Asian Sabbatical - Day #14 - Beijing, China

Wednesday, July 13th

The "Group"

Sometimes I dream to be like "Mike"

Why are my arms not out

Good stuff

One of few level sections

Just sitting around

Perspective

A lot of steps

Guide towers separate each section

Each guide tower has a few rooms

Sitting on a steep section

I like this one

curvy and hilly

Randy from a distance

Perspective

Although 4-5 miles total - long hiking day

Good stuff

Randy crawling up a steep area

Look down the hill

China flag

Looking back down on the way to Section #1

Steep Section #3

Randy after making it to Section #1

Be very, very careful

Downhill luge

Peking duck dinner

Artistic duck

Wangfujing at night

Great Wall tour day!  If you ever find yourself in Beijing, China - this is a must-see in my opinion.  We awoke to great weather.  Not quite as hot and the skies were very clear.  We met our tour guide (Vivian) at 6:45am at a hotel location about 15 minutes from our place by foot.  One of the intended participants was a no-show; therefore, Randy/Wendy and I got our own private tour.

It was a 2-hr drive to the location of the section we were touring today - Mutianyu.  There are only 5 legal sections of the Wall to visit - all with their own unique style.  We decided upon Mutianyu because it is not generally as crowded as the other locations and has some fantastic green color in the surrounding mountains.  This was the section the president had visited in the recent past.  Great choice and even more impressive than the section I remember running in the marathon several years back.

Upon arrival, we took a chair lift up the mountain to Section #6.  There were 20 sections that we could tour - total distance around 2 miles (3.5km) expanding from Section #1 to Section #20.  Our tour guide took some great photos of us and then left us to explore for 3 hours.  Fantastic!  The Wall is a challenging hiking day for sure - as there is no real flat stretch.  Generally, you are either going up or down steps.  And - these steps can be VERY steep at times.  Each section is connected by guide towers.  The Wall was originally created to keep out the Mongolians and guards were positioned on the Wall for protection and watch.

I couldn't stop taking photos.  We made our way to Section #14 - back to Section #1 - and then to Section #6.  We took a slide down the mountain.  We were on these little carts (kind of like a luge track).  You pushed forward to go and pulled back to slow down.  Really fun!  I couldn't go as fast as I wanted because the couple in front of me were a little tentative - but, it was great fun nonetheless.

We next departed and drove to a small town about 30 minutes from the Wall on our way to Beijing.  We stopped and had an incredible lunch.  It was nice having our guide (Vivian) order for us.  The choices were outstanding, as we had a family-style shared meal.  Great conversation as well.  I really enjoy hearing from local folks when I travel.  Vivian could talk non-stop --- for hours.  Awesome insite and perspective.

Back to Beijing around 4pm for some rest and a shower.  We then had drinks at the hotel bar while discussing upcoming plans for Xi'an and Shanghai.  We decided upon some traditional Peking duck at the most famous "duck restaurant" in Beijing (Quanjude) for dinner.  We weren't sure how to order but we came away with an outstanding meal.  It was neat to see the chefs carve the duck in front of us.  It was placed on our table in the form of a flower on a large platter - impressive stuff! 

After a filling dinner, we walked the Wangfujing Street at night back to our hotel.  Unfortunately we didn't run into any ice cream shops on our return.  That's OK - we'll call this a fantastic day in China.  One of those you'll always remember and a highlight for me on this trip!

Asian Sabbatical - Day #13 - Beijing, China

Tuesday, July 12th

Nice hotel in Beijing

Great concierge service at hotel

Bell Tower on Hutong Tour

Hutong alley

Hutong doorway - footboard height and posts on upper door represent status

Street in Hutong area

Tea tasting

shopping/food busy street

Cocoons used in making silk

Busy Beijing streets

"Birdcage"

Inside WaterCube

Olympic towers

WaterCube

Olympic towers

"Birdcage" at night

First day in Beijing, China.  I was here about 8 years ago to run the Great Wall Marathon.  I had a few touring days in Beijing at that time, but I wanted to come back and see some things I missed in a more relaxed state.  I was able to communicate with Randy/Wendy via text message when I arrived at the hotel late last night.  (iPhone to iPhone messages are able to go through internationally with no charge).  We decided to meet at the hotel breakfast around 8am. 

Upon arriving into the hotel last night, an immediate difference between China & the US (and any other country I'm aware of for that matter) became apparent.  At the lobby reception desk stood a sign --- no facebook, google, gmail, youtube, twitter, BlogSpot, etc.  These web sites are all blocked in China - government restriction.  I'll have to make due the next few days and use other search engines.

It was good to catch up with Randy/Wendy over breakfast.  They had a big walking day on Monday touring the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square - some really warm weather as well.  Heat indexes were well over 100 deg F.  We decided to have a pretty low key morning.  We walked the famous Wangfujing Street - located only a 10-minute stroll from out hotel --- Park Plaza Beijing Wangfujing.  We ran into a couple Chinese artists and chatted with them for awhile.  They showed us some of their paintings in an adjacent building.  We also did some recon on our pickup location for the Great Wall tour we'll be doing on Wednesday. 

