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Big Bold Bustling Beijing

April 23, 2014 by David Herd

Big Bold Bustling Beijing is so big so busy, even crossing the road is an experience not to be forgotten. Motor vehicle drivers and people on bicycles couldn’t care less about pedestrians or traffic lights; in fact they use them as target practice. To make matters worse the streets are so wide it can take an eternity to get across; everyone huddles into a little mass of humanity and shuffles slowly between the oncoming vehicles, oh what a relief it is each time you make it to the other side.

Apart from all that it is a fascinating city full of history and wonderful breathtaking palaces, parks and buildings, and the food, well the food, Peking or should I say Beijing duck is to die for. Not to mention all of the other wonderful cuisines available, even though half the time you don’t know what you are eating. Having said that I must admit the best Peking duck I have ever eaten was the previous week in Shanghai, but that’s another story.

My friend “The General”

I was only there for one week in 2002, not enough time so I will just have to go back again one day. I did have time enough though to see the Great wall, the Forbidden city, the beautiful Summer Palace, Tienanmen square and the bomb shelter built in 1969 to hold a mere 5 million people. Everything here is built on a grand scale, there are hundreds of new high-rise buildings under construction, on one site alone I counted 25 cranes working.

The Great wall of China certainly deserves to be the second most visited tourist attraction in the world, construction period was 770 to 256 BC and it is around 6300 kms long.

The size of the wall is amazing

The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China in part to protect the Chinese Empire or its prototypical states against intrusions by various nomadic groups or military incursions by various warlike peoples or forces. Several walls were being built as early as the 7th century BC; these, later joined together and made bigger and stronger, are now collectively referred to as the Great Wall. Especially famous is the wall built between 220–206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Little of that wall remains. Since then, the Great Wall has on and off been rebuilt, maintained, and enhanced; the majority of the existing wall are from the Ming Dynasty.

With my friend Mable in Beijing

Beijing was a little complicated for me because I had to juggle two lovely ladies. I met Mable on an internet chat site shortly before arriving in Beijing, and I met my other friend Sonia on the Gold Coast in Australia a couple of months prior to that. My big problem was they both wanted to take me to the main attractions, so I had to duck & weave a little to avoid doubling up. One day I went to the Great Wall with Sonia and the next day to The Summer Palace with Mable, etc etc. On a couple of occasions they missed bumping into each other at my hotel by only 15 minutes, it really was a little stressful. 🙂

You met Mable, now meet Sonia.

As it turned out when we returned to Australia Sonia moved interstate and got married and one year later I flew Mable to Thailand and we holidayed on Koh Chang. Soon after that we lost contact, both ladies obviously quickly came to the same conclusion (rightly so) that I was not a good prospect for a long term relationship.

The Summer Palace

The Summer Palace is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing, China. The Summer Palace is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake. It covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.

Beijing from The Summer Palace

The Summer Palace is located northwest of Beijing’s center in Haidian District, between the Fourth and Fifth Ring Roads.

The Summer Palace

The Summer Palace started out life as the ‘Garden of Clear Ripples’

The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty. It is located in the centre of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum. For almost 500 years, it served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government. Built in 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 buildings and covers 720,000 m.

Big Bold Bustling Beijing Tiananmen Square

Located at the center of Beijing City is Tiananmen Square, where you can visit Tiananmen Tower, Monument to the People’s Heroes, Great Hall of the People, Mao Zedong Memorial Hall and see the national flag raising ceremony. Please click on Google + to help my page ranking.

Big Bold Bustling Beijing sidewalk cafe