordering them on the ‘we chat’ app which was so easy. The majority of bars and restaurants have QR codes on the table and when you scan them in the app it brings up the menu, usually with an English option and just tap on what you want to order, tap again to pay and that’s it, so simple when you get used to it.

After a quick shower we were soon off to the heart of Beijing, the forbidden palace and Tiananmen square, where I have to confess I made a grave error.

Tickets are required for the palace and I had managed to book and pay for these before we left home. Only £2 each and loaded onto my phone. You must also register online to pass the security barriers to enter Tiananmen Square. After looking around for an hour we sat on a low wall for a rest and a sip of water and then walked up to the security entrance where I realised I had lost my phone. Panic set in as all our train tickets, hotel reservations and my money was on the phone! how could I have been so careless! We found a security guy who spoke English and explained the situation, he phoned the police and an officer quickly turned up. With the aid of google translate he soon understood the situation and after a few minutes with Dianes’s phone he soon located my phone which had been handed in to the police. A 5 minute walk to the security office where it was and I was reunited with my phone, a great testiment to the honesty of Chinese people and helpfullness of the police.

Tiananmen Squre is huge, said to be the largest public square in the world.

In the afternoon we headed across the 12 lane road to the Palace.

The complex consists of 8,886 ( yes that is correct 8,886) rooms covering 178-acres and has to bee seen to be believed.

Plenty of women dressed in traditional outfits.

The buildings and huge courtards go on and on, you can just see the end in the top right of the photo.

Our hotel was just a 10 minute walk from the palace and after a long hot day of walking we ended up with a couple of cold beers and looked forward to day 2 in Beijing.

The Jade Garden Hotel, our home for 4 nights and one of the top traditional hotels in Beijing. More about Jade later in the holiday!

So ends our first day and see you all again tomorrow.

TTFN

Bibbley

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The Temple of Heaven

The following day we took a 20 minute taxi ride to the south east area of Beijing to visit the Temple of Heaven.

As you will recall yesterday was a holiday in China for the Qingming Festival, also known as Tomb Sweeping Day, a 2,500 year old traditional Chinese festival dedicated to honoring and making ritual offerings to their ancestors and so the whole weekend was going to be busy with families enjoying a trip out and the coming of spring.

Entering the park, (free for seniors as are many places in China), we strolled along the Long Corridor, this beautifully crafted walkway stretches 350 meters, curving gently through the park. At 5 meters wide, it offers ample space for a leisurely walk. Its intricate decorations are not only visually stunning but also a testament to the artistry of ancient Chinese architecture.

The Temple of Heaven was used as a site by emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties to offer sacrifice to heaven and pray for bumper harvests. The northern part of the Temple of Heaven is semicircular while the southern part is square, a pattern representing the ancient belief that “Heaven is round and Earth square”. Surrounded by a double wall, and covering an area of 273 hectares, it is divided into the Inner Temple and the Outer Temple by the double wall.

May local ladies dressed in traditional clothes and putting a few yen into the pot for good luck.

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, is the most iconic structure of the Temple of Heaven. This magnificent building is known for its unique, circular design and that no nails were used in its construction. Built in 1420, the hall symbolizes the harmony between heaven and earth, which was central to the emperor’s role as the intermediary between the two realms.

The whole park was very peaceful to wander through once we got past the crowds at the temple.

After a couple of hours it was time to take a rest with a cup of coffee.

The second part of the day was to be a visit to the Summer Palace.

Here I must confess to an error in going to the wrong entrance and having to walk a mile or so through The Old Summer Palace which was built in 1707 and served as a residence for the emperor. It is considered the second Forbidden City. However, it was destroyed by French and British soldiers in 1860 and has never been rebuilt.

Anyway after a pleasant stroll we reached the Summer Palace which is a well preserved imperial garden and one of the largest of its kind still in existence in China today.

In 1750, Emperor Qianlong (who reigned from 1735 to 1796) ordered the rebuilding of the Garden of Clear Ripples (the original name of the Summer Palace) to celebrate his mother’s 60th birthday.

We decided not to climb up to the top of pagoda get a better view!

This photo courtesy of “China Highlights”

The Stone Boat, also known as the Marble Boat or Qingyanfang, is a lakeside pavilion located on Kunming Lake, near the western end of the lake. The boat was first built in 1755 and was later rebuilt by Empress Cixi in 1893, using funds meant for the navy.

