today i walk from dan's apartment, which overlooks the howtongs, to the forbidden city whhich is about 5 kms - the first hing i notice is that the locals walk very slowly which is just fine as my knee i buggered and i amble like an old man -it is cold but the long-johns and thermals are good and i don't need my gloves yet - it is very grey with no sun all day just a feint orange glow - it is definitely not as busy as bangkok in the inner zone of the city as all cars are clogging the ringraod that surrounding beijing- so you can actually get around quite easily - the locals are very friendly and polite almost like japan which is very different from 10 years ago in shanghai when everybody was rude or just indifferent - visited the amazing buddhist Lama Temple Yonghe Gong which is close by -built in the 1740s by Emperor Yongzheng whne Tibetan Buddhism was the official religion of china- with a standing statue of Maitreya that is 20 metres high made out of a single block of sandalwood - found a very tasty dumpling shop nearby where the food tastes great and the room is filled with steam - also saw the outside of the forbidden city and tian'anmen square and f course got ripped off in 'the great teahouse scam' but this time only for $40 (not like bangkok in he 80s when it was $500!) - the wierd thing is you can get a steamed bun for 20 cents, 12 dumplings for $1 but a pair of nike still costs $100 - some people here are vrey rich but most struggle with rising rent prices and general inflation - anna, dan's girlfriend, says there is definitely snow in the air and should arrive in the next couple of days - now that's exciting! this blog cannot be viewed by me in beijing - nothing from blogger is allowed through.
No comments:
Post a Comment