Saturday, January 14, 2012

Winter in China: Exploring Beijing

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We had 3 bright and sunny days in Beijing. Sure it was still freezing cold with temperature close to zero Celcius but I heard that it was a rarity to see blue skies in Beijing. My first impressions of Beijing was how surprisingly modern, clean and somewhat organized the city is. I'm not sure where got I the misconception from but I was expecting Beijing to be loud and chaotic which really wasn't the case. It wasn't the uber organized Hong Kong or Singapore but reminded me of cities like Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.

The one thing to get used to however is crossing with streets. Even with pedestrian crossings, it was an adventure to make sure you don't get knock down by an incoming car. Cars have right of way in China.

During the 3 days, we did the must-do tourist attractions such as visiting the Great Wall, Temple of Heaven, Olympic Park and the Forbidden Palace in addition to the endless visits to the malls and eating around. I'll leave you with some pictures for now but I'll post more details on the visit to the Great Wall, Temple of Heavan and Forbidden Palace in upcoming posts.
Great Wall
Temple of Heaven
The Bird Nest

Mr. Mao

Forbidden Palace
Oldest Catholic Church in Beijing
Wangfujing
 

Drum Tower

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