Tuesday June 30 - Beijing

Life on the road is a continuous series of events with hardly a breath in between. So, true to form, we were up and off to see the Summer Palace, leaving the hotel around 8 am. The Summer Palace is a huge parkland attachd to a series of palace temples, gardens, pavillions, lakes, bridges, and corridors which were the summer home of the emperors and originally started as an imperial garden in 1750. It's 290 hectares is nestled at the foot of the hills in the nothwest suburbs of Beijing. For a city that has little water, the park provides a pleasant playground. There are pleasure boats and paddle boats crossing the lake which takes up about three quarters of the total area of the park. The lake was deepened and expanded by Emperor Qianlong in the 18th C who organized 100,000 labourers to work on it. The palace has suffered many attacks; the English and French troops damaged it in the Second Opium Wars; and foreign troops again ransacked it during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. It was given a major overhaul in 1949. We walked down the long Corridor on Longevity Hill and visited the various palaces and temples and climbed the many steps up to the magnificent Tower of Buddhist Incense with beautiful views over the lake. We saw the Clear and Peaceful Boat which was first built in 1775 and is cared out of a "shadowy blue stone", marble. From here we took a boat across the lake to Southlake Island and the Dragon King Temple. Then we walked across the Seventeen-Arch Bridge with its balustrades carved with 544 lions, all in different positions. And we walked past more pavillions and the Bronze Ox which is made to keep the water under control. Then we had a completed our circle. We bought an icecream and sat in the shade of a tree facing out on the majestic lake before exiting through the Grand Theatre and the Hall of Benevolence and Longetivity where the courtyard was decorated with bronze animal sculptures, including the mythical "qilin". It was unfortunate many buildings are "barricaded" so you can only "peer in" through the nose-smudged windows like a guilty child trying to get a glimpse of some fairyland through a glass window. We took the Truck back into Beijing and to the Forbidden City. We, along with Will and Aussie John, decided to walk around the City to Tianamen Square and enter the Forbidden City at the south gate. As our time was short, we took a little train-like vehicle around to the Square. Tiananmen Square was a little anti-climatical. Its just one huge square in the true centre of Beijing. The main attraction is Chairman Mao's portrait which stares imploringly down on you with the intent of encouraging everyone who sees it to believe in him....and some still do. In the middle of the square is a tall obelisk which is a memorial to the People's Heroes, and then there are stately buildings such as museums surrounding the square. The whole area is massive, and its all sealed off, and I think closed at night time. In order to access the Square you have to go though a security check including the metal detector and x-ray machine. In the Square Ray and I were asked to have our pictures taken with a group of Chinese then a little girl came up to me and asked if her father could take a picture of her and me. I think we visit the Square again with Sundowners so may have a better description then. Otherwise, it wasn't very busy; but it was a weird feeling to realize where we were. We walked through the large arches leading from Tianamen into the Forbidden City. I don't think there can be another site in the world the size or magnificence of The Forbidden City, the home of the emperors in the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is a truly amazing site. It is designed in the traditional Chinese style and is named because it was "off limits" to the common people for over 500 years. The huge area contains highly ornamental halls, or palaces facing north/south with courtyards and gardens in between. The west and east side buildings are living quarters, including libraries, temples, theatres and gardens, but these are now mainly exhibitions of various Chinese cutural or historical treasures. Some of the main halls are barricaded but you can peer in to see period furniture and other ornaments. It is all spectacular. Unfortunately, by the end of it all, we were suffering badly from information overload. You definitely can't do it all at one time to do it justice. Depending on your interest in Chinese history, several short visits are definitely best. But it is truly a magnificent feat that must cost a ton to maintain. As we walked around we tried to imagine the staff the emperor must have had to keep it in working order, thousands, I would think. I said previously that overland trips are constant motion. We caught a taxi back from the Forbidden City to the hotel, showered and refreshed quickly, and met everyone in the lobby of the hotel for our departure dinner. We walked to a Korean restaurant and had delicious barbecued meat, Korean style, with some rather sparse vegetables all of which we cooked ourselves on a small barbequeue in the centre of our table. Fun! Then Ray and I came back to the hotel, but I gather the group went to some rather expensive spots and ended up back at the hotel sitting on the steps outside of the lobby drinking beer. Its marvellous the way you can freely move around with your drink, sit outside, etc. I think a beer costs Y2 in the store to buy, and anywhere from Y4 to Y12 in restaurants. There really aren't any "bars" as such, mainly all restaurants, in this area anyway.