Beijing 4 to 5 May

We walked mostly in Beijing but our guide took us on a couple of buses and showed us the ropes. Love using public transport in foreign places - steep learning experience! Each ride costs about 40 cents.

Noise, grime, traffic, quirky splashed exotic colour and design - Beijing is rather intoxicating and enormous! Around 25 million people and 4-6 million cars on the road and growing. The Olympic Games in 2008 saw many ‘improvements’ to the city - ‘fast’ link roads, etc. There are now 6 ring roads encircling central Beijing. Currently a new rail linking enabling fast access from the city to the mountains and The Great Wall is being built to coincide with the Winter Olympics in 2022.

This is the old Bell Tower. It was the city time keeper and it’s time was set by a water clock. It is no longer used but in its day it was essential to daily life.

The Drum Tower. This was also a time marker. The two faced each other across a large square.

But to the old....... after the grandness of the Forbidden City our guide took us to the Drum and Bell Towers - the historic city time keepers, and to see some of the older Hutongs - residential alleyways that run east-west across the centre of town - very fengshui. They date back to the Yuan Dynasty in C13th and some still offer relatively affordable accommodation in a city where accommodation is at a premium, but I will leave it to you to google more about these traditional structures. Many have been bulldozed, but the area where were staying was crisscrossed with these tiny nested housing complexes (have a look at the map, zoom in and you’ll see what I mean). In some areas they have been converted to nightclub or touristy hubs, but many are still residential and still lack cooking and toilet facilities. As a result there are numerous malodorous public toilets in the streets and people have to use public shower blocks. It’s an interesting life! There are of course many larger courtyard houses, but we didn’t get to those.

This is the entrance to one of the hutongs. We didn’t wander inside as it felt a bit intrusive.

At the other end of that hutong. Note the car completely covered to protect it from ‘visiting’ dogs.

A map of where we stayed (circled dot) you can see how close we are to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Zoom in and you’ll see all the hutongs in the area. This was in the old area and it was marvellous albeit rather malodorous.

After many hours of walking, we stopped for coffee at this cute coffee franchise - all decorated with flowers.

Tiananmen Square, opposite the South Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tiananmen) of the Forbidden City, is massive and not the threatening space I expected. We wandered there near sundown on our second day and witnessed the pomp and disruption associated with the flag ceremony - the 8 lane road running between it and the Forbidden City was closed for well over half hour. (This road is a place for huge parades and tiers of seats line one side of thoroughfare.) The flag ceremony takes place at dawn and then again at dusk each day.

Outside the southern gate of the Forbidden City waiting for the sun to set.

Tiananmen Square. The floral arrangements were quite eye catching but we were told that on special days the display is really spectacular.

More sun setting but note if you can the tiers of seats in the background. These are so people can see the parade when they happen.

All the traffic stops for around half hour or more for the twice-daily flag ceremony. A patient people.

You would have needed to see the usual crush and flow of traffic to appreciate this deserted stretch of road.

We have wandered streets peering into courtyards and wondering at intriguing shops selling ?? Much of it is a mystery even when you take a closer look. I have to say the variety of and imaginative food items are impressive. You can buy a bottle of Aussie wine for $100-400 or $1 for beer or from about $2 for 250 ml 50% proof white spirit - whoops! no one light a match! They are a happy lot over dinner!

This rather imposing bronze statue stood outside the institute of traditional Chinese medicine. All the pressure points are illustrated. Quite intriguing. So much to know about the Chinese culture, one would need lots of time to even scratch the surface.

The streets are interesting places to wander. This wall marks a boundary but sorry I don’t recall to what. I think a garden area.

One felt quite safe walking at night - in the area where we were staying.

The city is staggering and fascinating and the people accommodating, but now time to visit the countryside .... more anon.

This rather imposing bronze statue stood outside the institute of traditional Chinese medicine. All the pressure points are illustrated. Quite intriguing. So much to know about the Chinese culture, one would need lots of time to even scratch the surface.