The Great Wall of China - April 6th

Our flight plan for Beijing Day 2: the Great Wall in the morning; the Summer Palace of the Manchu Emperors in the afternoon, Happy Hour at the Beijing Raffles, and Peking duck for dinner. Plan the flight and fly the plan.

Take-off for the Great Wall was by chairlift. The Wall is high up on the ridgeline of a line of mountains:

From the chairlift we could see our glide path to go back down the mountain. The Chinese translate it as “toboggan” but we know it as an alpine slide. It's one of Parnelli Joan’s favorite things to do. You don’t want to go slow in front of her; she attains ramming speed very quickly.

The wall was pretty amazing. The pictures speak for themselves. Especially with the wild cherry trees in bloom on the mountainside in early April.

Here we are lining up to make our run down the mountainside. I made the mistake of going in front of Joani. Things were fine until I had to reduce speed near the bottom so I wouldn’t hit the person in front of me. Joani yelled at everyone to go faster and then slammed right into me.

An added excursion bonus, at the tourist center at the bottom we saw four live pandas:

These pandas were named Joyce, Julie, Joani and Sheila.

After another traditional Chinese lunch with Yanjing beer, we arrived at the Summer Palace of the Manchu Emperors. The men were then greeted by the Empress and three Concubines: 

Their names were also Joyce, Julie, Joani and Sheila.

I personally was very attracted to one concubine in particular:

The Summer Palace was built in 1749 by the Qianlong Emperor. The grounds are larger than the Forbidden City at 3 kilometers square. Half is the peacefully tranquil man-made Kunming Lake. The park is on the World Heritage List as “a masterpiece of Chinese landscape design.” Excavations from making the lake were of course used to make a hill upon which a temple was built. We are figuring this stuff out.

This Emperor loved to travel all over China, and he brought artists with him who  came back to the palace and recaptured the places he visited in paintings. Kind of like iPhone cameras. Anyway, the Long Corridor is a 728 meter-long lakeside walkway with over 14,000 paintings. The Qianlong Emperor ruled for 60 years, so he saw a lot of places.

One of the 14,000 paintings

Crabapple trees blooming on the shore of Kunming Lake as seen from the Long Corridor

The Temple on Longevity Hill above Kunming Lake

The Arch Bridge across Kunming Lake

One Emperor had a favorite boat destroyed by a violent storm. So that this would never happen again, he had a stationary boat built out of marble. One way to solve the problem.

So on that note we left the Summer Palace for Happy Hour, followed by a wonderful Peking duck dinner at a restaurant called Da Dong recommended by our guide Cindy. Here is one of the Peking ducks being carved:

Tomorrow: our last day in Beijing and then back to the ship late afternoon.

Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City - April 5th

We left the Raffles promptly at 8:30 AM to beat the crowds to Tian’anmen Square and Chairman Mao’s Mausoleum. It worked. Here is Joani as promised in front of Mao’s Tomb, after we filed past his eternally preserved body in its crystal chrysalis. No photos were allowed inside.

Tian’anmen Square is bounded on the south by the Zhengyangmen, the original south gate of the city wall when Beijing was a walled city. The gate is the only part left standing.

Tian’anmen Square is huge; it can easily accommodate one million people for a rally or celebration, as you can see in this picture of Joyce and Joani

Here is a map showing the layout of Tian’anmen and the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is small on the map but actually much larger than Tian’anmen Square. We walked from the City Wall Gate to the far end of the Forbidden City and Joani and Joyce recorded 20,000 steps on their fit bits that day.

You can see that all the key buildings were built on a common axis. The Olympic Bird's Nest Stadium is 30 minutes away but if you extend the line it is on the same axis.

Here is Joani in front of the Monument to the Peoples’ Heroes, dedicated to the Chinese who lost their lives in WWII, between 15 and 20 million.

Here we are on the north end of the Square in front of Tian’anmen, the Gate of Heavenly Peace, with its portrait of Chairman Mao on the other side of Chang’an Avenue behind us. This is the widest road in Beijing, 5 lanes each way, and is where the military parades its tanks and rocket launchers on May Day in front of a million people with the country leadership reviewing from the balcony above Mao’s portrait. The Gate of Heavenly Peace was the entrance to the old Imperial City, inside of which the Forbidden City was located.

Below is the gate to the Forbidden City, which was built between 1405 and 1420, early in the Ming Dynasty, when the Emperor moved the capital from Nanjing (Nan: South; Jing: Capital) to Beijing (Bei: North). Yes, the Beijing South railway station is Beijing Nan.

Only the Emperor could use the center gate. Actually, not quite true. The Empress could enter once, on her wedding day. And once every three years, the three young winners of the national scholar competition could exit on their Selection Day before taking key positions in the government. The Emperor’s Court and family used the right gate; and high ranking government and military officials the left. There were side gates for anyone else allowed inside.

Commoners were prohibited. For those brought in as servants, guards and concubines, it was a one way trip. Once in, you could never leave, except by death.

The Forbidden City is no longer used for government offices or functions. Mao’s parents were farmers and commoners; and he saw the Forbidden City as a symbol of elitism and decadence. He would not live or work there. He built his presidential palace and offices outside, about a kilometer away. The grounds are now The Palace Museum, used only for tourism and sight-seeing (and revenue generation).

The Forbidden City has a massive Outer Area where the Palace Guard was garrisoned. Then after passing through yet another gate and wall is the Middle Area, where government affairs were actually conducted. This area was dominated by the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the tallest building in the city, elevated upon three layers of marble, where the Emperor granted audiences from his elevated throne. The building (above and below) is immense.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony was filled with billowing clouds incense, so as to obscure the Emperor’s face, and making it appear that he was a god surrounded by heavenly clouds up on his throne. Pay no attention to that man behind the screen.

