Back Sea Lake, Hutong area
Li Chen exhibit, National Art Museum
Sacred Way
The Great Wall of China
One of many Olympic Stadiums
Tiananmen Square
Forbidden City
May 3I leave for Miami International airport at 5am for a 7:45am flight to Bejing via San Fransico, and Hong Kong. There are at least 1000 people in one line waitng to check in at the American Airline International counter. I wait over 1 hour before getting my boarding pass, and another 45 min before I get to my gate. On my flight to Hong Kong I am very lucky to find 3 seats together where I can sleep. Unfortunately, we take off late and I miss my connecting flight to Bejing by 10 minutes, and they put me overnight at the very nice Hong Kong Airport Hotel.
I feel like I am getting sick and my chest is tight. Using the internet costs about $25 pr hr, but for some reason since it is 5:30am they are not charging me.
I am a little skeptical about traveling with 19 people on my tour of China. I will have to follow the time and itinerary of the group, and be on a bus. This is the only country I am going on a tour, since I was told by many of my friends who have been there, that it is difficult to get around even if I was traveling with my own guide and driver, as I have done in all the other countries I have visited.
I believe this to be a good time to visit China, since they will be sprucing up for the Olympics.
I am reading a very funny book called 'Holy Cow' written by a Sarah Macdonald, about her experience living in India with her boyfriend. Since I was just there, I can relate.
May 5
I arrive in Bejing airport and have to wait with the local guide 1 hr for another couple to fill out forms since their luggage did not arrive. As it turns out, the representative from Cathay Pacific airlines who greeted me the night before and gave me my voucher for the Airport Hotel and my new boarding pass, didn't call the Hotel and driver in Bejing as she promised she would, to let them know I would not be arriving until the next day. The guide from Ritz Tours waited until 1am at the airport for me, and the hotel said they would charge me since they did not receive the call. All in the life of a traveler.
My throat is starting to hurt, and my ears fell plugged.
I arrive in Bejing airport and have to wait with the local guide 1 hr for another couple to fill out forms since their luggage did not arrive. As it turns out, the representative from Cathay Pacific airlines who greeted me the night before and gave me my voucher for the Airport Hotel and my new boarding pass, didn't call the Hotel and driver in Bejing as she promised she would, to let them know I would not be arriving until the next day. The guide from Ritz Tours waited until 1am at the airport for me, and the hotel said they would charge me since they did not receive the call. All in the life of a traveler.
My throat is starting to hurt, and my ears fell plugged.
May 6
I didn't sleep most of the night with my chest hurting when I couph up flem, and my body aching. Bill responds to an email I sent him asking for directions with medication I have brought. We met in the lobby at 8:30am for a full day of sightseeing. I meet my tour group and feel like I am traveling with my parents friends, but everyone is very nice. The hotel is beautiful, and my room is great.
We take our bus to Tiananmen Square which can hold 1/2 million people. In the square there is the Peoples Conference Hall, the Monument to the Peoples Hero's, the National History museum and the Tomb of Chairman Mao. The air in Bejing is polluted and it is smoggy outside which makes me feel even worse. We enter the Forbidden City through a gate with a picture of Mao Ze Dong above us. The Imperial Palace covers an area of 1,ooo,ooo sq meters, with its many outer and inner courts, facing south, with only red, blue, green and yellow colors. It was built 600 years ago and was the ritual center of the Ming and Qing Dynasty.
In 1949, Mao Ze Dong declared independenence for the Chinese People. Bejing is 1000's of years old, but the highrise buildings started in the 1950's. Bejing is laid out in an organized way with many new tall modern buildings. Everywhere, there are road and building improvements in preperation for the Olympic games.
I didn't sleep most of the night with my chest hurting when I couph up flem, and my body aching. Bill responds to an email I sent him asking for directions with medication I have brought. We met in the lobby at 8:30am for a full day of sightseeing. I meet my tour group and feel like I am traveling with my parents friends, but everyone is very nice. The hotel is beautiful, and my room is great.
