Tiananmen Square
Today we decided to visit the center of Beijing and gently started off our tourist excursions by wandering around Tiananmen Square. We have a long time here, so no need to rush with all the sights! We took a taxi there from Beijing Normal University. The taxis have meters that automatically print out receipts of the journey, and the drivers seem honest and friendly. The roads were very busy though, even on a Saturday morning, and we sat in jams for some time. So maybe taxis are not the way to travel!
There seemed to be something special going on in the Square, since it was cordoned off and was serving as a large parking lot when we arrived. The taxi driver was quite perturbed that he couldn't find anywhere he was allowed to stop right there, and had to drop us off a few blocks further on. A little later the square opened up. The morning was very smoggy, so that even looking across the square the smog was evident - not a good day for taking scenic photos! Here are a few pictures anyway.
Gate of Heavenly Peace, Entrance to Forbidden City
Smoggy View from Tiananmen Square
Red Flags over Tiananmen Square
Kite Flyer, Tiananmen Square
After the square we went to Wangfujing Street, a nearby shopping district. This is a bustling, prosperous looking street of large multistoreyed malls and other stores, including a couple of good book stores with books and maps in English. Down a little alley is the Wangfujing Snack Street, with stalls selling Chines delicacies, including grasshoppers, sea horses and live scorpions on sticks. We didn't brave the grasshoppers, but tried some fried squid on a stick.
Wangfujing Shopping Street
Grasshopper Delicacy, Wangfujing Snack Street
Lynn Eating Squids-on-a-Stick
We came home by subway and bus. The subway costs 3 yuan for any distance (about 40 US cents). You buy a paper ticket from a booth, and then hand it in to a ticket clerk at the top of the stairs. No automation yet - I wonder how well this will work with the expected Olympic crowds! The trains don't seem very frequent on a weekend, and were all packed solid. The bus for the few blocks from the station to the campus cost 1 yuan each - Lynn reads some Chinese characters and could tell from the board at the bus stop how many stops to our one, and roughly managed to communicate to the conductor on the bus where we wanted to get off. So that worked fine.
There seemed to be something special going on in the Square, since it was cordoned off and was serving as a large parking lot when we arrived. The taxi driver was quite perturbed that he couldn't find anywhere he was allowed to stop right there, and had to drop us off a few blocks further on. A little later the square opened up. The morning was very smoggy, so that even looking across the square the smog was evident - not a good day for taking scenic photos! Here are a few pictures anyway.
Gate of Heavenly Peace, Entrance to Forbidden City
Smoggy View from Tiananmen Square
Red Flags over Tiananmen Square
Kite Flyer, Tiananmen Square
After the square we went to Wangfujing Street, a nearby shopping district. This is a bustling, prosperous looking street of large multistoreyed malls and other stores, including a couple of good book stores with books and maps in English. Down a little alley is the Wangfujing Snack Street, with stalls selling Chines delicacies, including grasshoppers, sea horses and live scorpions on sticks. We didn't brave the grasshoppers, but tried some fried squid on a stick.
Wangfujing Shopping Street
Grasshopper Delicacy, Wangfujing Snack Street
Lynn Eating Squids-on-a-Stick
We came home by subway and bus. The subway costs 3 yuan for any distance (about 40 US cents). You buy a paper ticket from a booth, and then hand it in to a ticket clerk at the top of the stairs. No automation yet - I wonder how well this will work with the expected Olympic crowds! The trains don't seem very frequent on a weekend, and were all packed solid. The bus for the few blocks from the station to the campus cost 1 yuan each - Lynn reads some Chinese characters and could tell from the board at the bus stop how many stops to our one, and roughly managed to communicate to the conductor on the bus where we wanted to get off. So that worked fine.
posted by Michael Cross at 10:10 PM
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