Beijing

We left the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an behind and headed by plane to Beijing for a week.

The Swissotel was a good choice to stay as it was next to one of the metro stations on the circle line.

The day arrived in Beijing visibility was less than 1 kilometre as the pollaze (pollution and haze) was hanging thick over the city. However late in the day there were signs of an improvement as the distant hills slowly emerged. Things looked really promising for the trip which we had booked for the following day.

First stop was the Ming tombs.



Entrance Gate



Useful advice

Passing through the gate, having noted the useful advice, one then enters the Changling Sacred Way to the Ming Tombs.  This was begun by Emperor Xuande in 1435 and has a long avenue of pairs of statues.


The Changling Sacred Way

The statues provide convenient photo oportunites not to be missed. If you are patient you can even get photos of the individual ones free of posers.



People free Changling horse

At the end of the Changling Way one gets on the bus again to where the actual tomb is. First one goes to the Pavillion before climbing to the tomb itself.



The Pavilion

Inside is a museum outlining the history of the Ming Tombs and various artifacts. Presiding over everything is the first Ming Emperor, Yongle. The various emperors spent vast sums building their tombs, each trying to out do the previous ones, if time permitted and they didn't die earlier than they expected. More about tombs when I revisit Xi'an and the Terracotta Army.



Emperor Yongle



The tomb is ahead.

After the tomb visit the climbed up into the hills. A stop for lunch and it was then onto the main destination for the day.

Not to be left behind, Shaun the sheep, made his next appearance.



Shaun the sheep again

The air in China is notorious for the pollaze as I have called it. However this day, 9 August 2012, skies were clear, visibility was excellent and the clouds could been seen in the bright blue sky, particularly in the morning but it still good when we got here.

Where is Shaun the sheep now?

Entrance to The Great Wall at Mutianyu

Three good things in our favour this day:

1. The weather was great, visibility excellent.
2. It was a Thursday and so less people around. Chinese being the most numerous visitors of course. The sheer number of visitors anywhere at the weekends is diabolical.
3. The place we went to is not the closest to Beijing (that is Badaling). At Mutianyu, there is easy access via cable car! Expensive but it keeps the number of visitors lower.

As a result, blue skies in most of the photos and hardly any people about!



Taking the easy way up.



Shaun the sheep's entourage pose for a family photo.

Guard towers are space two arrow lengths apart over the entire length of the wall, in excess of 6,000km.




This is where we left the wall for a toboggan ride down to meet the bus and return to Beijing.

Another family photo on The Great Wall. That's me on the right.

The metro in Beijing takes you to Yonghe Gong and the Lama Temple. This is one of the more colourful Buddist Temples we saw in China and worth a visit.

Lama Temple



Lots of incense is burnt during prayers



One of the temple guardians



Main prayer hall



Lama Temple buildings



The Temple of Heaven

High on the list of places to visit in Beijing are The Temple of Heaven and The Forbidden City. Judging by the crowds of locals, a must see for all, as well as Tian'amen Square. If you want to file past Chairman Mao in the mausoleum, you must be there early as it closes at 11.00am.

One of the entrances to The Forbidden City



The Forbidden City



Restored roof detail.

It was good to see that restoration was in progress but many parts of The Forbidden City are in urgent need of attention as some of the details are fast crumbling.

The Forbidden City



The Forbidden City doorway



Fire vat



Some details about the copper and iron pots in The Forbidden City

Other places to visit in Beijing would be the Hutongs - plan to spend a day wandering around them. (Metro station: Jishuitan). A week in Beijing allows time to see all the main sites. We didn't get to The Summer Palace however as this was left for another possible visit.

The Natural History Museum was somewhat disappointing with many exhibits in a poor state of repair.

After our time was up it was off to the new Beijing South railway station for the 4hr 55 min trip to Shanghai. (Modern Chinese railway stations are huge - 30 platforms not uncommon!)