Qingdao – 27 March

If only we were here in August staying at the Blue Horizon Hotel… we could be enjoying ourselves at the Qingdao Beer Plaza, which was just around the corner from our hotel, where the annual Qingdao International Beer Festival is held (the largest in Asia).  Foreigners who have attended this festival claim to have enjoyed themselves very much without having to pay for any beer due to the generosity of Qingdao-ians!

Sadly for us, it is only March, so we travelled across town by cab, with our trusty guide Tiara (one of Xiaohong’s students), to visit Tsingdao beer museum and factory.  We didn’t realize just how immense Qingdao is until we travelled across it.  The museum was located on Beer Street, the “birth place of beer culture”.  It was well set up as a museum taking visitors through the history and old methods of production while interspersing with the new methods.  At the end, visitors have the opportunity to walk through a trick room designed to make visitors walk like they have enjoyed too many beers.  Greg thoroughly enjoyed himself and the free sample to top it off… well, he also enjoyed my sample. 

After a short walk around Beer Street and vicinity, we decided to wait at the Original Cellar for the rest of our dinner crowd to arrive; Xiaohong, Huiwang Gao (colleague) and his wife.

We regret very much that we did not have time to see more of Qingdao because it is an amazing city.  So I suppose it tops the list of our cities to visit again.  We loved it!

Beijing to Qingdao – 26 March

The transfer from Beijing Capital International Airport to Qingdao Liuting International Airport went like clockwork.  Our luggage was slightly over the maximum allowable, but it didn’t raise any eyebrows.  Go and Ju from Xiaohong’s group picked us up and treated us to lunch before we checked in at the Blue Horizon Hotel. 

Qingdao and area has a population of about 13mil and is sandwiched between the Yellow Sea and a range of mountains and is a popular summer vacation location due to the fantastic beaches.  Like Beijing, there were construction projects everywhere so this is another growing city.

We were treated to a hotpot dinner at one of the hotel’s restaurants in a private room.  This was a remarkable experience where we had the opportunity to select the ingredients for our hotpot.  We chose squid, shrimp, clams, red scallops, beef, veggies, and such to cook in a broth in our individual hotpots.  The interesting thing was that the seafood was still live and wiggling around when delivered to our table in serving dishes which were placed on the lazy Susan.  But when in Qingdao, do like Qingdao-ians!  So we selected the live delicacies and dropped them into the boiling broth.  After the first couple of times, it’s not so bad.  However, yes there is always a however… one of the squid I selected sprayed its ink all over my plate and I just couldn’t eat the poor creature who so desperately defended itself against my advances to the hotpot.  It really gets you thinking about where your protein comes from and that snowballs into the question about plants and sentience.  Despite this graphic description, dinner was quite delicious!

Chinese universities provide generous and wonderful hospitality.  Visitors are well taken care of in all aspects of the visit.

Beijing – 25 March

Beihai Park (meaning Northern Sea) is one of the oldest, largest, best-preserved ancient imperial gardens, was initially constructed in 938.  A new statue of happiness in Chinese script greets visitors.  There is a white Dagoba in the centre (otherwise known as stupas in other countries).  To the Dagoba’s northern side, we enjoyed walking in a stone pathway towards the Qiong Hua cave.  This is a very popular park for citizens of all ages who danced, exercised, performed tricks, and sang along the banks of three lakes that consume 39 hectares of this 69 hectare park.

Jingshan Park located directly north of the Forbidden City is another large well-used park.  Five pavilions are located on a 47.5m artificial Coal Hill over which the Wanchun Pavilion towers over all others.  The artificial hill was designed to meet the feng shui requirements of the Forbidden City as it is favorable to site a residence to the south of a nearby hill.  It also provides a fantastic vantage point for Forbidden City photos.  There was a young mixed-marriage couple having their wedding photos taken at the Wanchun Pavilion and I’m sure they will be incredible.  Inside the Wanchun Pavilion was a Buddha figure called Vairocana meaning “universal brightness” but photos were forbidden, darn!  Citizens of all ages take a lot of pride in demonstrating dances, exercises, and other entertaining activities.  One fellow encouraged Greg to try the rhythm ball and he managed quite well, I must say!

One thing we noticed about Beijing is that it is a very serious city.  Generally speaking, the only ones who seem to smile are the very young and the very old. 

We watched Invictus this evening.  We’ve seen it before, but it is such an inspiration.

statue of happiness in Chinese script at Beihai Park

Greg with White Dagoba in background

old men sharing stories

White Dagoba up close

people out walking and socializing at Beihai Park

ribbon twirling

young dancer at Beihai Park

transportation for people with disabilities

a rising star at Jingshan Park

Excellent view of the Forbidden City from Wanchun Pavilion in Jingshan Park

good luck youngsters!

expert rhythym ball artist

not bad for an amateur!

