“Great wall of China during winter!”, this is what my dad said. My brother looked at me with a sly smile. You don’t know how risky and whiskey we were. We informed Roger, Jane and Peter that the tickets were confirmed. We packed our bags and five of us landed at the Capital Airport of Beijing, for visit to China on 24th December 2013 in the evening. A weeks trip!
After having a large traditional Chinese platter, we slept like dead people after the journey. We had to stay in a nominal lodge, as we girls had to save a lot for shopping else visit to China would be incomplete.
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Since the next day was Christmas, our first destination was Beijing Chaoyang Church, a newly built modern Protestant church. As soon as we entered the church for carols, it started hailing. It seemed that Jesus had himself come down to shower his blessing in form of snow. While most of the people were rushing home, we started playing with the ice and teasing each other.
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Beijing Capital Museum – Our next destination was the Beijing Capital Museum. The snowfall would not affect us since we had to be indoors. Ancient Calligraphy, magnificent paintings, Jade Art, Ceramics Art, selected work of ancient bronze art especially Lord Buddha’s masterpieces, were center of attraction for the tourists. For dinner we had luscious street food at Night Market.
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Beijing Zoo – The very next day we planned visiting Chinese national treasure, the giant pandas. We loved to see pandas playing, eating bamboos and sleeping. They were so cute and i really wanted to take them home. Varieties of invertebrates added to our Facebook album.
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Forbidden City (the Imperial Palace) – Since the day was sunny, paying a visit to the Imperial Palace was brilliant idea. The palace was burnt, rebuilt, sacked and renovated a number of times and well depicts the 18th century in the Qing Dynasty. After the walk over 250 acres, we decided to refresh ourselves at Starbucks with hot coffee.
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Tiananmen Square – Lying in the heart of the city, Tiananmen Square is the place for massive parades and performances. We enjoyed the colorful dance and also participated and this doubled the fun. Roger exclaimed, “this is real fun, real China’. And how true it was. Any place’s culture and heritage is reflected with its music and dance.
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Ming Tombs – The days were passing so fast all blending with our laughter and joyful cries. Ming Tombs denotes the burial place of 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty. It was the ruling dynasty of China from the year 1368 to 1644. Only two tombs, Dingling Tomb and Changling Tomb are open for the visitors. It was so peaceful sitting in the lush green grass nearby.
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Temple of Heaven (Tiantan) – This temple, built chiefly for the emperors to worship heaven is nevertheless highlight of Beijing. This is considered as a large sacrificing place uniting Heaven, Earth, Sun and Moon. The unique old Chinese trees draws lot of attention for the tourists as well.
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Hutong Pedicab Tour (Shichahai Area) – “Wanna have the all new-exciting experience of man-driving Pedicab?” said Jane. Yes!! we all replied. The narrow lanes of the old Beijing hutong areas, took us through the the Drum Tower, courtyard neighborhoods and Prince Gong’s Building. Pipe Tobacco Alley is the most interesting features that will take you to the old Beijing.
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Lama Temple (Yonghegong) – We had read a lot about this temple in childhood, history. I still remember my history teacher was so strict. The religious building consists of five huge halls and numerous galleries. The reddish-orangey color of the walls was very appealing. The sacred place was initially a palace under a king, who after winning the throne offered it to Tibetan Buddhists. It was a sacred place ever after that. The center of attraction is the biggest Buddha statue carved from a single tree.
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The Great Wall of China – The next destination was The Great Wall of China. It consists of a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth and wood. One whole day was occupied for covering the wall only. With the sport shoes and overcoats, we loved to see the wall covered all over with ice. We had to walk a hell lot. I looked at my brother with a rage and he kept saying “a little more to walk”, throughout the way with an unusual smiling face. I remembered how i use to cling on to his back like a monkey, while i was a kid and also knew how much he loved me. Now our visit to China was a success.
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Electrifying Nightlife – On 31st December we had planned a luminous party. We took complete rest in the morning and afternoon after the visiting “The Great Wall of China.” For the electrifying nightlife, we decided to pay a visit to JJ Bar. The great tsingtao beer and the latest mandarin pop music definitely added mood to the party animals like us. We had dumplings, manchurian and soup-based noodles.
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Chang’an Street – The New Year had started, the sky had never been so illuminating with the firework ever before. We took a stroll along Chang’an Street to Tian’anmen Square, very much recommended for the young people. The clubs, dance and music was so very fascinating. I was a bit over drunk as i was also wishing strangers “Happy New Year”, told my friend Jane. But after all it was New Year’s eve and hangover is good sometimes.
The trip was definitely a memorable one especially with great plans and great pals. We were welcomed at home by Mom and Dad, who after seeing our smiling faces forgot their anger and wished us “Happy New Year”. What a beginning!!
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