This week the Muslim world is celebrating EID (which is the closest thing they have to Christmas, in that this is a gift-giving holiday), so I took advantage of this time off to visit Beijing, China.
As I noted recently, I was born and raised in China, Texas, but seeing the "real" China, has been a special treat.
There is a teacher I know from the UAE who is also in Beijing this week, and we're touring the city together.
Today we visited the Great Wall.
First some thoughts about the city.
Our guide said there are 25 million people living in Beijing. Wikipedia states the number at around 21 million. I'm guessing her number includes the suburbs.
With that many people, I expected to see massive crowds, and a congested city. Neither was evident as we were out and about. In fact, New York City and San Francisco both "feel" more crowded than Beijing.
Bicycles were everywhere, competing for road space. There are bike lanes, and in some areas, there are barriers to separate the bikers from automotive traffic.
They drive like we do in the US, and the driving is civil. Nobody was racing or creating lanes.
The weather was spectacular with crystal clear blue skies. This was fantastic because sometimes the air can be so thick with fog/smog, you can hardly see your hands in front of you. It was a brisk day, about 60 degrees when we started out in the morning, warming nicely midday, then cooling off again as the sun was setting.
Now, the Great Wall . . .
Is absolutely as magnificent as I imagined. Of course, we only saw a small section of the more than 13,000 miles of it, but the views of this area of the wall, and the views of the countryside from this area, were breathtakingly beautiful.
Tomorrow we're off to see the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.
More soon.
As I noted recently, I was born and raised in China, Texas, but seeing the "real" China, has been a special treat.
There is a teacher I know from the UAE who is also in Beijing this week, and we're touring the city together.
Today we visited the Great Wall.
First some thoughts about the city.
Our guide said there are 25 million people living in Beijing. Wikipedia states the number at around 21 million. I'm guessing her number includes the suburbs.
With that many people, I expected to see massive crowds, and a congested city. Neither was evident as we were out and about. In fact, New York City and San Francisco both "feel" more crowded than Beijing.
Bicycles were everywhere, competing for road space. There are bike lanes, and in some areas, there are barriers to separate the bikers from automotive traffic.
They drive like we do in the US, and the driving is civil. Nobody was racing or creating lanes.
The weather was spectacular with crystal clear blue skies. This was fantastic because sometimes the air can be so thick with fog/smog, you can hardly see your hands in front of you. It was a brisk day, about 60 degrees when we started out in the morning, warming nicely midday, then cooling off again as the sun was setting.
Now, the Great Wall . . .
Is absolutely as magnificent as I imagined. Of course, we only saw a small section of the more than 13,000 miles of it, but the views of this area of the wall, and the views of the countryside from this area, were breathtakingly beautiful.
Tomorrow we're off to see the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.
More soon.
You look like you're having an amazing time!
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