April 6, Friday

April 6, Friday

Yvette,  today we are visiting the Forbidden City.  I hope you are as excited as I am.

  Along the small streets

I have a full day on my own, so I leave early with a map and try to make my way towards the side of the Forbidden City. 

 The older sections are all the same grey stones and everything is very clean.

I walk through narrow back streets and finally end up on a main street that has no street signs.  I’m standing on the street corner, with my map in my hand, obviously looking like I have no idea where I have ended up.  A young lady riding by on her bicycle stops and asks me in English if I need help.  She explains that she is studying English and her teacher has encouraged her to help out tourists so that they get the chance to practice.  She shows me on the map where I am, just a few streets from the eastern entrance gate to the Forbidden City.  She asks if I want to stop and have a cup of coffee with her, but I explain that I only have a limited amount of time and we say good bye. 

At the entrance to the Forbidden city, I am informed that I cannot use this gate to enter and that I must walk around the moat to the main entrance to purchase a ticket. Oh well. 10 minutes later I’m at the main gate and decide to simply purchase a ticket to visit the gardens, since I will be visiting the Forbidden City itself with the group later this week. It is early spring in Beijing. The leaves are just starting to show on the trees but many fruit trees are blooming.

  The moat around the Forbidden City

  Within the first set of gates to the ticket office and the outer courtyard.
  The entrances and courtyards are huge

I walk through the Gardens of the Forbidden City and enjoy the mild spring day.

 One of the gates within the gardens

  Flowering white magnolia in a courtyard
  Orchids in one of the halls
 
 
And cherry blossoms in the trees !

 A tiny admirer of the blooms
  One section contains a long covered walkway, all made of wood and elaborately painted.

Each section has a unique painting on the roof section
 
 All the buildings in the park and what I can see of the Forbidden City are elaborately painted like this one.

Exiting the gardens and the Forbidden City

 Tiananmen Square across the plaza, and the extremely wide street.

From here I want to visit the Beijing Zoo, but I have to walk quite a few block before I can get to a side street and wave down a cab.  Why am I wearing my black loafers today?  My feet are killing me already and these shoes offer absolutely no cushioning. 

On the map the zoo looked like it was fairly close to the old walled city, north east and only a few inches away, but I soon realize that the map is very deceiving.  Twenty minutes later the cab drops me off at the Beijing Zoo.   It was completed in 1908 and had a total area of 1,062 hectares.  After I finished walking around it I was sure it was now MUCH larger than that, but that have had something to do with my sore feet.
 Lions garding the entrance of the zoo
  From inside of the Giant Panda exhibit, I can see one of the bears on the outside, looking in.  He is making quite a racket and obviously wants in.
 From outside, I finally get a look at a real Giant Panda.  He looks so sad and his coat is not at all shiny.

So, the great debate:  Is the Giant Panda a bear, or something else?  Scientists were still debating this a few years ago, since the panda's skeletal structure would appear to be not a bear.  They are an ancient species which has adapted itself to its enviroment.  The documentation at the zoo indicates that it is (or was not) a bear.  (Further research on the internet would seem to indicate that it is a bear.)    

When a female panda gives birth, the cub is actually prematurely born and weighs only  50 to 200 grams; just like a little hairless pink mouse.  By the time they are 23 days old they start to grow hair; but only 5 days later they are completely white and black.  They can walk and roll freely at about 3 months of age.  By the time they are 4 months old they weigh about 12 kg and spend time running and climbing.   They will become independent of their mothers at the age of 2 years.  Since pandas are solitary animals, the father is not around and the mother raises her cubs on her own.

 This is a "red panda" or "lesser panda" and is definitely part of the raccoon family. 

 The zoo is huge.  The trees are just budding with leaves.
 Monkey in a huge cement enclosure

 White tiger
 Lioness completely ignoring the crowd
 Part of the waterways in the zoo
  Tiny head and big feet on this ostrich
 A huge tapir
 And tiny little fellows that look like ground hogs but have stripings like a racoon.

I’ve visited a lot of zoos in my life and I must say that I was quite disappointed at the condition of the animals in the Beijing zoo.  They all looked very sad and their enclosures were not the best.  There was plenty of room for the people to roam around, lots of water and park area, so you would think that it would be possible to use some of the space to give the animals more natural enclosures.

After visiting the zoo and not being able to stop for anything to eat or drink, I decide to take a cab to the Temple of Heaven, located south of the .  Had I realized how big this next site was, I might not have gone, but I have tried to pack as many things as I can into my 2 days of sightseeing.

