Beijing, China - Sightseeing...
I met a German guy, Hardy, who was traveling by himself and talked to him about sightseeing together today. We met for breakfast and planned to visit four places, two of them a bit out of the normal sightseeing circuit.
We started out taking a bus to Tianamen Square. Hardy wanted to see the body of Mao in the memorial to him on the square, I was not interested in seeing another famous dead body after having viewed Lenin's in Moscow in a previous trip. We found the line and went to join it but were immediately approached by a uniformed officer, who pointed at my camera and backpack, and said they were not allowed. He strongly insisted that we follow him. We followed him across the street to what turned out to be a check room for such things. I decided not to visit after all and planned to meet Hardy at the exit of the memorial. Hardy checked his things for 5 Yuan and then the uniformed officer demanded 20 Yuan (about $2.50). Hardy tried giving him less, but he uniformed like a military officer and quite insistent. Afterwards Hardy said he thought it was a waste of money. You couldn't get very close, you could only see his face and he looked basically waxlike.
We next tried to find the "Underground City". Between 1969 and 1979 the entire Beijing population dug extensive tunnels beneath the city for shelter in case of attach from the Russians. We were told about two entry locations that foreign tourists could visit. We spent several hours finding the first one, located in a carpet factory. The factory had closed three years earlier and the carpet sales had moved to another location, which we eventually found. The owner told us that entry had been closed at the time of the closing of the factory.
We then took a taxi to look for the other location. He dropped us off on the wrong street. We found the correct street but couldn't find the street number. As noted in the Lonely Planet, street numbering in China is a randon affair. Street number sequences may start from both ends of the street and meet in the middle, numbers often being repeated within the same street. We wandered a bit and then found a bicycle rickshaw driver displaying a sign for the "Underground City". We hired him for 20- Yuan to take us about 1000 feet, but it was worth it. He knew where it was, and we didn't. The entrance fee was 20 Yuan but that included an English speaking guide. The most fascinating part of the tunnels, aside from the fact that they were built at all, was the pictures and posters displayed along the walls of the tunnels. The posters were of classic Chinese Communist sentiments from that period. The photos were of military airplanes, tanks, soldiers, commanders and of Mao Tse Tung.
After the tunnels, we took a bicycle richshaw over to the Temple of Heaven. This is a large park with several beautiful circular and rectangular temples.
Our fourth destination was to the Marco Polo bridge. We tried taking a bicycle rickshaw to the nearest subway station. We thought the driver understood our destination and had agreed on a price. On the way, we found out the driver was confused. He finally dropped us off at a bus stop halfway to a subway stop and demanded twice what we had agreed on. We refused to pay him more than we had agreed on and indicated take it or leave it. He would refuse to accept the lesser amount and we would walk away with the money and say he would get nothing. He finally called after us and accepted the original amount, but then tried to kick Hardy in the butt. Transportation in Beijing is a bit of a challenge!
We walked the rest of the way to the subway station and took a train to as near to the Marco Polo bridge as we could. We then hired a car to drive to the bridge for 30 Yuan. The bridge was over grassland at this time of the year. It had hundreds of stone carvings of lions on it's side posts, all slightly different. It was quite interesting, but the most bizarre event was seeing a young boy riding a camel along the grasslands under the bridge. I had not thought I would see a camel in Beijing! Other interesting sights were stone carvings depicting how the bridge was built and who had used it. There was also a sign for the "anti-Japenese" statue, which we think we saw at a distance, but did not have time to explore.
The ride back to the subway was a bit more expensive, 50-Yuan, as it was during rush hour. It was a great day, but exhausting. We not only got to explore the sights, but also explored parts of the Beijing transit system.
I met a German guy, Hardy, who was traveling by himself and talked to him about sightseeing together today. We met for breakfast and planned to visit four places, two of them a bit out of the normal sightseeing circuit.
We started out taking a bus to Tianamen Square. Hardy wanted to see the body of Mao in the memorial to him on the square, I was not interested in seeing another famous dead body after having viewed Lenin's in Moscow in a previous trip. We found the line and went to join it but were immediately approached by a uniformed officer, who pointed at my camera and backpack, and said they were not allowed. He strongly insisted that we follow him. We followed him across the street to what turned out to be a check room for such things. I decided not to visit after all and planned to meet Hardy at the exit of the memorial. Hardy checked his things for 5 Yuan and then the uniformed officer demanded 20 Yuan (about $2.50). Hardy tried giving him less, but he uniformed like a military officer and quite insistent. Afterwards Hardy said he thought it was a waste of money. You couldn't get very close, you could only see his face and he looked basically waxlike.
We next tried to find the "Underground City". Between 1969 and 1979 the entire Beijing population dug extensive tunnels beneath the city for shelter in case of attach from the Russians. We were told about two entry locations that foreign tourists could visit. We spent several hours finding the first one, located in a carpet factory. The factory had closed three years earlier and the carpet sales had moved to another location, which we eventually found. The owner told us that entry had been closed at the time of the closing of the factory.
We then took a taxi to look for the other location. He dropped us off on the wrong street. We found the correct street but couldn't find the street number. As noted in the Lonely Planet, street numbering in China is a randon affair. Street number sequences may start from both ends of the street and meet in the middle, numbers often being repeated within the same street. We wandered a bit and then found a bicycle rickshaw driver displaying a sign for the "Underground City". We hired him for 20- Yuan to take us about 1000 feet, but it was worth it. He knew where it was, and we didn't. The entrance fee was 20 Yuan but that included an English speaking guide. The most fascinating part of the tunnels, aside from the fact that they were built at all, was the pictures and posters displayed along the walls of the tunnels. The posters were of classic Chinese Communist sentiments from that period. The photos were of military airplanes, tanks, soldiers, commanders and of Mao Tse Tung.
After the tunnels, we took a bicycle richshaw over to the Temple of Heaven. This is a large park with several beautiful circular and rectangular temples.
Our fourth destination was to the Marco Polo bridge. We tried taking a bicycle rickshaw to the nearest subway station. We thought the driver understood our destination and had agreed on a price. On the way, we found out the driver was confused. He finally dropped us off at a bus stop halfway to a subway stop and demanded twice what we had agreed on. We refused to pay him more than we had agreed on and indicated take it or leave it. He would refuse to accept the lesser amount and we would walk away with the money and say he would get nothing. He finally called after us and accepted the original amount, but then tried to kick Hardy in the butt. Transportation in Beijing is a bit of a challenge!
We walked the rest of the way to the subway station and took a train to as near to the Marco Polo bridge as we could. We then hired a car to drive to the bridge for 30 Yuan. The bridge was over grassland at this time of the year. It had hundreds of stone carvings of lions on it's side posts, all slightly different. It was quite interesting, but the most bizarre event was seeing a young boy riding a camel along the grasslands under the bridge. I had not thought I would see a camel in Beijing! Other interesting sights were stone carvings depicting how the bridge was built and who had used it. There was also a sign for the "anti-Japenese" statue, which we think we saw at a distance, but did not have time to explore.
The ride back to the subway was a bit more expensive, 50-Yuan, as it was during rush hour. It was a great day, but exhausting. We not only got to explore the sights, but also explored parts of the Beijing transit system.
posted by Chris at 10:00 PM
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