BEIJING--DAY 3

Friday,  March 15, 2013

     We had to change hotels today.  Going just couple blocks away from the Hilton to Peninsular Hotel.  Regent is paying for the hotel for all passengers who will be doing the full 78 day cruise to London.  In evening there will be “gala dinner” so we can meet those people.  Our driver hauled bags and us over to the new hotel at 9am.  Normal check in time was not until 3pm but luckily they had a room ready for us.  Got to take our luggage up and put money and jewelry in room safe.

     Then we were off for our day of touring.  First stop was Temple of Heaven in southern part of Beijing.  It was built in 1420 during Ming Dynasty and was place where the emperors would worship god of heaven and pray for a good harvest.  The place was huge and covered 674 acres and is 4 times larger than the Forbidden City.  Now in the morning locals use it as place to exercise.  There were quite a few ladies dancing while we were there.

                                                        Baked sweet potatoes

                                                          Entrance to Temple of Heaven

                                                   Women dancing in morning for exercise

                                We are standing where Emperors stood to pray for good harvest.

     From there we drove to the Pearl Market.  There were 5 stories of little shops selling electronics, clothes, watches, and lots of jewelry, mainly pearls.  We walked around for about 30 minutes but was not at all interested in buying so told Jenny we had had enough.  Next door was a McDonald’s and it was time for lunch.  Jenny was planning on another local Chinese restaurant but we told her we wanted to eat here.

     After lunch we drove back north to the Summer Palace.  It is the largest garden in China at over 700 acres and was built in 1750.  It is where the emperor and emperoress would spend summer.  A large man-made lake was also built there.

                                                            Huge lake is man-made

                                                       

                                                                  Interesting tree

                     

                             This covered walk way is over 1/2 mile long and has paintings throughout.

                                                                 Marble boat

                                                       There was no line here!

     We arrived back at the hotel at 3pm and said our goodbyes to jenny and Mr Fang.  Jenny was an excellent guide and we became very close to her so was hard time.  We found the Regent help desk and got information about dinner that night.  I went for walk as wanted to get some photos of the “night food” street.  It was a long block along street with hundreds of food stalls.  They would cook squid, scorpion, and god knows what else for you.  It is just open from 4pm to 9pm.

     Dinner was in grand ball room scheduled for 7:30pm.  We went down a little early and they were already serving wine outside of the room.  At 7:30 we were seated and there was 3 very attractive young ladies on stage playing ancient Chinese instruments during the whole dinner.  Very nice touch!  Regent always does things in first class manner however.  We saw several couples who we knew from our 2010 world cruise and last year’s Circle South America cruise.  It was like a reunion!  The dinner was fantastic. 

                                                      Entertainers at "gala dinner"

BEIJING BACKGROUND INFORMATION

     Located in northern China, Beijing is the capital of the “ People’s Republic  of China”.  With a population of nearly 21 million it is one of the most populous cities in the world, however it is the second largest Chinese city by urban population after Shanghai.  Beijing is known for its grand palaces, temples, gardens, tombs, walls, and gates.   It is the country’s political, cultural, and educational center.  The international airport here is the second busiest in the world by passenger traffic.  

     Its history dates back over 3000 years.  Over time many dynasties or emperors ruled China but that history fills many books so better not get into it on the blog.  Today the country is ruled by the Communist Party of China. 

     Beijing is the home to the headquarters of most of China’s largest state-owned companies and is a major transportation hub.  Finance is one of the most important industries.  In recent years real estate and automotive sectors have boomed.  Outside of the city, corn and wheat are the main agricultural crops grown.  Beijing is known for its smog problem but Capital Steel Company, the largest polluter, has been moved out of the city.  In preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics, the city spent $17 billion USD to try and clean up the air quality. 

     Port of Tianjin is the port for Beijing and where our cruise ship will be located.   It is about 100 miles east of Beijing city, and is one of the largest ports by size in the world.  The port is the 4^th largest port in the world by tonnage of cargo coming through it. 

     China’s main religions are Buddhism and Taoism, although some scholars doubt the term “religion” and suggest “cultural practices” or “philosophies” as more appropriate.

"Night Food" Street

                                       Food stalls full length of block open at 4pm for the night.

                                                        Not sure I would eat any of this.

https://goo.gl/photos/i1hT3PSr9mzUduvd9

BEIJING--DAY 2

     We met Jenny and Mr. Fang at 9:00am for our second day of touring Beijing.  We started the day with an hour drive northeast of the city to the Mutianyu section of The Great Wall of China.  The Great Wall is AMAZING!  It is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, and other stuff, and is generally built along an east-west line across the historical northern border of China.  The purpose of the walls was to protect the Chinese Empire against raids by nomadic and warlike peoples.  The walls were first started in the 7^th century BC and continued to be built for another 1000 years.  Some archaeological surveys found that the entire length of the wall with all its branches measures out to be over 13,000 miles long.  Can you imagine that??  Of course over the centuries the wall has not been maintained and prone to rain, erosion,  graffiti, and vandalism.  Parts of it around Beijing have been extensively renovated and preserved for tourist purposes.  There are several sections that are regularly visited by tourists.  We are at the Mutianyu section which winds along high, craggy, mountains that is located about 50 miles northeast of Beijing.  This section is one of the best preserved parts of the Great Wall.  It is built mainly of granite and is approximately 25 feet high and 15 feet wide at the top.  Originally built in the mid 6^th century, it was rebuilt in 1569 and until today most parts are well preserved.  The Great Wall is also said to be the longest cemetery as the workers who died while constructing it were buried inside the wall.  This is one of the “seven wonders of the world”!

                                             Remember, clicking on photo will enlarge it.

                                       Jenny is our tour guide for three days in Beijing.

                                        Souvenir stands line way to cable car to Great Wall

                                                  Took cable car up to the Great Wall

                                                                      WOW!

                                                            Watch tower on wall

     On the way back to our car, souvenir stands lined the way and the owners were very persistent.  To get you to stop they would say, “T-shirt $1” or “2 T-shirts for $1”.  Jenny told us they would cost us more.  We did stop at one place selling little snuff bottles.  The man would write your name inside the bottle with a very small brush.  He wanted $8 each but I paid him $3.

                                                 

                                                     Man is writing name on inside of snuff bottle.

     Now we headed through a winding mountain road for an hour to the northwest to visit the Ming Tombs.  Along the way we stopped at a “very” local restaurant for lunch.  Had Jenny not taken other tour folks here, I would never have eaten the food.  The specialty here was fish.  They caught the fish with a net, clubbed it, then took it to kitchen.  The fish pens were right in front of the restaurant and you watched all this.  I tried a bottle of Chinese beer.  It was pretty good as was the fish.  We didn’t get sick later. 

                                            The VERY local restaurant we had lunch at

                                                            Clubbing our fish 

                                                               Chinese beer was not bad.

                                                        The fish was spicy but good.

     Thirteen of the sixteen Ming Emperors were buried in tombs in an area 50 miles northwest of Beijing.  Only 3 of the tombs are open now to the public.  We visited the Chang Tomb.  He was the 3^rd Ming Emperor.  It was a large complex with buildings, one of which is now a museum.  The actual burial tomb was in back and was a HUGE mound probably 5 acres in size.  The Emperor and all his possessions are buried deep under it.

                                 Raised step at entrance to ALL places to keep evil spirits out.

     We arrived back at the hotel at 4:30.  We had 7:30 dinner reservations at a famous Peking duck restaurant (Wuan Ju De) only about a 5 minute walk from the hotel.  Neither of us cared much for the dinner.

https://goo.gl/photos/bWNJXSW58WNYvbaj9