Tiananmen Square...The Forbidden City and Chinese food tastes like Chinese food.

Tiananmin square…HUGE!! And all 1.9 Billion Chinese residents happen to be there on the day we visited. I had my first official "being trampled by a crowd" experience in Tianamin square. No apologies, just squish the American. What could I say…so I just growled really loud at everyone who was pushing me into the wall (which sadly only added to the 'Crazy Americans' reputation..sorry everyone). It's amazing how much you panic when you realize that you've lost control in a crowd.

Tiananmen Square Guard

The funny thing is that at times, the square would empty out for a short while, until the next massive wave of tourists poured through. 

Tiananmen Square in Bejing China

Anyway, Tianamin (by the way..really hard to type) square was quite a site.This is the largest square in the word at something like 90 acres and according to our tour guide, can fit 250,000 people (you mean like right now??). There were many things going on in this square which mainly consisted of thousands of Chinese tourists from other provinces who had rarely traveled outside of their hometowns (according to Cindy..our tour guide). 

Tiananmen Square Chinese tourist group in front of large LCD screen

What this resulted in though, was our picture being taken over and over again by the cutest people who would sneak around us..click..click..click and run off. When we posed for a picture, ourselves, they would sneak behind and around us and have their relatives take pictures of them with us. It was quite comical. Cindy fed us some line about Americans being so "interesting" and "exciting" to the people from other provinces…but I think they were just taking our pictures home to show their friends how goofy Americans look. 

Tiananmen Square in Bejing China, Military Officer

You may remember that Tiananmin square was the site of the student protests a number of years ago pertaining to human rights, freedoms etc…and unfortunately many students were killed. The number of deaths were suppressed by the government. According to Cindy though, it seems that things have improved somewhat.

Tiananmen Square in Beijing China, School Group

Tiananmin square was really hard to photograph (it's a 90 acre piece of concrete people) and most pictures were nothing but gangs of tour groups in red hats, purple hats, green hats…you get the idea. So, I have put some in the albums which you can see the large red posts that are decorated in front of the Great Hall of the People (where the communist party meets).

The Entrance to the Forbidden City in Bejing China

Tiananmin square, sits at the beginning of the entrance to The Forbidden City. It took us a short while to reach the entrance through more crowds of people. I thought that the Forbidden City was going to be sort of big, but I didn't realize that it actually goes on for building after building after square after square. In fact, it took us two hours to walk through it. 

The Forbidden City in Beijing, China

TFC is beautiful and was the place where all the Emperors of China lived over many years (back to the 1500's I think). If I remember correctly, it took 15,000 servants to run TFC and no one was allowed in unless they were invited, not even high officials. Cindy kept proudly telling us about the 3000 concubines that the emperor had and how he would often have to be reminded that there was official business to tend to and for pity sake, leave those concubines alone for a while. If a concubine would act up or displease the emperor, he would have her poisoned.

Inside The Forbidden City in Beijing China

I would imagine that it would be terribly easy to get lost in this place if one wanted to.There were lots of stairways that were carved out of solid marble and adorned with various animal carvings that had significance. It was a bright, sunny morning when i was there, so it was hard to get any good photos without them being overexposed. I did the best that i could in the circumstances.

Inside the Forbidden City in Beijing China

By now, I've been in China for a number of days and have eaten a number of meals.What surprised me though was that Chinese food in China... is actually Chinese food.How is that for logic? I guess what I expected was something completely different. I have been to Asia before, but in Hong Kong, for instance, the dishes were mainly noodles with a few exotic extras. However, in mainland China, each dish that was served up seemed to be identical to what we eat in the states. Sweet and sour chicken, tofu dishes, beef and broccoli, spring rolls etc… I guess the only real difference is that they seem to serve most meals "Family Style". Meaning that everything is shared at the table, and most of the time the food keeps coming. 

Inside the Forbidden City in Beijing China

Even though I generally eat with chopsticks (as this is normal in China) I did notice that they are willing to bring  you a fork and spoon if needed. As a heads up, it is not normal to receive a napkin while eating a meal in China. I have not figured out how they keep from using them, but if you want one you had better keep a few in your pocket. This is also typical in bathrooms after you wash your hands….there are no paper towels. Some places have hand dryers if you're lucky. How was that for a transition from The Forbidden City to drying your hands in the bathroom?

