Beijing

We arrived in Beijing having flown 13 hours straight from Newark, NJ. The airport is new with an impressive curved roof, high strut ceilings and granite marble floors. It is spotless. We are met by our tour guide. Tina, who speaks good English (we are on a 14 day tour conducted by Sinorama Holidays of Canada, at a bargain price - later I hear it is subsidized by the Chinese government to encourage tourism!). I change money at the airport; the ATM swallows my credit card, but I get it back from the bank with a minimum of fuss. We drive to the hotel of a 6 lane highway, bordered with flowering shrubs and green grass. Dinner, as is most dinners, is buffet with numerous Chinese dishes (none to spicy) and I eat a ton (I weigh myself in at 80Kg). Our group consists of 7 Chinese Canadians, 2 Canadian Canadians, 2 Vietnamese Canadians and us, 2 Indian Americans - quite a motley collection.

Our first day takes us to a huge 'Temple of Heaven' complex, built by the Ming dynasty in the 15th century, devoted to the spiritual pursuits of only the Emperor and his entourage. Heaven is the Ying of the Earth's Yang. The Chinese seemed quite obsessed with the concept of Heaven, which appears to be a condition of being in harmony with all natural, spiritual and human elements. The temples have an ascending succession of spheres, ending in a spire and are very graceful. We pose and take a photo on the Heavenly Center Stone. The site is beautifully laid out with all trees over 500 years marked in red - these include many junipers and cypresses. On to a cycle rickshaw tour of old Beijing and then to the 'Forbidden City' - a most impressive collection of building, only for the Emperor (all others were forbidden entry) and his entourage which included his concubines, (Zhudi the 3rd emperor is said to have had 3000, give or take a few) and his eunuchs (so his concubines could be safe). Beautiful large building, with colored tiles in yellow and red and dragon carved eaves (the number of dragons denoting the importance of the inhabitant). All the building were constructed in wood, without nails, using only joints and have names like 'Hall of Preserved Harmony' or 'Heavenly Hall' with Blue being the most important color as it represented Heaven, followed by Yellow, Red and Green. The forbidden city has 9999 1/2 rooms as Heaven has 10,000. The forbidden city opens out into Tianamen square a huge opening dominated by a mausoleum of Mao. Large numbers of Chinese and foreigners walk about in the square and one becomes aware of the population of China. One curious phenomenon is the Chinese fascination with 'long nose' persons (Caucasians) and I am asked several time to pose with young Chinese men and women, for photos with them. I am also propositioned by a young Chinese lady - ah to be young again!

Our third day takes us to the absolutely amazing Great Wall of China - at Badling (seven hills), built from 500 AD on. I climb a little and then just sit and look at this huge edifice, stretching miles in every direction, along steep hills and down dales and wonder and how its building was sustained for over 600 years. We visit the Ming tombs, but I have seen so much already that I am saturated. We also visit a Jade factory - jade being the favorite precious stone of the Chinese as it is very hard, comes in a variety of colors and is available in China. Ellen buys a bracelet and I buy a small Pixiu - a mythical dragon and lion - a symbol of good luck. On our way back we stop off at the Olympic site and see the Bird's Nest main pavilion and the Water Cube aquatic stadium - both very impressive. Dinner is Peiping Duck, a 7 day force fed duck, roasted and eaten in a tortia with duck sauce. Delicious and crispy without the trace of a fatty taste

Our last day have us visiting the Summer palace - residence of the Dragon Empress, a concubine that produced a favorite son and was regent for half a century - built around a huge ornamental lake. Very peaceful and protected by the Chinese version of a unicorn that prevented floods. We visit a pearl factory and then its off to the airport for a domestic flight to Chunking (pronounced ChinChoon) the embarkation point for a 3 day cruise down the Yangzte river. But that and the rest of our Chinese trip in the next blog