Monday, 21 November 2011

China... cont

Next day we met our tour guide and group to start our real tour of China, starting with an introduction dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. Starting with an early morning start and one of the most anticipated sites in China – The Great Wall.
Since our arrival in China there had be non-stop fog covering the city, and we were praying the morning of the great wall this would have lifted but unfortunately we were out of luck and though we managed to achieve the great task of walking to the top, the views were not good and all we good see were thick layers of fog covering the mountains. Disappointed with view but happy with the achievement of reaching the top we all drove back to the hotel with our legs aching.



The evening was spent at another local restaurant specialising in Peking duck recommended by the tour guide. We then continued to walk around town; it was strange to not see the usual host of bars and clubs like in most city centres but a much different culture of eating and spending time with family. We walked past a church were the locals would meet every evening and do group dancing on the streets – this was enjoyed by both men and woman of all ages.



The next day we had a guided tour around Tiananmen Square followed by the Forbidden City.. It is exactly how you imagine Chinese infrastructure to look, full of curved roof tops, wooden buildings and a lot of reds.  





Followed by a walk around the hue ton, this is what is referred to as the area the locals live in, each Hue Ton has its own name closely linked to the beliefs of the people living there. What was amazing to see was how closely the rich and poor lived, but to spot the difference all you needed to look at was how the front door of house had been decorated. The more elaborate the decoration the wealthier the people were living inside




The great find for me was the Chinese Vegetarian restaurant – amazing food and I had the possibility of choosing anything from the menu!!
This ended our time in Beijing. The next day our first over night train to next stop Shanghai!





No comments:

Post a Comment