About the Place: Beijing has been the capital of historic China since 1700 years. it is the 'Northern Capital' (the name Beijing means just that) and the climate is generally cold. There is also snowfall in the winter. The city is riddled with the Chinese Poplar Tree which is like a fern tree and helps the city fight cold winds.
It is also important from a modern China perspective.
What to see: The Famous Olympic Structures : The Water Cube (a favorite of Michael Phelps, as he won all the 10 medals in swimming here. He described the pool to be a little deeper therefore he could get a better 'float'), The Birds Nest and tHe Athletics Building. The Dragon's Line the passes between the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube which is supposed to facilitate the passage of the Dragon through the city bringing Good Luck. The differently shaped Morgan Plaza Hotel which has become famous ever since Bill Gates stayed there for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
The Tienanmen Square (capacity 500,000 people!), The neighboring Communist Party Head Quarters, Mao's Mausoleum and The very famous Forbidden City. Forbidden City was out of bounds for common people until 1924. It has some invaluable collection of artifacts from the Ming Dynasty period onward. In my Opinion forbidden City is to Beijing what The Louvre is to Paris.
The Summer Palace: This is a symbol of the luxurious life the Royalty indulged in. The important landmarks are The Kunming Lake, The Marble Boat, The Hall of Benevolence and Longevity, The Seventeen Arch Bridge, The Tower Of Buddhist Incense, The Longevity Hill and the famed Long Corridor (700+ m long) with it's detailed paintings.
The Great Wall of China: The Ju Yong Pass part of the Wall is in the vicinity of Beijing city. This is an imposing structure which is 6259 km long! Climbing the wall makes you realize why the Chinese people are so lean and fit! The Anngle of the wall is so acute in some places you feel you are climbing a vertical wall with steps! After all that Huffing and Puffing when you do reach one of the watch-towers the view of the pass and the part of the wall visible is simply breath-taking! the best part is it makes one realize the level of fitness he or she is at because hoards of senior citizens will be climbing the wall with very little effort and I at least felt like Humpty-Dumpty before them.
What to Eat: Beijing has no dearth of the spectrum of cuisines from around the world.
For Meat Lovers: There is the Xianji Restaurant which serves a Jianxi Province Cuisine and what I liked there was Braised Pork with Vegetables, The Plain Fried Rice, The Braised Pepper (The Cillies of China are not at all spicy), The Noodle Soup and The Curried Tofu
For Indian Food Sticklers There are ample restaurants for the Indian Food Lovers, the famous one being called Ganges. You get even Dosas there.
For the Vegetarians: China is a difficult country for hard-core vegetarians. Nevertheless Indian restaurants serve the usual fare with Dal Tadka and Rice and the Curd quality is very good too.
What to avoid: The guides would love to take you the Pearl Factory and The Jade Factory since they get generous commissions from these factory outlets. But The stuff is so prohibitively expensive that you'd not touch them with the long end of a stick! Very Avoidable since the same stuff is available at a fraction of the cost outside.
For more pictures go to my Fickr page : http://www.flickr.com/photos/maitreya8/
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