Beijing, China

On a cold grey blustery Sunday morning at 8AM we were greeted by a show of military might and a  'lock in' of sorts in Tianjin, China .  I noticed a group of people securing each section of a block long fence on one side of the ship.  I was guessing this was to keep the masses from charging in.

 Before leaving the ship, we all passed through immigration and received a red stamp on a copy of our passport which we were required to have on our person at all timeswhile visiting China. We complied as we knew the military was warmed up and ready for any passenger infraction .... 

Beijing is the last stop on the third segment of our World Cruise.  Almost half of the ship disembarked here and about half remained. New cruisers were also arriving today.... a busy day for the crew.  Those that remained were 'treated' to an overnight in Beijing,  staying at China World , a 5 star hotel.  We were impressed with the 8 lane highways, and cross guards at each corner waiting for that occasional car to pass. People were planting trees on each side of the highway and there were street cleaners with brooms cleaning the dust as it fell.  Everyone in China has a job. I like that.

                                                         

Beijing is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, as well as 'one of the world's greatest cities', some say.  It is not without its problems.  It is located 75 miles east of Tianjin, our port, or a 3 hour journey by bus. It is well worth the trip to see The Forbidden City or The Great Wall. Twenty two million people live here.  People from the countryside continue to pour in looking for a better life.  It is a major transportation hub, with dozens of railways, roads and motorways passing through the city. Unlike almost every other great city, it is neither on the ocean nor does it have a river running through it. It is not centrally located in nor close to any other capital city. It is not an ideal place for a major city but it is a mighty city. In spite of all this it is a powerhouse.  It is bustling, thriving, and growing faster then a wildfire. Seeing how this city has grown over the years left me speechless.

Oh, Beijing is also one of the most polluted cities in the world.  I could hardly see it through the smog.... Acck!  I thought.  Where's my mask?

Our 5 star Hotel in Beijing,  our room ... and our view

The massive Great Wall of China was our Monday destination. The sky turned blue as a blustery cold front came through along with plummeting temperatures.  The damp bone chilling wind blew off the smog and we could see the city!.   Lucky for us, as bad as traffic was, our guide said it was good for early rush hour in Beijing. There are four million cars registered in Beijing alone. Every year there is a lottery for a license plate. If your number is picked you can buy a license plate for up to $10,000. The license is good forever. When you sell the car the license stays on that car. With every new car, you have to do a lottery for a license. You may own a car and not be able to drive it. Then, to keep congestion down, residents can only drive on certain days depending on the last digit of their license plate.  ie. plates ending with 8  can only drive on Thursday.... Even with all the laws and regulations about cars and driving, they expect millions more to be on the roads over the next few years. Everyone in China wants a car but it is expensive to own and there is no place to park.

We past the 2008 Olympic site and saw the “Birds Nest” and all of the other buildings where Olympians competed or were housed. It looked very deserted now. Housing built for the games will now be used for public housing.

It took about 90 minutes to reach the Juyongguan section of the Great Wall. We saw the wall sprawling on the hilly county side well before we actually got to the place where we would be able to climb it. It was built to withstand the attack of swords and spears. The walls were made mostly by stamping earth and gravel between board frames. The wall was started during the Qin Dynasty, just 2,200 years ago and sections have been destroyed, rebuilt, added to, decayed and replaced ever since. I felt this old as I climbed the steps. Of this 5,000 mile wall, we only climbed one of four areas that still remain in good enough condition for tourists to climb. Fifteen years ago we climbed a different section.  It was longer and the stairs not as steep.  These stairs were hard to see, and varried in size and depth, the height ranging from a mere 6" high to over 12" high.  Handrails? nah... It was a workout.  It took ten years to build and used hundreds of thousands of workers (mostly political prisoners) to complete. They say many of them died and are buried within the wall itself.

After freezing at the wall we had a 'required' tourist stop at the official Government owned Jade Emporium. Here we were served 'lunch' and then had a good hour to 'shop', maybe stretch our legs. We were just one of many buses here. We saw jade artists creating intricate cut jade globes. I don't know how many hours the four of them are required to work but the shopping area was filled with jade jewelry, statues, and trinkets that could fill Soldier's Field.

It was an interesting trip back to the ship. We passed miles of truck drivers sitting and waiting in their trucks for dirt to be loaded. We got stuck in a truck jam. Everyone on the bus started to take pictures...I am not sure who started this... :)  Whew... We had to go in, over and around.  Drivers would  

                                                       not let us in. Horns blared away.

Where ever we looked, skyscraper cities were going up and roads were being built. China is taking a bullet train to the future. The only thing missing is people living in these high rises. I wonder how they will do that. I am sure they have the plan. Again, we traveled on an empty 8 lane highway for the last 90 minutes, high rise buildings going up on both sides.  China is gearing for the future....more then we are it seems.






fishing boat at sunset...leaving Beijing