Costa Rica Pics Bob and Ann in Elder Hostel China Odyssey 2004

  • Tuesday, March 30 - Beijing

    Hua Du Parking Lot and Construction

    We woke up to a chorus of soldiers shouting calisthenics cheers and running around in Hua Du hotel front parking lot outside our 6th floor window. We were ready to get up at 6am anyway and down to breakfast at shortly after 7. Tour groups were just getting to the breakfast room along with several monks and Chinese businessmen.


    A young Chinese woman asked to share our table for 4, so we worked at communicating, she practicing her English and we experimenting with Chinese. She works for a tour company and was improving her English before the 2008 Olympics, she said. She was very refreshing and open.


    China Pics
    Beijing Street Scene

    We took a taxi to Beihai Park, only about $3 for a 5 mile ride. Bob’s walking tour downloaded from Frommer’s Beijing was a good introduction to touring in China.


    Photos by Bob Lynn
    Beihai Park Lake

    At about 10AM we entered the park with a small crowd of Chinese tourists. We stuck out enough to attract a fair number of hawkers offering their private tours, to sell us their post cards and very tenaciously in some cases to try to separate us from our Yuan. Later in the afternoon we saw a few more ‘European’ folk, mostly in tour groups, and many tours of Chinese of all ages enjoying their parks. We found Beihai (and later on the smaller Jingshan Park) to be well maintained and beautifully laid out. 2/3 of Beihai was covered by a manmade lake so we saw lots of water and the wind blowing across it was chilly.


    Photos by Bob Lynn
    Beihai Park Garden

    The garden designs emphasized rock sculpture with cunning paths and lots of naturalized stairs climbing to the top of manmade hills.


    Photos by Bob Lynn
    Before lunch we visited the Round City
    Photos by Bob Lynn
    Then we circled the lake to find the Studio of the Serene Mind
    Photos by Bob Lynn
    We then found the Nine Dragon Screens
    Photos by Bob Lynn
    We saw the Hall of Pleasant Snow
    Photos by Bob Lynn
    We passed Little Western Heaven Pagoda complex
    Photos by Bob Lynn
    We ate a sumptuous lunch at the Fanghan Imperial Restaurant

    Although we climbed to the summit of the Jade Island hill to see the White Dagoba, built in 1651 in honor of a visit by the Dalai Lama, the line to climb 118 feet to the top of the Dagoba was too daunting.


    So we crossed the street to Jingshan Park (coal hill which was made of the dirt from the excavation for the Forbidden City to the South). In both parks we saw historical and religious artifacts, but clearly many religious items had been lost or destroyed in military or social upheaval. Many missing Buddhas were blamed on the Allied 8 powers in 1900. After climbing the peak to see the Pavilion of Eternal Spring and a 360 degree view of Beijing we wound our way past the tree in which an Emperor had hung himself and crossed the street in front of the Forbidden City where we caught another cab and headed back to the hotel. Dinner at the Full Moon Cantonese Restaurant in the Hotel was O.K. but we need to adjust to smoking around us at meals. Food was not as described on the menu which after our lunch experience seems to be a pattern.


    Photos by Bob Lynn
    Jade Island Hill White Dagoba

    Photos by Bob Lynn
    View Of Forbidden City from Jingshan Park

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