Beijing

Our trip began with something unusual.  Instead of flying West from Dulles to Beijing (mostly over the pole) we flew east over the pole to take advantage of the tailwinds.  So, in effect, this trip was a round-the-world flight (we came home heading East to San Francisco and DC).  That's something we'd never done before.

And oh my what a long flight.  Lose a day and arrive totally wiped out, followed by a long 1 hour trip into town from the Beijing airport.  Fortunately, we had a wonderful hotel -- the Red Wall Garden.  Right in the heart of Beijing near the Forbidden City, this was a walled "hutong" hotel with a central garden with a fish pond to sit in and relax and a comfortable duplex room for the three of us. 

We walked out that evening into one of the first restarants we saw -- with a menu that had no English on it only pictures and, more remarkably, no bathroom.  If you had to go ... just hold it.

The next day started bright and early with a trip to Tienamin Square and the Forbidden City.  Tienamin was enormous and (as we noted in an early post) somewhat foreboding.  The Forbidden City was quite a lot of fun -- beautiful architecture.  One of the interesting things was learning something of the symbolism of the buildings.  For instance the number of animals on the corners of each roof signified the importance of the building -- the more the merrier.  Likewise, the two lions guarding the the City were male and female -- distinguishable because one of them held a globe while the other held a cub.  This is something Kyle noticed before either of us.  Oddly enough, however, the remaining treasures (Chang Kai Shek took most of them to Taiwan) were not terribly well preserved.

One of the more remarkable things we saw was a small family house (a "hutong" -- walled garden) near the center of the city.  We took a rickshaw ride to get there (no cars allowed) and were shocked to hear that the going price for these was $5000/square meter!  The owners were, in fact, multimillionaries.    And the first day ended with an amazing Kung Fu show -- the master broke three metal bars on his head as the climax of the event.

Day 2 saw a trip to the Wall.  As we said it was truly GREAT.  Wide enough to drive a car on at the top and 1000 miles long more or less.  You could see its grandeur and scale even in the small sample of what we walked.  Kyle climbed one of the taller/steeper pieces while we waited for him.   We'd write more, but in truth words don't do the scope and scale of it justice.  On the way home we stopped to wander in a small art community that looked very much like any similar one in Santa Fe.  Lots of nouveau stuff that was a bit out there - and totally surprising for an authoritarian country.

Our last day in Beijing started with a trip to the Heavenly Palace and local park.  As we said, the park was teeming with people in the early morning.  Mostly older folks, all of whom were out with friends.  Some were doing Tai Chi; others ball room dancing.  There was music being played; an opera singer singing; Mai Jhong and water calligraphy.  It was busy and vibrant early in the morning and full of life.  If we were old in Beijing, that's where we would go.  Altogether a total hoot.

Then it was off to Xian.  We took the bullet train there -- a 6 hour journey with top speeds of 200 mph.  The ride was smooth as silk as it ran on an elevated rail line.  Obviously the construction was fantastic -- but as we learned it was also done by taking the right of way from the locals without any compensation (or environmental impact assessment).  As we travelled we saw construction everywhere --- literally 100s of new buildings going up.  There is clearly a boom going on -- but the scope and scale made us wonder if it might also be a bubble waiting to burst.  Only time will tell.