Imperial China Day 7

OAT Day 2-03 - Saturday, April 12, 2008 - Beijing City Tour Including Tiananmen Square & Forbidden City-Welcome Dinner - Beijing, China

We were awake before the alarm went off, but we slept well and did not wake up on Colorado Time; I think we are adjusting to China! After a shower and breakfast we met the other 5 new members of the group that arrived from the USA last night.

Several OAT groups are a few days ahead of us and we have been talking to their members in Shanghai and now here. They have given us helpful hints and a few highlights to look forward to as well as some things to avoid!

We arrived at the 3rd floor meeting room of this smaller but pleasant hotel to attend our Welcome Meeting with our guide Matt (Dong). We began our meeting and introduced ourselves as well as reviewed the itinerary for the trip. Matt reminded us to support each other as we spend the next three weeks together.

Matt explained about the changes because of the Olympic Games and inflation that is now taking place is a major concern to all tourist companies, as well as the local people of the city.

He also told us that security at the air ports has increased because terrorisits have been found who are threatening to disrupt the games. Now we understand the heightened security at the airport in Shanghai on flights going to Beijing yesterday!

Matt also talked about safety in the city, shopping opportunities, tipping, and then we concluded our meeting. We gathered again in the lobby with our city guide, Hong and our driver, Mr. Gao. As we drove along the crowded streets we saw buses, cars, bicycles, and rickshaws!

Today we are on the “Tourists Long March” - the most walking we will do in a short day on our tour. Hong told us if we could do this, we would survive the rest of the tour easily.

Hong also talked about the history of Beijing and that there are now over 16 million people in the city. That does not include the transient populations who are not registered, and add another 4 million to the count.

Beijing is generally a very dry city with occasional sand storms coming from the encroaching desert to the west. Today there was light rain and the temperature was about 55 degrees with 60% humidity early and then over 65 degrees later in the day. The air seems much cleaner than when we were here in 2002.

Most of the heavy industry has been moved out of the city, but there are still many more personal cars and more and more people each year. Beijing has over 100 colleges and universities as well as international corporate headquarters and many world banks.

Beijing, the modern political and administrative center of China, is also the greatest single repository of monuments and treasures from the imperial era. Like the old Chinese puzzles of "boxes within boxes," Beijing was originally laid out in a series of concentric circles.

We began our exploration at the grand Tiananmen Square. At 100 acres, it is the largest public square in the world, capable of holding more than a million people. Each of the cobbles is numbered so that parade units can line up in their assigned spots.

We had 15 minutes of free time to explore and take photos. Many of the Chinese tourists asked us to be in their photos or just wanted to take pictures of us! Hong arranged for a photographer to take a picture of our whole group.

Our guide Matt told us he was a student at the time of the tragic student demonstrations that took place here in 1989. Lined with official buildings, Tiananmen Square is presided over by the giant portrait of Chairman Mao, which hangs above the Gate of Heavenly Peace and seems to stare down at the leader's own Memorial Hall.

We saw a long line of people standing to enter the building where Mao is entombed in a crystal sarcophagus, his body draped in the red flag of the People's Republic that he founded in 1949.

We crossed under the busy avenues through the pedestrian walkway and entered the Forbidden City, or Gugong, a 9,000-room maze of courtyards, palaces, and ceremonial halls, where 24 emperors ("the Sons of Heaven") and two dynasties ruled the Middle Kingdom.

Protected by 30-foot-high walls and a 160-foot-wide moat, the Forbidden City was indeed a forbidden place; commoners were kept out for nearly 500 years. The greatest achievement of the visionary Emperor Yongle, this architectural triumph was completed in a mere 14 years by 200,000 workers.

Behind the Gate of Supreme Harmony, which is flanked by bronze lions, we saw the classic buildings with stunning interiors featuring marble floors and ceilings with grand murals. As the building is undergoing renovations throughout 2007, we were not able to enter the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Hong would describe an area and then give us free time on our own to explore. We found her to be very open and honest about the Chinese government and the country’s history. She does not just recite the Party Line!

We left the Forbidden City by way of the Emperor’s Garden and walked to the bus to meet Mr. Gao. At 2:00 we went for lunch. On our drive we all commented on how clean the city is and how beautiful the flowering trees are at this time of the year.

We finished our family style lunch at 3:00 and then drove back to our hotel which was about 40 minutes away. When we returned, Matt gave us 15 minutes to gather our selves and then we took an exploratory walk around our hotel to orient ourselves to the neighborhood.

Just around the block from our hotel is the Beijing Jiaotong University, an engineering school. We saw them negotiating for used textbooks in the park and also playing badminton and ping pong. I was asked to play and was surprised to have our whole group watch a short set of volleys between Matt and I.

We returned to the hotel and I helped Duane with his computer internet connection and we started to look at our pictures for the day. Dinner was at 7:00 so we were very glad we had walked as much as we did during the day!

We had an excellent welcome meal with Peking duck as the highlight. We have been very fortunate to have great and healthy food on the trip. I do not think we have had a repeat dish since we started our travels seven days ago.

After dinner Gennie and I returned to our room to finish our day’s work and prepare for another busy and long day tomorrow.

Accommodations: Shangyuan Hotel - - - Meal: B, L, D

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Day 10: Mediterranean Navigation

Antonio, Our Guide

Gardens at the Alcazaba

Roman Theater

Visiting with Picasso

Gennie & Vic, Malaga 2004

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