No, no, no! My plane’s departure got delayed and delayed and delayed until I almost lost my customary good humour - 3 and 1/2 hours late leaving Shanghai and I was supposed to meet Joanna in Beijing. Now I HAD built in plenty of time, but this was more than I had allowed for!
With a friend’s help I managed to get a message to Joanna, a tailwind helped to make up half an hour AND Jo’s plane from Hong Kong was a little late, too, so I did end up getting to her terminal and met her with only 15 minutes to spare.
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| Steep, steep staircase at the drum tower in the Hutongs, Beijing. |
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| Rickshaw ride in the Hutongs |
Jo was in remarkably good shape for having travelled more than halfway around the world! but I had planned a fairly easy day for her first day - just in case she flagged (which she didn’t!) First stop was the drum tower in the Hutongs - the old alleys of Beijing. The drum and bell towers were used in the olden days so the peasants knew the time. We walked up the steep stairs and got a view over part of Beijing.
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| Temple of the Fire god |
Mist I hear you ask? No, smog unfortunately. Next we had a rickshaw ride around the Hutongs and a visit to the fire god temple and Hohai Lake.
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| Peking duck restaurant, personal chef to carve |
On the afternoon we went to Wangfujing Street and saw the delicacies I have written about before - live skewered scorpions, sea horses, starfish and silkworms ready to be grilled. The street was PACKED. For dinner we went to the Peking Duck restaurant where you can watch them cook this speciality, then you get a personal waiter to carve your duck and you roll it up, along with condiments in a little crepe. Very delicious!!! Jo proved to be very adept with chopsticks, which was lucky given that we went to several places where that was the only cutlery.
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| Peking Duck Restaurant |
In the afternoon we went to Wangfujing Street and saw the delicacies I have written about before - live skewered scorpions, sea horses, starfish and silkworms ready to be grilled. The street was PACKED. For dinner we went to the Peking Duck restaurant where you can watch them cook this speciality, then you get a personal waiter to carve your duck and you roll it up, along with condiments in a little crepe. Very delicious!!! Jo proved to be very adept with chopsticks, which was lucky given that we went to several places where that was the only cutlery.
Day 2 and we find Jo and me, along with about a million Chinese people, at the Forbidden City (also known as Palace Museum which is very misleading for tourists!) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_City) This is a World Heritage site and much more extensive than most people realise. Tiananmen Square is just across the street from the entrance (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square) and we wandered through to get a feel for that.
Day 2 and we find Jo and me, along with about a million Chinese people, at the Forbidden City (also known as Palace Museum which is very misleading for tourists!) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_City) This is a World Heritage site and much more extensive than most people realise. Tiananmen Square is just across the street from the entrance (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square) and we wandered through to get a feel for that.
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| Jo at Tiananmen Square with Forbidden City behind |
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| Soldier at Tiananmen Square |
The weather was VERY hot so blisters were to be avoided at all costs! One way? Change your shoes to wear jandals (flip flops, thongs, whatever you want to call them! ) Of course another way is a foot massage - one of the true treats of living and travelling in China!
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| Jo + foot massage = BLISS!!!! |
My closest Beijing foot massage place is a blind massage place. Now, I have to tell you a funny story. My (totally blind) masseuse took away the soaking bucket and put it aside, continuing my foot massage. Unfortunately the sighted lady did not take it away and Jo’s partially blind masseuse came in and tripped over it. Luckily he was obviously used to a quick recovery and he righted himself very quickly. I must say I admire and respect the fact that these blind people earn a living - however meagre - rather than begging on the streets.
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| Suzanne at the Ming Tombs |
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| Jo at the Great Wall, Badaling |
Sunday was a big day. We had booked a tour to the Wall. It started with a visit to the Ming Tombs in a different spot than I had been to before. From there we went to the Wall at Badaling. There were two choices for getting to the top of the Wall - climb up or take a cable car. We chose the cable car to be able to spend as much time as possible actually on the Wall. As always, it was amazing, steep and on this day, very hot! We were fortunate that although there were a lot of people, the most crowded section was away from where we were. A quick obligatory trip to the silk museum and factory completed the day.
Our final day in Beijing saw us visiting Yonghegong - a lamasery temple. The religion is Tibetan Buddhism, with robed monks evident. This was a huge structure with various buildings dedicated to the various gods and very much used by visitors to pray and make offerings of incense.
I so enjoyed the trip to Beijing with Jo. Thanks, Jo!!!!
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