Today the traffic was extreme when we were leaving the city to head to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China. After spending some time going at snail pace to the Chang tombs, we decided to leave the tombs for another trip and head straight to the Wall. After parking,we needed to catch shuttle buses to the base of the hill and then walk up the hill to the cable car. The cable car we took was fully enclosed but apparently there is another cable car which is open and you can then toboggan downhill but we didn’t see anyone coming down this way.

 

We didn’t have much time on the Wall and it would be good to send more time there and do more walking on the wall. Some of the steps can be a little steep and also narrow which means waiting to go up and come down occurs. But it was wonderfulto be there and be able to see the Wall so clearly extending over the hilly  countryside. Again the weather was perfect, so again very lucky!

 

We were taken straight to a Chinese cultural performance and made it with seconds to spare. It was a wonderful performance of two dynasties who were at war and the female emperor’s gold dynasty won over the male emperor’s blue dynasty. The two leaders then fell in love … and I won’t tell the rest of the story in case someone comes here to see it. It was a spectacular show of costumes, gymnastic skills and dance with the lighting effects and music adding to it.

 

Afterwards we went to the old quarter of Pipe street to a 100 year old restaurant building. Getting a taxi afterwards was a challenge but Paul managed to skilfully get one and we got back to the hotel.

This is the end of my China blog. Tomorrow we are just doing a little bit of shopping and then it is back home for us!

Today it was off around more sights in Beijing. First we went to Tiananmen Square which is enormous and used mostly for public celebrations. It was not a public holiday in Beijing (although Good Friday in Australia) and not a weekend but the numbers of people there was amazing – and most of the groups were Chinese. There was a very long line to get into the mausoleum for past leader Mao but we didn’t go there. We crossed from Tiananmen Square via the subway to the gate of Heavenly Peace where Chairman Mao’s portrait hangs. The portrait is apparently a painting which is replaced every year according to our guide. Then further onward to the Meridian Gate which is the south end of the beginning of the Forbidden City and the streams of people kept happening.

 

The southern part of the Forbidden City was for the Emporer and business related to the emporer. The area of the Forbidden City is very very large (72 hectares) and so all of the visitors go in one direction, from the south to the north. This sort of organisation is a must when you consider the numbers of visitors and the chaos which would result if it wasn’t one-way. The northern end of the Forbidden City was for the wives and concubines of the emporer.

 

For lunch,our guide ordered us some typical localfood including fish in oil, a type of pork dumpling and shrimp – all of the dishes very “spicy” which in China appears to mean very much chilli.

In the afternoon, we spent time at the Summer Palace which is beautiful lakeside area of gardens and covered walkways. Apparently in the winter the lake ices over and people come there to skate. However, today it was again blue skies and warm so we took a boat across the lake. The blossums were out and there were again many people visiting the lake.

 

Late afternoon, we met up with our friend Pauline and took her off to have more Peking Duck!

Beijing is known for its pollution and ,when we travelled to Beijing today, we left clouds and drizzle in Xian and arrived to clear blue skies and no clouds in Beijing!!! Again very lucky!! We were metby our next guide,Michael, who was given the English name of Michael by his English teacher and he was happy because he likes Michael Jackson. We suggested a moon dance sometime during the Beijing stay. The centre of Beijing is surrounded by 6 ring roads with a central north-south axis road. To live in the inner city, you must be wealthy. The area included by the 2 inner ring roads has  mostly kept the old buildings including the old canals and there is no high rise in this area. The well known attractions,both for the tourists and for the Chinese people, lie on the central axis – include Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Clock Tower and the Drum Tower.

Because the day was beautiful, we wasted no time on our sight seeing and went immediately to central Beijing to see the hutongs (alleyways with courtyard houses). We had a separate guide called Selena who rode her bicycle while we travelled in a rickshaw (along with many other tourists) up and down the small alleyways. There are many public toilets in these areas because not all of  the houses have their own bathrooms so public areas are used. We were taken into one of the houses which had its own,kitchen building, bathroom and courtyard. Inside the house, there was somebeautifuloldfurniture and the woman played a 21-string instrument forus. The sound was very soft and peaceful – so beautiful to hear. As part of this tour, we also visited the Bell Tower (the bell rung on special occasions)  and the Drum Tower (beaten to indicate the time).

 

After we finished there, we were taken down Pipe Street – named because of the shape of the street as seen on the map. It was a buzzing little place full of shops and restaurants -this was a place not just for the overseas tourists but also for the Chinese people. There are old canals and lots of people riding in boats, or fishing or just walking around.

 

Because we were interested in Peking Duck, our guide took us to a restaurant to have it – it was carved next to our table and then eaten by rolling the sliced duck with spring onions and cucumber in thin pancakes with oyster sauce. It was delicious. Peking was originally called Yanjing when a Mongolian tribe founded the Liao Dynasty but now there is a local beer called Yanjing so we needed to taste it as well!!!

 

It was already a big day but we decided to go to the KungFu show after dinner which was good. And then on to the Dong An Men night market which is a snack market. There are skewers of most things there including snakes ,spiders (large and smaller), scorpions,centipedes, worms (look like larvae), seahorses, starfish!!!.