Blue Skies in Beijing

Blue Skies In Beijing Done the big one- climbed a very small section of the Great Wall- had to almost crawl up, but a member of our group is 85 and he climbed up to the same point. It was very steep with uneven steps, but then we sat in an empty temple and watched people like ants crawling along a large section. We also had our best coffee for the holiday.It was a very big day as we had to leave at 7am to get to the Great Wall early, and then after lunch we drove by the Olympic venues. The Bird's Nest really is stunning and dwarfs the Water Cube close by. They are much better in reality than on TV. Then we went to the Summer Palace which is almost 300 acres and only 20 km from centre of Beijing but has no sign of urban encroachment. It has a huge lake, an island, a marble boat and the longest outdoor corridor in the world. All along the coridor there are thousands of paintingThe weather was sunny with bright blue skies, so much for Beijing smog. I wish we were doing what they are doing, which is building a new subway line every year until 2015. One fifth of private cars are banned on each day of theweek, according to number plate. Beijing is unlike any of the other cities, very open , a height level on buildings so no obvious skyscrapers, very wide roads (because they knocked down the old city wall!!)but with the moat still running beside the road.The day finished with a fantastic Acrobat Show, like the shows they used to bring to Australia with bike tricks and juggling and great effects.We came on the overnight train from Xian to Beijing. Xian is another intersting city with an intact city wall from when the SIlk road started here in the 1500's, it also has a large active Muslim section with a mosque where the men were streaming in to prayers,and the only English television was Al JazerraBeijing is different from all the other cities, more like Melbourne perhaps in the Melbourne /Sydney divide in Australia. Lots of young people and geared to young people but parks full of all ages exercising, playing Mahjong, badminton, table tennis, on exercise machines which are spread everywhere, ballroom dancing, walking very precious dogs,and of course grandparents with a grandchild, in fact some babies have 3 or 4 elderly people in tow, consequence of one child policy I suppose, but now the first generation of one child families are starting to marry and they are allowed to have 2 children if they are both only children. The impact of this policy is the most obvious feature of cultural/social policy I have ever seen. There are lots of stories from the young guides about the consequences, especially the demanding nature of girlfriends, who are, of course, in short supply and their capcity to demand fully furnished apartments as part of the wedding dealThe group breaks up now and goes their separate ways but we still have Guangzhou and Hong Kong
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