Daily Journals
During the expedition we will live to see a lot of adventures. Interested in how we live through this expedition and how we managed to succeed in our plans. Here you can read our daily adventures! Enjoy!
There is a lot to do in Beijing. It makes it a city perfect for a weeks holiday. But even then you probably haven¡¯t enough time to see it all. We even wonder if we can see it all.
We head to the temple of heaven and jump in a taxi. With the upcoming olympics in 2008 every chinese taxi driver in Beijing had to do an english exam. I guess the driver we have has a memory problem as he has no idea what we are talking about when we ask him to drive to the temple of heaven, the number three tourist spot in Beijing. Luckily the Olympics won¡¯t start in another four to five years!
The temple of heaven is a heavenly place and lots of older Chinese head here to play music, fly their kites, sing and practise Tai Chi. Everywhere we see grannies jumping around and even dancing. The older men play cards and, although playing with the Iraqi Most Wanted Cards, it seems they are unaware of what¡¯s happening in the world. This is their world, this is the pure China. The great thing is that in China there is no sense of insecurity towards others. It doesn¡¯t matter how bad you sing, how weird your moves are or how bad you dance. Everybody just enjoys the day in the park.
The harvest temple is the most famous temple in the Park. An elegant building where the emperor prayed for a better harvest. We walk through the park and enjoy the sunny day. In the parc we also find an echo wall. Apparently the sounds bounces on the circle wall and you can easily hear someone talking on the other side. But unfortunately, chinese are not the most quiet visitors on the planet and we cannot distinquish an echo.
Another great thing to do in Beijing is paying a visit to an acrobatics show. These shows sound horribly touristy but we were told it¡¯s worth it. So early in the evening we head there and look forward to some extreme bending chinese. When we enter the rundown theatre we have the idea we are in the wrong place. It¡¯s completely empty as well. We ask but are seated on the first row. Apparently it is the right place. We expect to be the only one and feel a bit uncomfortable. But luckily some chinese tourists arrive. The show starts with girls balancing plates on sticks. We wonder if the sticks are not glued to the plates but it looks cool anyway. Its a fast paced show. The next item is better. A woman in bending in positions you and i don¡¯t think is possible. Every chiropractisioner in the world would love to see this. This rubber lady is the stuff we came for. Imagine you bend backwards and place your head against your heals and then manage to place your head through you legs while holding two plates with drinks on it. There is lots more to see and we enjoy the whole show. Definitely worth a visit...
Another day has passed so quickly. Yep.... time flies here in Beijing!
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