All smiles in Beijing
2015-07-24
It was a cold winters night when i landed in Beijing international Airport from Shanghai. It was a weekend getaway planned just so that i can visit the capital, savor the food, visit Tienanmen square and cross out an item from my bucket list .. The Great Wall.Leaving the airport, i headed towards the city, it was at night so traffic was good. Stayed at the New World Hotel.. warm and cozy with good reception. Was pretty close to the locations that i wanted to visit as well.
In the morning, i walked towards Tienanmen Square from the hotel trying to blend in like the locals.. however.. i forget that i tend to stick out like a sore thumb amongst the sea of Chinese. The queue to get into the restricted area was long.. there was only handful international tourists but the bulk was all local. It was 5 degrees Celsius and yet people were flocking to the location like it was a warm spring day. After the security check.. i started off with the square.
A guy selling caramelized strawberry and other fruits! Yummy. Not often you see those outside.
I like this statue, a school girl i assume reading a book .. found it on the way to the Square.
A lady playing guching or guchen.. not sure if its the big or the small one.
It was a like a dream come true.. i have to admit. Looking at the gates of the forbidden city with Chairman Mao's portrait hanging over it. I saw countless pictures and tv shows on this location but i never thought i would be here. Again.. never say never ! Walked around Tienanmen square reading up the placards and observing the murals, statues and buildings. Indeed a marvel to be wondered.
Chairman Mao and I
The Hwa Piao.. Symbol of the Chinese dynasty.
The cultural statues which depicts the farmers and the rural folks (west side)
Cultural statues depicting the soldiers or the peoples liberation army (east side)
Square Centerpiece is a Monument dedicated to the Peoples Heroes !
After the square.. i crossed the main street to get to the forbidden city. Short queue to get the tickets and ear piece then of i went to check out the splendor of the city. This was the 3rd Imperial palace built after the Nanjing and Xian palaces. It was an amazing sight. The architecture, grandness of the buildings, arrangement of the ornaments.. it seems each building and articles around the palace was placed based on the Chinese "feng shui". I was kinda glad that it was winter as i was sure i walked more than 5km within the walls of the forbidden city. I cant imagine going around this place on a hot summers day.. I walked based on the provided map and viewed the buildings, halls, shrines and articles such as huge bronze pots (used for fire fighting) and etc. For such a place to exist 500 years ago.. it was amazing. I understand the modern architecture marvel. But this was in a league of its own. If you ever have a chance to look at google map or baidu map.. see the satellite view of the place.. it is said that this would be one of the first man made structures that can be seen from the orbit. .. That's how big it was.
Ticket, set, go !
Inner City Walls .. HUGE !
Bronze pot that was used to store water or sand .. for fire fighting. It was said that this bronze pot was actually covered in gold and the Japanese soldiers scrapped the gold off the bronze pot, when they looted the forbidden city of the treasures and paintings. Atrocious ! You can see the scrap marks.. hopefully not from the tourists..
Another perspective of the city
Tiger or a Dog ?
So there you go.. walking around the square and the palace .. took me a day.. looked for a place to recharge and then headed back to the hotel through the hutongs. Interesting buildings and small roads with lots of people and shops.. reminds me of streets of jakarta or bangkok minus the heat of course.
If this is the birds nest.. how big is the bird ?
Got up early just to miss the first train to Badaling which was supposed to leave at 7am.. and i arrived at 7.05 am.. so i waited for the next one which was to arrive at 11am.. i queued patiently only to be overtaken once the door was open.. imagine hundreds of people running towards the train and an Indian guy shocked standing in between ! Well.. when in doubt follow the crowd.. i too ran for my life. hahaha. got to the train got a seat and there i was.. heading to THE GREAT WALL !
In the train ! after running towards it from the waiting point.. hilarious !
Tickets for Great Wall..
Walked from the train station towards the wall entry point.. i can see that this location has been rebuilt and made into a tourist stop with all the fancy restaurants, souvenir shops and etc.
Buildings before the great wall
I also realize that the wall portion of this location has been entirely rebuilt. Oh well.. i doubt i was going to be able to see the real wall, however this was close enough.
Amazing view. can you argue that its not? can you imagine how this was built manually brick by brick thousands of years ago.
I WAS THERE.. PROOF.. NOT PHOTOSHOP.
Amazing mountain view, amazing rebuilt of the wall done by the Chinese. Walked the wall as far as the legs could take me and had to save some for the journey back.. But seriously this was an amazing place to visit. A gentle reminder.. please come when the temp is low and with comfortable shoes.. as you will be walking .. and again amazing.. guess how many times i repeated the word amazing.
There you go.. i did it. I was all tired and smiling when i was on the train back to Beijing and occasionally falling sleep while standing.. can you imagine the embarrassment.. but hey , so what.. i crossed a to do from my bucket list.
Got the next flight out of Beijing and still smiling.
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