The first day I puttered around Beijing on my own. The Metro system is safe, clean fast and easy enough to figure out: there are only two lines. I started at the Lama (Yonghe Lamasery) Temple, built 1694, and then just went up a side street to the Temple of Confucius built in 1302 (with additions during the Ming and Qing dynasties). Since it was raining I had it pretty much to myself.

The next day I met the group. Our Australian tour guide, Denis, was a misanthropic lad, but did make for some interesting “say what?”, discussions. At 23 years of age, and filled with more self confidence than anyone has a right to, he did not shirk on sharing his opinion.

His main news input for the previous two years was the English language “People’s Daily”, published in China. Denis, for example, was convinced that the US war games going on in the area at the time were “tantamount to a declaration of war”. I pointed out that it was unlikely, as Corporate America knows that shooting customers would curtail revenue growth.

The group itself consisted of a fun loving English couple, Steve and Adel, with Steve, always up for a laugh and a beer. Wendy, from the UK, and Joan, from Canada, had met on a previous group trip and have been meeting up for adventures ever since. Last, a budding young Doctor from the UK, Lucy, who provided all the medical advice we would need, with one added advantage: she traveled with a complete pharmacy.

Forbidden City

Our second group outing I ended up walking around alone at Tiananmen Square, grumbling in the steady drizzle. Suddenly up popped a Chinese schoolgirl, who shyly asked if, please, she could have her picture taken with me? Well of course: I do my bit for building cultural bridges.

Before long I had schoolgirls everywhere, and cameras, mine included, going off steadily. The gods of technology conspired, and although I managed to transfer 230 pictures of China to CD, those Tiananmen Square photos got lost in the ether, but this shot of new friends in the Forbidden City did make it:

The hike on the Great Wall the following day was more difficult than I expected. It was damn hot for starters, and in the area we went most of the wall was crumbled. After a treacherous 15 km you realize what a really remarkable achievement the wall is: it stretches 6000k, and has been rebuilt twice. Much of it winds up and down the steep hills.

Built in the 1400’s, the Forbidden City, Home of Emperors, was off limits to citizens until 1949. Then communism forced it open. The irony: with the exception of the souvenir stands at the entrance, mostly outside the gates, the only commercial activity in the whole city is this Starbucks.

Summer Palace

We had a blazing hot day in the Summer Palace. Umbrellas, to keep off the sun were useful, and no, I did NOT walk around with a parasol.

As I mentioned, there are many Chinese tourists. You can see which groups belong together by the tee shirts, and again NO, we did not all wear the same tee shirt, though we did ask.

In Beijing, along with the usual sights, we had the chance to see the Beijing Acrobats. Not as famous as the Shanghai acrobats, but well worth the price of a ticket. The show was billed as an all-sensory, choreographed extravaganza. Now, I’d hate to jump to conclusions, but, I’d say, it was strongly influenced by "Cirque du Soleil", only on a much tighter budget.

We had third row seats; close enough to take in the details, including the costumes. The third group of acrobats had on green silk costumes with masked hoods; looking very much in fact, like the Batman costume my mother made for me once. After a vigorous session of leaping through hoops of various sizes and heights, the performers came to the front of the stage for a much-deserved bow. When they did, I noticed one performer’s nose poking out of his left eye hole.

My mother was not a gifted seamstress either. I cringed constantly for the rest of the act, feeling that unobstructed vision is a minimum requirement when you’re hurling yourself through hoops, and I expected at any minute that an acrobat would make contact with one of his associates flying in the opposite direction. In the end, it all turned out well. The audience was very supportive, and what the performers lacked in polish, they more than made up for with enthusiasm.