Pritam Rohila Travels

Reports of my travels along with some pictures

Nov 5, 2010

ROHILAS IN CHINA

May 23 – June 10, 2010


CHINA 01: BEIJING


May 24

After 12-hour flight by Air China from San Francisco, we reached Beijing around 5:30 p.m., on Monday, May 24, for our 19-day sightseeing trip organized by China Focus, a California-based tour operator.

At the airport, we met other six members of our group. We were greeted by our local guide, Ann, 55, who had survived hardships of service on rural farms by eating raw sweet-potatoes, during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76). Now, the wife of a military physician, and mother of a son who is pursuing college studies in the United States, she works as travel guide.

We went straight to Chan An Grand, our 5-star hotel.












































Beijing was much different than what I had seen during my 1982 visit. We did not have to walk on the tarmac deplane or board the airplane this time. The airplane as well as the airport was quite big and compared well with any modern airport around the world.

Unlike in 1982, I did not see hordes of bicycles on the roads. Instead they were jammed with cars and other automobiles.

Roads and flyovers have been modernized.









































And they were lined with multistory commercial and residential buildings.
































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CHINA 02: BEIJING-SUMMER PALACE


May 25

After breakfast, next morning (May 25), we left for a visit to the Summer Palace.

Now a UNESCO’s World Heritage site, the Summer Palace was built by Emperor Qianlong for his mother’s 60th birthday, in 1750. After being plundered & burnt by the Anglo French forces, it was renovated in 1860 with funds diverted from the China’s naval budget.

Cixi, an ambitious concubine, who ended up as Empress Dowager, lived here in luxury for almost 20 years. Also she ruled China from here, until her death in 1908. She is known as the Dragon Lady for misusing funds for China’s navy, and imprisoning her nephew.






We entered through the East Gate, and








went directly to the Hall of Joyful Longevity. It was built in 1887 for the pleasure of Cixi, who had 48 attendants in the hall, and over a thousand in the Summer Palace.








It was covered with the traditional designs and paints in red, blue, turquoise, and gold colors.









The courtyard was adorned with copper sculptures of lion,







crane
and
























serpent
.


















The Long Corridor, a covered wooden walkway, extends about one-half mile. It skirts the northern shore of Lake Kunming. More than 14,000 paintings of designs, as well as scenes from legends and nature cover almost every inch of











































almost every inch of its
sides,







ceiling and














rafters.












Ringed by tree-lined dikes, Kunming Lake is a giant body of water. It has bridges & gazebos.








Seen from the lake, Pagodas & Temples dot the Longevity Hill.














The most prominent among them is the Tower of Buddhist Incense.





















At the foot of the Longevity Hill, and on the west bank of the lake is a unique boat – a boat made entirely of marble, which does not go anywhere.

This Marble Boat was built in 1893, by the Dowager Empress Cixi with funds embezzled from the Navy. It has colored-glass windows, and is paved with colored bricks. Four dragon heads mounted in each direction serve as drains, allowing rain water to be channeled picturesquely out of their mouths.








We enjoyed a short cruise on the lake.












































Thousands of people throng the Summer Palace to enjoy its sights,










have a family get-together






















have a family get-together
























take pictures
,










have treats, and/or












































to buy souvenirs.

































Our next stop in the area was a Pearl Factory, near the Summer Palace. Pearls which are harvested from oysters raised in a part of the Kunming Lake, are processed and sold at the Factory.

Under the picture of Cixi, who loved pearls, a lady, at the Pearl Factory, demonstrated how they cultured pearls are harvested from oysters.
















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