It was freezing cold when we reached Beijing and temperatures were to drop some more during our stay there. For one accustomed to tropical weather year round (the Philippines has only two seasons- wet and dry), I handled the negative temperatures (lows of -14ºC, highs of 1ºC) rather well, even as I developed a bit of the sniffles and a rather annoying cough while we were there.
I wanted snow but it didn’t come. What we experienced was a lot of biting cold wind and it was wind chill that drove temperatures even lower. When the sun would come up for brief periods, we would soak in the short lived heat, unmindful that we had not retouched our sunscreens since early morning. It just felt good to be even just a little warm in the middle of all that cold.
Fortunately for me, I had a little more blubber to ward off the cold. (Yay for body fat!) I had fewer layers on than my companions. I could also go hatless and gloveless for periods of time. The cold, I found out, I could definitely handle. What did me in was the amount of walking we did everywhere we went.
There is so much history in China that one can spend a week in Beijing and still not see all of its attractions. Some, however, are simply too precious to pass up, like the Great Wall, the Ming Tombs, and the amazing palaces in the Forbidden City. Others are “tourist-y” things that are unique only to China, mini-stops that are ultimately educational and interesting but may present as a bit of a problem for one’s pockets. You will need a lot of willpower and patience to say “No” to these expensive souvenirs graciously, taking care always not to offend. Each, however, was always a feast for the eyes, with a heady continuous stream of remarkable history and insights.
Here are some of my favorite pictures from this trip, taken by our trusty point and shoot cameras, the Sony TX9 for me and the Sony T100 for A. I chose these from an already pared album of 103 pictures, down from the original 491 shots that we had in our cameras. If you’re my Facebook friend, I’m sure you’ve probably seen them all, but indulge me, please?
P.S. While we’re at it, can anyone of my Kitty friends spot the Kitties I brought along?
Warning: Picture heavy
Here we are in Tiananmen Square, with the National Museum of China (R) and the Monument to the People’s Heroes (L) behind us.
A Kitty nerd in front of the Forbidden City, with Chairman Mao watching from the distance