Thought I'd share with you my initial impressions of Beijing. I'll start with the glaringly obvious...there are an unbelievable amount of people here!!!! I know that comment falls in the "Well, duh!" category but until you see it with your own eyes I don't think you can truly appreciate it! I know China's population is estimated to be 1.3 billion....but that number is just too big for me to wrap my brain around! I think our guide told us that there are 13 million people in Beijing itself.....I think I've seen every one!
The city kind of reminds me of a bee hive. That may sound strange but it is the best way I can think of to describe the constant level of activity. There is new construction and renovations occurring everywhere in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. If there are 13 million people in Beijing there must be half that many construction cranes!
The traffic here is amazing! There are cars, buses, bicycles, mopeds, and pedestrians all going 100 different directions at the same time. I do know one thing for certain...pedestrians do not have the right away. In fact, I'm not sure who does...my guess is it's whoever has the loudest horn!
This morning we went to Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City. They are very impressive sights to see and it is really amazing to be in the presence of things that are many, many centuries old! Tony and I looked like the complete tourist we are and walked around taking copious amounts of pictures and video.
One of the other families in our travel group has a beautiful 5 year old, blue eyed, blond haired little boy. He has become quite the little celebrity here! I lost count of how many people stopped us to take their picture with him. It was too cute. Several times people just walked right over and picked him up! I think that makes it sound worse than it was...I imagine it was just the excitement of seeing such a cute little boy that overtook some people. He is being a great sport about it and I'm sure his smiling face will end up in photo albums throughout China!!
After the tour we had lunch and then headed back to the hotel. Once we got back Tony and I decided to venture out on our own and do some exploring. Again, we were completely struck by the sheer number of people and the incredible level of activity going on everywhere.
We are heading off to dinner now. I'll post some pictures later tonight.
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1 comment:
I am enjoying my tour of Beiging. You are a wonderful journalist, TJ - couldn't ask for more. I was unable to pull up any pictures on the link - Just wanted you to know.
I'm addicted to this reality show!
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