Inside the Forbidden City in Beijing China 

So far, I haven't found China to be expensive. I suppose if you're from a midwest state, it might seem a little higher,but it is comparable to California or New York as far as food prices and accommodations go. Our hotel in Beijing was amazing. We ended up in a beautiful place which had a great view. I think it was called "The Gloria". I have to say though that the buffet in the hotel was a bit pricey at $40 per person, but when you're tired at night and don't feel like roaming the

streets, it's the only option.

View from Gloria Hotel in Beijing

There were lots of amazing shops in Beijing which lined a street close to our hotel. It ran for many city blocks and seemed to be very trendy with mainly a young crowd. Lots of flashy signs, boutique cafes and expensive clothing stores. I felt very safe in Beijing and would never hesitate walking around the city. Although we weren't too far from the Olympic village, we didn't really spend much time there. I managed to snap a couple of night shots of the "Water Cube" as

we drove by. It was a pretty amazing area that covered quite a large space.

I have posted the rest of my Tianamen Square pictures HERE, and my Forbbiden City pictures

are HERE.

Xingang Port Information for Beijing

The port of Xingang China is used to access Beijing. The distance from the port to Beijing is about 3 hours or more, depending on traffic. The drive from the port is mainly through countryside on a major highway, but depending on time of the day, it can be at a stand-still. The reason I am emphasizing this, is because sometimes people decide to hire a Taxi from the port to Bejing, which may not be so bad time wise. However, if you decide to take a Taxi back from Beijing, then you had better leave HOURS before you have to be back onboard. I have known people to be left in Beijing or Xingang because they underestimated the time and traffic.

I usually don't advertise things, but you should know that buying a package from the cruise company can be way overpriced. The last I checked, they were charging about $800 per person for two days (which includes hotels, some meals and tours. However, I would STRONGLY suggest that you check out this company "www.beijingservice.com". The reason being is that if you do what I did, then you can have the exact same package as the ship sells, but as low as $220 per person. Since I sometimes travel on cruise ships, I am a member of the www.CruiseCritic.com forums. It's free and easy to join. What I did, was post a note in the forum for that particular cruise (under the "Roll Call" section for the ship and date) and told everyone that I had started a group for the specific tour and wanted to know if anyone wanted to join. If you get up to 10 people in the group, then that's when the price drops to about $220 per person. You can have as few people as you'd like though, but pay a higher price. It was easy to get 10 people to join. In fact, "Tansy" who works at Beijing service will gladly start adding to your group (up to 10) if you ask her to. She usually picks someone to head the group and then emails the details to you when she adds people. 

Everyone pays for their own, so you're not in an awkward situation, trying to diving money. We paid by credit card through email (which was very safe), or you can pay in cash when you get there. Our group was fantastic. We had a small van and a tour guide "Cindy" who was so much fun. The hotel was 5 star "The Gloria" and the lunches were decent. The funny thing is that we kept arriving to the tour spots before the ships tours did, and Cindy and the driver are flexible with their itinerary. 

Keep in mind, you will have to visit a Silk Factory, etc... here and there, but the tour was two days and worth way more than what we paid. I liked this company so much, that I booked a day tour with a guide in Shanghai that I hired through them (but I joined another group to make it cheaper). They will work with you via the internet if you need to contact them while overseas. 

Our guide in Beijing and the driver took great care to get us back to Xingang in plenty of time. 

Ming Tomb...I should have paid attention

Entrance to Ming Tomb in Beijing China

We hired a tour guide to take us to a few places in Beijing. We figured we should let a professional navigate us for a couple of days since it would be more time consuming on our own. Sun wen juan…or "Cindy" became our guide. Chinese people generally pick an american name because most of us (Americans) have trouble pronouncing anything  outside of a chinese menu…and even that is questionable (as I found out while visiting my relatives in Oklahoma).

