Day 3 was totally spent on travelling on the high-speed railway train. I booked a 2 days local tour for Beijing to bring me around (I figured I need transportation in order to see all the places that I want within these 2 days). Honestly, Beijing is more interesting to me because it has more sightseeing places.
There are 2 main highlights on this day: the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China. It was awesome standing at the Tiananmen Square. The space!!!! The people!!! There are constantly many many groups of local Chinese tours. However, China has improved vastly from the past where tour guides would be carrying their loudspeakers and competing among the groups to be the loudest. Apparently, the government has banned loudspeakers, replacing them with microphones for the tour guides and earphones for their designated group. Hence, based on the designated specific frequency, each tourist is able to listen to the tour guide as if he is right beside you without the necessity of a shouting competition.
There are 2 main highlights on this day: the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China. It was awesome standing at the Tiananmen Square. The space!!!! The people!!! There are constantly many many groups of local Chinese tours. However, China has improved vastly from the past where tour guides would be carrying their loudspeakers and competing among the groups to be the loudest. Apparently, the government has banned loudspeakers, replacing them with microphones for the tour guides and earphones for their designated group. Hence, based on the designated specific frequency, each tourist is able to listen to the tour guide as if he is right beside you without the necessity of a shouting competition.
Seeing the guards in military green standing without a single movement guarding the Forbidden City, I entered the Forbidden City with the tour guide and my tour mates for the next 1 to 2 days. It was fun touring with people coming from other countries. We ate and learnt about each other’s background and why they were here. In my group, there was a Costa Rico couple, both are professors at university. One lady came from Ireland and has been trying to travel around the world through fighting for overseas assignments. Another was an Indian on business trip to interview candidates for his china office and had a few days to spare. Although the attractions were nice, I was soon tired by the swarm of Chinese tourists who were aggressive in taking pictures of the inner palaces and everywhere basically!
But my Chinese tour guide was very good. He practically memorized the English script of the sightseeing tour, so he was able to give us a basic description of the place. If I ever return to China, I think I would prefer to tour on my own at a leisure pace.
But my Chinese tour guide was very good. He practically memorized the English script of the sightseeing tour, so he was able to give us a basic description of the place. If I ever return to China, I think I would prefer to tour on my own at a leisure pace.
The Great Wall of China was really an enjoyable moment. It was there that my tour mates were patient to see me climbing really, really slowly. I was glad the tour agency brought us to Mutianya section instead of Badaling section. Mutianya is a much quieter section and I am free to climb on all fours. The view was excellent and I even experienced my first toboggan down the Great Wall of China! If you don’t know what toboggan is, I didn’t know what is that at all as well! It was really hilarious as I was displaying my super lousy skills at maneuvering the stick that control the speed of the toboggan sliding down the slide. I had many firsts in this trip: meeting new people from across the world for the first time, climbing the Great Wall, trying toboggan. It was really fun subsequently to have dessert and lunch with my tour mates on the way back,while exchanging our experiences in China so far.
As a solo traveler for certain trips, I began to realize such local land tours, preferably a public tour, is the best for me. I get to meet strangers in a secured settings and able to enjoy my own privacy when I am back in the hotel. It was during this trip that I decided to incorporate more local public tours in the future for my holidays.
The next day, we headed for Jingshan Park. With an entrance fee of RMB2, elderly often go to this park for morning activities, like dancing or calligraphy. We caught a panoramic view of the Forbidden City and proceeded to Beijing Olympic Park (the most boring itinerary IMHO). Please skip this if you are visiting Beijing, especially during the hot summer days. You are just going to bake yourself under the sun, feeling hot and bored.
Summer Palace was the highlight for the second day’s itinerary. One of the famous attractions is the long corridor. Surprisingly, it was very cooling. Therefore, the spots were taken up by the locals, flanked on both sides to have their lunch or sips of water. My only lament is after we take the ferry to cross Kunming Lake from the other end of the corridor, that was the end of the trip (I thought I can go visit the Hall of Embracing the Universe and cross the seventeen-arch bridge!)
The last stop was the Temple of Heaven, where it used to be the sacrificial temple for the past Emperors during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It was beautiful but I hated it when Chinese tourists destroy their own heritage by stepping onto this stone at center of the altar, seeking for echo. There is NO ECHO when it is open space. You need a wall to reflect the sound waves. It is heart breaking to see them not cherishing something left behind by their ancestors.
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