Beijing - Part 1

Now, my dear friends, I get to start a series of posts about my visit to Beijing, China. This is a continuation of my trip through Asia, starting in Seoul, stopping in Shanghai, and finishing in the capital of China. I arrived in Beijing and spent an entire day in meetings with my colleagues in the local Beijing sales office. During all of these meetings, I was simply counting down the time to when my wife would arrive. She spent the day with our friend/cousin, whose family now live in Beijing. We finally met that evening and it was a real thrill to be reunited, after a week apart.

The next day, I took my wife to see the Forbidden City. This is an essential part of any tour of Beijing. For those that don't know, the Forbidden City lies at the very heart of Beijing. It was the imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty, through to the end of the Qing Dynasty - almost five centuries. It was built in 1406 and covers around 8 million square feet of buildings.

The entrance to the city can be seen clearly from Tiananmen Square (just across the street):

I've had the chance to tour most of Beijing in several visits before this. However, it's so much more fun to see it through the eyes of someone that is experience the Forbidden City for the first time. It was great to be able to show my wife this historic landmark:

Now, to be absolutely clear, the best images that you'll see in my Beijing posts...are hers. Most of my friends and family know what a talented photographer she is. So, when you're looking at the incredible images, the credit goes to her. I took several of the snapshots, but hers are on a completely different level. I give you an example:

Soldiers in formation, marching inside the Forbidden City courtyard

Inside the Forbidden City is a series of "gates" and palaces. The entire facility is surrounded by a wall that's about 26 feet high. Here are a series of pictures from inside the various courtyards and palaces...huge, huge structures, to be sure.

Look at the teeth on this dragon. They serve as both decoration, and a water "run-off" system.

One other important point needs to be made. I hate to break it to you, but China is a crowded place. With a population of over 1.3 billion people, there are lots of folks around. Beijing itself has a population of over 17 million. In addition, the week previous to our visit was "Golden Week" - a huge celebration that also included the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. This is prime tourism season. At each location we went to, we found unbelievable crowds:

The crowd in front of the only door into a palace

Many more people than I've ever encountered in Beijing. Here's a short video clip to show you the density of people inside the Forbidden City:

As far as I could tell, it was mostly Chinese citizens from outside Beijing that were on a tour of the big city. Literally "country folk" that wanted to see what life was like. Sort of like Americans going to Washington D.C. or New York. It was simply incredible.

We didn't let this stop us from enjoying the rare beauty and austerity of the palaces inside the Forbidden City:

Yet another gate, leading to a palace courtyard

An imperial throne. I think I could get used to sitting on that....

We exited the Forbidden City and came upon this awesome sign. I love some of the English translations of the Mandarin signs and posters:

It says "May we remind you. Please be self-restraint and be a good tourist to mold a well-mannered imagination". Priceless...

Late that afternoon, we managed to visit one of my favorite destinations in Beijing, called the Summer Palace. This is an astonishing set of buildings and temples in what is officially called an "imperial garden". The amazing part is that all of these structures are located next to a man-made lake (Kunming Lake). This isn't some pond, either. It's about 2 square miles of water. Here's a video clip of the view:

From the lake, rises a series of temples on what is known as "Longevity Hill", sitting about 200 feet above the water:

Temple of Buddhist Incense at sunset

The Long Corridor (from a previous visit, as it was mobbed by people and vendors)

The funny thing about our visit to the Summer Palace. Normally, visitors enter on the south side. Our taxi driver took us to the north side. We ended up climbing the backside of the hill, then making our way down to the lake...and climbing back up the frontside of the hill. It was a good amount of exercise ; ) Hidden on the north entrance is a small water way:

It's a pretty set-up of shops and small boats. I'd never seen the water so calm before...but the reflections in the water were beautiful.

We finished the day thirsty - and walked to the nearest bastion of American consumerism...McDonald's:

One of the few places to get a Diet Coke