Beijing - Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, Hutongs and Temple of Heaven

In Tienanamen Square

Our first full day in Beijing. We both slept well but jet lag effects meant we woke frequently in the night and were wide awake by 5.30am. We had agreed to go swimming when the pool opened at 7am and we were the first customers there. It was a lovely pool and a good thing to get a swim in before breakfast.  Breakfast was a good mix of oriental and traditional British food. We both decided to go for the Chinese breakfast and enjoyed such things as celery pancakes and bean curd stir fry.  There was little time to get ready for the coach as this left the hotel at 8.30am.

Mike in Tienanmen Square

Our first stop this morning was Tienanmen Square. We had lovely guides on our coach who gave us all a good background, including the censorship issues. We therefore learnt that the Square was the largest open space in world rather than the scene of student revolution and deaths.  We were also warned of the possibility of undercover secret police on the Square and to watch what we spoke about. This may seem far fetched to the reader but as Jacqui has struggled to read her work emails (which are linked to a gmail account) and to share any of our activities via Face book we are now fully aware that the Chinese do impose restrictions on freedom of speech. Everything that is linked to google is blocked. 

Vehicles for the cleaners of the Square

Inside the Forbidden City

Anyway this is drifting off the purpose of this blog.  We did have a good wander around this vast site. Even though it was relatively early in the morning it was a very busy place. But then with 27 million people in Beijing alone it is not surprising.  Crossing Tiananmen Square takes you straight to the Forbidden City.  This the largest palace complex in the world and was the home of various Chinese Royal families for about 500 years.  It was built in the 15^th Century and was the imperial home for at least two major Chinese dynasties. This takes us back to the imperial rule of the Emperors who had very special privileges and those of their wife and concubines and other carefully selected personnel. It was opened to the public in 1925.

Water cauldron in Forbidden City

Whilst it was impossible not to be taken aback by the sheer scale of the palace and the many temples and great halls we found the place lacked atmosphere.  Even the garden at the end whilst full of cypress trees that were hundreds of years old there was no colour apart from one cherry and one magnolia tree that were in blossom. Part of the lack of the flowers was to remove the potential for poisoning different members of the household as this was a common cause of death.

One of the highlights for Jacqui today was being asked by an elderly Chinese couple if they could  have their photo taken with her.  This became a common theme on our trip with frequent requests perhaps because they dont see many tall Caucasian women.

From this area we picked up our coach and were taken to the Hutong area.  The Hutongs are described as the heart and soul of the city as this is where some of the working class live, characterised by their small living accommodation -3m square kitchens are not unheard of.  Hutong means 'narrow alleyway' which meant our coach could not travel through them so we were dropped off and directed to a rickshaw.  We were then cycled through these narrow streets until we reached our destination for lunch, a fun way to get your dinner.  The idea being that we would sample local traditional home made chinese food.  It was very good – various dishes: chicken, pork various vegetables and of course served with sticky rice.  It has to be sticky otherwise it falls off your chopsticks.  Perhaps the fun element here was the toilets.  We had already become aware that the traditional Chinese toilet is a hole in the ground. Generally when we had stopped there was at least a couple of 'western loos' but for the ladies at least there there was only one which meant a large queue or we had to use the Chinese toilets.  The additional downside was that there was no lockable door either – more like a cattle stall! But with lots of laughter and comments like ‘once you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all’ we had a good communal pee. That’s female fellowship for you!

After lunch we took the rickshaws back to our coach but unfortunately disaster hit one of our group.  Poor Mo fell as she got into her rickshaw and sliced her leg open. She had to be taken to hospital and have stitches. Mo was a tough cookie and did not want to be sent home so she continued the trip using a wheelchair where she could.

Temple of Heaven

Our next stop was the Temple of Heaven. It is now a large urban landscape but was previously used by the emperor to pray for good harvests and rains.  Unusually the main temple here is round rather than rectangular but again full of colour. But perhaps it is the activities in the park that are more interesting.  It is here you will find men and women playing cards or chess, it is here that caged birds are taken for a walk and where you can see people dancing or doing Tai Chi. We saw a group of older men playing with a large weighted shuttlecock that they kicked around and we think the aim was for it not to touch the ground.  We later learnt this was called ‘jianzi’.  It was fascinating to watch their versatility in keeping this shuttlecock in the air with just their feet.

From here we were taken to a tea room.  We were introduced to the tea ceremony and invited to try 4 teas.  All were brewed much less than we do so in the UK. We tried, oolong, jasmine, leichi and p’ur teas.  The leichi one was a black tea that was smoked in lychee husks and so picked up a fruity taste.  We both

Tea time

  liked this one and so bought some to take home.

Our final stop before getting back to the hotel was for supper.  This was another traditional Chinese meal with multiple meat and vegetable dishes.

It was a long day as we were out of the hotel for about 12 hours so we were both glad to get home for an early night because tomorrow we are going to the Great Wall.