We arrived, on time, at Beijing’s new international terminal, and
unfortunately were not allocated an aerobridge.
So, we were herded onto a bus which took us to the terminal where we
proceeded through immigration, collected our luggage and cleared Customs. This whole process took about an hour but
involved quite a bit of walking from where the bus dropped us off and
Immigration control, and then more distance between Immigration and luggage and
Customs. Even though the distances were
longer than both Jane and I was accustomed to, the signage was excellent and at
no stage did we feel as though we might get lost. We proceeded through Customs and were met by
Zheng-yu who seemed very excited to see us.
He was in his uniform, and we felt very special to be met by him.
There was another long walk to where the vehicle (a VIP military
vehicle) was parked, complete with driver.
The vehicle was a very new one with leather seats and great
air-conditioning (even at 0700, Beijing’s humidity was already quite high, and
it seemed even more so for two southern hemisphere dwellers who were arriving
from countries still in the deep throes of winter). We spent another hour negotiating the traffic
to get to the hotel – Park Plaza Beijing West.
Upon entering, both Jane and Wendy immediately felt a bit out of place;
it was a very flash place (turned out to be a 4*). After checking in, it was upstairs for a
quick wash and then breakfast. This
breakfast consisted of everything and anything you could possible want; it
catered for the Chinese, and visitors from both Europe and other places like New Zealand and Australia. As we had been fed breakfast (if you can call
an airline morning meal “breakfast”) on the plane, that had been at least 4-5
hours before, so we were a little bit hungry, so sampled a few different types
of foods that we had not had before.
After breakfast it was back up to the 17th floor (that’s
where our rooms were) to the VIP lounge to discuss what sites we would visit
today. After consulting the tourist map,
we decided on the Old
Summer Palace. That took us another hour to get to! Once at the Old Summer Palace, we did quite a
bit of walking, took a short boat ride from one end of the lake to the other,
and then just as we were finishing, it started to rain so we took a ride in a super-sized golf buggy back to where we
started from and our driver took us to lunch at the same restaurant MEPS had
dinner at in 2007 – Hua Yan (China Banquet). Here we ate like kings again with
a five-course meal. After all that food we had to go back to the hotel for a
rest and freshen-up for a very prestigious dinner.
Yuanming Yuan - Old Summer Palace
The Old Summer Palace, known in Chinese as
Yuanmingyuan (the Gardens of
Perfect Brightness), and originally called the Imperial Gardens, was a complex of palaces and gardens in Beijing.
It is located 8km northwest of the walls of the Imperial City and was built in
the 18th and early 19th century as the place where the emperors of the Qing
Dynasty resided and handled government affairs (the Forbidden City was used for
formal ceremonies). The Old Summer Palace was known for its extensive
collection of gardens and building architectures and other works of art (a
popular name in China was the "Garden of Gardens”).
The
Imperial Gardens at the Old Summer Palace were made up of three gardens: Garden
of Perfect Brightness proper, Garden of Eternal Spring, and Elegant Spring
Garden. Together, they covered an area of 3.5sqkm, almost five times the size
of the Forbidden City grounds and eight times the size of Vatican City.
Hundreds of structures such as halls, pavilions, temples, galleries, gardens,
lakes, and bridges, stood on the grounds. In addition, hundreds of examples of
Chinese artwork and antiquities were stored in the halls, along with unique
copies of literary works and compilations. Several famous landscapes of
southern China had been reproduced in the Imperial Gardens. It is still debated
in China whether to a apply for inclusion of the Old Summer Palace on the list
of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Old Summer Palace entry ticket
Boat ride ticket
Golf buggy ride ticket
Dashuifa, built in 1759,
was a garden site featuring fountains. The main building was a large stone
shrine, in front of which was a lion head fountain producing a seven-level
waterfall, and an oval-shaped chrysanthemum fountain. In the middle of the
fountain was a bronze spotted deer, whose horns jetted out eight water sprouts.
On both sides of the deer were 10 bronze dogs that jetted out water spouts to
the body of the deer. This meant the hounds were pursuing the deer. Dashuifa had a large European-style fountain
on each side of its front.
Ruins of Dashuifa
Hua Yan Restaurant - lunch venue
Our private dining room
The night saw us in the Bai
Family Courtyard Restaurant (Bai Jia Da ZaiMen), also known as the Garden of
the King (Baija Dayuan). The dinner was hosted by Senior Colonel Xia, Military
Pharmacist Inspector. Sylvain and Danica met us at the restaurant. Altogether,
there were nine of us (SnrCol Xia, Col Chen, Jane, Wendy, Sylvain, Danica and
two representatives from the CPA, Mr Chen Bin and Mr Jiang Dechun).
The garden and restaurant
complex are situated in the northwest of Beijing, originally part of the
imperial route to the famous Summer Palace, represents the top level of
imperial food, and occupies more than 35,000 square meters.
Dinner
Our table
Waiting area
Danica, Jane SnrCol Xia
SnrCol Xia, me, Mr Chen
Hostess in traditional Manchu dress
Horse-hoofed or pot-bottomed shoes
Me and the Hostess
Garden scenes
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