Ming Tomb in Bejing China

Cindy, was fantastic. She was so bubbly, funny, adorable and very intelligent. She informed us that she spoke "Chinglish" and had been studying the english language for years. I think she was about 26, but no matter how hard Billy and I tried to trip her up with questions about China, China politics, imports, religion, oil prices…or Britney Spears music…she knew the answers. She had a great sense of humor and educated us (Billy) extremely well on the history, artifacts and historical sites that we visited.

Ming Tomb in Beijing China

Here's the embarrassing part…I don't remember a darn thing she said about Ming Tomb or The Temple of Heaven. This is certainly not her fault. China is very overwhelming and I think at this point when I saw Ming Tomb, all my mind could process was "ohhhhh…pretty!!!". Of course Billy clung to every word and date, but…well, I have no excuse for him. Anyway, I think the best that I can do at this point is to ask him some questions and write what he says.

Ming Tomb Dragons in Bejing China

So….Billy says…"(Yawn!)" whatever….forget it…he just started rambling on about history or something, so you're going to have to look it up on Wikipedia. Meanwhile. I have to report that Ming Tomb and the Temple of Heaven were both beautiful sites and wonderful architecture. There is one funny thing though. At the Temple of Heavenpark area, there are numerous Chinese Karaoke machines that are being used every so many feet by local amateurs who have decided that they can sing Chinese Opera. There is a long line of them down this corridor that you have to walk by to get to the exit. We were told that this was an ongoing tradition (which also includes Ballroom dancing out in the open) I have to admit that one or two had good voices, but dot dot dot, most of it was like watching the audition out-takes for American Idol. Not to mention
that the Karaoke machines they had were loud and over amped.
Bless their hearts for putting their all into it, but it was a little louder than I could handle. Please don't let me discourage you from finding out more about these two sites, they were quite amazing, but I'm afraid that I'm just not a good source for this one. By the way, there are some pictures HERE (Ming Tomb) and HERE (Temple).

The Great Wall of China...Best... Stairmaster...EVER!!!

The Great Wall of China

I was ecstatically happy that our first day in Beijing was going to be spent on The Great Wall! In fact, this was my most desired stop on this multi-month trip. From Tianjin, we drove about three and a half hours to Beijing. It was interesting that the drive through the countryside of Eastern China was basically what you’d see driving on any state highway, except for everything being in Chinese…and that Chinese drivers are suicidal. Period. Not being rude here, in fact, they are proud of their ability to drive like bats out of hell and ignore every sane highway rule that was ever invented. One of our chinese friends informed me that this is why Chinese acrobats are so good…they have years of training behind the wheel. Let me tell you, those highways and city streets are scary.

The Great Wall of China

My first impression of Beijing was that I was seeing Dallas, but overseas. We have all of our fantasies about ancient Chinese civilization showing itself around every corner..rickshaws, red lanterns and cinematic music coming from somewhere. Well, I hate to tell you, but that doesn’t exist in Beijing.

The Great Wall of China in Beijing

Beijing has grown into a large, spread out, crowded “Dallas” of the East. So let me add some things before someone gets offended. Beijing has come into the future. They have built themselves a very modern city that doesn’t have one main skyline, but many buildings over miles and miles. They’ve built upwards and did a pretty darn good job of it. I’m not sure if the romantic imagery that we have about Beijing is purposely perpetuated, or if it’s something we’ve just done to ourselves. None-the-less, I’ll repeat…Beijing is big, modern and spread out. Now the good news. Beijing has preserved the important things such as The Great Wall, and a number of other places I’ll post about later.

The Great Wall of China

Traffic in Beijing is worse than L.A…by far. It took us hours to get from point A to point B. Once we were on the outskirts of the city though, it only took us about 20 minutes to get to The Great Wall. It was wonderful driving into the mountainous area and you could see the wall in the distance. I believe it is something like 10,000 Kilometers long, so you can only see parts of it. There is more than one area that you can access the wall at, so we chose to drive to the closest location to the city.

The Great Wall of China in Beijing

I’ve been considering this my summer/tropical vacation simply because at some point over the months, I will be in a tropical climate…see the logic there? However, Beijing, specifically the mountains where we drove to, were freezing. Our first day In Beijing was met by a wind storm. It was odd being in hurricane type winds, but no rain. Once we reached the wall, it felt like winter. Of course, we had shorts on. Is there anything else a red blooded American would wear to all parts of the world?

