Tianjin
Tianjin is the gateway to Beijing.
It's incredible to think that the total population in the area shown in the map below is probably twice that of Canada and the distance between the two outer cities - Baoding and Tangshan is probably only 300 km (as the crow flies). About like Calgary to Edmonton.
The five cities alone are close to 60 million.
Tianjin 16 million
Langfang 5 million
Baoding 11 million
Tangshan 3 million
Beijing 22 million
Tianjin is just where the ship is docked. The real attraction is Beijing and to get there is a three hour bus ride. There were some excursions, that we could have taken, that left real early in the morning and got back quite late at night but we chose the excursion where we stayed over night in Beijing. A bit on the expensive side, especially when considering what we've already paid to stay on the ship, but it's a once in a lifetime thing.
There are two main attractions we wanted to see here: The Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City. We got to see them both with varying degrees of satisfaction. We also wanted to see Tianenmen Square which is located adjacent to the Forbidden Square and is the route people normally take to get into the Forbidden City. Well the day we were there the square was completely closed to pedestrian traffic and we all had to walk down the sidewalks instead. Complete madness.
On the bus ride into Beijing we saw countless boring looking apartment building complexes and the construction sites of others. This area of China is a huge manufacturing centre and all the workers need to be housed nearby the factories. We saw huge wide roads going nowhere but one day there would be factories and worker housing at the end of those roads. The Chinese government is really looking far into the future.
The first day in Beijing we visited the Ming Tombs and then The Great Wall of China.
From Wikipedia: "The Ming tombs are a collection of mausoleums built by the emperors of the Ming dynasty of China" Read more here.
One of the emperors..Who Flung Dung
Going forward we we not allowed to walk through this gate - we had to walk around it. On our return we were allowed to go through it. Reason: on the other side of the gate is the realm of the dead. By walking through it you would be entering that realm - by going around it you are not. On the return when you walk through the gate you are entering the realm of the living. The Chinese are so superstitious. I tried, but was unable, to determine if they really believe all this nonsense.
More superstition ???
Our new friends Les and Mary. From Seattle.
An artistic shot of nearby mountains.
Next we visited the Great Wall of China.
Just a few pictures with not too many words.
Our new friends Dieter and Brigitte
Before we got back on the bus for our drive to our hotel in Shanghai I needed to use the restroom. This is your typical Chinese toilet. Luckily what I needed to do could be done standing up.
And that evening at dinner I had my first Chinese red wine ever.
And it's funny - the stuck up knob you can see just beyond the wine bottle didn't want to drink the Chinese wine. He said he would order a bottle of proper wine for himself and his wife - well guess what - the only wine they have at this restaurant is the Great Wall wine. So Terri and I drank the free one (no one else at the table wanted any) and they drank the one they paid for.
And it wasn't bad wine at all!
That was pretty much it for day one.
Beijing - Day 2
.We started day 2 with a visit to The Temple Of Heaven - essentially a bunch of buildings and a whole bunch of people. I took a bunch of photos but I cannot locate them.
After the Temple of Heaven we went to Tainenmen Square and then the Forbidden City. Likewise all the shots I have of the march up the sidewalks (remember - the square was closed today) are missing. All I have is the memory. And it's not a pretty memory.
Some of these shots are included just to show the amount of people at this venue. I don't think it was a special day.
Anyway, it was a bit of a disappointment but what can you do?
These guys are big into statues of lions...dragons and lions..that's what they like.
This place is freakin' huge. You just keep going and going and there's more and more buildings.
Playing dressup?
And the English translations kill me!
Mountain of Accumulated Elegance - Right!
Anyway, it could have been a lot better but now we can say that we've seen The Forbidden City. I guess we could've said it before we'd actually seen it - and who would argue? And we'd have saved a bunch of money. We could have just gone to the Calgary Stampede on a Saturday evening in nice weather and experienced hundreds of thousand of people pushing and shoving. They wouldn't have all been Chinese though.
After the Forbidden City we go for lunch at a a local restaurant. And this is how we eat. They servers keep bringing food onto a rotating portion of the table, It goes round and round and people take what they want as it goes by. The problem is some selfish fuckers won't wait until it comes to them and the try to turn the table the other way.
The other problem is not all of the dishes come with serving spoons. Mot of the ones below do - but this is after we asked from more spoons. What this means is that some people use the chop sticks they have already had in their mouths for getting food from the bowls to their plate. Very un-fucking-hygenic in my opinion.
Not a good way to eat.
Anyway, back at the ship we see the humungous amount of loading cranes.
And the some of the LGBT crowd in the hot tub.
That evening we eat in the main restaurant.
Beet salad.
Osso bucco. Tasted much better than it looked.
And the typical restaurant crowd. We only ate here tonight because it was a "formal" night and the poolside grill was closed as it is every formal night.
That's it for Beijing.