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Posts tagged "beijing"

Beijing

The great thing of travelling comes with the “revisits”. Once you have already visited the basics, and you can just take it easy, choose a couple of goals for the available time and just enjoy in a relaxed way.

I was in Beijing as part of my trip to China in 2008 (see the corresponding posts), and last week I had a day after a business trip to wander around with my friend Jin.

I chose the Temple of Heaven as the main sight for the morning, which I did not visit in my previous visit. Quite impressive spot, and very interesting atmosphere in the park around it, as it was Saturday, and people were dancing traditional Chinese dances, singing patriotic songs, preparing choreographies. doing some sport, or practicing Tai Chi.

2012 02 - Beijing-6.jpg 2012 02 - Beijing-7.jpg 2012 02 - Beijing-17.jpg

We devoted the afternoon to walk around one of the characteristic hutongs (old neighbourhoods), which is now a busy area during weekends, where locals go to get some entertainment by getting some shopping done, or enjoying any of the bars on it. In one of the corners of the hutong, there is a lake which due to the “nice” temperature of Beijing’s winter was frozen and tons of people were skating on it. We mixed with them, and also did some seat-skating (a sort of a sledge-tandem).

2012 02 - Beijing-25.jpg 2012 02 - Beijing-29.jpg 2012 02 - Beijing-26.jpg 2012 02 - Beijing-28.jpg

Chinese food in China is much better and with a broader offer than in other parts of the World. The local dish, Beijing Duck, is an absolutely delicious meal that will from now on be always on my wishlist when going to Beijing. I also enjoyed the Tanghulu, the typical Beijing sweet, made of Chinese hawthorn with hardened sugar around.

2012 02 - Beijing-18.jpg 2012 02 - Beijing-23.jpg

Apart from this proper food, I could also enjoy some other rare tastes, like insects. Scorpions, silkworm eggs, and cicadas are pretty tasty. It does not really taste different from other snacks… they just “look” different.

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And just before departing to the airport, I had some time for do a quick check on Tianan’men square.

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You can see all pictures from Beijing in this slideshow.

Beijing: Summer Palace

After the Forbidden City, I took a taxi to go to the Summer Palace, which is quite far from the centre. This is probably the spot which surprised me the most in Beijing in a positive way, as I did not expect it.

Summer Palace (7) Summer Palace (5) Summer Palace (6)

It is a huge area in the northeastern part of Beijing, dominated by a big lake, and surrounded by nature and some small hills. A real relaxing place, which probably delighted many chinese emperors in the past.

Summer Palace (1) Summer Palace (3) Summer Palace (4)

For good and for bad, I went in Winter, so once again I did not suffer crowds of people, but on the other hand, the lake was frozen, and one would not sit down for a long time to enjoy the “fresh air”… 😉

Summer Palace (2) Coooold!

Beijing: Army Training

When entering the Forbidden City in the cold morning I visited it, I was surprised by these young soldiers being trained in some martial arts, and forming ranks. I am still wondering why they were doing that there, and not in a closed place with not so many tourists… Yes, I know, maybe those tourists were the main reason for doing that there…

China Soldiers (2) China Soldiers (5)China Soldiers (1)China Soldiers (7)

Beijing: Forbidden City

One of the reasons to visit Beijing is the Forbidden City. To tell you the truth, when I was a child I did not really know what was this about. I knew it was in Peking, and that was some kind of palace (I was right with this) but I thought the entrance was really forbidden. Some years ago, I realized it is just the name it got because the entrance was forbidden for many people when the emperor lived.

Forbidden City (11)

Now, it is the one of the biggest and well preserved palaces in the world, and its visit in a normal not too busy winter day takes a good couple of hours. This has been for me one of the most interesting sights in the trip, and a must in Beijing, although some people I met were not specially surprised for this…

Forbidden City (1) Forbidden City (3) Forbidden City (5) Forbidden City (6) Forbidden City (7) Forbidden City (2)

Beijing: Lama Temple

To end with the first day in Beijing, I went to the Lama Temple just before the sunset, and they closed it… The Lama Temple is the best known buddhist temple outside Tibet and lies in a quite centric area of Beijing. Some emperor whose name I do not recall, and you do not really mind (I guess) also used this as his official residence, so you can imagine… and see.

Lama Temple (1) Lama Temple (2) Lama Temple (3) Lama Temple (4) Lama Temple (5) Lama Temple (6) Lama Temple (7)

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