BEJING, CHINA .... August 2015

August 3rd, Rays Birthday.... And we are headed for a short stay in Bejing.
WE flew on the 3rd on China Air form JFK to Bejing. A 12 hour flight and there is a 12 hour time difference.  We are staying at the Raffles Bejing Hotel.

This is the Capital city of China with  22 million people. Second only to Shanghai in population.
The 3 most famous things here are the GREAT WALL and THE FORBIDDEN CITY, and
TIAN'AN MEN SQUARE. There are many other things to see in this massively big city, but these are the big three.

Our Hotel. It's historic and colonial in style. Very spacious rooms and good service from the staff. I also liked the Grand Hyatt hotel down the street. More on that later.

This building is across the street from the Raffles Hotel/ It's called the Chang An Club and the Bejing Tower.
On the  street level is a Porsche dealer and showroom.

Early one morning we walked towards the Forbidden City. Mobs of people swarming around at 5:30 am. This is the expansive front gate and landscaping as we approach the entrance.

Forbidden City Neighborhood

Subway entrance for Forbidden City. We did not venture in to the Bejing Subways.

Forbidden City entrance building with photo of Chairman Mao on the front. He is a famous figure in these parts.

Detail of entrance building. More on the Forbidden City later when we actually go visit it.

Ray's Chinese Breakfast in the hotel. Raffles had a good dining room with a whole variety of Chinese and Western selections for breakfast. very interesting.

Looking out from the lobby of the Grand Hyatt Hotel, a short walk from Raffles. Stunning reflection in the glass building across.

She's just outside the Grand Hyatt

Beautiful entrance gate to this hotel.

Friday morning we hired a guide and car and drove North of town to see the GREAT WALL.
We learned that the wall snakes through the countryside over mountains, deserts and plains for several thousand miles.
It served as a method of communication via smoke signals, flares and bells. Also as a method of moving troops quickly in treacherous terrain. Most importantly, it was a barrier to invasions over the centuries. It has been reconstructed several times, and today,only select sections of the crumbling remains have been restored.

One of many advantages of having a guide. Photos of US!! Our guide was a young lady named Belle. She was fun!

I'm making it look like more of a struggle than it was. We took a ski chair lift up to the wall and walked around a bit.
Then rode a toboggan ride down! Sorry, no photos of that, but it was a blast!

We had a misty day, which added atmosphere. We arrived there at 8:30 am having left the hotel at 7am....... GLAD we went early as we avoided all the crowds.

As we reentered the city, we stopped to stroll through a " Hutong".... a residential alleyway with shops and restaurants. From the old times. Some still are in use, but many have been demolished to make way for modern buildings. Too bad.

Belle is explaining the architecture.

A Hutong Doorway.

These are not fancy, but very real neighborhoods.

Every Hutong has a name. The one we visited was Wudaoying. You pronounce it!

After our Great Wall morning, we wanted a good lunch! We found a great restaurant on the 6th floor of a shopping Mall
near our hotel. "Da Dong" is an upscale place serving Peking Duck as its specialty. We had had some delicious duck at a previous dinner, so we ordered other dishes. All Fabulous!! And watching the chefs sweat over the wood stove where they roasted the ducks to that crispy brown finish was part of the spectacle. The restaurant was large and full of diners. We were the only non Asians in the whole place!

Preparing to serve the duck.

Those poor ducks don't stand a chance in this city. They must serve many thousands a day. Peking is the old colonial name for Bejing.......

Ray shot this gorgeous old building while on a photo stroll.

Look at that mob of people visiting Tian'an Men Square. This tall building is a historic gate of the old City Wall. That wall was torn down ages ago, but they kept the gate.

Detail on the gate photo above. The wires are to protect the structure from lightening.

We are inside a main courtyard of THE FORBIDDEN CITY..... Built in 1420 by an emperor of the Ming Dynasty, this royal enclave was forbidden territory to all but the Emperor, his family , and invited dignitaries for almost 500 years... It became open in 1911 when the Last Emperor lost power and the Communists took over the country.

Tourists in the Forbidden city. August is NOT a good month to visit China. Too hot. there were VERY few non asian people in Bejing.

Rays panorama view of one side of this huge courtyard.

One of 2 huge carved lions flanking the entrance to the Emporer's highly decorated meeting building.

This photo shows the vastness of the Forbidden City

Ray's detail of a Forbidden City building

The TEMPLE OF HEAVEN... aka Tian Tan.......Completed during the Ming Dynasty, this is where the Emperor came to make sacrifices and pray to heaven and his ancestors during the Winter Solstice. One of the largest temple complexes in all of China.

Ray and Jim, our guide, continued on to the SUMMER PALACE. I went back to the Grand Hyatt Hotel to relax and have one more lunch at "Made in China", a restaurant we liked a lot. The Summer Palace started out as a huge park and retreat from the Stifling Summer Heat in the Forbidden City. In the 18th Century, a palace was built there, and reconstructed at least twice after destruction during wars and rebellions.

Summer Palace lily pond.

Summer Palace

Summer Palace

Ray people watching at the Summer Palace

One of many tourist boats at the Summer Palace... It was a very HOT Summer Day in Bejing

Our last dinner on Saturday night was at the China Club. A truly old world palace that is now used as a private hotel and restaurant. It was incredibly charming and totally Chinese. No tourists but us. We felt transported back in time. We flew home on China Air on Sunday.