06 July 2011

Beijing, Day 7 and 8.

Beijing was our entry point to the country and our last stop on the trip.
It was also one of the busiest parts of the trip.
It is hard to believe we have been home for almost two months.
Beijing China.
 Monks at the Beijing Airport.
Our flight from Xian to Beijing was delayed by several hours.
When we arrived, we went straight to Tian'anmen Square.
This is The Monument to the People's Heroes on Tian'anmen Square.
The building behind it is Chairman Mao Zedong's Mausoleum. 
 We were there late in the evening. They have two of these giant screen TV's on the square.
Our guide said the pictures and video they are showing are "Beautiful China".
It was very surreal.
When I think of Tian'anmen Square, I think of Communist May Day parades and student riots that ended badly. What we saw was a place where local people gather in the evenings, and tourists, mostly Chinese, come to look.
 My Sweet Husband and I are standing in front of the Meridian Gate on the square.
It leads into the forbidden city.
See Mao's portrait behind us?
Seen on Tian'anmen Square. 
 The military presence is everywhere in China.
After exploring the square, we followed our guide through the gate for a walk through some imperial gardens.
We had dinner at a restraunt inside the gardens,
then off to our hotel for a good nights sleep.
We had another very good breakfast buffet before setting out on our way to the great wall. 
We drove past this shop front.
Looks like a Christmas store. 
It is hard to tell, but I think the animals along the roof are Lunar Calendar figures.
Do you know your year's animal?
I am a rabbit. 
This very unusual building was the site of some Olympic events.
Our guide called it the "Birds Nest". 
Another of Beijing's unusual buildings.
This is the Dragon Building.
Can you see the head? 
The smaller buildings behind it are meant to be the dragon's humps. 
This trycycle is certainly not a toy.
We saw several of these being used like small trucks. 
A visit to the Beijing Jade Carving Factory.  
Awesome stuff!
Jade Ship.
There were two of these in different parts of the store.
They are about 6 feet from bow to stern.
Tons of detail!
I knew I should have brought a bigger suitcase......
Oh, well, it is probably hard to dust.
Next stop is the Great Wall. I will post those photos soon.
Only a few days worth of pictures left to share.
Cheers,
Kat

8 comments:

  1. oo some cool stuff...the jade ship...and that wacky building..the square as well had to be an experience...

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  2. That place is so pretty and so unique, I can only imagine the fun!

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  3. What a place and what an unusual destination foe a holiday too. Looking at the photos I can understand why my Lovely G would like to go there......

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  4. It's lovely seeing the Bird's Nest especially when its creator (artist Ai Weiwei) is so persecuted by the authorities! It's such a shame - you've shown a China so incredibly vibrant and charming, historical and stunning but spoilt somewhat by these authoritarian reminders and oh the pollution!

    Oh but what a vacation though!!! So memorable! Take care x

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  5. What a spectacular trip!

    I'm curious to know if you had any problems entering/leaving, with official documents, etc. Or is the tourist industry now such that it's fairly straight forward? The young son of a co-worker (and his girlfriend) have been travelling through the southern hemisphere and now are heading to China, Russia, Mongolia, parts of Europe. I asked if they had problems with travel visas, but only for China and Mongolia, I think.

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  6. Old Kitty,
    The pollution and politics of the place did remind me of how lucky we are.
    Fuzzy Tales,
    We had to apply for visas well in advance, other thatn that, no paperwork hassles. One truly weird thing, the airport security people always seemed to be in a good mood. Ours are invariably grumpy. You would think it would be the other way around.
    Kat

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  7. Looks like you had a spectacular trip, i have always wanted to see the terracotta army! maybe one day.

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  8. Thanks for the China photos, they bring back a lot of memories from a trip we took a few years ago. I too saw the Jade ships in the museum. They were almost hard to believe, the detial was so intricate. The Bird Nest building was under construction then, and I thought that the portrait of Mao was a bit like Betty Crocker, very much like a favorite uncle, a little sanitized, not the true powerful image of their revolutionary leader. What is that about?

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So, what do you think? Did you like it? I love hearing from you.

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