This is the last post of China presenting the massively busy crazy city of Beijing, the second most populous city in China and the Capital. China is in the lead so far as having the overall best food of the trip to date. The best single meal is still that home lunch I had in Georgia. You will see many Chinese dishes in this post and the reason I love them so much is that they cover so many different veggies and they are mostly spicey. My favourite was the stripped beans with mushroom, lentils, garlic and chilli.
It was strange watching our big orange truck fade into the distance as pulled away from The Great Wall around 9am on Fri 4JUL. The area around Badaling is not only mountainous but very lush and covered in what looks like a jungle – almost reminiscent of the islands of Hawaii – weird indeed. The taxi trip to my hotel was only 61km but took over an hour due to heavy traffic coming into the capital. It is a crazy place. Cars and people everywhere you look. Modern skyscrapers mixed with older run-down apartment buildings. Small shops mixed in with huge western-style shopping malls. Then there are the classic Chinese style watch towers near the centre. I shall explain Beijing in a nutshell at the end of this post…
A taxi took myself, Olivia and Graeme to our respective hotels downtown. I arrived last around 11am. After checking in I spent some time with the English-speaking concierge who looked online to find the cheapest prices for my drone and sports watch that I need to replace. She explained to me that the large electronics stores and arcades that we once visited back in 2007 no longer exist – everyone in China shops online, especially for electronics. The only physical stores that still exist are all the brand names like Apple, Samsung, Sony etc and they all have international pricing that is the same all over the world. The cheapest online drone and watch was the same as Australia so I am better off buying it at home especially for the plug and warranty. That freed me up for tomorrow – a run and then some solo walking of the attractions closest to my hotel. I booked a day tour for the larger, more distant attractions for Sunday. I spent the rest of the day topping up on water, wine and some peanuts. Located nearby restaurants selling Peking Duck and veggies for my dinners. It was stinking hot outside, 34C and super-humid. Went out for only 60min and came back soaking in sweat. Decided to stay put and continue planning Caribbean Trip at the end of this year. At 645pm a taxi with Olivia in it picked me up and we headed to the venue specialising in Peking Duck for our Madventure Farewell Dinner. We had our own room and the mood was excellent. Lots of laughter, recounting experiences and a general sense of accomplishment that we managed to go through so much and come out friends in the end. Each of us had a huge card that everyone else commented and signed. These were handed out and each of us gave their highlight of the trip as a type of acceptance speech. My highlight was The Wakhan Corridor on the Pamir Highway in Tajikistan. The food was terrific and the duck a real treat. It was a sad farewell and I taxied back to my hotel with Olivia and William. It was hard to believe that it was all over with Madventure. Tomorrow a new adventure – Beijing and Mongolia on my own !!!
I have no idea how I managed to drag myself out of bed at 6am and run around The Forbidden City twice to complete my last 10km run in China. Nine of them and in such differing places. I tried to run the southern boundary of The Forbidden City which adjoins Tiananmen Square but the police chased after me and stopped me !!! The policeman who stopped me was quite polite and his English good. He explained that I needed a ticket. I explained that I am simply running to the other side and not touring. No go. Despite this set back I completed the 10km in 28C and 90% humidity and was glad to be back in my arctic hotel room. At 930am I was off on my solo walk of the modern city. I visited the CBD which featured the Wangfujing Street Pedestrian Mall with all the big-name shops and malls adorning it. By 1130am the heat was so overwhelming that I caught a taxi back to the hotel and had a shower and snooze to re-charge for my afternoon solo walk. That started at 1pm and by this stage the sun was out and the sky very blue. Unusual in this heat and humidity – it is usually hazy and overcast. Took advantage and doubled up on my photos and film. I visited the following attractions: National Art Museum, Wangfujing Street (Main Pedestrian Mall), WR Mall, Beijing Mall, Round City (Hall of Divine Light, Giant Jade Jar), Jade Island (Temple of Eternal Peace, White Tower), Jingshan Park (Ming Sizong's Martyrdom Spot, Guande Temple, Shouhuang Palace, Jing Shan Pagodas Lookout). The highlight was the magnificently grand Shouhuang Palace and the view of the entire inside of The Forbidden City from the Jing Shan Pagodas Lookout inside Jingshan Park which is opposite The Forbidden City. Being Saturday there were literally coach-loads of Chinese pouring into and out of The Forbidden City. I would visit it tomorrow on an organised tour – I am dreading the crowds. As I walked the city in this searing heat I noticed that all the older men had rolled up their shirts to reveal their Buddha bellies !!! This is how the older Chinese cool themselves !!! Not a pretty look !!! 430pm marked my 3rd shower for the day and I settled down to wine and blogging until it was “duck time”. Peking Duck is not cheap. It usually sells around 200CYN (44AUD) and it is a small animal – much smaller than a BBQ chicken from Coles or Woolies. Despite this, it is tasty. Now it is time to taste the sites of modern Beijing, followed by some more classical buildings that I found in the Round City, Jade Island and Jingshan Park, all opposite The Forbidden City…
