China - Beijing and the Great Wall

/Well it's probably the one and only package tour trips I'll take, but it did allow me to see a lot of things in a short period of time. Our fearless leader (Dave and his yellow flag) led us to the Great Wall, the Ming Tombs, The Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City and Tiannemen Square. Unfortunately, we were also dragged to a bunch of places to buy things... like a silk factory, pearl factory, jade factory and a pottery factory... except replace the factory with sweat shop. I guess the company gets kickbacks by forcing foreigners to spend spend spend at various shops. It was kind of cool to see how all the stuff is made. Especially, the silk factory. In Korea they eat the silk worm larvae. In china they use the cocoon to make silk underwear. One of the most surprising things about the trip was that the group that we travelled with were almost all young Canadians teaching in Korea, so we all got along quite well.

Included in the Package tour was our stay at the Best Western. The Hotel bar was pretty crazy. You didnt buy your drinks in the bar, but in a convenience store attached to the bar. To help you buy your booze there were very scantily clad women who helped you make your selection. I also enjoyed a massage in the Best Western. Near the best western was a pretty big party district which made for a good New Years Eve celebration. The group of us from the tour went out to a few bars. China has a drink which is 56% alchohol... very dangerous.

Oh yeah. While in Beijing we saw an amazing kung fu performance and a show by the Chinese national acrobat team. All of the above in four days...


THE SUMMER PALACE

The stone ship at the Summer Palace

The main Palace buildings... unfortunately under construction.

Apparently this is the longest outdoor corridor of this sort in the world (approx 500m). What was more amazing was that each panel on the inside had a different mural. See below.

Paintings.

The walkway along the manmade lake at the Summer Palace.

Peculiar stone garden at the summer palace.

The manmade lake at the Summer Palace.

A bridge to an island at the Summer Palace.

The lake and the Palace in the distance.

THE FORBIDDEN CITY

Backalley at the FC

Doorway to the Snake Queen's quarters at the FC.

Rooftop up close.

Inside the Snake Queen's quarters.

Small details of the FC.

A very elaborate staircase at the FC.

Open areas at the FC.

The entrance to the Forbidden City.

Outside the FC.

Rickshaw runners on break.

Countdown clock to the 2008 Olympics games in Beijing. These clocks were all over Beijing. This one was at Tiannemen Square.

TIANNEMEN SQUARE

Me and Mao

You don't want to mess around at TS. Police and army were everywhere. Actually we saw a small protest group get hauled away in unmarked vans about 5mins after their protest started.

Mao's Moseleum

Peking Duck.

At the silk factory. The white things are silkworm cocoons.

Beijing Street scene.

Inside a tea ceremony/infomertial.

THE MING TOMBS

A stone mural.

A Ming Tomb.

THE GREAT WALL

The great wall stretches for 4000 km along the northern border of China. It was originally built about 2000 years ago. The portion we visited was rebuilt by one of the Ming Emperors around 800 years ago.

At the base of the Great Wall hike.

I figured it was a lot cheaper to try the hat on and take a picture of myself then to buy the hat.

Terrocotta soldiers at the Great Wall.

A weapons display.

A look out the window inside one of the guard towers.

Our tour group at the top.

A worker at the pottery factory. This really was a sweatshop. I felt really bad being here but it was amazing seeing these people make this beautiful pottery.

Pottery

At the Jade factory.

A jade ship in the store at the Jade factory.

THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN

Buskers at the TofH.

A performance at a Thai/Chinese restaurant.

Brodie.

Don't let their appearance fool you. These little tikes could kick ass.

Posing with the stars. These guys really liked the camera.