CHINA, Summer Palace, Beijing

September 5, 2008

Today I took a couple of buses to the Summer Palace about 20 km outside of Beijing. The Summer Palace consists of an enormous lake surrounded by bridges, pagodas, temples and living quarters for the summer months when Beijing would get too hot. There is a great path around the lake and it took almost 3 hours to walk around it.

I have great pictures to post but I am currently in Xian and the computers at the hostel are antiquated and it would take weeks to upload. So hopefully in a few days when I can find an internet cafe. The computers at the hostel are free is why I am using them in the first place.

CHINA, Beijing, Tianenman Square, Beijing

September 4, 2008

After lunch I took the city bus (14 cents to most places in the area) to Tianenman Square. The square is approximately 800 acres. There were many signs touting the Paraolympics which start Saturday for physically challenged athletes. There are supposed to be 4000 athletes worldwide attending. Mao's tomb closed at 12:30 but I did not plan on going anyway. Several backpackers at the hostel said it was not a big deal. I personally don't like the idea of staring at an embalmed body.

I quickly moved through the square to the entrance of the Forbidden City. Before entering I was approached by two young girls who were art students and wanted me to look at their work in the adjoining building and which was FREE. I looked at all the art which was very beautiful and they told me that they would make me a calligraphy drawing of my name and something about long life and prosperity and that it was FREE. Then they told me that the FREE calligraphy would look beautiful in a silk frame. Then I told them what I always say, " There is no room in my backpack" and quickly left without my FREE calligraphy.

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CHINA, The Great Wall of China

Saturday September 6, 2008

I got up early this morning (6 am) and went with a small tour group to Jinshanling to walk the Great Wall for 10 km (6.2 miles). It doesn't sound like very far until you see the pictures of the walls going up and down the mountains. When we first got there our guide said that the best thing to do would be take the cable car up to the first tower at the top of the mountain to save 40 minutes of walking. Of course, I then preceded to ask him if it was extra and he said only 40 yuan (about $6) and of course I quickly started up the path walking to the top of the mountain.
About 15 took the cable car and 4 of us walked. Much to my surprise I beat everyone is our group who took the cable car up to the top of the mountain.

The walk was very difficult at time but this was an area 3 hrs out of Beijing which shows the wall in its deteriorating state and others which have been repaired as a conservation effort. There are also very few people hiking this far out. Most go close to Beijing at Badaling and there are actually thousands on the wall at the same time. The entire hike of the wall took about 3.5 hrs. At the end you had an option to use a zip line to go across the river and save another 30 minutes walking. 40 Yuan. You KNOW what I did. lol I probably would have done it had I not done the zip line canopy tour a few months ago in Costa Rica.

The crowds from the paralympics, athletes and spectators, have made finding rooms impossible. I intentionally waited for the Olympics to end to travel to China but did not know about the paralympics. Since I had no hostel room for Saturday night, after the walk I went to the train station to catch the overnight train to Xian to see the Terracotta Warriors. Unfortunately since I had not planned the train ride earlier there were no sleeper cars for the 9 pm til 8:40 am train ride. So I sat in a seat for 11 or so hours. But I had a few limited English conversations through the night and like always, traveling is just great fun and you make the best of every situation.

CHINA, Xian, City Walls and Muslim Quarter

The hostel is really great. Dorms rooms are $3.00 a night and you get a free beer each night and free internet. It seems as though the room is free with the freebies. Mostly English travelers here right now. The hostel has a bar in the basement, a restaurant, travel agency and two outdoor courtyards.

The City Walls are in a rectangle around the old city center and total 14 km in length. I walked from the north gate to the south gate or about 1/2 way. The walls are 12 meters wide at the top.

The Muslim Quarter is really exciting at night with everyone cooking "meat on a stick" and other things which I have no idea what they are.