My brother recently visited me on a quick visit to Beijing, and by quick, I mean less than a week. It was great fun though. I got to share with him some of my favorite places in Beijing and experience some new things with him. We also went shopping at the Pearl Market, went to the tailor at the Silk Market, and watched “The Legend of Kung Fu” at the Red Theatre. It was a great whirlwind tour of Beijing!
Summer Palace
As a trained tour guide for tours of the Summer Palace, I had to take him there. I have now visited the World Heritage site nearly a dozen times and given tours most of those times. With my brother we took a little bit different path than usual taking us to some previously undiscovered places for me.
It was all on a quest to find the old people doing their thing. By this, I don’t mean offense, but pensioners or the elderly in China often have hobbies in public spaces such as line dancing, playing in a band, tai chi, etc. The Summer Palace is a large park with many places for these activities. Every time I’ve been there, I’ve witnessed this behavior. My brother was new to it, so he wanted to seek it out.
The palace was lovely and, for the most part, peaceful being the down season. However, it was cold. Bundling up was worth it though because cold northern wind in Beijing means clean air. I’ll deal with the cold any day to have blue skies.
Olympic Park
The National Stadium or Bird’s Nest is a sight to behold. It is a modern architecture masterpiece. My brother’s only other visit to Beijing was pre-Olympics, so he didn’t see this. Things have changed immensely since then, and it all takes root, symbolically, at this modern addition to Beijing’s central axis of Dragon Line.
We went in the stadium and saw them prepping for the winter festival they have each year. They make snow hills have fun snow-related activities for kids. It is all part of the Winter Olympics campaign to educate and excite the people for winter sports, which they haven’t been too familiar before.
We also went inside the Water Cube. I have only gawked at it from the outside, so it was nice to see the interior. The building’s shell is just as cool looking from the inside. However, the rest isn’t much to excite. There is a water park in part of the building that looks like it could be fun. You can see the practice lap pool, and go in where the main event pool is. Our visit coincided with set-up for a major event that filled the pool with staging platforms. I’m not sure if I’ll go back in anytime soon, but if I’m in Beijing for the 2022 Games, I’ll definitely go inside to watch a curling match or two.
