We arrived in Beijing at about 6:50 am, and getting through immigration was easy. This was a vast but very well-run airport.
I do remember the customs girl fondly. She knelt in front of me and smiled up at me as she patted down my legs and around my crutch to check for hidden contraband. If she had continued, she may well have discovered something hidden in my underwear.
As we could not get into our hotel in Beijing until the afternoon, we were soon separated from our luggage. It went on ahead to the hotel to wait for us, whilst we all went to view The Birds Nest, The Summer Palace and The Llama Temple.
The Birds Nest.
We had a brief stop outside the National Stadium in Beijing, aka The Bird's Nest Stadium, which was used to host the Olympics in Beijing. We didn't go inside the building. It was just a hop-off, hop-back-on-again photoshoot opportunity.
The Summer Palace.
We stopped at the Summer Palace in Beijing for around 2½ hours. The grounds here are beautiful. It's difficult to believe the scale of the man-made lake and the number of people it must have taken to construct it when it was built.
At the Summer Palace, the tour group was split into two groups, and girls in traditional Chinese costumes served lunch. The food was a range of Chinese dishes laid out on a lazy Susan in the middle of our table. The food was delicious, but it was very hot and humid, eating in a building with no air conditioning or even any fans.
After dinner, we crossed Kunming Lake on a beautiful Chinese dragon boat. Once we had crossed Kunming Lake and finished our short visit to the Summer Palace, we rejoined our coach before heading to the Llama Temple.
Summer Palace Photos.
These are my photos from my visit to the Summer Palace.
Click on any image to see a larger version of the image with a description. Use the navigation below the thumbnail images to see the previous set of images, the next set of images, or the previous or following photo albums.
The Llama Temple.
The next stop we made in Beijing was at the Yonghe Temple, aka the Llama Temple, where we saw the many fantastic Buddhas on display. It was strange to see lots of people who didn't understand Buddhism buying incense sticks to pray in front of the Buddha. They were not lighting the sticks, merely placing them in front of the temple in a tray, which I imagine are recycled and sold to people again tomorrow. Many of them were not even taken out of the bundles in which they were purchased.
The Buddhas were very impressive, especially the last one, which was made from one tree and filled the building it is in. It stood 80 metres above ground and was buried 80 metres below ground; it was made from a single tree.
Traders Hotel.
We arrived at our hotel at around 2:30 pm, and most of us took a quick nap before getting ready for a welcome drink and an evening meal at the hotel. I took a shower, set up my computer, and Skyped my mum. I thought I would post today's photos on Farcebook. I then discovered that the Chinese government has blocked Farcebook, and it is not available in China. Luckily, my website isn't blocked, and I will be able to post my holiday snaps while travelling.
Dinner was included, and we all ate together in the hotel restaurant, enjoying a Chinese meal served in two groups around a lazy Susan. Again, the food was fantastic. The beer in the bar was around ¥45 a glass (less than a half pint). I walked to a local mini-market and got four cans of Budweiser for ¥35. I returned to my room to watch some football and have a cold beer, but by 8:45 pm, I was fast asleep after a long day. I had been awake for 38 hours and travelled halfway around the world to a continent and a country I had never been to. It had been a good start to the holiday.
Beijing Photos.
These are my photos from my visit to Beijing.
Click on any image to see a larger version of the image with a description. Use the navigation below the thumbnail images to see the previous set of images, the next set of images, or the previous or following photo albums.
