I realized I should put myself out of my pseudo-misery and write on my experiences of Beijing. Formerly known as Perking, it is the center of nation’s Political, Educational & Cultural arena. The most well known city in China, actually people know more about Beijing the city than the country, China (If that makes sense).
There’s no way of putting it mildly but Beijing didn’t live up to it’s expectation for me. I was disappointed. I have heard so much about it and thought ”yeah I finally get to live all those tales”.
First of all, before I get on to the adventures of sightseeing I got up to during my four night stay in Beijing. I have to commend on how efficient the Transport system works in China, but more specifically in Beijing. With a landmark of 16,410.54 km2 , saying Beijing is Huge is an understatement. It would probably be more fitting to call it a mini state/province. As it is after all, the third largest city in the world. Navigating through the city would prove to be both frustratingly long & costly on a student budget, so the convenience of a world class Transport system made even a below average experience somewhat enjoyable. The subway was able to connect me from one district to another in just under an hour. Cabs prove to be less convenient, as Beijing being as ridiculously big as it is,this also meant it was more populated and a taxi seemed to not be the best option for navigating.
Great Wall of China –
It needs no introduction, since it’s been named one of the wonders of the world & arguably the most visited historical monument in China. But what people don’t know (well I found out on my arrival) about the Great Wall is that it has four parts, the Badaling (the most visited), Mutian Yu (most preferred apparently), Jian Kou & Huang Hua Cheng . All of these sites afford you a different perspective of the wall, although I climbed Badaling, it’s still a memorable experience and one which you will treasure forever. Part of the climb is very steep and involves careful steps, and high sights are not appealing to everyone. For those a cab drive up to the top is recommended, for a fee of course.
The Ming Tombs –
Spread across eighty square kilometers acres of land. It is the cemetery of the thirteen Emperors of the Ming Dynasty during 1368 – 1644. It’s not possible to travel to all the sites by foot, luckily enough our cab drive on our return from the Wall snug in a trip to the Tombs. This may not be a worthwhile trip for most people, but I’m a sucker for Ancient Chinese culture & history. And it was just on way back, it wouldn’t hurt passing through. There’s different parts to it, but the place that stood out the most was the Underground Palace which housed the Emperor & he’s two Empresses. The palace look scary and seemed as if would collapse at any moment. I am very much still amazed at how of the Chinese history is still conserved and how we mere mortals can get to witness it all.
Temple of Heaven –
Built in 1420, used as a sacred site where Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties went to worship heaven and offer sacrifices to pray for good harvest. The site which was also built on a large scale of land, but considerably smaller than the other sites, had other, particularly more fascinating was the Burning stove which reminded me of a traditional three legged pot in my culture. The stoves were used to burn sacrificial offerings which were brought to the Emperors.
The Hall of Prayer for good harvest was magnificent, I managed to get an uninterrupted shoot of it. Which was pretty much impossible with all the tourist going up & down. As the name suggests, it was where the Emperors would pray,worship Heaven and Earth for good harvest.
No doubt Beijing is heavily rich in Chinese culture and history, and the truth of it all I couldn’t have finished all of the sights seeing I had perfectly planned for my stay there. My experiences of Beijing, although below par don’t rule out how breathtaking some of the monuments I got to witness are. But also how these trips across country have shaped my understanding and how I perceive what is the Chinese culture and possibly through Stethoscope & Hanzi, these little pieces of writing have contributed to you seeing it through my eyes.