Discovering a new sister

Ian hasn't seen his sister Judy for over nine years. We've been looking forward to Judy and her daughter Candice coming over from Capetown to stay. It has, of course, been a great reunion for Ian, Candice and Judy and it has been a great surprise to me to find that meeting Judy feels like meeting a sister. Apart from the obvious things like no beard and having lots of hair, she is just like a feminine version of Ian. Enjoying getting to know each other would be an understatement.

It has been more fun because it has snowed, really snowed in the time they have been here. We've walked through falling snowflakes, thrown snowballs and explored Beijing coated in an icy coat.

We have explored a hutong by pedicab, which again included a cup of tea at one of the locals' places, a wonderful retired woman who has lived for over 50 years in her family home with the same neighbours all that time. Judy left her gloves behind and we decided not to go back or say anything, when the tour guide called, "Who left their gloves behind"? Someone had found them and then rushed after the group to give them back.

We explored a Buddhist temple in the snow, have been to the Shaolin Monks performing "Chun Yi - The Legend of Kungfu" which has just got back from a North American tour, have had numerous meals out and had the odd cocktail or two. Judy's been to my Chinese lesson with me, been to a friend's dinner party and been to the Beijing International Newcomers Network meeting where all the newbies in town meet to network and make friends. Here's us walking under the 80 metre television scrren at The Place.

The Forbidden City - A day of perpetual walking

The Forbidden City is an enormous palace complex that lies in the very centre of Beijing and is surrounded by a moat. All the ring roads around Beijing are concentric to the Forbidden City. It was the imperial palace for the Ming and Qing Dynasties and was off limits to ordinary people for over 500 years. Twenty-four emperors ruled China from here until 1911 and the buildings and treasures inside represent some of the high points of ancient Chinese achievement. As a symbol of imperialism it was narrowly saved by Premier Zhou Enlai from being trashed by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. It's now called the Palace Museum and you walk into the complex under a large picture of Mao Zedong.

After we ran the gauntlet of tour guides offering their services, map sellers, flag sellers, book sellers, art touts, Chinese tour groups and people wanting to practice their English ("Helloooo, helloo where you from?") we walked through the Meridian Gate, over the Golden Stream (frozen) and through the Gate of Supreme Harmony. We found ourselves in another world.

The outer courtyard was where all the business of ruling China happened, in the three main buildings, the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Middle Harmony and the Hall of Preserving Harmony.

One of the less harmonious moments in the outer courtyard's history saw thousands of crates of the palace treasures removed by Kuomintang forces during the Cultural Revolution. They also scraped off the gold from some of the urns used to store water for firefighting in the Forbidden City. The treasures eventually ended up in Taiwan where they are now housed in a newly-built national museum there.

The Inner courtyard, partitioned into various parts, was the home to successive emperors and empresses and of course the many concubines and eunuchs who were part of the court.

The gardens lie beyond and are full of fantastically-shaped rocks and trees, pavilions and walks.

I want a lodge like this at my place!

Wood panel detail from the concubine's area in the West Inner Courtyard.

There are museums within museums here, including a clock museum and a jewellery museum.

The Nine Dragon screen.

I will go back to the Forbidden City. It seems to occupy not only the central part of Beijing but a central part of the Chinese psyche. People we saw today are tremendously proud of the Forbidden City. My words can't describe the immenseness of the complex; let's just say it's an all day job to visit.

Embracing Chinese Cheese

Clare, Ian and I went to Longqing Gorge about an hour and a half north of Beijing and just north of Badaling, one of the popular sections of the Great Wall. Longqing Gorge is a dam, but in winter it is transformed into an ice sculpture wonderland. It is artistic, wonderfully kitch and downright cheesy by turn, full of people enjoying themselves walking through each evening. I loved the artistic cloth and wire sculptures, lit up from inside - very ingenious - and some of the ice sculptures in the main hall. There was plenty of kitch - millions of twinkling lights, coloured fluorescent lights encased in ice, and lots of cartoon characters. Some of the more odd moments included coming across goldfish frozen into an ice goldfish bowl, seeing some fluorescent palm trees at the bottom of a frozen waterfall next to some cherry blossom trees, and best of all, a whole cave full of a plastic flower display that must have taken weeks to build and where, inexplicably, no photography was allowed.

Still, we ate our five-spice flavoured sausages, nibbled rows of toffee fruit, ate baked sweet potatoes, watched singing and drumming, and just enjoyed the whole spectacle.