The next day was tour day. If I had one more day in Beijing I would have done the sites I am about to describe by myself because the guide I had and no concept of time and was there to “sell” us to his mates !!! I shall explain in a nutshell. Today’s tour featured 4 main sites with lunch. I was picked up on time by an auxiliary driver in an electric car at 720am and ferried to another larger hotel where a mini-van pulled up with 14 people – families from the USA and Canada. We walked to the entry gates to Tiananmen Square, our first main site, where the police had chased me the day before. This was the first disappointment. We did not cross over to the main square containing the Chairman Mao Mausoleum or The People’s Hall but stuck to the north in order to enter The Forbidden City which is next to the square. As usual there were thousands of local Chinese everywhere – you could hardly see the ground of Tiananmen Square – thank goodness I had seen it so empty back in 2007 and also got to see the preserved body of Chairman Mao – nowadays you need a reservation 3mths in advance and even with that you have to line up for a MINIMUM of 3hrs to spend 30sec looking at him.
Tiananmen Square is a city square in the city centre of Beijing, named after the Tiananmen ("Gate of Heavenly Peace") located to its north, which separates it from the Forbidden City imperial palace complex. The square contains the Monument to the People's Heroes, the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum of China, and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China in the square on October 1, 1949. The size of Tiananmen Square is 765 x 282 meters (215,730 m2 or 53.31 acres). Outside China, the square is best known for the 1989 protests which ended in massacre. The Chinese government claims 200-300 deaths, while Western Media Sources suggest figures between 2,600 and 10,000.
The Forbidden City is far from Forbidden !!! Every man and his Chinese dog was in there !!! Add 34C and 99% humidity and it was a terrible experience. Even the kids touring with us wanted to leave after 10min. I did my best to get film and photos of our second main site, without the millions of Chinese in the way. Here is where the guide made his first failure. Half of us, including me had tickets to get in and half did not. The half with tickets had to wait ONE HOUR for those without tickets. One hour less to see our 4 sites. The guide then raced us through the middle of The Forbidden City with hardly any time to take photos. I actually got separated 4 times whilst taking photos but managed to keep an eye on “Hunter”, a 6ft 15yr old from Wyoming who could be easily spotted. The guide had a tiny teddy bear on the end of his guiding pole, whilst others had brightly coloured flags so no point trying to spot him. Just a few words on this magnificent city despite the rushed hot tour…
The Forbidden City is the imperial palace complex in the centre of Beijing and home to 24 Ming and Qing dynasty Emperors, and the centre of political power in China for over 500 years from 1420 to 1924. As a 1987 UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world. Covering 720,000 square metres, The Forbidden City is the largest preserved royal palace complex still standing in the world. The Forbidden City was constructed from 1406 to 1420. The complex has of 9,999 rooms in total. Since 2012, the Forbidden City has seen an average of 14 million visitors annually, and received more than 19 million visitors in 2019. In 2018, the Forbidden City's market value was estimated at US$70 billion, making it both the world's most valuable palace and the most valuable piece of real estate anywhere in the world. Please enjoy the rushed images of The Forbidden City…
We walked from the South Gate to the North Gate of The Forbidden City. A mini-van collected us and we drove to the China Cultural Centre where we received a lecture on Chinese Herbal Medicine while enjoying a foot massage that cost us extra without anyone telling us. No worries about cost – was only 7AUD for 30min but in my opinion here was another hour gone that we could have spent on the 4 key sites. From here it was a short drive to a restaurant where we enjoyed 7 traditional dishes (see photos). The lunch was necessary but we could have done it in 30min since the food was already at the table instead of the 60min the guide took. That’s 2.5hrs total now gone. Then came the last nail in the touring coffin. Another stop to attend a Chinese Tea Ceremony and taste high quality tea. Not that there was anything wrong with this but the foot massage and tea ceremony were NOT present in the tour notes. The tea ceremony was great but ate another hour. So, we had wasted a total of 3.5hrs on stuff not in our itinerary that could have been used to visit the 4 main sites.