A Climb Straight up on The Great Wall of China

My friends, I tell you the truth, not what the T.V wants you to think…so here’s the fun part. The Great Wall of China, is way…way…way…up a LOT of steps. Now, I think that there’s a wimpy section somewhere further out that’s “Popular”, but where we went…let’s just say I almost tinkled myself halfway up. Okay, when I say “half-way”, I mean a quarter of the way. When we walked from the parking area towards the entry steps to our section of wall, I proudly exclaimed to a grinning tourist “We’re climbing the wall today”…and it was met with “HA! Good luck!”…and they walked on. You’d think I would have taken a hint, but no such luck.

The Great Wall of China in Beijing

So let me see if I can explain this. The Great Wall dips down at one point where you can enter and begin to climb some steps on the wall to the different watch towers at the top of the mountain. Of course the wall keeps going, but the goal is to reach the top and tell your friends you did. As it were, we were pretty high up. Now, the “Steps” are original and made of stone, but these were made by men who didn’t understand that steps need to be a consistent height and for normal human beings. So, as you begin to climbs a few steps, you realize that some strides are different than others. This wouldn’t be so bad, if they were naturally tiered upward…but they’re not…they’re very, very, very, very steep. Did I mention steep??

The Great Wall of China

You still don’t believe me about the steps, so I should have gotten testimony from the Filipino lady that was clinging to the railing while she tried slowly descending the steps with what I thought were her tiny little legs (turns out that it was just BIG steps). I laughed at her (good natured of course) and she laughed back, but said she’d rather cling like a baby than fall to her death….I snickered again and began to climb more.

The Great Wall of China in Beijing

There were a number of people going up and down these stairs. Generally, very slowly. Everyone is energetic until about a quarter of the way up the first section. At this point, it almost appears that people were crawling on their bellies to go up further, but maybe I was hallucinating. Finally, after multiple intervals of start and stop, I couldn’t make it any further. Yes, I admit, I could not do it anymore. I was up far enough though that when you turn around and look back, it’s very high and pretty scary.

The Great Wall of China
Coming down the wall. This was a whole new event in itself. Boy, did I feel bad about making fun of our sweet Filipino mom type character. Go with me for a moment…think about standing on the very edge of a high mountain cliff. There’s a drop thousands of feet below you and the only thing you can think about is the numerous, unstable and cranky New York tourists coming down the wall behind you (embracing/clinging to/ glued to the same railing).…and any minute one of them is going to trip and you’re going to roll the rest of the way down….and die. Okay, you’re not on a cliff, but the fear is still the same.

The Great Wall of China in Bejing

I never fully understood the term “Rubber Legs” until my experience at The Great Wall. I could barely walk back to the lot after spending a long, long time making it back down the steps. Overall, it was amazing. Spectacular even. I think I got some great shots. However, I could not, no matter how hard I tried…capture how incredibly steep these steps were…so you’ll have to take my word for it. Some of the pictures I've posted are of the various sections of the wall, you can see some people on the top of the wall here and there. (just so you know, we hate those people). If you ever get the chance to visit this part of the world, don’t pass it up. In all seriousness, it was one of the most fulfilling feats that I have ever experienced, especially thinking about the amazing history behind it all, and that I walked on a wall that the sentries did up to 2000 years ago. By the way you can access the additional photos of the area HERE. (Sorry that my photos are a bit washed out, I don't have any way to really edit them well on this trip.)

Chinese Military and Law Enforcement

Chinese Military in Beijing

I am jumping ahead here a little, but I recently was able to capture some photos of the Chinese Military, along with some various Law Enforcement personal. There is such an interesting presence about them.

Chinese Military in Beijing

Although some may look quite intimidating, most of the policemen and military people that I have photographed have been quite nice and helpful.

Chinese Officer 

There are more photos of Military, Law Enforcement and Various Officer in other countries that I photograph and place in my Flickr photo album HERE. I am frequently adding to it so check back often.