Today's sightseeing is best described as a yomp through Beijing's crowded must-sees. I've been on a few organised tours before, but nothing like this one. Despite being sold by a well-known UK 'small group adventure' operator, our guide (sweet and professional as she is) is definitely from the same school as all those Chinese and Japanese guides you see leading groups on whistlestop follow-my-umbrella tours of London, Stratford, or wherever. 
We raced through the delightful Temple of Heaven park, where I got left behind every time I dared to stop for long enough to take a photo. Eventually I persuaded Li, against her will, to let me hold my own ticket so that I could make my way alone and meet the group at the exit at the appointed time. The park is enormous and contains a number of pagodas and the like. But for me the real joy was seeing thousands of locals going about their morning exercise. This ranged from strolling, through badminton and a sort of keepy-uppy played with a giant shuttlecock to ballroom dancing. There was also a bit of line dancing and lots of unspecified dancing in aerobic formation but using middle-aged music and middle-aged aunties. Strangely, the one exercise I'd expected to see - tai chi - was noticeably absent. Of course, we only took in a fraction of the parks.
From there we went on to Tiananmen Square, stopping off for a tasty lunch in a backstreet cafe. It's a big old square alright, but something of an anticlimax after all the hype about how big it is. The hordes of happy tourists pottered about, a scene quite baffling in its contrast to the picture in my head of the day that shall not be mentioned.
We were allowed a full ten minutes here before we were shepherded into the Forbidden City. This is huge, and stunning. But it was heaving with tourists, enormous groups following their guides' little flags, bottlenecking at each walkway between pavilions. Li continued to spout history as massed school groups bumped their way round us. I had ha
d enough, there were few places where you could stop and think ooh or ahh, and again begged leave to make my own way. It was like edging your way out of a stadium all the way around this wonderful place. I would love to go back when it's quieter - the ornate decorations of each building are exquisite, the sheer size and grandeur of the whole city is amazing.
I was relieved to get back to the hotel and hose my weary self down in the shower. We had yet another good meal (more about the food another time) before rushing off to catch the night train to Xi'an.
We raced through the delightful Temple of Heaven park, where I got left behind every time I dared to stop for long enough to take a photo. Eventually I persuaded Li, against her will, to let me hold my own ticket so that I could make my way alone and meet the group at the exit at the appointed time. The park is enormous and contains a number of pagodas and the like. But for me the real joy was seeing thousands of locals going about their morning exercise. This ranged from strolling, through badminton and a sort of keepy-uppy played with a giant shuttlecock to ballroom dancing. There was also a bit of line dancing and lots of unspecified dancing in aerobic formation but using middle-aged music and middle-aged aunties. Strangely, the one exercise I'd expected to see - tai chi - was noticeably absent. Of course, we only took in a fraction of the parks.
From there we went on to Tiananmen Square, stopping off for a tasty lunch in a backstreet cafe. It's a big old square alright, but something of an anticlimax after all the hype about how big it is. The hordes of happy tourists pottered about, a scene quite baffling in its contrast to the picture in my head of the day that shall not be mentioned.
We were allowed a full ten minutes here before we were shepherded into the Forbidden City. This is huge, and stunning. But it was heaving with tourists, enormous groups following their guides' little flags, bottlenecking at each walkway between pavilions. Li continued to spout history as massed school groups bumped their way round us. I had ha
d enough, there were few places where you could stop and think ooh or ahh, and again begged leave to make my own way. It was like edging your way out of a stadium all the way around this wonderful place. I would love to go back when it's quieter - the ornate decorations of each building are exquisite, the sheer size and grandeur of the whole city is amazing.I was relieved to get back to the hotel and hose my weary self down in the shower. We had yet another good meal (more about the food another time) before rushing off to catch the night train to Xi'an.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment