Day One in Beijing
After a long flight from Seattle and a reasonable good night sleep we started our first day in Beijing. After a briefing of what to expect on this tour we headed through downtown Beijing to Tiananmen Square. Although the tour guides refer to Tiananmen Square as gaining world wide fame over “the incident” they never go into the cause and effect of that “incident”. We have not pressed for information – probably because we are too “chicken” to ask. We are constantly aware that there is a different point of view here and it is best to observe and not confront.
On our way to the Square, I was surprised to see how progressive the city is. There are approximately 14,000,000 people that reside in Beijing and another 3,000,000 that are transient at any point in time. The city appears to be much like any big city. Lots of high rise buildings, office buildings and SMOG. Housing is expensive here but there are lots of high rise apartment buildings and the architecture is similar to that in large US cities, however, many of the buildings have a different “flair” to the designs.
Tiananmen Square is a large open square surrounded by museums and state buildings. There were so many street vendors that it was hard to actually SEE anything. Much of our time was taken up with learning to say “NO!” and “I don’t want any”. Of course no mater how we say it they don’t appear to understand and they just continue to badger us. We ended up with enough “stuff” to start our own business just trying to get away from them.
Not much was said about the students of Tiananmen Square. Just that here is where the “incident” was. Next we went across the street and into the Forbidden City. Here we saw architecture that was centuries old and toured the museums and the residence and gardens of the Emperors.
The day required quite a bit of walking and the weather, although not as hot as it could have been, was very warm and humid. Hal got dehydrated on the walk back to the bus but after a local merchant ran across the street with a bottle of ice water he managed to recover quite nicely. He man was perceptive and kind. We then went to lunch.
After lunch we rode in Pedi cabs through a typical middle class neighborhood of the old town. We stopped for tea with one of the families in the area. The husband had a hobby of paper cutting and did beautiful work. This trade has been passed down through his family for many generations. I couldn’t pass up purchasing a “good luck” piece.
We got back to the hotel just in time to freshen up for our welcoming dinner of Peking duck and other traditional foods. A long day for sure!
We have a very interesting group of people. Ages and backgrounds vary but all seem to be quite agreeable. The people of China that we have encountered so far seem to be warm and gentle. I have been impressed with how polite and kind they have been to us. Tomorrow we have a free day and then we will go to the Beijing Opera in the evening.
On our way to the Square, I was surprised to see how progressive the city is. There are approximately 14,000,000 people that reside in Beijing and another 3,000,000 that are transient at any point in time. The city appears to be much like any big city. Lots of high rise buildings, office buildings and SMOG. Housing is expensive here but there are lots of high rise apartment buildings and the architecture is similar to that in large US cities, however, many of the buildings have a different “flair” to the designs.
Tiananmen Square is a large open square surrounded by museums and state buildings. There were so many street vendors that it was hard to actually SEE anything. Much of our time was taken up with learning to say “NO!” and “I don’t want any”. Of course no mater how we say it they don’t appear to understand and they just continue to badger us. We ended up with enough “stuff” to start our own business just trying to get away from them.
Not much was said about the students of Tiananmen Square. Just that here is where the “incident” was. Next we went across the street and into the Forbidden City. Here we saw architecture that was centuries old and toured the museums and the residence and gardens of the Emperors.
The day required quite a bit of walking and the weather, although not as hot as it could have been, was very warm and humid. Hal got dehydrated on the walk back to the bus but after a local merchant ran across the street with a bottle of ice water he managed to recover quite nicely. He man was perceptive and kind. We then went to lunch.
After lunch we rode in Pedi cabs through a typical middle class neighborhood of the old town. We stopped for tea with one of the families in the area. The husband had a hobby of paper cutting and did beautiful work. This trade has been passed down through his family for many generations. I couldn’t pass up purchasing a “good luck” piece.
We got back to the hotel just in time to freshen up for our welcoming dinner of Peking duck and other traditional foods. A long day for sure!
We have a very interesting group of people. Ages and backgrounds vary but all seem to be quite agreeable. The people of China that we have encountered so far seem to be warm and gentle. I have been impressed with how polite and kind they have been to us. Tomorrow we have a free day and then we will go to the Beijing Opera in the evening.
posted by Dorothy & Hal at 9:19 PM
1 Comments:
Wow! Some of that architecture is amazing! Sounds like a great first experience in China. I can't wait to see what else is in store for you guys!
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