As we drove from the airport to the city, we noticed that the city seemed very tidy - no litter, and beautiful landscaping everywhere. It was also a bright and sunny day, with blue skies. Even the toll booth was ornate!
We arrived in Beijing, which has a population of around 17 million. Surprisingly (to us at least), Beijing is not the largest city in China, since both Chongqing (with nearly 32 million people!!!) and Shanghai are larger. In other words, by population, Beijing is about twice as big as New York City, and about five times as big as Chicago, or 17 times as big as Boston or Dublin. And to think, this is one of their "smaller" cities!
In spite of the enormous urban sprawl of Beijing, there are some quiet spots in the older parts of the city. We rode on a rickshaw through the "Hutung" alleyways, which are about two hundred years old. The area is completely peaceful, like an oasis in the midst of the city.
The area we visited reminded us of Inchicore in Dublin. It's hard to explain, but we got an eery feeling when we visited a house there, as if we were in Inchicore but in China at the same time.
We ate at a Szechuan restaurant, where they served food from the Szechuan region, known for its spicy cuisine.
One of the really cool things we tried was the lotus fruit, which tasted like a cross between an apple and an orange.
On Wednesday, we woke up early to leave for the Great Wall. It is with good reason that this is one of the wonders of the world. We'll let the photos speak for themselves.
After leaving the Great Wall, we headed to the Ming Tombs, where the emperors from the Ming Dynasty are buried. It was a truly amazing place as well, and very serene.
Then we headed back to Beijing, where there are too many skyscrapers and amazing buildings to photograph! We did want to share this one, which is shaped like a dragon, in which one building is the head, and the others form the tail. Like many buildings in Beijing, there are huge flat screen television panels on it. We have seen these everywhere! China seems to have a lot of high-tech modern cities.
We then drove through the Olympic grounds for the recent Beijing Summer Olympics. We couldn't resist a photo in front of the famous Bird's Nest, which cost them US$400 million to build. Quite an impressive building!
Overall, we are so impressed with China. It is such an amazing place - and so huge! Tomorrow will be our last full day of touring, and then on Friday, we'll head home.
No comments:
Post a Comment