Then the Inner Area, where the Emperor lived with his extended family and his 300 or 400 concubines (one Emperor had more than a 1000). Another wall and gate. Like Russian nesting Dolls

Finally, we hiked and hiked and exited from the back (north) end of the Forbidden City. Here is the moat along the Rear Wall. All the dirt removed to construct the moat was piled up into a small man-made mountain, on top of which now sits a Buddhist temple.

Temple of the Glorious Moat Excavation???

A late lunch. We were thirsty. Our beer of choice in Beijing was Yanjing, the most popular local brand, in the generous 500 ml. bottle. Quite a capital beer!

Tomorrow: The Great Wall and the Summer Palace.

High Speed Train to Beijing - April 4th

Wanting three full days in Beijing, Julie & Chris, Art & Shiela, Craig & Joyce and Joani & I abandoned the friendly confines of the MS Insignia and the upcoming day-at-sea; and proceeded directly to the Shanghai Hongqaio Railway station for a Bullet Train trip to Beijing.

It was not hard to get a ticket; there are 39 high speed trains a day from Shanghai to Beijing.

 The Shanghai Hongquiao Station is a modern facility bigger than most airports.

This trip was not a hardship. The modern pod seats in Business and Tourist Class have the same 100% reclining position found on some transcontinental first class airline seats.

Our speed was constantly displayed; we were car 3 of 16 on the G18 train. Normal velocity between stations was 190 miles an hour. With four stops, the 800 mile trip took 4 hours and 55 minutes. Here is what it looks like out the window at that speed:

After a very nice dinner on the train (Joani and Joyce thoughtfully provided several bottles of wine as the train only serves soft drinks), we arrived at the Beijing South Railway Station at 7:55 PM and were met by our driver from Catherine Lu Tours.

 Beijing South

Our new home away from home is the Beijing Raffles Hotel, only one mile from Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, our Beijing Day 1 destinations. Although the hotel is fairly expensve, with the breakfast package you can add a 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM free-drinks-and-hors d'oeuvres happy hour for only $8 a person. Wow. Sign all 8 of us up now.

Yes, they serve a drink at the bar called a Beijing Sling.

Shanghai Day 2 - April 3rd

Posting twice today because Google is blocked in China, so if I don't get this out over the ship Internet system today, it won't go out for three more days.

Today we visited some older and more traditional areas: about an hour and a half out of the city is the Watertown of Zhujiajiao, a 43 square kilometer network of rivers and canals where shops and markets line the waterways (yes, all major south Asian cities seem to have a watertown) famous for its 36 bridges. Then back in town we went to the Old City area of traditional Chinese Architecture; including the Yu Chinese Gardens.

 The famous Bridge of the Five Passages

 The famous Stone Bridge

 The famous Wooden Bridge. You are beginning to get  the idea.

Squid-on-Stick was being sold by waterside vendors. We decided to wait until later for lunch.

We took a boat ride and here is the view from the boat:

Back in Shanghai, we wandered through the traditional Chinese architecture of the Old City:

The Mid-Lake Pavillion

Then the Yu Garden, built by a wealthy individual as a tribute to his parents and ancestors:

Finally, we returned to our favorite Shanghai restaurant, M on the Bund, for some food and a drink. Since it was late afternoon, we were just in time for "High Tea." But instead of tea we had Tsing Tao beer. A new tradition is born.

High speed train to Beijing tomorrow!!!

Shanghai Day 1- April 2nd

Shanghai is not like New York; Shanghai is New York … the new New York, 24 million strong and another million every year, a city that never sleeps, trillions of dollars pouring in annually sprouting crops of new buildings, the current business, fashion, shopping and financial capital of China; and possibly the future business, fashion, shopping and financial capital of the world.

We docked downtown on the Huangpu River, which is Shanghai’s Hudson. Here is the skyline on each side of the ship, with the modern Pudong business and financial centers on the far bank; and the older commercial, fashion and shopping areas on the near bank.

Here is Joani on the Bund, the famous riverfront boardwalk on the west bank of the Huangpu, with the Pudong business-financial district (Shanghai’s Wall Street) behind her across the river. Some say Pudong was designed by George Jetson.

 Pudong business-financial district

The Bund

Nanjing Road is Shanghai’s Fifth Avenue, its shopping and fashion center where 1.7 million people visit each day and every major brand in the world is represented.

Nanjing Road Store Display Window

 Nanjing Road iStore

Our favorite store was Nanta. Nanta is the largest Chinese athletic shoe and sportswear company; the major competitor of Nike and Adidas in China.

Joani bought a Nanta "Queen of the Court" 3/4 sleeve dri-fit tennis shirt

It was early spring in Shanghai and the cherry blossoms and other flowers were blooming, just like in Washington:

For lunch we had Dim Sum for the first time at Din Tai Fung, a great restaurant in the Xiantandi shopping complex. These are bite-size dumplings with various fillings (chicken, pork, shrimp, crab, mushroom ... ) swimming in a wonderful soup or broth inside the dumpling. You put it in your mouth and when you pierce the dumpling with your teeth, the flavors just explode. There are Din Tai Fung outlets in LA and Seattle.

The food was so good we forgot to take pictures.

We finished off Day 1 in Shanghai with Tsing Tao beers at the bar of M on the Bund, a nice riverfront bar and restaurant run by an Australian expatriate named Michelle (hence the name):

Tomorrow: the Watertown of Zhujiajiao and the traditional Chinese Architecture and gardens of the Old City and Yu Garden.