Beijing, as in China

Posted under Southeast Asia 2009

Hard to say too much about Beijing, as we were on a power tour — two days to see it all — not going to happen. We did the best we could with what we had. I'll start off with how clean it is. Verrrry clean. Maybe the locals get incarcerated if they don't keep it clean, but for a city that has nearly the entire population of Canada, we could take some pointers. On the down side  — it was cool, much cooler than we had become accustomed to, and of course we had much previously send anything even looking like warm clothing, back to Canada. The cleverness of this is that it would also allow us to purchase additional new items to overfill our suitcases. After a quick run to a shopping center, we now have even more to bring back, however this will probably be on our backs.

Our first tour in China was to the Summer Palace. I guess that when you are Emperor and you get tired of your regular palace, you have but to command that another palace be built for a change of scenery. Bear in mind that this is in the same town, but maybe travel by rickshaw is not that comfortable. To keep palace A and palace B from being too much "same same", the summer palace was built by a lake. A small difficulty was that there was no lake nearby, but easily rectified by digging a hole, by hand, to a depth of about 10 feet, and covering several hundred acres. Now you have only to fill this with water and it becomes a lake. Simple eh? An added bonus is that the excavated dirt, when piled up high, very nearly becomes a mountain, and it is good luck to build a palace on a mountain. You might also build three island in your lake, as it is good luck to have visible islands in your lake and voila, you have it all. Now there is no point in having your own lake and not having your own boat, but maybe the emperor suffered a little "mal de mer" and so had his boat made of stone. This took a bit of the bounce out of the boat, but for those who wanted a feel of travel, a great mirror was erected on the upper deck, to catch the movement of the water below. This supposedly gave the feeling of movement.

It is amazing what you can do with unlimited funds and the patience of Job. Hiking the dirt from the lake up the side of the mountain that you are creating, in a couple of baskets on a balance pole, does not seem like fun — but then again, it only had to be fun for the emperor I guess.

The next day arrives and we are trying to cram the "must see" items into our remaining allotted time. We hired a car and driver, through the concierge, and head out. Our first stop — "The forbidden palace". Now in Beijing this is the palace of palaces. Huge would hardly describe the place, and the whole scam was for the exclusive use of the emperor. Well the emperor and his wives, well and his concubines, and maybe his poker buddies — but nay to mere mortals. It's just not that easy being emperor. Actually the last emperor spent most of his time in prison. He came to power at the age of four, I believe, so was somewhat lead about by his domineering mother. This gave her considerable power, which she obviously enjoyed. Not only did she chose his four wives, but she also picked out his many concubines. Now I saw photographs of these ladies, and if any of them were blind dates , they would best be described as having "wonderful personalities". Major lesson going on here — don't let your mother pick your dates, your wives, and particularly your concubines. Rumor had it that the emperor preferred the company of the eunuchs at any rate. At some point he must have become a tad more assertive, as his "mother dearest" had him placed under house arrest for ten years. He managed to get free about the time of the rise to power of good old Mao, who promptly had him placed under house arrest again. After a further ten years, Mao, in a moment of generosity, gave him his freedom. He took a look about, and shortly thereafter up and died.

From the forbidden palace we trundled on to Tiananmen Square , which looks much different without the tanks for crowd control. It is basically a large parade ground, surrounded by government offices. We didn't need to give this a big look, so set off for the "biggy" — The Great Wall of China.

We've all seen a hockey sock full of pictures of various parts of the great wall, but none of them are the same as being there. The wall was constructed of bricks laid in two walls, The gap in between (about 10 feet) was filled with earth and then topped with stone.These walls were some 15 to 20 feet high At strategic intervals, towers were constructed for a view of the surrounding area. All this in order to keep the Mongolian hordes at bay. The Mongolians must have been persistent rascals as well, for it took the Chinese 200 years to build the wall. I guess that you must take into consideration that the wall is approximately 7000 kilometers long, and oh yes, it is built along the peaks of the mountains. Nobody said that it would be easy — or quick. I would guess that it now attracts far more people than it repels, but it does take the breath away — or maybe it is the vertical climbing at high altitude. Definitely a sight to behold, and even better with Bonnie in the picture for a rare Kodak moment. Ignore the snowflakes, that is the best that Bonnie can smile when her teeth are chattering.

Back to Beijing to ready ourselves for the next day departure.