Toronto to Beijing

It was a mercifully uneventful and remarkably fast 12 hour flight to Beijing. For the most part, everyone was happy and cheerful. Ciana managed to maintain her spirits despite being the only family member not to get some sleep on the flight.




Of course, one needs the obligatory family shot in front of Chairman Mao at the north end of Tianamen Square. The square was the first stop on our first day in Beijing. It was much the same as we remembered if from previous visits. Regretably their was no wind, so no kites were flying. I've always found the government's approach to the square to be self defeating from a public relations standpoint. The most memorable thing about the square is the overwhelming presence of the People's Liberation Army. They're at all the entrances to the square inspecting all bags, although tourists are exempted it appears. There are security cameras on all the poles, and units of 20 or 30 soldiers marching here and there across the square and through the tunnels. Of course, it all serves to remind one of the events that took place here 20 years ago. As we walked past the Beijing Hotel, Maureen and I couldn't help put look up and wonder which balcony Jan Wong stood on as she wrote her chilling reports of what was transpiring below.

And speak of chilling (albeit of a totally different type), here are the Hendergirls taking a pause while touring the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is not the most kid friendly place to visit. It is massive, and requires a good 2 or more hours just to scratch the surface. At about the half way point through, the girls were tiring, and we had to accelerate our way through to the end. Given it's central importance to the history of the country one needs to walk that fine line between pushing the kids just far enough that the experience registers well, but not so far as to ruin the memory. One suggestion is to ensure that the kids each have their own camera. Not only does this give them something to do, it also gets them looking at the magnificent detail evident throughout the palace in a way that only happens through a viewfinder.

We met not less than 6 friendly "students" on our way to and through the Forbidden City. Coincidentally every one of them was majoring in Art. And they all had some of their artwork for sale at exhibitions at the entrance and exit from the palace. We'd been warned about this reasonably harmless scam, so we chose not to go see the inevitably substandard "art" at inflated prices. The encounters were actually kind of fun, as they all begin the same with with the "students" engaging you in friendly chit chat for a few minutes before disclosing their academic studies and desire to show you their work.

After the Forbidden City we decided to head up to the Olympic venues for a look at the new Acquatic Centre and the already famous Bird's Nest. Sadly, we could only get within a couple of hundred yards of the Aquatic Centre (above Ciana's head) and no where near the Bird's Nest Stadium (to the right of Maureen's head). I guess it is understandable for security reasons, but it was disappointing.

Despite what you may be thinking, the inability to see either of these structures clearly in the picture is neither reflective of my skills as a photographer, nor the quality of my camera. Sadly, it clearly (not!) illustrates the ever present pollution of Beijing. This is a city where you can actually taste the air - a bitter acrid taste at the back of your mouth. Anything more than several hundred meters away is noticeably hazy. Anything more than a kilometer away has disappeared in the particulate fog. The long term health impact of this on residents boggles the mind.

More later on our hotel and a fabulous meal we had last night, but the kids are all nagging me to get moving. Hopefully we have an internet connection at the Red Capital Ranch tonight.