Day 1

Beijing 
Date - 3 May
Weather - Overcast, smoggy, 15 - 29c
Accommodation - Beijing West International Trade Hotel

After arriving mid afternoon yesterday we have not wasted any time in seeing the sites of Beijing. After a tasty Chinese and European buffet breakfast our group of 37 met in the hotel foyer at 8.30am eager to get our touring underway. Approximately half our group is Canadian, a quarter Australian then the rest is made up of those from the United States, the Netherlands and New Zealand. 

The morning was spent at Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City and after lunch at the Temple of Heaven. The evening was spent at the hotel enjoying a large buffet dinner and continuing to meet our fellow tourists. We are lucky to have a friendly and interesting group. 

Our tour guide, Mike, has excellent English and a keen sense of humour. He told us at the beginning that only two types of people can carry guns in China - the police and tour guides! Whilst we took in the sites of the city on our way to Tiananmen Square Mike gave us an overview of our eighteen day tour with the highlights being the Great Wall of China, the Terracotta Warriors, the Three Gorges Dam, the Yangtze River cruise and The Bund, Shanghai. All this covers a large area of China and it will be done by coach, four domestic plane trips, a four-day boat cruise and bullet train. 


It was hard to believe we were standing in the middle of Tiananmen Square but we could believe that it was the largest square in the world. It is enormous with 44 hectares which can take up to half a million people. Today, it was filled with tourists being watched over by Mao Tse Tung whose large portrait sits squarely in the middle of the main wall known as the Gate of Heavenly Peace.



We walked through the large gate and proceeded through the many enormous courtyards and gateways to the Forbidden City. None of us had realised that behind the wall with Mao Tse Tung's portrait stood such a large, long and complex structure as the Forbidden City. The complex consists of 9,999.5 rooms. Only God has 10,000! 



Our morning tour finished at 1.15pm and we then made our way to lunch which consisted of eight different Chinese dishes and chips! We were very hungry after having walked all morning and to our table's surprise we managed to finish all the food they gave us. We have been allocated Table 1 with fellow Australians and we keep this table for the tour. There are four tables in total. 



After lunch and nearby was the afternoon's venue, the Temple of Heaven and Imperial Gardens. The temple is China's largest. It's an impressive structure which sits high on a hill overlooking Beijing on another large area of 290 hectares. It was interesting to note that after Mao's Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976 that religion was destroyed and now approximately 80% of all Chinese have no religion. 

Whilst returning to our hotel on the coach Mike gave us some tips on how to avoid scams, how to cross the road (no car stops at a crossing so stick with the Chinese when crossing), how to bargain, how to keep safe and avoid all street food because as he stated "food works for my stomach but not your stomach!"

It has been a fantastic first day. Tomorrow we see The Great Wall of China. We're very excited!







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