Monday, August 06, 2007
A Brief Chinese Holiday
OK, this has been my first chance to use a computer that will allow me access to Blogger since I started my trip. For some reason, China is perfectly happy for me to use facebook - but blogger is a no-go zone.
So, here's the news:
Beijing absolutely flew by. It's a huge city and there is a lot to see and do - far too much for the time I had. Fortunately we were staying in a fairly central hostel, so access to buses, subway and the like was pretty easy.
I managed to get a good look at the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, White Pagoda, Tieneman Square and also to have a nice long hike along the Great Wall - so as far as fulfilling my quota of touristy activities, I think I did well.
I didn't like the fact that the sky was obscured permanently by smog, but overall I quite enjoyed my little stay in Beijing. The people were generally friendly, the food was great and stuff was generally cheap - so points there.
I was also blown away by the amount of construction going on. They are clearly trying to tidy the whole place up for the 2008 Olympics, and a lot of time and money is being poured into this endeavour. I would be interested to see just how much of the job they get completed on time, becuase this certainly appears to be a task of Herculean proportions.
So, here's the news:
Beijing absolutely flew by. It's a huge city and there is a lot to see and do - far too much for the time I had. Fortunately we were staying in a fairly central hostel, so access to buses, subway and the like was pretty easy.
I managed to get a good look at the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, White Pagoda, Tieneman Square and also to have a nice long hike along the Great Wall - so as far as fulfilling my quota of touristy activities, I think I did well.
I didn't like the fact that the sky was obscured permanently by smog, but overall I quite enjoyed my little stay in Beijing. The people were generally friendly, the food was great and stuff was generally cheap - so points there.
I was also blown away by the amount of construction going on. They are clearly trying to tidy the whole place up for the 2008 Olympics, and a lot of time and money is being poured into this endeavour. I would be interested to see just how much of the job they get completed on time, becuase this certainly appears to be a task of Herculean proportions.
# posted by Nils @ 6:26 PM 
