First, I am sorry it has been so long since I have posted.  I have not stopped traveling, although most of my travel is for work right now and that tends to keep me distracted from writing.  I will slowly try to get back in the habit! So having said that….

China.  I had long wanted to go there and finally had my chance in September 2013 when I attended a conference in Beijing.  I had no idea what to expect due to the variety of stories and accounts of visiting the country.  Bloggers write about the pollution, the crowds, the size of the country, the stark contrasts between the cities and the countryside and the rapid pace of economic development among many other things.  Finally I was able to evaluate for myself.  Getting to Beijing, however, turned into a bit of an epic journey (when you travel a lot you expect this to happen every now and then!). My trip involved two re-routes during a 24 hour trip across the US including a bonus slumber party on a cot in the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.  Of course my luggage never had a chance of getting there on time and arrived two days later, via an even more scenic route!  My shopping excursion to find a reasonable pair of dress pants, a pair that would fit a tall Western woman who spoke no Chinese, was an adventure in itself.

Even with the delay getting to Beijing I had time to go on a quick excursion to visit a section of the Great Wall of China located fairly near Beijing.  It was a cloudy, misty day with low ceilings so the view was restricted, but magnificent nonetheless.  The museum at the site illustrated the expanse of the wall segments and construction across the eastern and northern parts of the country- it was very impressive.  We took a lift to the top of the wall since we did not have much time (and I am not sure everyone in the group was enthusiastic about walking up!).  At the top of the wall were crowds of people walking along it this way and that.  What surprised me was how incredibly steep the wall was.  It followed the geography of the hills and that meant pretty dramatic (greater than 45 deg, probably closer to 60 deg or so) slopes up and down as you walked along the paths from tower to tower.  It amazed me that I saw women up there in heels!  I give them points for skill.  In many places at the steepest points there were stairs cut into the walkway with handrails and people would stop and rest as they ascended.  I tried to imagine soldiers in armor regularly patrolling such a challenging route and realized how fit they would have had to be.  I would love to go back and visit some of the more remote sections where likely it is not so crowded.

The Great Wall is very steep in places. Hard to imagine roaming up and down daily!

View from the Great Wall. Hazy, but impressive!

What can I say about my first impression of Beijing?  Big and crowded are the adjectives that come to mind.  To put it in perspective there are six (6!) ring roads around the city.  Houston, the fourth largest city in the US, a city that really defines the concept of “city sprawl”, is currently constructing its third ring.  The conference I was attending was held across from the Olympic Park located between the fourth and fifth ring.  Looking out my hotel window I could see the famous “Bird’s Nest stadium” featured in so many of the iconic pictures from the 2012 Olympics.  Surrounding the stadium is a lovely large park which becomes crowded with picnicers on the weekend.  A behavior that is universal, no matter what city or country I find myself in, is the tendency of people to congregate in the green spaces when even the slightest occurrence of good weather.  The citizens of Beijing are no different in this respect.

Driving around the city is a nightmare- there are cars, buses, bikes and people everywhere.  Overall, though, even though traffic seems to be constantly congested a set of rules was discernible, unlike other places I have visited (see my post on traffic).  Because of the congestion the traffic moves very slowly so the plethora of bicyclists and pedestrians can move about in relative safety.  For example, when the car I was riding in became involved in a traffic accident near Tiananmen square we were traveling at about 5mph so even though the car received damage no one was injured.  It was a bit of an adventure with me and the driver being sent to the local police station- a great cultural experience for me.  The officers that responded to the accident could not determine whether my driver or the taxi driver, who basically tried to move into our lane while we were in it, was at fault.  Apparently the police station had all of the actual camera footage (there are lots of cameras monitoring things around the square) and we had to go there to find out who would be labeled at fault.  In the end that was inconclusive too- probably because the whole thing happened so slowly!

Who needs a car when you are an expert packer?

The conference lasted only a week so it was a quick trip in and out and gave me enough exposure to expand my horizons and understand the potential for further visits.  One thing I noted (and sort of expected) was the difficulty in maneuvering around without help.  The Chinese language, in speech and in writing, is opaque and hard to penetrate unless you have studied it.  Other places i have visited I either have had some knowledge of the language or of an associated language which made it easy to navigate.  Not so in China.  I was completely dependent on my guides and the help of the staff at the hotel.  While the situation increased the odds of having an adventure I decided that before I go back I am determined to do a bit of study!  There is a lot more to see in China and I will get back there again.

One last note:  one of the common stories you hear about Beijing is about the pollution.  The stories do not exaggerate.  While the weather was nice and the air was clear for about half the week, at the end of the week there were several days where the pollution was so bad I could not even see across the street to the stadium!

That is not haze in the picture, but pollution- yuck!