Our next stop was the third main site of The Temple of Heaven. The Temple of Heaven is a complex of imperial religious Confucian buildings situated in the southeastern part of central Beijing. The temple complex was constructed from 1406 to 1420 during the reign of the Yongle Emperor of Ming Dynasty, who was also responsible for the construction of the Forbidden City in Beijing. The complex was visited by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for a good harvest. The Temple of Heaven was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1998. Once again a sea of people in searing heat with a total of only 30min spent there – I hope my photos do it justice…
It was a 45min drive to get to The Summer Palace, our fourth and last main site. The Summer Palace is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden during the Qing dynasty dating back to 1153AD. It covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water. The Summer Palace contains over 3,000 Chinese ancient buildings that house a collection of over 40,000 valuable historical relics from various dynasties resulting in UNESCO protection in 1998. It was here that I got the shits. I walked 45min to get to the main palace and when I got there it was closed !!! Thanks to the unadvertised and therefore wasted 3.5hrs we had arrived here so late that it was closed. Had to take photos outside the main wall through trees. I ran back to make it in time to meet the others who the guide took to an island 100km away from the main palace complex (it was 2km but you needed a zoom camera to take any decent photos from there). Once again, I hope my photos do this last site justice…
The best part of this tour was getting back to the hotel to a cold room and shower !!! Even the mini-van was not properly air-conditioned adding to the pain of this tour. I am glad I went only because I would not have enough time to organise 4 sites plus transport on my own. Despite this, I really enjoyed my last night in Beijing finishing off my cheese and wine before my next solo adventure to Mongolia tomorrow !!!
BEIJING IN A NUTSHELL:
Beijing (Pop 22.19million. Elev 43m) previously known as Peking is the capital city of China. It is the world's most populous national capital city as well as China's second largest city by urban area and population after Shanghai. Beijing is a global city and one of the world's leading centres for culture, diplomacy, politics, finance, business and economics, education, research, language, tourism, media, sport, science and technology, transportation, and art. It is home to the headquarters of most of China's largest state-owned companies and houses the largest number of Fortune Global 500 companies in the world, as well as the world's four biggest financial institutions by total assets. It is also a major hub for the national highway, expressway, railway, and high-speed rail networks.
For a decade before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Beijing Capital International Airport was Asia's busiest airport (2009–2019) and the second busiest airport in the world (2010–2019). In 2020, the Beijing subway was the fourth busiest and second longest in the world. The city has hosted numerous international and national sporting events, the most notable being the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2008 Summer Paralympics Games. In 2022, Beijing became the first city ever to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics and also the Summer and Winter Paralympics.
Beijing is one of the oldest cities in the world, with a rich history dating back over three millennia. As the last of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, Beijing has been the political centre of the country for most of the past eight centuries and was the largest city in the world by population for much of the second millennium AD. Beijing hosts 176 foreign embassies. The city is renowned for its opulent palaces, temples, parks, gardens, tombs, walls and gates. In 2018, Beijing was the second highest earning tourist city in the world after Shanghai. Beijing is home to many national monuments and museums and has eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Society of China.
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