Wednesday and the remainder

Wednesday, I spent the day with Uncle Peter.  He took me to see more of Tiananmen Square (including Mao's body, which is in an air-tight glass display case) and the Forbidden City.  The architecture of the buildings in the Forbidden City is quite something.  The detail and intricacy is much different from ancient Western architecture.  We spent most of our time at the Forbidden City.  I spent a lot of time just soaking up the place and relaxing in some of the parks.  (Not to mention, after two previous days of a good amount of walking, my legs were beginning to talk to me.  The architecture is difficult to describe, so I will allow my posted pictures to do that job.)

 

Over the course of the week, I befriended Yao, the restaurant owner at the hotel that I stayed at. He is probably in his mid to late twenties, has great spoken English, and had studied in Europe for some time.  Neat guy to talk to.  He took my picture to put up on his wall of visiting foreigners in his restaurant.  So if you ever go to the restaurant at the Far East Beijing Youth Hotel, tell Yao that Richard send you.

 

This trip makes it as "hao" in my book!

A snap-shot before the hail storm commenced.

Catching the ridge-line back.

Anyone who knows me understands that I had to do a North Face plug! This bag is ten years old and has been on three continents, thus far. "North Face... it lasts the test time, just like the Great Wall."

View from the top! Magnifico!

"Big, big, breathes, little, tiny steps" ~ Anonymous sherpas

The road ahead. Hiked up that steep part in the background and stopped at the juncture.

Stopping for a nature shot.

Hitting the road...

So I went over to the Mutianyu section. Absolutely gorgeous!

I touched part of the Huanghua section of the Great Wall, but unfortunately not much more.

Tuesday

Tuesday, I walked the Great Wall: Mutianyu Section.  I had previous planned to visit the Huanghua Section (and partially did), but when I got there with the tour guide, after paying a "park ranger" to get into the area, we hike to the base of the wall and are told by a guard that we cannot enter because there is too much construction.  The only reason that I hired this guide was to take me around this particular wall, which had previously never been reconstructed, so it was all natural.  I would have never hired a guide in the first place, if I could just find it and walk like everyone else.  This was quite irritating, to say the least.  So, he suggested another section and we headed off.  Mutianyu was pleasant, as I saw maybe only 10 people on the wall for the three hours that I walked.  I took some beautiful pictures!

In case you're wondering, the Chinese do have an "ivy league" school.

The lake at Peking University with the famous giant pagoda in the background.

Looking onto the vast lake.

One of the bridges that connects an island on the lake.

One of the temples, as seen from the lake.

Summer Palace: a marble boat.

Here's one about gossip.

In one of the hutongs, I found some murals that taught community lessons about ethics and proper behavior.

Bats in the evening, flying around the hutongs.

Here's an old Russian church in the downtown area.