This is probably the best-known spot in China: The Great Wall. It lies in the north of Beijing (around one hour by bus), and it is the combination of several smaller defensive walls, which the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, who was as brilliant as tyrannical and megalomaniac. He was the first one who unified China, and who reformed it, and also got a lot of improvements for the country…
He also started joining different defensive existent walls one to each other, to protect China from the Mongolians from the North. This work was followed by other emperors for centuries, and according to Wikipedia, a couple of millions died during this work… I believe it. Take a look to the place where it is located: in the middle of no where, in the highest point of a hilly area, and following the slope…
When walking on it (and take into account that I went to the touristic part, which has been kind of repaired and prepared for the tourists), you sometimes face really tough slopes where you almost need to use the handrail (did I say it was prepared for tourists) to go up, and you definitely need it when descending, if you do not want to roll down…
And, of course, Beijing Olympics were also present there… China is very proud of having organized this event, and you see many referrals to it all around China: squares with sculptures, flags, logos, etc. The slogan here fits quite well with the environment: Qin Shi Huang could have chosen it himself: One World, One Dream.
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.
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.
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”… 😉
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…
Ginza is one of the most exclusive areas of Tokyo, and a very important shopping hub. During the day, it is quite entertaining to see people going in and out of the different shops, or just walking around… But at night, the lights become the center of attention…
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.
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…
