Beijing, China-Intro

I've been traveling to Beijing for about five years now.  I was really excited to go on the first trip - I actually didn't go for business...it's was just for fun.  Going by yourself, however, is not the best way to travel.  I do that often, but in such an exotic place like Beijing...you can quickly become lonely, even when surrounded by a billion people ; )

There will be several entries on Beijing, as there was so much to see there.  This entry will cover general pictures and notes on the city, while subsequent posts will cover the Great Wall, Forbidden City, and Summer Palace.  Each one deserves it's own space...

Most of you will learn a great deal about Beijing, as the Summer Olympic Games begins there in 2 weeks.  They will begin on 8-8-08, because the number eight is very lucky in Asia.  I believe the opening ceremony will also begin at 8pm ; )  The stadium for the Olympics is amazing.  It's called the "Bird's Nest":

It's truly a magnificent structure.  I just watched a Discovery Channel special on the construction...it's amazing.  As you can see from the picture, it literally looks like a giant bird's nest.  I managed to get tickets to some of the track and field events - but we decided not to go (too expensive).  I sold the tickets to a co-worker in China who is very, very happy.  The Chinese people weren't allocated very many tickets at all, so they are desperate for anything they can get.

Next to the Stadium, is the swimming center - it's called The Water Cube:

Again, you MUST learn more about how this is constructed.  The "bubbles" that you see are actually high-tech plastic, inflated with air.  The plastic is amazingly durable.  The building can change colors, and does at night.

Bicycles still remain one of the primary means of transportation - this was the scene just outside a subway station:

The bikes are starting to decline, as more Chinese are buying cars at an alarming rate. Traffic is absolutely crazy, and the air pollution is horrible.  It approaches Mexico City on the "horrible scale".  This is a picture of the back of the Forbidden City...but you can't see anything, due to the smog:

One of the scariest parts of town was the old Silk Street market.  This ultra-crowded market was surrounded by foreign embassies and luxury hotels.  It's formally called the Xiushui Market, and many say it's the third best-known tourist destination in Beijing after the Forbidden City and the Great Wall.  Here, you could find all the counterfeit goods in the world.  Clothing, purses, scarves, CDs, DVDs, shoes..you name it:

It was unbelievably packed.  The other thing that made it scary, was the tenacity of the vendors - they wanted to BARGAIN.  I'm not big into that sort of confrontation, but I sure had the look of a "target", walking through there.  Any time I glanced at an item - they ran up to me to try and negotiate.  I barely got out of there alive ; )

I use past-tense, because they just recently tore down the market.  Government officials say it was a fire hazard (it was), others say it will now allow them to build a giant indoor market (it will), but one of the real reasons was the blatant disregard for intellectual property.  Fakes/counterfeit items were openly sold...angering many companies and Western governments.

As I walked through Jingshan Park, I found a group of people learning how to write Chinese characters (kanji).  They were using what could be described as "mops" and writing on cement with water - just to practice.  I couldn't ask them more about it, but it was beautiful to watch the strokes of the mop, creating words and ideas:

Tianamen Square has a shady history to it, but it's still impressive - just for its size.  I found the propaganda statues particularly interesting...inspiring the Communist workers ; )

Like most of my trips, I tried to find the local McDonald's...or as I like to call it - Neal's International Economic Barometer.  A typical meal cost me about $2.50 here - a nice way to stretch my travel dollars.  I couldn't find any McDog Meat Sandwich, however....

As many know, the former name of the city was Peking.  The most traditional food here is Peking Duck.  I decided that I had to try it.  I finally found one of the most-famous restaurants that specialize in the dish and gave it a shot. They prepared most of it right at my table:

It was actually good.  The Chinese pride themselves on this dish and it didn't disappoint.  I watched a little of the kitchen - how they had basically assembled a duck factory, due to the demand.

Last, I wanted to share a really spectacular location with you.  It's called the Temple of Heaven.  It was built in the early 1400s to provide a place for the Ming and Qing dynasties to pray.  They used elaborate rituals to pray for good rains and good harvests.  The area is made up of several buildings.  The most impressive is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests:

The outline of this building is often used as a symbol of Beijing.  When you're close-up to these grand structures, you begin to see the amazing detail:

Another building nearby was called the Divine Kitchen.  The purple roof on this edifice was breath-taking:

That's it for this post on Beijing.  As I indicated at the top, more posts are coming....