 |
|
|
||||
|
|
My Trip to ChinaLast month, I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to Beijing for a week. It was unbelievably beautiful and surreal. The irony of China (to me at least) was that as a non-democracy, I felt safer walking around downtown Beijing than I would in Manhattan. The people were incredibly friendly and the culture was unbelievably rich! China is definitely an up and coming industrial powerhouse and based on what I saw, I would have to say that this country will probably the world's industrial superpower in the next 20 years. I'll be writing a series of articles on ERP in Asia but for now, here are a few pictures from the trip. My first day in Beijing, I met this student at Tiananmen Square who wanted to trade stories about America and English lessons for a brief tour of the city. Worked for me...I bought him lunch as well...
The traditional tea house, So.. we went to a traditional tea house. The beautiful table is where the lady makes the tea and pours out the discarded tea. It was really really good tea. After a week in Beijing, you've tasted tea at about a dozen places and you can tell the difference..
The entrance to the Forbidden City, ..It's really amazing...In Tiananmen Square, on the way to the Forbidden city, there is a huge really awe inspiring picture of Mao. It's very breath taking...
The Forbidden City, ..Many
of you have seen the Hollywood movie called "The Last Emperor." If you have
seen that movie, you probably remember the child running through a huge
palace. That child is known as Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasy and
the last person to live in the Imperial Palace, otherwise known as the Forbidden
City. The name "Forbidden City " came from the fact that ordinary things
(people or materials) could not enter the gates, they were "forbidden." It
leaves you breathless..
The Forbidden City, ..There I am standing in the forbidden city...
Leaving the Forbidden City, ..An absolutely amazing view...
The Summer Palace
Located 15km from Beijing, the Summer Palace is the largest and
best-preserved royal garden in China. The Summer Palace has a history of over
800 years. Early in the Jin dynasty, an imperial palace named Golden Hill Palace
was built on the present site of the Summer Palace. In 1750,with 4.48 million
taels of silver, Emperor Qian Long of the Qing dynasty built the Garden of Clear
Ripples here and renamed the hill Longevity Hill to celebrate his mother's
birthday. It was really calm and beautiful...
The Great Wall at Badaling: So on the way to the great wall, you have the option to take a rollercoaster type thingy up part of the way. It's really cool and it saves you the hardest part of the hike. Badaling is located at Yanqing County, more than 70 kilometers northwest from the center of Beijing City. It is a mountain pass of the Jundu Mountain. Badaling is at the highest point of north end of the Guan'gou gorge, in which the Juyongguan Pass lies. In the history, the function of Badaling was to protect the Juyongguan Pass. Along with Guan'gou gorge, there are several interests and historic sites. Badaling is a rare ancient military defense project. The elevation of it is about 1,000 meters. The wall of Badaling has a total
length of 3, 741 meters with an average height of 8 meters The highest part is
15 meters. The total area for a tour is 19, 000 square meters. The top of the
wall can permit five horses to be ridden abreast. There are arched doors at the
inner side of the wall with very little distance between each two doors. The
arched doors lead you to the top of the wall by stone stairs.
The Great Wall at Badaling: This is me pausing to take a rest half way up...this was quite the hike...
The Great Wall at Badaling: Me flashing my uber annoying peace sign....
The Great Wall at Badaling: Close to the top. By the way, I wore the jacket because I thought that it was going to be breezy and cool up there... MISTAKE... It was actually pretty warm and I had to haul that jacket up the great wall.. Murphy's law.. go figure.
Chinese dining: We went to this absolutely unbelievable restaurant in Beijing where the food was amazing. This was peppered chicken. It was fabulous and the atmosphere was phenomenal.. The food was great too..
Me and my Girlfriend:
We stayed at the Novotel Xinqiao in Beijing. It's a really cool hotel with cozy
rooms and it's about 5 blocks from Tiananmen Square. The proximity of the hotel
from all the tourist spots make it a really great place to stay.
End of the road..: Last night in Beijing, seen the sights, packed and ready to go. Just enough time to catch a quick drink...
|
|
