Our final China travels: Beijing, part one

Time for another installment in the long-delayed chronicles of the adventures of the Andersons in China. About a week and a half before leaving China for America, Eric and I set off on our 'grand tour' of China. Well, it was grand for us, though we only went to two of the countless cities in China: Beijing and Xian. Two very different places and I'd have to say, that based on our experiences in Xian, Beijing was by far the favorite. But we'll save that story for later. Beijing first. Here we go!

May 25 - May 30

We boarded an overnight train to Beijing late Monday night. We had decided to 'rough it' by taking the hard seats instead of the bed option. And was it a long night. Though still a far cry from what we experienced later in the trip on our way back to Shanghai...

Tian'anmen Square
Even though I know I've seen pictures, I had this image in my mind of what Tian'anmen Square was like. Not a bit like it. When we got there I didn't even realize we were there. I think I was picturing this huge enclosed area. It is huge, but open, and empty except for the big mausoleum for Mao Zedong. (which you can see in the background of the first picture below)


Eric in front of the National Congress Building.

A closer view of Mao's Mausoleum. An interesting place.


Gotta love the tour groups. :)


Looking towards the Forbidden City


Forbidden City

The Forbidden City. Just that name alone has always evoked fascination in me. I remember looking at pictures in the National Geographic years ago when there was an issue done on China and feeling in awe looking at them. It looked beautiful, immense, and, well, a little forbidding. And now here we were, right outside of the Forbidden City, going inside.

We happened to go when there was some sort of foreign dignitary visiting and so we were able to get some good empty pictures since a lot of the grounds were blocked off. And, thankfully, the dignitaries didn't stay too long so we were still able to go see everything. I guess when you are a 'dignitary' you are just too busy to actually see the Forbidden City. Glad I'm not one.




We found ourselves by a tour group at one point, from Malaysia I think it was,so I was able to eavesdrop and learn all sorts of interesting things. Which was fun, though Eric didn't think it was too interesting to learn about the daily rituals of the royal family. So, we moved on.




I had to include this one. Eric fits right in.

This is in front of two intertwined trees, symbolizing love. Lots of people were taking pictures in front of this, holding hands, hugging, etc. This couple, just standing there. I thought it was really cute.

We were able to wander around a lot of the side corridors and rooms-- where other officials worked and where the concubines and family lived. It was interesting to imagine being part of the royal family, spending your whole life behind these huge walls. It is like a miniature city. I don't know how much I really would have liked it.






Temple of Heaven
Built in the Ming dynasty (around 1420 AD,)the Temple of Heaven was the temple where the emperors went to worship, you got it, heaven. The emperor was regarded as the 'son of heaven' and he preformed sacrifices here to heaven on behalf of their people.

It was definitely different from other temples we have visited. The buildings are spread out-- all in a straight line but you have to walk a ways between them. The buildings are surrounded by beautiful gardens. While walking through the gardens, we stumbled across an accordion player accompanying a few older men singing. It was beautiful.


The secret emperor's door, so he wouldn't have to climb all the stairs.



I think Eric is being the bell...

Somehow, this one just makes me laugh.

This place was neat- or should have been... Supposedly, if two people stand at opposite sides of the circular wall, you can hear each other talk. It is called the Echo Wall. Unfortunately, there is a railing around the inside perimeter of the wall... No echoes anymore.

We overheard a tour guide tell her group that this is supposed to look like a birthday cake. (don't know how historically accurate that is- how many birthday cakes were there in ancient China...?)

Eric blowing out the birthday candle.



Summer Palace
If the Forbidden City was where the royal families lived, this is where they played. And I don't blame them. For as closed in and really barren looking the Forbidden City is, this amazing place is the opposite. Green, lush, stunning surroundings. And so peaceful. And we were there with hundreds of other tourists-- I can only imagine how wonderful it was with no one else there. This had to be one of our favorites places we went to in Beijing. We spent I think seven hours there and we could have gone back for another day. We loved it.






This interesting boat in the background is made out of marble. How does a marble boat float, you may ask. It doesn't. It is sitting on a concrete base. This nonfunctional boat was built under the reign of Empress Cixi. Using the funds set aside for building up a new Chinese navy, she built instead this extravagant boat for her own pleasure. Ironic, yeah?

The long corridor- over 728 meters long (2329 feet)All of those top panels are painted with different pictures on each. It was beautiful. There were these same types of paintings all throughout the Summer Palace. It would probably take hours to really look at all of them!





Olympic Park

We spent a rainy evening in Beijing exploring the Olympic Park. We got there to late to go inside anywhere but it was still really neat being able to see all the different buildings.

In front of the Bird's Nest. Eric and I had fun pretending to do whatever the building was used for. If you can't tell, I am getting ready to run a record breaking sprint.

And Eric is swimming in front of the Ice Cube.

And I am the torch.

Everything looked even cooler once it started to get dark. Unfortunately, that is right about when our camera quits working.


And this is just part of our trip to Beijing. Coming up soon, our trip to the Great Wall!