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CHINA! - Beijing
10 years ago
First few days in China - starting in Beijing
Pretty busy days!
First night we caught up with one of my sisters friends that she met last time she was in China
We went to the Hutongs and checked out some of the older buildings/houses in Beijing
And then we had dinner at one of the local restaurants
We had a leg of lamb that came out half cooked and finished cooking on the spit on the table
Along with skewers of chicken hearts, and skewers of mushrooms.
Our first day in Beijing
We went to Tian anmen square and the Forbidden City
And then we went to the Summer Palace, and after we went and watched the acrobats at the local theatre
Tian anmen square was MASSIVE, and it was also the first day of the holiday
Celebrating Golden Week, so the square was filled with gardens, statues and all sorts of things
One of them was a massive gold coloured urn with huge fabric flowers and surrounded by a garden
There were also hedges and plants sculpted into amazing shapes
Forbidden City was huge and amazing to walk through
I wish we could have spent longer to properly explore, but we had to move on
At the Summer Palace they had this amazing and long covered walkway - about 750m long
It also had over 1,400 painted images along its length
It was just so detailed!!!!
We walked all the way along its length and were able to see the Marble Boat
The (older/traditional) architecture and buildings are just amazing to see in person
It is something I have had a lot of interest in for a long time
Definitely stuff I will be able to put to use in my art
(especially if I start up my comic/manga again that I started 5 years ago and only really completed the opening 12 or so pages XD)
The acrobats we watched were (according to our guide) the best in China, and represented China in the Olympics
The show/acts were amazing - definitely up there with Cirque du Soliel
My favourite act was possibly when the guys were doing flips and jumps through hoops
It was like they were on trampolines, not just flat ground.
The last jump, he flipped through a hoop that was easily 2.5m high
(Or at least high enough that the other accrobats had to stand on anothers shoulders - the hoop was really high!)
And he just sailed through effortlessly!!
The strong men were also amazing to watch
Just pure strength in their movements, it was so controlled
One guy lifted the other on doing a handstand on his feet while flat on his stomach!!
An amazing first day!!
Our second day (today) we went the Jade Factory, the Ju Young Guan section of the Great Wall and then to the Chinese Doctors School
At the Jade Factory we saw the Masters at work
It was really interesting to learn that the Masters do not go to a school to learn their trade
But rather the learning is passed through each generation
There is no school or class for Jade carving in China (or at least Beijing)
We also saw how to tell the difference between fake, B grade and A grade jade
We did buy several smaller pieces of Jade, but it was quite expensive
I would have loved to get one of the larger, more intricate pieces
But they valued in the thousands in Austalian currency
Even for what we got, we (as a family) spent just over 3k on jade statues and jewellery
From there we went to the Great Wall of China
I climbed up to the 14th Tower. (of two towers on our section)
I climbed up past the 15th tower to the 14th.
It went further but we only had two hours at the Wall and still had to get back down
(Of course I was also absolutely buggered to climb that far in the time that we did!!)
It was a beautiful view at those towers
It was hard going climbing, as the height of the steps would randomly vary from being just ankle height to occasionally knee height!!
It was also really step in some areas that it was easier to climb on all fours than to it was to take the steps in a normal fashion
From there we went to the Academy for the Chinese Doctors
There, we met the best Chinese doctor who also treats the leaders and officials in Beijing with the eastern/chinese medicine
We had our palms and pulse read for assessment of our health
He could tell my sister had arthritis, and my mum had trouble sleeping by checking their meridian pulse and reading their palm
My mum and my sister were recommended to get herbal remedies that cost a good $3-500 for 1 months supply
Though the idea of chinese/eastern medicine is to get to the root of the problem, rather than just treat the symptoms like western medicine.
I got off rather lightly only being told I need to exercise!!! HAhaha (Which I already knew XD)
We also recieved a foot massage, my feet still feel amazing!
But now we have to board for shanghai, so I have to head off now
Pretty busy days!
First night we caught up with one of my sisters friends that she met last time she was in China
We went to the Hutongs and checked out some of the older buildings/houses in Beijing
And then we had dinner at one of the local restaurants
We had a leg of lamb that came out half cooked and finished cooking on the spit on the table
Along with skewers of chicken hearts, and skewers of mushrooms.
Our first day in Beijing
We went to Tian anmen square and the Forbidden City
And then we went to the Summer Palace, and after we went and watched the acrobats at the local theatre
Tian anmen square was MASSIVE, and it was also the first day of the holiday
Celebrating Golden Week, so the square was filled with gardens, statues and all sorts of things
One of them was a massive gold coloured urn with huge fabric flowers and surrounded by a garden
There were also hedges and plants sculpted into amazing shapes
Forbidden City was huge and amazing to walk through
I wish we could have spent longer to properly explore, but we had to move on
At the Summer Palace they had this amazing and long covered walkway - about 750m long
It also had over 1,400 painted images along its length
It was just so detailed!!!!
We walked all the way along its length and were able to see the Marble Boat
The (older/traditional) architecture and buildings are just amazing to see in person
It is something I have had a lot of interest in for a long time
Definitely stuff I will be able to put to use in my art
(especially if I start up my comic/manga again that I started 5 years ago and only really completed the opening 12 or so pages XD)
The acrobats we watched were (according to our guide) the best in China, and represented China in the Olympics
The show/acts were amazing - definitely up there with Cirque du Soliel
My favourite act was possibly when the guys were doing flips and jumps through hoops
It was like they were on trampolines, not just flat ground.
The last jump, he flipped through a hoop that was easily 2.5m high
(Or at least high enough that the other accrobats had to stand on anothers shoulders - the hoop was really high!)
And he just sailed through effortlessly!!
The strong men were also amazing to watch
Just pure strength in their movements, it was so controlled
One guy lifted the other on doing a handstand on his feet while flat on his stomach!!
An amazing first day!!
Our second day (today) we went the Jade Factory, the Ju Young Guan section of the Great Wall and then to the Chinese Doctors School
At the Jade Factory we saw the Masters at work
It was really interesting to learn that the Masters do not go to a school to learn their trade
But rather the learning is passed through each generation
There is no school or class for Jade carving in China (or at least Beijing)
We also saw how to tell the difference between fake, B grade and A grade jade
We did buy several smaller pieces of Jade, but it was quite expensive
I would have loved to get one of the larger, more intricate pieces
But they valued in the thousands in Austalian currency
Even for what we got, we (as a family) spent just over 3k on jade statues and jewellery
From there we went to the Great Wall of China
I climbed up to the 14th Tower. (of two towers on our section)
I climbed up past the 15th tower to the 14th.
It went further but we only had two hours at the Wall and still had to get back down
(Of course I was also absolutely buggered to climb that far in the time that we did!!)
It was a beautiful view at those towers
It was hard going climbing, as the height of the steps would randomly vary from being just ankle height to occasionally knee height!!
It was also really step in some areas that it was easier to climb on all fours than to it was to take the steps in a normal fashion
From there we went to the Academy for the Chinese Doctors
There, we met the best Chinese doctor who also treats the leaders and officials in Beijing with the eastern/chinese medicine
We had our palms and pulse read for assessment of our health
He could tell my sister had arthritis, and my mum had trouble sleeping by checking their meridian pulse and reading their palm
My mum and my sister were recommended to get herbal remedies that cost a good $3-500 for 1 months supply
Though the idea of chinese/eastern medicine is to get to the root of the problem, rather than just treat the symptoms like western medicine.
I got off rather lightly only being told I need to exercise!!! HAhaha (Which I already knew XD)
We also recieved a foot massage, my feet still feel amazing!
But now we have to board for shanghai, so I have to head off now