Shu and Greg



animated dancers at Jingshan Park

an Apple Store.... or not?

Beijing – 24 March

The Summer Palace, built in 1750, covers 2.9 square kms, ¾ of which is water (Kunming Lake).  At the entranceway sits the Stone of the God of Longevity which is shaped like him, hence the name.  We walked past the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity into the lakefront area, where we walked out to a pavilion to get some good footage of the lake.  In the distance we could see Longevity Hill with several buildings nicely lined up; the Cloud-Dispelling Hall, the Temple of Buddhist Virtue, and the Sea of Wisdom Temple.  But before we got there, we strolled through the Long Corridor, a covered walkway, 728 metres (2,238 feet) long that ends up at Longevity Hill.  What an amazing corridor!  Built to protect against sun and inclement weather (umbrellas being so passé), it is the longest decorated corridor in the world with over 14,000 traditional Chinese paintings throughout.  The paintings need re-touching every dozen or so years.  Each pavilion along the corridor symbolizes the four seasons.

There is a really beautiful gateway at the bottom of the Longevity Hill buildings all lined up nicely on the hill.  But we only toured the Pavilion of Buddhist Incense before heading towards the marble boat, canals and lotus ponds which were just a month away from being in full bloom. 

Although Greg had visited Peking University (founded in 1898 and covering 274 hectares of land), it was on our inflexible itinerary.  It seems that Shu had to ensure that each itinerary item was covered or risk being in trouble with her boss.  So if you plan on touring Beijing, be sure to demand flexibility into the tour, so the bosses can adjust their expectations.  After a while, the lack of flexibility made it feel like the tours were work not pleasure.  For instance, if you want to spend more time on the Great Wall and less on a university you’ve already visited, then so be it, wouldn’t you say?  Plus we really did not want to visit the Peking University museum, but she was determined that we had to visit so she could report to her boss.  But luck being on our side, the museum was closed for renovations, so we got to spend more time watching the soccer tryouts.  This university is filled with old buildings and new; very representative of Beijing itself.  Peking University was influential in the birth of several significant events; China's New Culture Movement, May Fourth Movement, the Tiananmen Square protest of 1989 among others. Another lucky thing was that Greg was able to take pictures of the mobile lab since he forgot to do so during his previous visit.

We had lunch at the Guo Lin Restaurant where we had some Peking Duck and were introduced to Fried Milk, plus I had a large seaweed salad.  Of course, the table was jammed packed with many other things, but, these were the highlights.

Next stop was to Xinhua University, established in 1911, and located very close to Peking University.  It takes pride in being the national center for training engineers and scientists with both professional proficiency and personal integrity.

Beijing Zoo covers 219 acres of land, lakes, and ponds and is famous for its collection of rare animals, in particular the Giant Panda.  We were getting pretty tired by this point, so we opted to make the Panda exhibit the sole objective of our visit.  It was difficult to get an opportunity to take pictures with all the visitors packed in like sardines trying to accomplish the same objective, but when in Beijing, get with the program and nudge your way in, especially when you are taller than most!

Tonight we watched the original Jaws movie.  Glad we didn’t see it while visiting the Great Barrier Reef!

Stone of the God of Longevity at entrance to the Summer Palace

the two of us with Summer Palace buildings in background; the Cloud-Dispelling Hall, the Temple of Buddhist Virtue, and the Sea of Wisdom Temple

ceiling of one pavilion in the Long Corridor, not sure which season it depicts

Greg in the Long Corridor

gateway at front of palace complex

Dragon Boat on Lake Kunming

Marble Boat -wanna go for a ride?

Greg at Peking University's lovely pond

Greg at Peking University's lovely pond

most university buildings are built with corporate sponsorship

Greg with Peking University's mobile air quality lab



Xinhua University's engineering logo

Xinhua University's convocation hall

Beijing Zoo panda - clear shots through the glass were not so good

naptime

picture of the poster was excellent!

Beijing – 23 March

My camera’s warning lights informed me that my 3^rd and last set of lithium batteries were almost out of power, but every touristy shop sold regular batteries, not the lithium ones.  After Greg had a bunch of batteries confiscated during our Ahmedabad to Delhi transfer, we were down to 4 regular strength batteries which will my camera will gobble up in no time.  But at least we had a plan B. 

