We got a tip of a good hotel in Beijing from a fellow guest in Pingyao so headed there after a comfortable overnight journey on a very new train.
The hotel was well situated in one of the Hutong areas of Beijing. Hutongs are interlinking alleyways that were created in the times of the emperors to house the workers of the cities. Today they are some of the most characterful parts of Beijing with many small businesses, restuarants and guest houses. After settling in we walked to Tiananmen Square for our 1st experience of Beijing. The square is massive. Unfortunately we just missed the opportunity to view Chairman Mao's body!! So instead had our photo taken with a red guard.
We spent the rest of the day at the temple of heaven. Unofortunately being heavily restored at the time of our visit but set in lovely gardens which were lovely to walk round. Beijing is massive and getting around involves a lot of walking or being stuck in traffic. We spent the 1st day walking and were exhausted.!! To revive ourselves we went to a very nice tea house we read about in Time Magazine. It was beautiful inside with lots of dark wood and comfy chairs. We selected 2 different types of teas and the waitress, clad in beautiful silk, explained the art of tea making and how best to taste the teas. We tried oolong and white tea and liked the oolong the best as it had a lovely fragrance.
We ended the day with Beijing Duck. A bit disappointing as they didn't keep the pancakes warm in a steamer and only served with spring onion, not cucumber. They also carve the duck rather than shred it as at home. Good but not as good as we were expecting.
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