After a lot of messing around at Tianjin, caused by the port authorities, we finally left the ship en route for Beijing at 1.oopm local time.
The transit time by coach was about two and half hours to the first stop, the Temple of Heaven.
It is a three storied circular building some hundred feet high, beautifully decorated and made completely of wood, with no nails. It sits atop a man made hill, and was the place the Emperor came to pray for good harvests etc. It was built about six hundred years ago, during the early years of the Ming Dynasty, by the emperor Ju Jan. Quite impressive.
Following a drive of another half an hour, we arrived at the Summer Palace, which as the name implies was the summer residence of the MIng and following emperors. It sits beside a man made lake, below a man made hill(locally mountain!). The mountain is the spoil from the lake, and is covered in trees, with pagodas showing through. A very attractive spot, particularly as we were there at sunset.
Another drive of half an hour, and an unexpected programme change, found us at a restaurant for a Peking Duck chinese dinner. I say unexpected, as we were due there at 8.45, after checking in at our hotel and being able to wash and change, and we got to it at 7.oopm. There was plenty to eat and it was all good, if at times a little surprising. Our table finished all our duck, and were surprised others had not, so we helped out.
on leaving the restaurant, another change was in store. We had a coach drive to see Tiannamen Square by night. Quite spectacular, but chilly. Fortunately, we had all brought winter clothes and coats. We stopped some way short, and then walked to it. after this, we finally made it to the hotel at around 10.15pm. It had been a long day.
Departure on 29th, from the hotel was 8.00am. Destination the Great Wall of China, the Badeling section. This meant a drive of about an hour, northwards. As we neared it, it started to snow. It had been cold enough in Beijing, but this added to the drama. on our arrival, we had to take a cable car to get to the wall, as it is one of the highest parts. Though the snow added to the spectacle, it did make the going hazardous. From the top of the cable car, there is a steep uneven path down to the first access point to the wall. This was very slippery, and there were a lot of people. The climb up onto the wall is very narrow, and not made any easier by the crowds on it trying to get off pushing down. Once up there, really there was nowhere to go because of the weather. The top of the access steps is flat, but then there is a very steep 100ft slope up to the next set of steps. the ground underfoot was covered in ice, making this nearly impossible. Ian had a go, pulling himself up by using the hand rail, but it was very hard going. Then came the flight of steps. A few chinese had made it this far, but the guards were not allowing any further progress, presumably on safety grounds. The came the return trip down the slope! It was a bit scary, but Ian found it was easier to come down facing up the slope, so that his feet were roughly parallel to the ground, whilst hanging on tighly to the rail. Fortunately he was wearing gloves. An attempt was made to access another part of the wall in the same area, but the entry was even narrower than the first. With the snow, the wind and the cold, sanity took over, and we all decided to make it back to the cable car, and the sanctuary of the coach.
An excellent chinese lunch followed, before we moved on to the Forbidden City. This was the official Palace of the emperors, and their winter home. A really beautiful area, which we crossed going from south to north, starting at the main gate. We passed the formal pavillions, before reaching the private quarters. It covers a huge area, and in our hour and half, it was only possible to see the principal parts. The highlight was the colours. Red for the doors and pillars, studded and decorated in gold. The blues, greens and golds of the walls, ceilings and fascias. Some of the buildings had been recoloured because of the olympics, and these were in a real contrast to those that had deliberately been left alone to show how they had looked originally.
Our exit was through the formal gardens to rejoin our coaches. Before leaving Beijing altogether, we had a final surprise, of a daylight drive roound Tiannamen Square, something they told us the night before could not happen!
The return the ship was uneventful, but the shock of getting out of a nice warm coach into the freezing air to go through all the chinese imposed formalities was.
In summary, this was a great trip, if a bit stressful at times. Every where we went there were hordes of chinese, who pushed, shoved and shouted.The weather started out warmish, and steadily got colder. It was good job we had taken our Alaskan outfits with us.