Beijing - We Have Arrived

Monday November 9th - Wednesday November 11th

Farewell Shanghai, hello Beijing, and what a welcome we received.

Monday was spent on the train from Shanghai to Beijing – a trip of about 10 hours – reaching speeds of 250km/hour.  We arrived at 9pm and went to our hosts for a good nights rest.  On Tuesday morning we woke to a snow covered Beijing.  There had been a snow storm overnight, and everything was covered white.

It has been a bit of a surprise – no one was really prepared for these conditions – but so beautiful.  We have a wonderful helper while in Beijing, her name is Spring and is spending each day with us making sure we know where to go and guiding us.  We went to Tiananmen Square on Tuesday morning.  This really is just a big square, Parliament is on one side, Mao’s body on another, the Forbidden Temple is opposite, and in between is concrete.  Not sure what to say in acknowledgment of the history of this area, being a foreigner certainly gave a different meaning to visiting this place, particularly when there were huge screens playing footage showing the” greatness” of China.

Tuesday lunch was our first Rotary meeting in Beijing.  Although we didn’t present, we were introduced to everybody at the meeting and had the opportunity to mingle and meet a few people.  We were warmly welcomed and are looking forward to having the opportunity to speak at next week’s meeting.

Spring took us to an Art area in the afternoon.  It is laneways of small gallery’s where artists can display and sell their work.  It was really very interesting, with different art forms and a little something different for everybody.  It was surprising to see this flourishing artistic area in Beijing.

Wednesday we visited the Forbidden City.  There was still snow around, making it even more interesting and unique apart from anything we see in Australia.  This is one of the few ancient places that was left untouched in the Cultural Revolution.  This is an imperial palace with over 600 years of history.  It has about 9000 halls and rooms, the front part is masses of stone and wood, then through the back is gardens and trees.  Everything about it is on such a huge scale – which I suppose in perfect for the Emperors wanting to show their power.

After lunch we tried to thaw our hands and toes and headed to the markets to buy warm coats, socks and gloves as the snow was predicted to continue, which it did.

We had a wonderful meal at the home of Club President John Barnes, along with the team who went to New Zealand from China last year.  This was an excellent way to learn more about the GSE experience from a very different point of view and ask them what they gained from their experiences in New Zealand (no sheep jokes please).

Although Wednesday night produced no snow, it did start to fall on Thursday morning, and continued all day.  We all had our warm clothing on, and spent most of the day at the Great Wall of China.  The weather was not good, but it did not dampen our spirits as we trekked the Wall through the snow.  No rabbits were seen.