JFitzpatrick Travel LLC

Several days before I began to think in earnest about my next travel blog, I received an interesting quiz called  “The Travel List Challenge’s 100 Places To Visit Before You Die”.  Specifically,  the quiz asks: “How many of these places have you visited?”  After taking the quiz, I realized that I have been to 57, have written about 17 in my past blogs and that there are also many other great sites I’ve visited that aren’t listed in this quiz.   I then thought, “Gee, why should my blogs only feature my latest month’s travel? Why not past travels as well?”  So, with this in mind, pack your suitcase, grab your passport, and let’s go visit the world, starting in Beijing, China which I visited in 2009.    (By the way, find the quiz at http://www.listchallenges.com/100-places-to-visit)

China is the worlds second largest economy, behind the United States, and Beijing is its capital.  As the powerhouse of the Chinese economy, is the only city in the world designated to host both the summer (2008) and winter (2022) Olympics.  Remember the vast  and impressive number of Chinese drummers and the magnificent Birdseye Stadium from the 2008 Olympics?

 Birdseye Stadium—Still Impressive!

Two things struck me as David and I arrived in Beijing. The first was the unrelenting smog which was so thick that we were almost on the ground before we could tell that we were landing.  As we traveled from the airport to our hotel, the second item was the massive size of the buildings, the huge number of skyscrapers and the modern feel of the city.  Before arriving there, I had the mistaken notion that Beijing was yet another third world city.  I likened it to cities in Vietnam which, in many respects, continue to be third world.  Was I ever wrong!

 Beijing—-Looking Like Any Modern City, Except, The Rail Station Has Old World Architecture

Fortunately for us, much of the smog cleared out the day after we arrived and we were off to exploring.  First stop was the Pearl market (Hongqias Market) as I had to get some shopping in right away.    “Hey lady, want me makes you a necklace?”  “Hey lady, my price really good!” All around, there are always lots of vendors vying for your attention and selling everything from video games to electronic goods to jewelry…the biggest variety of pearls I’ve ever seen.  This place is not for shopping lightweights!  Haggling is a must and though I may have not negotiated the best prices, I left really happy with my purchases and feeling like I had had a major shopping fix.  Note, over a million visitors a year frequent this place.

Next  we were off to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden city.

Tianamen Square, located in the center of Beijing, is named after the Tianamen gate to the north of the square which separates it from the Forbidden City.  It is among the largest city squares in the world (about 109 acres) and contains Mao Zedong’s embalmed body along with other public monuments. (I’ll make NO comments about the protests there in 1989)

The Forbidden City,  right behind the Tianamen gate, was the Chinese Imperial Palace for over 500 years.  Emperors and their households were housed here and this was the seat of the Chinese government until 1912.  As a Unesco World Heritage site, it has the largest collection of preserved ancient wood structures in the world.  It is MASSIVE with 980 buildings and lots of antechambers.  Designed as a complete rectangle, in the center of what used to be the walled city of Beijing.  It’s hard to describe as there are a series of walls within walls and it’s easy to get lost; but, suffice it to say that both historically and in present day times, this area is of key importance to both the Chinese government and tourists.   This is a must for any visitor to Beijing.

Where next?  A hutong tour.  Ok, so what is a “HUTONG”?  In Beijing, hutongs are alleys formed by lines of traditional courtyard residences.  Many neighborhoods were formed by joining one courtyard to another, then joining another.  Though this was the primary neighborhood style in times past, existing largely around the Forbidden City, many have been destroyed—torn down in an effort to modernize the city.  Though there were about 7000 to 8000 hutongs originally, only about 10% remain with many being destroyed prior to the 2008 Olympics to make room for the necessary sports venues.

Today, it’s still possible to take tours, either by rickshaw or by foot, through some of these traditional neighborhoods to see local families existing in ancient ways.  David and I thought this provided us with a stark contrast to the modern, high-rise residences seen in other parts of the city.

 

Ok…So what was the most phenomenal experience for David and me in Beijing?  In addition to seeing a Chinese acrobatic show, having a Peking duck dinner, eating great Chinese dumplings, seeing locals ritually practicing tai chi and walking around the amazing Olympic grounds,  we both felt that hiking up to and walking on the GREAT WALL exceeded everything else as a memorable experience.

 Chinese Acrobat Show

We’ve all heard about the Great Wall.  We’ve all  heard stories about being able to see it from outer space although I don’t know if that’s really true.  We’ve all heard that it’s really long but I don’t think that most of us realized that it’s more than 13,000 miles long!  We’ve all probably thought  that it took a long time build, BUT,  2000 years?!!!!!!  Nothing that I had heard of or imagined prepared me for the magnificence and enormity of this structure.

Listed as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1987, the Great Wall (built as a defensive wall) winds up and down across deserts, grasslands, mountains and plateaus. Many of its sections are now in ruins but this does not minimize its impressiveness.  Both the Badaling  and Mutianyu gates are within 45 miles of Beijing but we chose to visit the Mutianyu gate as it tends to be slightly less crowded.

So, we got off the bus in parking lot and I assumed that we could just walk out to the Great Wall. Wrong! What we really had to do with this point was to walk through a series of tacky, hawking vendors to make our way to a cable car ticket booth to enable us to ride up to the base of the Great Wall. Alternatively, we could have  hiked to this same base but that would’ve required a 40 minute mountain hike–far more energy than we were capable of mustering up.  Even with taking the cable car, there were still steep steps up to the cable car and even steeper steps to get up on the wall. (There were no elevators or wheelchair assists at this section to enable a handicapped person to get up on the wall.) OK, off we went hiking up the steep steps!

Once we regained our breath on top of the wall we just stared in amazement—totally breathtakingly beautiful scenery with the WALL stretching as far as the eye could see in both directions.  This wall was really big – – far wider than I imagined! Lots of people, everywhere! I  was really, really glad that I had on good walking shoes as I really needed them with the steepness of the terrain.  Look at some of our pictures just to see how impressive this place really is:

OK, so I hope I whetted your appetite for visiting Beijing. China has lots more to see other than just Beijing  but,  for sure, this was for me the best!. I hope you get a chance to take the quiz and then, one day, check off Beijing as one of your best visited places.  Remember the quote from last month, “The World is a book and those who do not travel ready only a page”.  Take the opportunity to read many pages.  Travel on your own or join us on some of our group trips!