We woke up to a windy but clear sunny day in Beijing, but the farther we travelled out of the city, clouds slowly found supremacy over the sunshine.  After passing through a 2km long tunnel, we arrived at the Guanling section of the Great Wall where we selected the steeper, more difficult, and less crowded section to enjoy.  At all the watch towers, merchants were pedalling wares such as postcards, chiselled stone drawings, t-shirts, and other trinkets.  Some were incredibly assertive and Greg did purchase one of the chiselled stone drawings from a merchant at the very last lookout.  Our short hike ended there, but we did get to view the original wall from that watch tower.  Occasionally, the sun would win supremacy over the clouds, so we were able to capture some good shots and some video of me dancing the “yellow brick road” in one of the flatter sections.  Greg came close to losing his glasses while trying to view the 360 degree vista from his binoculars.

Primarily built for protection, construction on the Great Wall began as early as 220BC and continued until well after the 7^th century.  It is just over 8,800kms long including over 6,200kms of wall, 360kms of trenches and over 2,200kms natural barriers like hills and rivers.  So we really saw just the tiniest snippet of it, but that was magnificent in itself.

Heading back towards Beijing, sunny skies reappeared.  As has been the case on all our tours, at least one stop involves an “opportunity to learn” about a local craft/art process.  In this case it was a visit to the Beijing Dragon Land Superior Jade Gallery where we learned about the quality, colours, and uses for various types of jade, before passing through a large gallery of finished and high-priced products for sale, before reaching the restaurant where we were once again over-fed.  Why didn’t I pack my “buffet” pants?

We then found our way to the Ming Tomb, resting place of 13 of 16 emperors.  It took 2 years to select this suitable location, based on feng-shui principles; evil spirits and north winds are deflected in an horseshoe-shaped area at the base of the Jundu Mountains and is enclosed by a quiet valley and peaceful water.  But I must ask how much peace there is now, given the masses of tourists visiting every day.  Artifacts from the only Ming tomb excavation at the Dingling Tomb were under the watchful eye of security personnel while on display; included jewellery, silk, textiles, wood, porcelain, gold, brass, etc.  Some of the artifacts are replicas due to water and wind damage that occurred from inadequate preserving methods.

A 7km road, built in 1435, called “The Sacred Way” led to the Ming Tomb.  We entered through the North Gate (Longfeng Gate) which is one of the biggest stone archways in China.  The Sacred Way is lined with statues of civil officials (yes civil officials were important, unlike we poor under-rated Canadian civil servants), army generals, and animals in both standing and prone positions; horse, quilin (baby dragon), elephant, camel, xiezhi (mythical creature with horn in middle of its head), and lion.  At the south end of this walkway, is the Shen Gong Sheng de Stele Pavillion which houses a 50-ton tortoise shaped dragon-beast carrying a stone tablet.  The pavilion has 4 white marble pillars of glory topped with a mythical beast at each corner.  The Sacred Way surely looks more spectacular with leaves on the weeping willow trees that line the path, but we visited about 1 month too early for that.

Rather than being dropped back at the hotel, we opted to return on our own, to revisit Tiananmen Square in the sunlight.  Despite the heavy traffic’s attempt to thwart our effort, we just caught the last rays of sun shining down on preparations for the daily lowering of the flag ceremony.  It was excellent to be able to see from one end of the square to the other without interference of the fog-smog.  Wow!  While I was busy running from one end of the other to capture this magnificence on camera, Greg was busy posing for shots with Chinese tourists and chatting with a local resident and Teacher, named David.

We passed by the National Centre for Performing Arts where I playfully did a rendition of “Dancing in the Rain” with my walking stick, which seemed to be an object of interest to people and security personnel.

We ducked into one of the shopping malls on the way back to the hotel in an effort to find some batteries for my camera, but it was so huge and jam-packed with fashion stores, so we gave up looking. 

One thing we noticed here in Beijing is that the happiest, smiley people are preschoolers and retirees.  Most others are very serious looking and rarely smile.

Tonight we watched Robin Hood.

The Great Wall on a particularly steep section

an old section of the wall off limits to tourists

the artist who sold Greg a carved picture of the wall

Ball of Happiness carved from a solid piece of jade.  Many are several layers thick.  It represents family with each layer representing a different member and that the family cannot be torn apart.

gate between heaven and earth with the Soul Tower in the background

Greg right between Heaven and Earth

coins on the 5 offerings

corner of Soul Tower

in contrast to perfection we've seen everywhere, here's some shrubbery growing out of the roof of the Ling Xing Gate

Greg on the Sacred Way with statue of warrior

50 ton tortoise in the Stele Pavilion

the Stele Pavilion of Divine Merits

the Tiananmen Gate in the glorious sunshine

Monument to the Peoples’ Heros with National Museum of China in background

Mausoleum of Mao Zadong to the south (where Chairman Mao is entombed)

emblem on the Parliament building

standing guard beside the Chinese flagpole at Tiananmen Square

part of the daily flag lowering ceremony

people watching the flag lowering ceremony

Chairman Mao's picture on the Tiananmen Gate

dancing in front of the National Centre for Performing Arts