Beijing Vacation

Left Newark on a Continental 777 aircraft. Flew nonstop to Beijing, 13 ½ hours. This was actually a very nice flight. They actually served 3 meals that were decent enough to eat. The video selection was lousy, but that gave me a chance to stretch out across 3 seats and catch a few zzzz’s. I traveled with 8 travel agents. We were met by 4 private cars and guides, 2 agents to a car. All of the hotels that the agents were put in were government owned hotels. The airport is 45 minutes from city center and traffic is very heavy. The cars will make 5 lanes out of a 3 lane highway and then you add the bicycles, which are completely oblivious to any cars around them, and then the motorcycle taxis which own the road the same as the bicycles. I would never drive there and I’ve driven all over Europe.

My hotel was the 4 star Beijing Capital Hotel. I’ve been in many 5 star hotels that were not as nice as this hotel. This was a very nice hotel, with all of your amenities including a spa which we needed after climbing the Great Wall. The hotel was located about six blocks from Tian An Men Square and eight blocks from the Forbidden City. It had 5 restaurants, one being on the 21st floor with an awesome view of the city. The beds were very comfortable and the rooms were tastefully decorated in soft colors. The staff was very attentive. The American Buffet breakfast was more like a brunch. There were tour groups there from Globus and Tauck - - knowing Tauck only uses the best was very impressive. When checking in, we were asked if we wanted an Eastern Room or a Western Room. The Eastern Rooms have beds on the floor made from mats and the toilets are wholes in the floor rather than having a commode.

We also toured the China World Hotel which was considered Deluxe 5 star. Very nice, with 8 restaurants and 2 swimming pools plus the spa. What makes an additional star is the more restaurants and more swimming pools. This hotel was in the next ring. The city has 4 rings, the center where we were is the oldest part and as the city has grown additional rings were formed so it gets more modern the further out you go. The last ring is where the most modern section is and has many large corporation offices and technology facilities. The most modern shopping districts were in the last ring. The traffic is still a nightmare regardless of which ring you are in.

Next we visited the Marriott and the Hilton. These hotels live up to their name and what you expect from these two brands. Many business men use these hotels some to accrue points and others just because they know what amenities are standard for these brands.

A Holiday Inn Crown Plaza was being built just 2 blocks from our hotel, which is supposed to be the most deluxe hotel that Beijing will have.

Beijing is a very clean city. On every block there were sidewalk sweepers which did not even allow a tree leaf on the sidewalk. We saw no one smoking in public or walking down the street with a cigarette.

The first touring day was to the Great Wall with our private guide (2 agents only). We drove about 2 hours out of the city which gave us a chance to see the country. On the way we stopped at a Jade Factory. I thought all Jade was green, the most expensive jade is red and awesomely beautiful. The Great Wall is amazing. As far as you can see on the ridges of the mountains you see this wall. When you think of the hundreds of years ago that it was built with no machinery - - many, many people worked very hard. I climbed to the top of the third tower, which is as far as you can go in the area we were in. I have no idea how many steps. The next day the calves of my legs were begging not to do it again. We spent 2 hours on the wall. We stopped for lunch at a Friendship Store. The Friendship Stores are known in China as the place to shop as well as eat. The products in the store are quality and come from the factories. This is a very safe place to have your purchases shipped home without worrying about having your purchase switched. The food was Chinese (not American Chinese) and very good. We also stopped at a Clossinae (sp) factory. Very interesting to see the intricate work and how it is done. After leaving this factory, with my wallet a little lighter, we continued on to the statue lined Sacred Way to the Ming Tombs and Chang Ling Exhibition Hall.

The second touring day was the Forbidden City (Imperial Palace), so named because it was off limits to ordinary citizens. On its grounds are 6 palaces and 800 smaller buildings, containing 9,000 rooms. The main gate opens onto Tian An Men Square which we did not see on this day. The next stop was the Summer Palace although only about 10 miles from the Imperial Palace the Summer Palace felt like you were in the country. It is a series of less formal buildings nestled in a hilly, wooded setting on a small lake. Among its unusual attractions is a marble replica of a Mississippi riverboat, built by the Princess Dowager in 1888 with money intended for the Imperial Navy. Then off to the Temple of Heaven, a large park with one of the most beautiful examples of Oriental architecture in China: the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. It’s a circular, blue-tiled temple on a marble terrace.

The third touring day we finally stopped at Tian An Men Square. The square is the site of the Monument to the People’s Heroes (a 118 foot obelisk commemorating heroes of the Chinese Revolution); Mao Zedong’s mausoleum; the Great Hall of the People (the National People’s Congress Building); the Museum of Chinese History; the Museum of the Chinese Revolution; and the massacre of prodemocracy demonstrators by government forces in 1989.

China is a very in-expensive country to visit. Our 3 and 4 course dinners were not even $10. The shopping was great. The people are very friendly, although being so tall, I was quite an oddity. I was very surprised that most of the tourists were nationals. I mentioned to the guide that I expected to see more Americans and Europeans than Nationals. He said that the Chinese are just becoming prosperous enough to travel and naturally they want to see China first. Every place we went was very crowded with Chinese. The time difference was 12 hours. The temperature was in the 70’s. I took a coat and never took it out of my suitcase.