Sorry for the delay in last blog but we got back home, had to replace a boiler, fix a leak etc and nornal life resumed. Today the TT Races got called off with rain, so we found ourselves with a bit of time to write.
Finally mastering the booking system of the Chinese Wechat, we were able to visit the Summer Palace. The huge complex is about 3 square km which includes a huge man-made lake of 2.2sq km and the excavated land was used to build Longevity Hill. There was no expense spared on this project as a pavilion for quiet retreat. It has over 3,000 Chinese ancient buildings within it to house all the eunuchs and concubines who also moved here each summer.
It is not so easy to find a place of quiet and to reflect these days as the site attracts around 10 million tourists a year.
That evening we visited an area Pete had been to on his last visit. When he visited in 1997 the area was a low level traditional housing area (Hutong) where people had no toilets in their homes and used the streets. The area was bulldozed and a new shopping and eating area was created for tourists in the Qiamen area.
We nearly weren’t allowed in as, I (Janet), had left our passports in the hotel thinking we wouldn’t need them as we were only going to eat. Wrong! They have official gateposts and you have to show your passports to enter. Thankfully copies on our phones sufficed.
The huge lamb kebabs were amazing and we followed it with some sort of stuffed pancake below. Don’t know what was in it (even though we watched her make it 🤣) but it was yummy.
The next day we went to The Temple of Heaven. As it was a Monday, all the buildings were closed and it was a bit more peaceful – bliss. The Temple of Heaven was used to pray for good harvests, celebrated for its symbolic architecture that the Heaven is round and the earth square.
That evening we went to see the Red Theatre Acrobatics Show. Wow! What a Show!
And suddenly it was our last day. The only way we could get to see The Forbidden City was a 4 hour tour – much to Pete’s joy. Our tour guide, Vivienne, was lovely but wasn’t so happy when Pete would wander off and wasn’t counted through at every door way. It must be a nightmare trying to keep 17 people together in such a busy place, but she managed it!
That night we made our way to the airport for our Air China flight at 02:50. We had our last peanut noodle dish, and settled in for the return flight to Gatwick.
We had a spicy pork bun, bowl of noodles 🍜 each and a beer each, £7 all in !!!! UK prices were a shock for sure after our trip!!!!!!👀👀👀
Typically landing too close to the morning Gatwick flight, we hung around for 6 hours but celebrated with an English breakfast with proper bacon. Hmm proper bacon tastes good after 5 months !
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