It's been a fun filled and jammed packed few weeks in China with an unscheduled stop in Manila and a few hours in an hotel in Hong Kong!! Why you ask? If you have been watching the news recently you will have seen the devastation in the Asia region caused by cyclones, earthquakes, land slides and floods. Before we left Australia there was a tropical depression forming in the area around Hong Kong and by the time we arrived it was a cyclone! After two aborted attempts to land our captain (an Aussie - Captain Donaldson) informed us we were heading back to the Phillipines so that we could land safely. So to cut a very long and tiring story short, we were fed and provided with a very comfortable suite of rooms in an hotel in Manila, several hours later flew to Hong Kong where we were allowed about 4 hours sleep in an airport hotel before heading on to Beijing, our original destination! Very weary and me with very swollen ankles!!
So below a few introductory pics of our arrival in China, starting with the sun trying to peek through the very thick smog in Beijing. We were fortunate to have one of our days in Beijing with some blue sky and clouds in vision.
And the traffic that contributes to that smog! The cars there are plenty, the rules there are not many!! But despite this the traffic seems to flow and the drivers are incredibly tolerant - no road rage here; cars, buses, trucks, motor bikes, bicycles and pedestrians weave in and out of the traffic, through pedestrian crossings, red lights, across in front of buses etc etc!!
Of course when you think of transport in China, bicycles come to mind. Not all of the 18 million inhabitants of Beijing can afford a motor car, though from the number on the very well organised freeways it looks like they can!
Street kitchen.
A shot of an old lady in the old Beijing, in the Hutong area that we visited. More photos of that area later.
An old man practising his calligraphy using water on cement, he wrote "Australia" for us!
The building below is one of the most amazing I've seen. It is the National Centre for Performing Arts. It is called the "Golden Egg" even though it is silver in colour, the reason for this is the cost was exorbitant so the locals thought it must be made of gold! The pattern on top is Yin Yang and the egg is surrounded by water. The entrance to the building is under the egg and water, I'll pop another photo in later showing the entrance and the water overhead.
Inside is massive and magnificent; check out the size of the people in the picture and you can get a better idea of the size of this huge complex.
From the new to the old. Below is one of the buildings from either the Forbidden City or the Temple of Heaven !!!! I need to check my itinerary, we went to so many places I can't remember what was where.
China is just totally immersed in thousands of years of amazing history with most of the finer buildings built for the Emporers and their families. The attention to detail is amazing.
Below: Moa and Al at Tiananmen Square. We were there while they were preparing for the 60th National Day commemorations and in Shanghai on the actual day being treated to some great fireworks displays.
Entering Tiananmen Square
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