 Temple of Heaven grounds

 
 
“The Temple of Heaven, built in 1420, was the place where emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties would worship heaven and play for bumper crops.  The circular shape representing the heaven and the square shape the earth. The entire area covers 273 hectares.  In 1998 it was recognized by UNESCO as one of the human heritages of the world.”
 Little kids playing while their parents rest
 Yet another series of gates
 Inside the main temple of heaven
 Elaborately painted ceilings
 And another set of gates
  Ok, maybe that other building wasn't the main one
 This one looks even more impressive
 
 Decorative carved stairways up to the top

  The edges of all the roofs have these elaborate carvings.

  There are huge cypress trees that were planted hundreds of years ago.
  A map of the Temple of Heaven grounds.  Kind of deceiving in size.  I walked from the south gate, all the way to the north gate.
   Another gate and no end in sight.
  There is music playing and people are dancing in the park.
 Finally, the last gate to the Temple of Heaven grounds.

When I finally exited the last gate my feet were completely numb!  I was going to look for a taxi to take me back to the hotel when I spotted a rickshaw and its driver.  Halleluyah !  I have to admit that I hesitated for the briefest moment since the idea of someone pedaling me  back brought thoughts of abuse, however this gentleman make a living at doing this, so I really was helping him out as much as he was helping me.
 My ride back to the hotel ! ?
 Finally, I get to sit and rest my aching feet.

He took the backstreets through the ancient sections of Beijing and dropped me off, he said, near Tian An Men Square.

 
 Back streets of old Beijing, within the walled portions of the city.


It ended up being miles away from there and from my hotel.  Oh well !
I made my way across a number of streets and found myself on a very colourful pedestrian street full of fish signs outside restaurants. 
 A gateway to "fish" street

Although the buildings were of an old architectural design, it was obvious that this was a newly rebuilt section of Beijing; possibly for the influx of tourists during the Olympic Games.
 
  Even the sewer covers have fish designs
  One of the "fish" restaurants
The small street led me to a bigger pedestrian street, but still no indication as to which direction I should go. My inner sense of direction tells me to turn right, so I follow my instincts.  
 Finally arrive on a main pedestrian street
 Beautiful statue outside of a shop
 Which way do I go ?  How far should I walk ?

The store fronts are all new, but of an old design
 Lots of people walking around.
10 minutes later I come to the end of the main street and I’m hoping that I will see some landmark that I will recognize. Kind of difficult since all the heritage buildings have the same pagoda style roofs ! At one point an electric trolley comes down the middle of the street going in the opposite direction. 
 Definitely the gateway to this pedestrian street
At the end of the pedestrian street is a huge archway and on the other side of the 6 lane roadway is one of the huge buildings that are part of the old city gates. The question is, which one is this, and where am I? No choice but to cross the road and find out since no one speaks English around me.
  And that building looks familiar

 As I cross the road, off to the right I recognize the old train station (now a museum). Finally, I know what direction I should be heading, but I also realize that I’m still a long way from my hotel. As I walk, and walk, and walk along the sidewalks, I can see that the roads are arranged in such a way that cars are not allowed to stop. I therefore cannot flag down a taxi. OH MY ACHING FEET; how many miles have they walked today in these black loafers with no cushioning? 
 Across one archway, into another.
I go though the first set of guard towers hoping to find myself in Tian An Men Square on the other side, but it was not to be. There is another walled structure instead.
    What I do find is an underground tunnel to take me across another wide street. 

On the other side is more and more wide expanses of cement, but off in the distance I recognize the entrance to the Forbidden City, with Mao’s huge picture on it. I finally know exactly where I am and regrettably how far I still am from my hotel.  It was a 10 minute walk from the time I spotte Mao in the distance until I was close enough to take this picture.
  Entrance to the Forbidden City

 Tiananmen Square
  Honorary guards marching down the street

As I got closer to my hotel, I was able to go into a side street, within the walls of the old city, and follow this lovely park that led me to my hotel.

 
It takes me more than one hour to finally get back to my hotel.

 
  I finally enter the courtyard to the Days Inn.
  And the beautiful flowering magnolia outside the building where my room is located.
First thing I do after taking my shoes off is take a picture and throw them in trash.
 Good bye shoes.  You were great for the office but no help on cement streets.

What a very long day !    



After showering and resting, I treat myself to a nice meal in the hotel restaurant.