Today is Oct 2nd and I just realize that it is already much too many days since my last post. I apologize but I really have only little time between sightseeing, maintaining my 'household', social and other activities… Also it is a bit of a problem to service my blogspot account from here as it is blocked by the local authorities forcing me to do all kind of tricks to circumvent… This also makes loading pictures a pain. But let me try to recapitulate:
Let me start with the sightseeing: I visited the 'Forbidden City' since 1949 called the Palace Museum which naturally is the most important museum in Beijing. I broke off my first attempt to visit on Saturday as the crowds were simply too much and went (window) shopping instead in the area of Wanfujing which is nearby. More interesting than the malls though was the market next door, which admittedly is quite touristy with a lot of kitsch but still also some local originality.
Sunday I tried to beat the crowds and went out to the Summer Palace early. Well, I managed to find a nice close parking place but when I got to the gate the crowds had beaten me… Anyway, the gardens and the palace are big and so after the initial pushing huge tour groups and deafening tour guides with their loudspeakers I also enjoyed the quieter parts of the gardens. I even found a part where about 200 Chinese were giving an what looked to me like a more or less impromptu choir concert. I guess on Sundays they gather there just to sing for their enjoyment. Really nice and I couldn't stay as long as I wanted to as I had a lunch invitation by the Werners…
Monday then was my 'Forbidden City' Day and despite being early it again was quite crowded. It is vast. Lots of the contents have been taken to Taiwan by Chiang Kai Shek and are now shown at the Palace Museum there. Nevertheless what's left or better what couldn't be taken away is impressive and what was intended to be 2 hours ended up to be 4. What was a bit annoying was the crowd that would gather at the main sights and make taking pictures very difficult. Another problem was that most of the rooms are behind glass panes which would reflect and make it sometimes almost impossible to see the inside. As it turned out putting the camera lens against the window would at least enable to admire the interior at home…
While at the palace I tried to sort out the problem of my spare parts for my air suspension for my rear axle. The company in Germany proved to be utterly unprofessional and after several interventions and also delays at customs I finally got the parts on Wednesday 19th and got the repair, which was simple and took only an hour on the 20th.
Further sites I visited in Beijing were Jingshan Park right behind the Forbidden City which by itself is beautiful but offers wonderful views of it and the city, the area south of Tianmen Square which was restored and is now a tourist area with all disadvantages but offers decent shops and an abundance of excellent food.
Another important tourist spot is the Lama Temple, only a short distance from my 'home'. It is remarkable as it was a former imperial palace turned into a temple. The inscriptions there are all in 4 languages: Tibetan, Mongolian, Chinese and Manchu, a tribute of the emperor to the various peoples of China and to promote unity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yonghe_Temple
A further 'must' was a visit to the Temple of Heaven which I had seen before but not the Fasting Palace in its garden which served as a preparatory place for the emperor before the annual sacrifice event.
On the weekend before I left Beijing again I went to Tianjin which was one of the 'Concession Cities' which had various European settlements: English, French, Italian and, yes, even Austrian. The Austro Hungarian Consulate building I discovered on my e-bike 'power sightseeing' tour. It now is a restaurant. Although many buildings did not survive there is still a distinct European feel for some areas. Tianjing was the base from where the allied troops stormed towards Beijing after the Boxer uprising.
After that half day I continued east to Beidaihe which is about 320 km east if Beijing at the sea and always was a Beach Resort for the rich, then for the party bosses and now for both of them plus plane loads of Russians. Practically all shops have signs in Russian and when I went for breakfast after parking my 'Datcha' in the local parking lot for the night I got the Russian menu automatically…
Another 30 kms further east is Shanhaiguan, the beginning (or end) of the Great Wall. I had to see that and quite enjoyed it despite the crowds as it is combined with a nice museum and the town is a still completely walled town albeit restored for tourism. Unfortunately the cable car didn't work and so I decided not to hike up the wall (again) particularly as the visibility wasn't great and it was hot.
The drive home was uneventful save for a few jams due to road construction (as on the way out).
There were plenty of social activities with which I won't bore you. Just for the record: there was a nice farewell for Monika Fan who decided to emigrate to Canada, while cleaning up my car, a German speaking (student in Germany) Chinese walked up and told me that his father also had a motor home and that mine was the first foreign one he saw in Beijing. It soon came out that he also had a Chang Jiang motorcycle with side car (in the 1950s Russia sold a the old production facilities of BMW R 71 to China and those bikes are still being produced). What followed was an invitation to the club which indeed was a pleasure to me…
I also was invited by my hostess who would do the presentation at that event to see (and hear) a concert on occasion of the national holiday in the new Beijing Opera House. this, of course, was a high point as the architecture is remarkable and the acoustics were great. The music was mostly Chinese but pleasant as were the choirs (3).
On Friday the 21st I said good bye to my hosts of 3 weeks and left Beijing to go South. But that will be in my next blog…
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