Chaoyang Park

Chaoyang Park is a big giant park on the east side of Beijing. It is a seriously massive park and while I was researching how to get there and what to do there, I couldn't find any information. Most of the tourist places are well documented and talked about all over the internet, but Chaoyang Park was not. I can't account for the lack of information on Beijing's largest park. There is not internet enthusiasm for this park at all. Granted, the park is not super wonderful, but it is well maintained, and on a clear day, it is a beautiful place to stroll around.

 Just outside of the west gate to the park is a place that sells enormous baozi. Baozi is a doughy bread filled with savory things. The two we ordered were one full of vegetables and one full of vermicelli noodles and dried shrimps. They were both good and very filling.

Most outdoorsy places in Beijing tend to have paddle boats for rent. We watched these little guys ride by under a bridge. The silence and calm of the park shadowed by construction cranes and endless apartment complexes is not a rarity.

Bikes, disappointingly, were not allowed inside the park. The largest park in Beijing knows how to run a business. Rather than let us ride through the perfectly paved paths of Chaoyang park, you must park your bike outside one of the entry gates, and then you will have the option to rent a peddle car. Ridiculous.

There were lots of things going on. People getting wedding and/or engagement photos taken. Lot of ping-pong and basketball games were in full swing. The park is perfect looking. In the photo below, I think a fountain may run every now and then, but wasn't on when we walked by.

On the way out of the park was this large knotted gun sculpture. Randomly promoting non-violence in remembrance of John Lennon.

Jingshan Park

Jingshan Park is just north of the Forbidden City in Beijing. I keep talking about the Forbidden City as a reference point, but I still have not actually been inside. There is a lovely square of Old Beijing with the Forbidden City at its center, Tian'anmen directly south, Qianmen south of Tian'anmen, Di'anmen Snack Street to the east, Old What Bar to the west, a moat surrounding it an all sides, and Jingshan Park to the north. The photo below is of the west entrance to Jingshan Park.

The day I went to Jingshan Park was a packed, ridiculous day. Lots of wandering: sometimes aimlessly, sometimes purposefully, sometimes uncertainly.  Jingshan Park was a purposeful walk as my conspirator had been there before and knew where to go. The walk was especially purposeful because the sun was setting, rapidly (we spent too long enjoying our meal and drinking Tsingtao), and the whole amazing part of visiting Jingshan Park is the incredible you find waiting for you at the top of a very large hill under a very high pagoda.

The first of the photos I have from making the walk up to the top of the hill is below. I don't remember the sky being so crisp and red, but I love this photo. I haven't found the name of the building in the center with the large spire.  The mountains form a beautiful shadow and seem to be cradling the skyline of the city. The spire jutting centrally reminds me I'm in an unpredictable place, not cradled at all.

The top of the hill is a 360 view of Beijing. There are so many spots to choose from to take photos from every angle and attempt to capture every moment and version of the setting sun. Above is the moat surrounding the Forbidden City, the main attraction of which is covered by some leaves. Below it is uncovered.

While most of the people I saw were photographers, professional seeming and amateur, there were a few people there for the view and the silence, too.

Some, maybe, were there for both.

There were also cameras watching the people with their cameras.

On the west side of the Forbidden City, and on the walk back towards a train station to the north of the city, in the middle of nothing else at all, is a punk bar called The Old What Bar. We stopped for some beers, people watching, and atmosphere.

No music while we were there on this particular night.

 

 The last two photos are a couple of random things I liked and saw on the walk up to Jingshan Park.

 

Tian'anmen and Di'anmen

Tian'anmen is such a strange space. Open, yet heavily monitored, I felt almost unsure about what I should do there. The protests of 1989 are not mentioned. When visiting a world famous location one would expect to see monuments or plaques discussing the past, but nothing like that exists at the square. I visited during a national holiday where the square was a barren space full of mostly Chinese tourists taking their photos in front of large floral sculptures or pictures of Mao. Being there felt off. I didn't feel like I was in a place where martial law had been imposed and massive hunger strikes were held. I felt insignificant and displaced. I felt disturbed by the flowers.

In search of a Di'anmen, a famous snack street where strange street food is sold, you have to go around the forbidden city, just north of Tian'anmen Square. There is a moat and it is calm and peaceful and really reminded me of living in Hikone, Japan. Hikone is a small town outside of Kyoto that has a castle called Hikone Castle, aptly. There is a moat surrounding the entire circumference of the Castle that is lined in beautiful Cherry (Sakura) trees. The moat surrounding the Forbidden City is similarly designed, but with Weeping Willows.

 There were also people posing for engagement photos alongside of the moat.

On the west side of the Forbidden City is a great bar called Old What Bar. Punk rock shows and ska bands play here nightly. I will talk more about this gem in another post. We passed by it during the day, so it was closed up.

Di'anmen Street is the snack street full of strange foods, mostly strange foods on sticks.

The photo above is scorpions on a stick. The photo below is anticipation of eating said scorpions.

Di'anmen snack street is full of stalls mostly selling the same things. It's not as crazy or claustrophobic as Wanfujing because it's open and the smells have space to dissipate into the air.

The street is certainly crowded, though, and all sorts of tourists are trying strange things to eat. 

I didn't have anything on the street. I am not into high priced insects on sticks. Not too far from the snack street are normal Chinese restaurants that serve yummy food for very cheap. The following is Ma Po Doufu (Numbing Spice Tofu), Eggplant/Potatoes/Green Peppers in a sauce, Spinach/Garlic in a sauce, 2 bowls of rice, 2 bottles of Yangjing. Yummmmm

Qianmen and Tian'anmen Square

South of Tiananmen Square is a gate called Qianmen. Qianmen is beautiful and looks like a temple. It was an important structure during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644, but specifially the 1400s, yeah this thing is old!), as it guarded the direct entry to the Imperial City.

Still an honored piece of Beijing history, the gate is well maintained, and as you can see from the street lamp's many cameras, it is well monitored.

The three characters in the photo above say Zhengyangmen, the traditional name of Qianmen.

We were allowed to go up into the gate and have a look around. The guard told us that it is not always open to foreigners, but since this was during the holiday week, foreigners were allowed in today. I have no idea if that is true, but either way we paid 20kuai and got to tour around.

From Qianmen, this is the view of the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. Mao's body is on display for public viewing (though there are rumor's that it is a wax sculpture).

I'm not sure why, but I was consistently surprised by the amount of blue used on the temples and gates. Delicate and extremely detailed, these structures are beautifully maintained.

The photo above is Tian'anmen Square. It's a big, open, public space this is hard to capture in a photo. I mostly ended up taking pictures of strangers either posing for photos or taking their own photos.

Children with China flags. I went to the square during a big national holiday, so most people around Tian'anmen were probably tourists, too, from other parts of China. Beijing is extremely popular as a tourist destination for Chinese people because it is the capital and there is a serious amount of history to tour.

Tian'anmen is across the street (a 12 lane road!) from the Forbidden City. This family is posing for their own photo, but I snapped one, too. They look perfect.