249. AUTUMN IN QINGDAO & BEIJING

 

I travelled by high speed train from Qingdao, Shandong Province, to Beijing...took around 3 1/2 hours...

by road...

Visited the venue of the 2008 Beijing Olympics to view their main attraction venues, the Bird Nest Stadium and the Aquatics Center or Water Cube... 

The other big attraction synonymous with Beijing is  the Great Wall of China...the 'other' great wall is their Firewall against Western, chiefly American social media sites...

The Great Wall is better viewed from a distance or with drone photography, which in China and elsewhere including Singapore, may result in that been confiscated and the photographer, questioned/arrested...

Bumper to bumper human traffic

Places of interest in most Chinese cities are awfully crowded with their people. Tours are arranged for their folks from small towns or villages, to spend a day or 2, perhaps the plan is to instill pride in their country, their government and their various successes and achievements...another large group is their students from various schools out on field trips...

Everywhere one goes, one jostles and wrestles with them. Ditto for Tiananmen Square, a wise decision was made to cut this place out and just drive pass. Apart from some past historical happenings that took place there, the venue is simply a very large square or courtyard/avenue.

This profile pic below is without the crowds to appreciate the majesty of the structure...

Another shot by fellow travellers - during the entire 60 minutes or so spent in and around the Wall, the crowd never eased up...

A cable car ride takes one to the Badaling section of the Wall and I believe visitors are confined to this section for photo taking and a looksee at the surrounding landscape. Which may explain why it's so crowded, they are no longer let loose to explore any section of the Wall.

~The Forbidden City~

The square/courtyard is large and sprawling so the crowd is spread out

~The Summer Palace~

~The Temple of Heaven~

The Temple of Heaven is supposedly dedicated to Taoist deities and other Great Ones that control the weather for the importance placed on and for the survival of their crops. Sacrificial rites (I assume it's animal!) take place here to pray for abundant harvests. Yet, sometime in the 50s to 60s they had one of the worst famines ever...

The Temple itself is a museum on agriculture and crops/seeds. It's a beautiful building, looks better from the outside and somewhat resembles a hat worn by important officials...

The ancient stone carvings on the floor would have been chiseled by hand. The newer wall carvings I suspect are pre fab...

Took a boat ride to admire the view from afar. Boat rides are a ubiquitous part of a China outing...took in the arresting sight of some really large buildings perched on high ground, names and purpose unknown...

Up close this stone boat appears almost Moorish...

I would have liked to play dress-up, time did not permit. There was a large group of foreign Caucasian students, several with blond hair and grey blue eyes, one with dark skin - they added colour and diversity - nice!

Have always adored how trees spread out to offer shade...Mother Gaia's unconditional love...

Autumn apples and fruits on a stick ready to eat...

My carriage awaits - took a ride around a lake, cutting through a lane of old shophouses...! The air was cool and crisp...it's nice out...

~Their art ~

 A highly creative people really good with their hands, little wonder China's the world's factory. They produce and manufacture almost everything, making their prices one of the lowest in the world...

In this mall was this panda display in its atrium...

This hawker likely made his own oven - each compartment takes 3-4 sweet potatoes, corn - he's brilliant...it's hard to compete with creativity and ingenuity - even harder when a people are competitive...

Sunrise or sunset moments are like beautiful paintings...

The camera did not quite capture the willows in the background which were truly beautiful swaying in the wind...

~ Slice of Life ~

She and her male partner were dressed smartly busking in this park playing beautiful harmonica music. There was a loudspeaker but I didn't see any tip box so am not sure if they were entertaining for the sheer joy of it - it was a lovely sunny day...their people, young and old, express themselves joyfully through music and dance...

She crochets little sea creatures...

This couple seems to enjoy the frigid waters of the Yellow Sea - when they found out we're a bunch of tourists from Singapore, they were quite happy to put on a show just for us as we gawked at them cameras clicking away...

From the coach window, some interesting architecture...

Zhanqiao Pier, Qingdao...below...the only day that was dripping, like Spring rain...

A slice of Italy...

Qingdao's a nice place, it isn't the capital city of Shandong, but it appears to be better known and more developed and most tourists drop by here, methinks it's because of the well known brand name of Tsingtao beer...which warrants a mention as I found its brewery the most interesting stop on this field trip...

 For a brewery it's a really attractive building...

Beer collectables

I observed another milestone whilst in Qingdao, I wanted privacy, didn't want attention, told my Travel Escort so. But in the brewery, free beer was handed out, for taste! So I got to observe the day after all, albeit quietly! That same evening over dinner, a locally produced red wine was served, we had a sampling...and back in my room, I found a cake with candles and a party hat! And the day passed discreetly!

St Michael's Cathedral in downtown Qingdao...

European vibes

Strolled along this area - the Yushan Campus of Ocean University of China...

The original name was a German Silberfisch St.

The Chinese government is currently at loggerheads with the American government over Trump's trade tariffs tit for tat. Yet, the guides and hotel staff who are conversant in English, speak it with an American twang! One used an expression I've not come across in the longest time - 'bright eyed and bushy tailed!'

Kudos to Alice of Travel Hub for her sensitivity towards putting together a varied program. Several pics came from fellow travellers...