Beijing Sites and Pictures

Summer Palace - Beijing - Visited on Thursday, June 25th

The palace was the first site that we visited. It was beautiful and the grounds were expansive built around a large lake. All three of us were suffering from jet lag and from the 100 degree+ heat, but enjoyed the site nonetheless.

The palace was home to China's most powerful Emperess. The two most impressive parts were the "Long Corridor" which was a covered walkway that stretched along the lake for almost a mile. It was a wood beam construction with very elaborate painted scenes for the entire expanse. About half way down the corridor there was a large temple on top of the hill. I hiked about 500 stairs up to see the temple and enjoy the amazing view. Inside the temple there was an extremely large Budda. Unfortunately the pictures of the Budda did not show up due to the poor lighting.

This first picture shows the elaborate painting on the long corridor

This next picture shows the temple on top of the hill

This is a dragon guarding the long corridor

The last picture is of a boat made out of marble at the end of the long corridor

Temple of Heaven - Beijing - Visited on Friday, June 26th

Unfortunately Gwen was sick and had to miss the sites in the day on Friday. Dolores gratiously offered to stay back at the room with her, since she had seen the Temple of Heaven already on her previous vacation to China.

This temple was used by ancient Chinese emporers for a ceremony once a year were they gave animal sacrifices to heaven.

The first two pictures are of the main temple

These are the couldrens where the Emporers would burn the remains of the animals that they sacrificed to their god

After the Temple of Heaven, Laura and I went to an old Hutong area and took a rickshaw tour through the Hutong. Hutong is an old traditional Chinese type of neighborhood with single story houses that are designed with the concept of Chinese fungshway. The houses consist of four single room buildings built in a square around a courtyard. I forget which direction is which, but the room on the side that is most desirable for light and temperature was for the owner of the house. The second most desirable room was for the boys. The third for the girls and the last room was for a servant(s).

On Saturday, June 27th we visited Tieneman Square, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall.

The first two pictures were taken in Tieneman Square. The first is Laura in front of the famous building with the massive portrait of Mao Tse Tung. The other is an example of one of the many, many times that Gwen had her picture taken, famous with her exotic red hair. We couldn't walk 10 feet without someone asking if they could take their picture with her.

The next picture doesn't do the Forbidden City justice. The is where the Chinese Emporers ruled from for over 1,000 years up to the very last emporer. Pictures just do not capture the massive size of the walled city. It goes on and on and is considered the most important site in China.

The last picture was our last stop in China and doesn't really need a caption. It's the Great Wall. It's another site that our pictures just don't do justice to the massive size of the thing.

Laura, Doleres and Gwen stayed towards the bottom of the wall. I hiked up on my own to the 5th Watch Tower which was about 35 minutes straight up very steep stairs and then 35 minutes back down. The wall goes on and on and on across northern China. You hike for weeks on it. I knew it was long, but I didn't really grasp (unitl I saw it) that it goes up and down over a mountain range. The trek was exhilerating and the views amazing. This was the last site that we saw in Beijing. The next morning we were off to Xian to meet Wu Ning!