Andy Oakley

Situated literally on top of subway line 1, the Beijing Ancient Observatory was the site of star gazing and astronomic observation continuously for over 500 years. There many instruments for measuring and mapping the position of stars and celestial motion made from copper and still functional hundreds of years later. The place was deserted and the quiet courtyard, small exhibits, and observation tower provided a nice escape from the heat of the afternoon.

Slideshow

Back in September 2008 I wrote a blog post titled World’s Fairs are still happening! which read as follows:

It’s amazing what can happen when you write ideas down. Last weekend Amy and I traveled to Shanghai to visit the World Expo and explore the city.

Leaving after work on Wednesday we had two weekdays at the Expo followed by some time in the city. The weather cooperated and we had little rain and mild temperatures which was ideal for exploring the huge Expo site. There were many crowds, as expected, but away from the major pavilions (China, US, western Europe) the lines were rarely more than 20-30 minutes wait. We covered a good spread of Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, the Pacific and many of the other smaller venues. As you’d expect no two pavilions were alike and many approached their displays and attractions with different purposes in mind. Some focused on education, others attracting tourism, some attracting business and investment, a few providing on-site dining and high end restaurants, another creating an upstairs market for selling rugs and so on.

After two full days we were both exhausted. There was much more to see but it would have been hard to go back for a third day without a break in between. Overall, however, well worth the trip.

China Pavilion

Sign writing in falling water droplets

Iran Pavilion

Krgyzstan Pavilion

Mexico Pavilion (with a restaurant serving good, but expensive, burritos)

Oil Pavilion

Favorite site: Happy Street as a collection of future living ideas by the Netherlands.

Slideshow of Shanghai Expo

Waking early on Sunday morning provided the opportunity to make the trek down to Tiananmen East. Wandering past the crowds that were already congregating in the square and smiling at the parades of visitors all wearing the same baseball caps dutifully following their flag bearers, we made our way to the Beijing Urban Planning Museum at the south end of the square. This nondescript building is fortunately not on the regular tour route and after a nominal 30 RMB entry fee we entered to find it deserted.

While the museum contains exhibits on city history, urban planning strategies, tap water management, and transit expansion, the highlight is the scale model of a large part of the city. Surrounded by floor panels containing satellite imagery, the model contains much of the city within the fourth ring road. Impressive!

Last weekend we traveled to Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi province and site of more than five thousand years of history.

We left Beijing by train after work on Friday. After a hotfish meal in the station diner, we boarded at 9pm, slept overnight and rolled in to Xian at 8am the following morning. Each cabin slept four and were clean and comfortable and it was only marginally odd sleeping next to complete strangers.

We were met at the station by our young friendly local guide, ‘Hank’, and after a brief detour by the hotel, headed to the East Gate of the City Wall. Renting a rather small tandem bike for just 40 RMB we toured the 9 mile perimeter of the city on top of the wall.

We finished in time to make it to the Musical Fountain in front of the Wild Goose Pagoda just in time for the noon performance which was well attended by the local population.

We filled the afternoon touring some of the historic sites including the pagoda, mosque and markets. After dinner we wandered through one of the parks between the city wall and the defensive moat to find people practicing tai chi, exercising, and listening to musical performances.

During a brief late evening stroll to the Bell Tower, the city was still alive with traffic, street vendors selling art, and people flying their kites into the black night sky.

Sunday morning we first went to the Shaanxi History Museum which told the story of many thousands of years of history focused on the area. It painted a picture of the changing fortunes over the centuries with prosperity in peace, conflict in war, and innovation and advancement in many areas long before the west.

Before heading to the airport, we spent the afternoon at the place Xian is now most famous for: the Terracotta Army (bingma yong). Built in the time of the Qin Dynasty (210 BC) the vast underground pits full of life-size, individually built, warriors statues lay forgotten until 1974 when accidentally discovered by a local farmer. The site is impressive both for the scale and detail in its initial creation and now with the painstaking effort to restore it.

Slideshow

Last time I walked this route it was cold and deserted. With the change from winter to summer overnight, this time it was 80° and filled with a never-ending stream of visitors.

Despite ‘hazardous’ air quality and a week where temperatures almost touched freezing (in April, after the heating is turned off!), today included a visit to the Botanical Gardens. Located to the northwest of Beijing they are much larger than I expected and are home to many trees, plants, history, lots of locals and relatively few foreigners.

Slideshow

Amy and I spent the last week on vacation in southern China and Hong Kong. The trip combined time in Guilin and Yangshuo along with a couple of days in Hong Kong for Amy’s visa renewal.

Leaving around noon on Sunday we arrived in Guilin late afternoon. Similar to the surprise in finding Harbin (a medium size Chinese city) to have a population of ‘just’ four million, it turns out that the area surrounding city houses about the same. We walked around the lakes located in the middle of the city and had the local specialty — beer steamed fish — for dinner. By evening, a huge night market had sprung up on the main street selling all manner of products for locals and visitors alike.

On Monday we took a boat cruise on the Li River. Due to a recent drought in the region the river is not as high as usual for this time of year so it was not possible to sail the whole distance to Yangshuo. The abridged circular trip was still impressive with karst rock formations on both sides of the river surrounded by terrain that is said to be the inspiration for Avatar.

We wrapped up the day with performance at Impression Liu Sanjie which was spectacular. With a theater set on the bank of the river, the performance happens on the water itself with some 600 performers, lights and dancing. In this picture, each stick figure is actually a real person. Excellent.

In Yangshuo on Tuesday we rented bikes for the afternoon. What we’d planned to be a leisurely bike ride against the scenic backdrop turned into quite an expedition on dirt roads through rural villages guided by what can only be described as a shoddily-drawn pirate map and Mandarin practice with the locals. We probably covered 30 km in total and had quite a strenuous adventure in the process.

On the final morning in Yangshuo we took a ‘bamboo’ boat ride down to the point where we’d turned around a couple of days before, returned to the city for lunch and then made our way to the airport for the flight to Hong Kong.

Slideshow