Odette rested a lot in her last travel, all those beaches and pools.....so now she's bound for a truly bold voyage: China!!! When you visit a country like this, so vast it could be a continent by itself, you can't go wrong. China is rich in history, art, culture, nature and PEOPLE!
It allows the western tourist a healthy change of perspective on a lot of things, it forces you to change your frantic pace and in the same time it makes you wonder about China's own frantic pace. In a country where modernity and velocity tries to live along with thousands of years history, skyscrapers and mandarine's gardens, crowded working class districts and the forbidden city, the immense peace of the rice fields and the quiet majesty of the Li River and the endless suburbs and heavily trafficked higways of Beijing and Shanghai.
China is all of this, and a lot more! Odette and I have a huge task in front of us: we shall try to give you a rough idea of this wonderful country
Odette picked her brand new fashion and off she is in Beijing!!!
Her first goal shall be the historical buildings in the town, the remains of the imperial capital.
Outside the Temple of Heaven, hundreds of people excercise themselves with tai-chi, gimnastic...
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| Temple of Heaven's public gardens - Picture by Sasha - Hat by Mattel - Shoes Paul Zangby |
...or endless majiong games.
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| Temple of Heaven's public gardens - picture by Billa |
The Temple of Heaven was a temple reserved to the Emperor and his family, where he performed the yearly rituarls required to maintain the universal order. This magnificent building is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests
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| Temple of Heaven - picture by Sasha |
Odette is quite impressed by these guards on the Tiananmen Square, so she tries to look "martial".......The guards thinks she is not quite convincing
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| Tiananmen Square - picture by Sasha |
The square is named after the Tiananmen gate (Gate of Heavenly Peace) located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City. You can see the Gate in the background (with the huge Mao Tze Dong portrait). This guard was very amiable and agreed to pose with Odette
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| Gate of Heavenly Peace - picture by Sasha |
The Forbidden City is an amazing complex of buildings, temples, public halls and private houses for the Emperor and his wives and concubines. Everything is so carefully restored it looks like its inhabitants just left for a vacation......
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| Forbidden City - picture by Sasha |
Well, here's one of the vacation places of the Imperial family. This is the marble barge in the Summer Gardens the Empress Dowager used to treat herself in a luxurious fashion. Just Odette's style!
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| Sumer Garden - picture by Sasha |
And this is a glimpse of modern China: The Bird's Nest, the Olympic stadium.
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| Olympic Village - picture by Sasha |
Now is time for a trip in a rickshaw to visit old Beijin!
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| Rickshaws: Beijin Old Town - picture by Billa |
This is the inner court of an ancient house, these houses are under the protection of the government and they are preserved in spite the huge value of terrain (luckily as the remains of ancient China are not that many....)
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| Beijin Old Town - picture by Billa |
This place is so lovely, along the river are a maze of old houses, bistrots and restaurant. This city is efferfescent with young people, art and music! And great food!!!!
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| Beijin Old Town - picture by Billa&Sasha |
On her second day in China Odette is going to visit the Great Wall!
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| Great Wall - picture by Billa |
Speechless.....this place is a miracle....
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| Great Wall - picture by Sasha |
Now is time to leave the capital. Odette heads for the first capital of the Chinese Empire: Xi'an.
These are the original (heavily restored, but yet, impressive) walls of the town. The Silk road started here!!!
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| Xi'an Town Walls - picture by Billa |
The Wild Goose Pagodas are two astounding architectural examples of Chinese Buddhist Pagodas
The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda...
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| Giant Wild Goose Pagoda - picture by Billa |
....the Small Wild Goose Pagoda
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| Small Wild Goose Pagoda - picture by Billa |
Just outside Xi'an there's one of the most impressive archeological sites of the world: The Terracotta Army!!!
