I thought I’d stick some of my touristy Beijing photos up here on the blog. So many people have written about their impressions of the city that it seems superfluous me adding my piece. Google it. There’s loads.

Here in the first gallery, we have our visit to the Great Wall of China at Mutianyu, which is quieter and less touristy than the section at Badaling Pass. We stopped off at the nearby Ming Tombs which were impressive but followed a pattern of Chinese palaces, all painted pavilions and stone lions. Not much in the way of soft furnishings or interesting ormolu clocks. It must have been pretty draughty in the winter, though I suppose you wouldn’t feel it that much if you were seated atop your brick built kang with integral fire. Anyway, here they are:

We also visited the Summer Palace of the Empress Dowager Cixi. It was my first time here, even though the Summer Palace is a only a short distance away from the Beijing Languages Institute (now Beijing Languages University) because out of the millions of citizens of Beijing in 1984 I was probably the only one who could not ride a bike. Thankfully I have since rectified this, before you all start.

Wandering through the extensive grounds was a highlight of our Beijing trip, not least because the day was not oppressively hot. You can see why the Empress chose this as her summer retreat but I have still received no adequate explanation about why anyone should want a marble boat that didn’t actually go anywhere.

Finally we visited Tian An Men Square 天安門 braving the body scans, questioning and security cameras everywhere. I had to demonstrate the pocket scales I carry in my handbag to the incredulous guards and show my Hong Kong Identity Card in order to pass. We encountered the solemn guards protecting the flag and the usual sets of couples posing for selfies with Chairman Mao.

The Forbidden City, or Palace Museum as it is now known, and the Gate of Heavenly Peace itself are currently being restored in readiness for the 70th anniversary of Liberation in 1949, so we couldn’t see them in much detail but essentially it’s more pavilions, temples, courtyards, gates.

All in all, then, my first trip back to Beijing in 29 years was an eerie experience. I completely lost my bearings along previously well-travelled roads more than once, and the complete change in the city was overwhelming. I remember sitting for hours in taxis with my engineer colleague on the way to sales meetings in traffic jams caused by the excavation of so much of the ancient city alleyways to make way for the system of six ring roads, and modern glass-panelled edifices that we see now.

In those days people got around in silent clouds of bikes and the overcrowded articulated buses that trundled about trailing the muffled warble of  “买票买票啊! (Buy a ticket, buy a ticket!) These days the wide boulevards all have wide pavements as well as cycle tracks. Bicycles have been largely replaced by silent electric mopeds and you can’t count the luxury German cars and swish taxis. The metro system is much more complex than the one line we had. I remember when the first neon sign controversially graced the hallowed People’s edifices in Chang An Avenue. Now multicoloured illuminations drape themselves all over the People’s streets. It’s shiny and busy and powerful and rich but strangely soulless in my view, at least.