We take our bus to Tiananmen Square which can hold 1/2 million people. In the square there is the Peoples Conference Hall, the Monument to the Peoples Hero's, the National History museum and the Tomb of Chairman Mao. The air in Bejing is polluted and it is smoggy outside which makes me feel even worse. We enter the Forbidden City through a gate with a picture of Mao Ze Dong above us. The Imperial Palace covers an area of 1,ooo,ooo sq meters, with its many outer and inner courts, facing south, with only red, blue, green and yellow colors. It was built 600 years ago and was the ritual center of the Ming and Qing Dynasty.
In 1949, Mao Ze Dong declared independenence for the Chinese People. Bejing is 1000's of years old, but the highrise buildings started in the 1950's. Bejing is laid out in an organized way with many new tall modern buildings. Everywhere, there are road and building improvements in preperation for the Olympic games.
I feel so ill that I leave the group and take a taxi back to the hotel, missing the afternoon visit to the summer palace.
May 7
China has 1.3 billion people consisting of 56 nationalities, primarily Han people. In the morning we head into the countryside to visit the Ming dynasty Emperor Museum, and walk on the majestic Sacred Way lined with willow trees and stone animal carvings. We eat lunch at a government store that actually has a large variety of high quality Chinese products. I buy Olympic T shirts for my family. Engraved 4 star toilet signs let us know they are clean, but usually just a hole in the ground.
As we drive through the green covered Yan mountains, our guide explains that when more tourists began coming to the Great Wall, the government brought in soil to cover 10 to 20 kilometers of what was barren rocky mountains. The highlight of the day is climbing the Great Wall of China. The 4000 mile Wall was built 2500 years ago by different Kingdoms, and was connected in 220 BC under the leadership of the 1st Emperor of China who unified the country of China, which took 1 million people, 10 years to complete. We take a cable car up to the 8th station, and climb ancient, steep, slippery worn steps, which zig zag up, down, and around. As I am walking, many chinese young men motion me to stand next to their girlfriends for a picture. Later it is explained to me by by guide that these are chinese tourists from other provinces who rarely see foreigners.
May 8
This is the first day we can see blue skies. Hutong, in old town Bejing, has low rise buildings, with narrow alley ways. On rickshaws, we visit a clean, organized public preschool. A public park has exercise equipment supported by lottery money. Lunch is at an 'average' private home consisting 1000 sq meters, 16 small rooms surrounding an open courtyard covered overhead with grapes growing on bamboo trellises, plants, red paper decorations, birds, a clothes line, red painted doors, and green painted window frames. This home has been in this family for 5 generations and though not for sale is worth 1 and 1/2 million dollars. In the husband's studio we see his inticate paper cutting art work which is for sale.
Back sea lake, in Hutong, is surrounded with a willow tree lined boardwalk, with stores, resturaunts, music and people strolling.
Most of the exhibits at the National Art Museum of China are in the process of being prepared in time for the Olympics and only had 2 exhibits open, both of which were great. One was by a famous miniature caligraphy artist, and the other was an exhibit of Li Chen called "In Search of Spiritual Space". With another couple from my tour, we take a taxi to 798, a Soho like street of old warehouses lined with Art Galleries. Again, the street is being redone and is a mess, filled with rocks and dirt. We see many interesting works of art, and many large pieces in the $40,000 range.
In Bejing in the winter, it may only snow 5-6 times, but more problematic are the heavy wind and sand storms. Our guide, Cher told us her family's story. She grew up in the Hutong area. In the 1960's Chairman Mao redistributed existing housing to 4 sq meters per person. Her family, consisting of her mother, father, sister and grandmother, lived in 2 rooms totaling 30 sq meters. Her sister slept in her parents bed and she slept with her grandmother. They used a coal stove for heating and cooking. Seven families, consisting of 40 people were squeezed in her building, with one toilet. Even though there was no privacy, she remembers a good childhood where all the neighbors took care of each other. When she was a young child, her father was forced to leave and work in the country side for 3 years. Her mother was allowed to stay in their home due to the young age of her children.
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