Next, we decided to book an afternoon Hutong tour.  Hutongs (alleyways) are original Chinese residential areas.  They are located in central Beijing for the most part.  Small alleyways lead to separate housing areas - sometimes made of 10 families - all sort of sharing the space.  Really interesting to hear about the original Chinese culture.  The Hutong tour evolved into some other areas of Beijing.  We had a tea tasting near the famous Bell & Drum Towers.  We then did a walk through of a popular shopping/food street near the Hutongs.  We got to see the crazy Beijing traffic up close as our driver practiced nascar-like skills through the wildwest atmosphere of the crowded city streets.  The final stop was to a silk factory.  Educational - we got to see and understand the silk creation process all the way from the silk worm, through the cocoon phase, and then on to the development of the final product (sheets, clothes, etc).  The cocoons are actually the beginning fibers of the silk process.  The silkworms are largely located in the southern provinces of China.

After the tour, we had our driver drop us off at the nearest metro station.  We wanted to see the Olympic village from the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.  This was great!  We toured the WaterCube - where Michael Phelps won his Olympic record 8 gold medals.  We then walked the grounds - seeing the medalist wall that listed all the winners from the Games. We were able to get unbelievable views of the "Birdcage" - the main Olympic stadium where the opening/closing ceremonies were held.  What a unique and incredible design!  We stayed until dark and got some pics when the lights came on. 

A metro ride back to the hotel -- a really good day in Beijing!.   

Asian Sabbatical - Day #12 - Seoul, South Korea

Monday, July 11th

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Gyeongbokgung Palace - inner temple

Lotus Pond at back of Gyeongbokgung Palace

Chandeokgung Palace

Statue of Brothers - Korean War Memorial

Statue of front of grounds

Ship - Korean War Memorial

Tank - Korean War Memorial

US Airforce plane - Korean War Memorial

Korean War Planes - Seoul Tower in background

One of the guns

Impressive

US statistics in Korean War

Statue of the "The Brothers" from a distance

Walking onto the grounds.

Today I had a partial day in Seoul before flying out to Beijing in the evening.  It is 4:15pm right now, I'm sitting in the Incheon Airport in Seoul, South Korea.  Because I may be limited on blog access for a few days, I thought I would post some pictures from today.

Today I had a chance to visit 2 of the 5 main palaces from the "Five Grand Palaces" built during the Joseon Dynasty.  Also, I had a chance to visit the Korean War Memorial  This was my favorite part of the day.  Wow!  Really interesting grounds with airplanes, tanks, and memorials all displayed from this 1950s war.  A few thoughts on each location I visited today are found below:

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Known as the "Palace of Shining Happiness" - the Gyeongbokgung Palace is the city's oldest and largest.  It was first constructed in 1392 and became the countries main seat of power through the centuries.  The palace was the traditional home to kings for 200 years until the Japanese invasion of 1592.  Five hundred buildings stood on its property when it was first built - an absolute city unto itself. 

This Palace was immense.  I could have spent 8 hours here easy.  I covered the bulk of the ground with some pace - incredible to see.  The pictures from the former layout were remarkable.

Chandeokgung Palace

Known as the "Palace of Prospering Virtue" - More than 13 of Korea's Kings have lingered in the beautiful wooded Secret Garden of the Changdeokgung Palace.  This Palace is centrally located in Seoul - roughly 1/2 mile from Gyeongbokgung Palace.  

I chose not to do the inside tour today -- grabbed a couple shots from the exterior.  Considered the second most popular of the 5 Grand Palaces to tour (Gyeongbokgung being the #1 attraction)

Korean War Memorial

The pictures I've posted above will help tell the story of this location.  Incredible sites.  21 countries came to the aid of South Korea in this war.  There was a Peace Plaza with memorials of all the nations involved.  They also displayed the numbers wounded and killed in action.  The US had the most casualties - by far - of the United Nations countries coming to the defense of South Korea.  On a quick count when I walked around, the US had more casualties than all the other assisting nations combined.  

For some reason, I think of the TV show MASH when I think about the Korean War.  I know it was a TV show, but it still had some details around the war, how Seoul was involved, and the devastation that resulted.

It's getting close to 5pm now, I have to run off to my gate to board my 5:50pm flight to Beijing.  Here's to a very quick 2 days in Seoul, South Korea.  Thoughts - impressive nation!  Fantastic airport, clean city, respective culture, some great sites.  I would recommend this location to anyone for a visit when heading to the Far East.

Update ---- I made it to Beijing, China around 7:30pm local time.  I had a nice flight where I talked with a Chinese girl the entire trip.  She had a conference in Seoul and was returning home.  She was in academia and communicated well in English.  Upon arrival, I had to get some money from the ATM (all came out in 100 yuan bills) and take a 3 train combination to my hotel.  I finally arrived around 10pm.  I was upgraded to a suite for free which was nice.  Tomorrow the Chinese adventure begins!