Temple of Heaven I went to the Temple of Heaven on Monday. This group of structures was first constructed nearly 600 years ago and expanded and renovated subsequently. It is the place where the emperors went to pray for good harvests. These days it is a tourist attraction and a place for locals to relax. The […]
The Beijing Summer Palace The Summer Palace is located in northern Beijing and was first created many hundreds of years ago as the summer resort for the imperial family. It suffered destruction during two foreign invasions and was rebuilt each time. It is now open as a grand garden representing several styles and is home to […]
Beijing and my adventures with transport Another trip on the fast expensive train on Friday night had me in Beijing on time. The train arrived at a different part of the station and I had to walk past a vast area where probably hundreds of people were bunked down for the night. An increasingly longer […]
Behai Park Behai Park is located in central Beijing north and west of the Forbidden City. It contains Behai Lake which is connected to other lakes. The area first became an imperial park about 1000 years ago and as is common with gardens each new owner made his mark. It is dominated by the White […]
Trip to Shandong I booked onto a 3 day Chinese tour to Shandong during the National Day holiday. One of my students offered to accompany me and it soon grew by three more. We met the bus and headed off at 8pm collecting a few more additional passengers at several non descript locations in other […]