Beijing Day #2

Sunday, April 29th

After breakfast at the hotel, we met Angela to start our day. Today we will visit Tian'anmen Square, The Forbidden City, The Temple of Heaven, The Summer Palace and end the day with the evening Acrobatics Show.

First stop of the day was the Summer Palace (Yiheyuan)...a sprawling landscaped park on the edge of Beijing built by the Empress Cixi. She had it rebuilt twice. Once after it's destruction by the French and English in 1860 and again in 1902 after it was plundered during the Boxer Rebellion.











From the Garden of Virtue and Harmony, the Long Corridor zigzags along the shore of the lake. The ceiling and beams of the corridor are decorated with over 14,000 scenic paintings.





The Marble Boat....Empress Cixi paid for this extravagant folly with funds meant for the modernization of the Imperial Navy.


Longevity Hill....

Next was our visit to Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City. The crowds were enormous!!! This weekend is a National Holiday...May 1st.....









Waiting for Angela to buy our tickets to enter the Forbidden City.


Gate of Heavenly Purity








Check out the split......guess what that's for!!!!!


The Inner Court where the Emperor, Empress and the many imperial concubines actually lived.


Empress Cixi bedroom



Next it was on to the Temple of Heaven (Tiantan) where the emperor would make sacrifices and pray to heaven and his ancestors at the winter solstice.








Last on the day was the Acrobatic show...it was the best acrobatic show I have ever seen.....





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Beijing Day #1

Saturday, April 28th

This morning, we finished our tour of Xi'an with the Hanyang Tombs and then on to the airport for our flight to Beijing.We were met at the Beijing airport by Angela ,our guide for Beijing, and stated our tour with a Rickshaw Hutong Tour of Old Beijing.






Riding thru the narrow lanes of the Hutong


Visit with a local family in the Hutong


After the tour we registered at the Holiday Inn Central Plaza for our 3 night stay in Beijing.....so far, everything has gone without a glitch.





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Xi'an

Friday, April 27th

Today we are going to experience something I never dreamed I would see....The Terracotta Warriors. Also, today, we will see the Wild Goose Pagoda and end the day with the Tang Dynasty Dinner Show.

The Terracotta Army or the "Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses", is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210-209 BC and whose purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife, and to make sure that he had people to rule over. The figures, dating from 3rd century BC, were discovered in 1974 by some local farmers in Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi province, near the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor.

The figures vary in height according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals. The figures include warriors, chariots and horses. Current estimates are that in the three pits containing the Terracotta Army there were over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which are still buried in the pits. Other terracotta non-military figures were also found in other pits and include officials, acrobats, strongmen and musicians.


Charlie with Sally, our guide.











Getting a book signed by one of the farmers that discovered the TerraCotta Warriers.


The Wild Goose Pagoda is a Buddhist pagoda. It was built in 652 during the Tang Dynasty and originally had five stories, although the structure was rebuilt in 704 during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian and its exterior brick facade was renovated during the Ming Dynasty. One of the pagoda's many functions was to hold sutras and figurines of the Buddha that were brought to China from India by the Buddhist translator and traveler Xuanzang.









After a long day of touring, we stopped for a Chinese Foot Massage....WONDERFUL!!!





Last stop of the day was the Tang Dynasty Dinner Show. The dinner was good....assortment of dumplings and a very beautiful show.










Saturday, April 28th

This morning we will visit the Hanyang Tombs before we are transferred to the airport for our flight to Beijing.

After breakfast, we walked over to a park close to the hotel and watched the local people playing sports and excerising.



Last stop was at the Hanyang Tombs. After seeing the Terra Cotta Warriers, these tombs were nice but could not compare....








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Shanghai

Thursday, April 26th

Today will be a very interesting day!!!! We start with a tour of Shanghai arranged by Kathleen Alvarez. The tour will include The Bund (a stretch of old Victorian architecture along the Huangpu River, the Jade Buddha, YuYuan Garden and the Backstreets in Southern City.

Our first stop was at the Jade Buddha Monastery.



The incense pot for praying at the entrance to the monastery





Sitting and reclining Jade Buddhas


Next we walked the Bund......



Rocky, our guide......more on him to follow!!!!





After a nice lunch, we headed to the YuYuan Gardens. As we approached the gardens, Rocky announced that the driver to take us to the airport would pick us up at 2PM. Unfortunately, our luggage was back on the bus!!!!! Rocky seemed surprised that we did not have our luggage with us....This caused a big problem. We could not get back to the bus on our own so 29 other people were left on their own while Rocky took us back to the bus and to meet our driver. Needless to say, the others were not happy and I can't blame them. This was handled very poorly.


Could you see dragging luggage thru this????????

It was possible to coordinate all this as both tours were arranged thru Jeff with Beijing Discovery Tours. Jeff was very upset regarding how this was handled.

This will really be an exciting day but I am a little nervous. This is really stepping outside of my comfort zone. Charlie and I will be by ourselves for this 5 day land tour. We will have a guide with us most of the time but still China seems so exotic and intimidating.

After a unfortunate start, the transfer worked good. We did fine checking in for our flight to Xi'an and Sally, our guide for Xi'an was waiting for us at the Xi'an airport to transfer us to the Shenzhou Gaosu Hotel. The hotel was located right outside of the old city wall and was beautiful all lit up.


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