It was a long day today for Beijing. The ship arrived at the Tianjin port on time but China Immigration had to be satisfied that all the paperwork was as it should be so everyone could be accounted for. That involved me to some extent. Turns out that because I had seen the ship’s doctor at some point in the cruise I, and others who had seen the doctor, had to talk with a Chinese doctor to make certain all was OK and I would not be bringing plague into the country. Easy to do but full clearance for everyone could not be granted until all had been cleared.
Had my interview and passed then checked in for my excursion. There must have been other things as it was still over a hour before the ship was cleared to start offloading people. We were some of the first off due to thge length of our tour. We were basically a three bus convoy. Which leads me to…
Slog 1: The drive into Beijing from the port was close to a three hour bus ride with only one comfort stop. I should mention at this point that all the morning activities, the drive, and all activities in Beijing were done in a miasma of smog that reminded me of 1950s Los Angeles. It’s going to take me the rest of the cruise to clean all that junk out of my lungs! Then, we got to Beijing and into the real traffic…
Blitz 1: Our first stop was the Temple of Heaven. This is a round temple with a black-tile roof situated in the middle of a large park that is used by the populace for recreation. The temple was built to help with good harvests and favor with heaven. It was originally designed to honor both Earth and Heaven but was finally just dedicated to Heaven. After a quick tour we left for…
Blitz 2: Lunch. As we started late lunch was second on the agenda rather than later. All three buses plus one other on a different tour stopped at the same time at the same restaurant in the city and we descended like locusts. Large tables with lazy susans were set with food that just kept coming. It was very good but we had to eat fast in order to get to…
Blitz 3: The Forbidden City. Touring here was the longest part of the day. The old emperor’s city within the city is huge. The guide said it had 9,999.5 rooms. The emperor at that time did not consider himself a god and god is represented by 10,000. So, he stopped short of that number by adding a smaller room that did not count for a full one. Another story was that a baby was born in the city and spent every night in a different room. When he finally emerged from the last room he was 27 years old! No matter what, the structures are magnificant even though most stand empty with furnishings long-ago removed. At the end of the tour we were no longer stopping but walking slowly through the rock garden and met the bus which took us to…
Blitz 4: Tienanmen Square. When we got here the sun was low on the horizon and set during the half hour we were given to explore. We were all tired and the square is BIG. Enough said because that was followed by…
Slog 2: The three hour bus ride back in the dark. I have to say that the roads in the city are very crowded; the roads in the countryside are not so much but all the roads intertwine like snakes and I think whomever laid them out must have been high. I would hate to try to find my way along on the road system. The further you get from Beijing the less English you see on the signs (leftover from the 2008 Olympics).
Next we cross over to South Korea then back over to China with sea days between. That will mark the first half of the trip.