Yesterday we went back to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. You can stroll around the first two courtyards free of charge, but to go further into the city costs 60 RMB. Here you can also hire an English-speaking Chinese guide for about 100 RMB ($16). We decided to explore on our own and went [...]
The Meal: On Monday we received a text message from Dave inviting us to go with him and four friends to see the Great Wall, and of course we said yes. We took the subway to the end of Line 13 where we met up with Dave, Doris, Alexander, Crysta and Kirk. We then walked [...]
Yesterday around 10:00 a.m. Xiaoling showed up at our door to take us to lunch, and presented us with a beautiful red and gold box containing moon cake, which is a big part of the Moon Festival. We took the subway to the north part of the city which Xiaoling described as a cultural area [...]
Although there are many cars in Beijing, bicycling is still a very popular means of transportation,and there are bike lanes on most streets. Our friend Dave invited us to go with him to look at some as he was planning to buy one. So yesterday we walked to the subway, took the subway and then [...]
All the foreign teachers were invited to dinner hosted by the director of the International Foreign Teachers department, Miss Yue, and her assistants last night. A bus was booked to take us to the restaurant and at five o’clock eleven of us got on board for the ride. It was rush hour in Beijing which [...]
The 60th anniversary of communist rule is officially Thursday, the first of October. There will be a massive parade in Tiananmen Square with about 200,000 people participating in it. However don’t expect to see any pictures on this blog about it. The people living in Beijing have been told not to go near the square, [...]
On Saturday we went to the Summer Palace which is situated in the northwest suburb of the city. It covers an area of over 700 acres consisting of buildings,towers, courtyards and gardens which were once used by emperors and empresses. Built in 1750 by Emperor Qianlong as a birthday gift for his mother, it was [...]
When I arrived at school this morning I discovered that the school would be closing at 12:00 because some areas of Beijing would be shut down by the government so that they could rehearse for an enormous parade that is planned for October 1st. That date is the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the [...]
