Rain in Beijing

Sunday, 11 May 2014

Sunday sing-song

Happy audience

Keeping dry

Very wet Temple of Heaven

Pavilion

Temple of Heaven

Model of Temple - plus tourists

Wool winding

This morning we awoke to the sight of heavy rain – rain which continued all day.  At least there wasn’t any smog, which made a change but we still couldn’t see very far!  We were given the option of withdrawing from our planned visit to the Temple of Heaven, but being good tourists, eleven of us opted to brave the elements.  Unfortunately, the weather also meant that many of the thousands and thousands of locals who visit this park and temple for their dancing, singing and exercise, as well as socialising, stayed away – which also meant there weren’t as many people!  As we pushed our way through the crowds in the long corridor, we were treated to some very rousing singing and jostled by many hawkers attempting to sell us the Chinese version of hacky sacks, which have rooster feathers attached.  There were also many Chinese taking the opportunity to play cards or dominoes.  After listening to the history of the temple, we stood in the pouring rain for a quick look before retreating into the museum to await the return of our guide.

Rickshaw

Rickshaw selfie

Nice view

Change of scenery

Look, a bike!

No scenery

Housing entrance

Where is everyone???

Courtyard

Then it was back to the hotel to collect the wimpish element of our party and head for our scheduled rickshaw tour of the hutongs of Old Beijing.  After standing in the rain for some time, our rickshaws eventually arrived – and they were all covered with thick, red plastic and we had a small opening to look out the front.  We were dry but once the cyclist raised his big blue umbrella, there wasn’t really much to see.  Cat was very wise and refused to leave the bus – he was quite content to stay dry and warm.  Forgot to mention how cold it was!!!  We proceeded into the maze of lanes, with our rickshaw bringing up the rear of the convoy – soon discovered this was not a good idea, especially after a couple of traffic/rickshaw jams.  Our driver suddenly did a u-turn and headed off in the opposite direction!  One of us had an anxious moment or two until we caught up with some more rickshaws, but we had no idea if they were our party or not.  We eventually stopped and were told in no uncertain terms to alight, and were very pleased to see some familiar faces.  We were led through more lanes to a house, which the owner allowed tourists to inspect.  At this time, our guide and a few party members were still missing and we sat in the small dwelling with out fingers crossed until Shu Fei arrived.  I think we were all quite happy to be led back to the bus.

Another Chinese lunch at a restaurant – definitely not as good as yesterday’s meal.  There wasn’t enough food for a full turn of the lazy susan and it wasn’t particularly tasty.  I did tell our guide that two of us at our table missed out on some dishes and the restaurant did provide us with some duck bones and a bit of meat.

Time to check in at the airport for our flight to Yichang and our trip on the Yangtze Explorer.  Our guide collected our passports and was able to arrange a group check-in, which made life much easier for everyone.  Even though we are on a domestic flight, security was very tight and everyone received a thorough pat-down as well as a wand-down.  Shirts were raised, waists felt and bottoms patted; Cat was even x-rayed twice!  The two hour Air China flight went smoothly – mostly – with some views of very rugged mountains and many, many dams.

We landed in Yichang just on dark and were amazed that a city of over 4 million would have an airport the size of Hobart.  After collecting our luggage, we then had a 45 minute coach ride to the river and our accommodation for the next four nights.  The Yangtze Explorer is a small but quite luxurious boat, with only 62 cabins.  Ours is very nice and would be as big, if not bigger, than Rydges Sydney Airport.  We have a private balcony as well.

Best of all – the temperature on arrival was 25 degrees.