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This is the second post in the series about sights in China which I did not have the time to write about when I was still in there. The first post was  Along the Great Wall – a description of that trip and a photo gallery.

Today the theme is the Forbidden City – with it’s countless palaces and gardens. This huge area contains a huge number of beautiful buildings and squares, a lot still not open to the public. Some of the smaller palaces have little museums opened inside (like the jade or bronze museums). The main series of palaces and courtyards – following the north-south axis – is the focus and highway for tourists, but the buildings on the east and west sides are also impressive. At the north entrance there is a beautiful garden complex – complete with rock formations, ponds and small wooden buildings.

You can find 50 more photos in this post.

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This post was long overdue, always in the making and always left for “another time”. Well, what with the weekend around the office corner I finally found the time to write about one of the “must-do” visits in China: a visit to the Great Wall.

I finally organized this trip on the last day I stayed in Beijing, right before going by train to Shanghai. It was not the smartest thing, as right after I returned from the Great Wall I had to go to the train station. However, this is my usual lack of planning. In the evening before I made a reservation to one of the two available tours to the Great Wall (available at my hostel).

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Before I write a more consistent blog post, probably with some photos as well, I wanted to share these 3 short video clips I had around. The quality is not great, but they are somewhat interesting.

The first video was shot on the last day I spent in Beijing, at the famous Lama temple. It is a moving prayer wheel, which Buddhist believers use to spin thus giving life to the prayer written on the wheel. The second video was also shot in Beijing, this time in Beihan park. The park had a lot of people singing, dancing and playing a lot of games. I went there on a weekend day, and the atmosphere was very pleasant.

The last video – shot at the Temple of Heaven – is of a group of people forming an impromptu orchestra. A lot of people joined as the music went on, either participating in singing or just enjoying the music.

There were a lot of sights and sounds that I could capture in video, however most of the times I either didn’t have the little digital camera with me, or I first thought in photographic terms and only as an afterthought in video terms.

This is the second part of the post I have written regarding moving around in Shanghai, Beijing and in-between. If you are more interested about the trains and planes you can get to get from city to city you should check that post first.

In this post I will post a few pics from the subway and try to explain a bit how one should get from place to place. Maybe someone who was thinking about going to China but had concerns regarding the means of getting around. Well, all those concerns were definitely misplaced. I cannot tell anything about other places besides Beijing and Shanghai – but I do plan to continue the research. Until then – I have to do a bit of praising for the subway systems in these two cities.

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The post today is going to have more of an utilitarian purpose. I know when I started to plan for the trip to China I was definitely looking for this kind of info. And while it is true that usually it is not hard to find specific info – and probably more detailed than what I am going to write here – it still might help people doing research. Or those to scared to consider a trip to China because of language barriers and concerns about managing day to day tasks.

Sadly this post cannot shed any light on long-distance bus rides, nor metropolitan transit in other cities beside Shanghai and Beijing. However, as I traveled Beijing – Shanghai by train and plane and in the cities themselves by a few means of transportation I hope I can give a general idea what to expect.

I will start with the long-distance and then move to short-distance.

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Well, tomorrow I am leaving Beijing to go to Shanghai. I am already panicked that I missed a lot of the sights – some really beautiful like the Summer Palace, some just for the experience of it like Mao’s pickled body. However, there are so many things to see and do in China that probably months wouldn’t be enough. I do have a feeling that at one point I have to return. And as Beijing and Shanghai are the main gates to China, probably I can continue my city exploration.

Today’s photo album also brings more impressions I accumulated in the last few days.

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Today brings you a largish set of photos from an excursion to the Temple of Heaven. This is a very nice temple in southeastern Beijing, with different pagodas, pavilions and gardens scattered on a pretty big area. While it is not as big and famous as the Forbidden City to its north, it is a very nice destination nonetheless. Besides the throngs of tourists, certain areas are largely quiet and frequented by people from Beijing coming to relax. It is very nice to see people playing cards, singing, knitting or even dancing. I put a short video-clip on Picasa, but the quality is not that great.

Also in most areas there is a soft background music which fits perfectly well.

Now I will continue with some random thoughts regarding Beijing, and my experiences here, but also the promised photos.

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This post, until I put my brain back on track, is going to be a mix of impressions and thoughts regarding Beijing. It also has some photos, but there is no real connection. Just something for everyone.

So, without further delay, some random thoughts and stories – bits of my “lost in translation” in China…

First of all, as people inquired about the food I will try to share my experience regarding this.

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Still fighting an awesome jetlag, I try to post a bit more on what I did yesterday. Also this time – there are some photos.

Taking up where I left in the previous post – at the hostel. I am in a room with 3 Canadians, pretty cool people. The best part is though how nice the hostel is. Pretty big rooms (even with only 4 beds), toilet for each room, huge beds (and I mean huge, 2 people can sleep in one of them) and the nicest part: free Wifi in each room, and pretty speedy too. All this for only 50RMB per night (which translates to around 5.5 Euro). Having said that, I did not spend much time admiring the hostel and instead I went exploring.

I did not have enough time, nor energy, to visit the Forbidden City, but I went to Tienanmen square, around the Forbidden City and to it’s public areas and also to Jingshan Park (to the north). Very beautiful areas. Each of them is as I had imagined it, and yet a bit more. Tienanmen square is huge, but I did not realize how huge until I was there for example. I hope the photos will describe better.

The most important thing I want to say though in this post – as I intend to still catch the breakfast! – is how easy is to get around. I was very worried that the language will prove a barrier, but a good map and having most signs translated in English made things a breeze. Even the names of the streets, not only main touristy sites, are bilingual. Also descriptions, shop names, etc are in English. It might not be the best English, but it gets the information I need.

I will post a little more of the main events of the day, but first I need breakfast. And cofee, probably lots of it. I mostly wanted to share the photos.

Today I will try to catch up with last two days events – mostly arriving to Beijing and first day spent here wondering at the strangeness of this city.

But first things first: the flight from Bucharest to Amsterdam (by KLM) was one of the nicest I’ve been on. It’s a shame that this was not the main one, but just the first step before the longer flight from Amsterdam to Beijing. I had the luck to be seated near the emergency exit, which meant (beside the mandatory emergency exit training) that I had a lot of space to stretch out. Really, I felt like in business class, without paying the premium. Also the food, while limited, was pretty delicious.

Also on this flight they handpicked the best-looking flight attendants I’ve ever seen. Absolutely lovely! The 2hr20 flight felt great!

Then, after a short layover in Amsterdam, things got worse…

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