On the way back to our hotel in central Beijing we stopped off at the olympic park, the setting of the 2008 summer olympics and home to the iconic birds nest stadium, ( I wonder what the structural steel contractor thought when he first saw the drawings!) and the water cube swimming complex.

The water cube has two 50m olympic size pools, a diving pool and a stunning fun pool with many slides and water features.

And so that ended our time in Beijing and over a beer in the evening we recounted our days in this remarkable city full of the ancient and historic side of China and looked forward to our next stop in Xi’An, home of the Terracotta Warriors.

See you all there later!

TTFN

Bibbley

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The Great Wall

We chose to visit the closest section of the Great wall of China today, (Friday), as we thought it would be quieter then leaving it to the weekend, (WRONG).

After a good night’s sleep after the long journey from London and a lot of walking around Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden Palace yesterday we met in reception at 9AM and stepped outside the hotel to find the road closed to traffic and very busy with pedestrians walking towards the Forbidden Palace.

I tried to book a taxi on WeChat but all were busy so decided to ask the hotel receptionest to call us a cab.

“You would like a taxi to the Great Wall at Badaling, today? now? really?” asked the receptionist.

“yes please” I replied, unaware of why he was looking at me as if I was a stupid foreigner asking for a ticket to visit the moon. Anyway the car soon arrived and off we went for the 25 mile 40 minute ride.

Two hours later after crawling up the motorway in a giant queue of traffic I noticed the road sign that said “Badaling, Great Wall 10 miles”. Another hour later and we were there! The fare just £10, feeling sorry for our poor driver who was obviously not going to earn much today I did tip him £5 for which he was very grateful.

So joining the queue for the shuttle bus from the car park to the entrance of the wall we googled todays date, April 4th, which brought up this.

The “Festival of Sweeping the Graves,” also known as Qingming Festival or Tomb-Sweeping Day, is a Chinese festival celebrated on April 4th or 5th each year. It’s a time for families to visit the tombs of their ancestors, clean the gravesites, and make ritual offerings. The festival is a way to honor and remember deceased ancestors, as well as to celebrate the arrival of spring. It is a public holiday and after cleaning the graves of your ancestors a chance to enjoy a day out.

Well that explained the thousands of people heading for a trip to the great wall.

Anyway with typical Chinese efficiency the queue moved swiftly and we were soon atop the wall after a short ride on the funicular railway.

What a view! The long journey was well worth it. The wall stretches off into the distance as far as the eye can see. The whole wall stretches for over 13,000 miles and was started over 2,00 years ago to protect China from invaders from the north and the section at Badaling is one of the best preserved sections and the closest to Beijing which also means it can be very busy at times.

We had finally made it to the wall !

After a walk along the wall admiring the view we decided not to join the masses climbing even higher and thought that a leisurely walk down the mountain would be much easier and enjoyable.

In the distance down below you can just see the car park full of buses ready to take visitors back to beijing.

Luckily there was a good path down!

A lone warrior stands guard and protects the wall, keeping a careful watch for invaders.

Halfway down there was a rest area with toilets and where you could buy an ice cream, a cold drink or some souvenirs. As we reached the entrance there were plenty of people just starting the long walk up to the top! Rather them than me I thought feeling glad we took the railway.

And so we headed back to Beijing on the bus for only 20p each feeling quite tired but so pleased we had reached one of the highlights of our journey.

Hope to see you all for the next installment of our trip.

TTFN

Bibbley

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A return to China 2025

Those of you who read my last post will remember that I had planned a 3 week trip to China with Gary and Diane and finsally the day had come and with all suitcase packed we left on April 2nd for the drive to Gatwick Airport.

After leaving the car at the off-site parking company a short shuttle bus ride took us to the north terminal and the first sight of our aircraft for the 9hour 40minute flight to Beijing, the capital city with Air China.

Settling into our seats we looked forward to visiting a completely different country and culture. Although I had been to China before the temperature was in the high 30’s and was not completely enjoyable and i didn’t make the most of my time there.

lunch was beef with rice which was pretty good and both Diane and I were pleased to see the wine on the drinks trolley.

Our first taste of Chinese wine and certainly not the last!

So ends our first day and see you all again tomorrow.

TTFN

Bibbley

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