20251011 Viking Gems of China and Japan Day 7 – Beijing to Xi’an

Viking Gems of China and Japan Day 7 – Xi’an City Wall – The not-so-great wall 

We left the hotel at 9:25 and headed to the airport. When we arrived in Beijing, we arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK). Today, we are departing from the new airport, Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKX). It was opened in 2019 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The airport is about 55km from our hotel. On the way, we stopped to pick up a boxed lunch. It contained a bottle of water, but you can't take it through security, so it was chug or toss before clearing security.

Signs like this at urinals always make me laugh

Before we went to security, we spotted friends, Emily and Paul, whom we had cruised with twice before. We look forward to spending time with them on this journey. We will also be meeting up with another couple we cruised to Antarctica with. It's always fun to meet up with friends we have made on cruises.

I had posted earlier that I wouldn't be posting in China due to its locked-down internet. My NordVPN works great on my phone on cellular, but fails to connect on either my laptop or phone when I am connected to hotel Wi-Fi. It turns out that China has deployed what they nicknamed the Great Firewall, and it actively blocked VPNs. Talking with another passenger, he suggested Privado VPN as his was working. That took some doing. I loaded it on my phone and set it up. It worked on cellular. I tried it that night in the hotel, and sure enough, it worked on Wi-Fi. I downloaded the Windows install package on my phone and used Nearby Share to move it to my laptop. After installing it, I logged in and Bingo! I could access the internet over hotel Wi-Fi! Woo! I planned to get everything uploaded as soon as possible.

We were surprised to learn that the flight to Xi'an was not a Viking charter flight as we were led to believe. It was a regular China Southern Airlines flight, and it was packed.

The flight left right on time and we arrived in Xi'an without issue. Others, however, weren't as lucky. A couple of guests in our group didn't have their bags arrive. Our guide, Oliver, had his hands full working to try to locate their bags.

Sleeping pods - several were in use

We boarded our bus and headed for our Xi'an city wall tour. It was overcast, in the low 60s, and rain threatened. As we drove, Oliver gave us some history of the area, including that this area was the capital of China during the Tang Dynasty in the 7th - 10th centuries. Currently, Xi'an is China's tenth most populated city with around 10 million residents.

Traffic was crazy as we were there during rush hour. The lost luggage and traffic gave us a late start on our city wall tour. We caught our first view of the wall on the way. The city wall was started in the Tang Dynasty and then made higher in the Ming Dynasty. It runs for eight miles around the city.

There wasn't a lot to see at the city wall because, well, it's a wall. It isn't the Great Wall, it's just a wall.

Oliver, showing us where we are on a large, carved map

We went inside the museum

This map shows the original Tang Dynasty wall around the whole area

The smaller rectangular wall in the center top shows the Ming Dynasty modification and what exists today

A model of the Bell Tower with entry gates

An excavation showing the levels of the wall

On top of the Xi'an city wall - yup, it's a wall

Old Town area

The wall is beautifully illuminated at night

All-in-all, we agreed that this visit wasn't terribly exciting. There was some interesting history, but overall, it was just a wall around a city, and we've seen tons of those all over the world.

We left the wall and arrived at our hotel for the next two nights, the JW Marriott. 

Driving through the nicer areas of Xi'an

We enjoyed a very nice buffet dinner. The choices were nearly endless, and it was all very nicely presented. 

More local beer

It was 8:30 by the time we finished eating. We need to be up early for a 6:00 breakfast and 7:30 departure for tomorrow's tour of the terracotta warriors.

20251010 Viking Gems of China and Japan Day 6 – Beijing, The Temple of Heaven

Viking Gems of China and Japan Day 6 – If Heaven means no rain, then this place is Heaven

We left the hotel at 9:15 for a trip to the Temple of Heaven, a huge religious installation in the city of Beijing. It was built at the same time as the Forbidden City, 1406-1420. But the big news was that for the first time, it wasn't raining!

It was a short drive, but it took a while because of the horrendous Beijing traffic.

It is interesting looking at the vehicles on the road. You'll see two colors of license plates, blue and green. A blue plate indicates that the vehicle is gas-powered. Green means electric. There are a ton of electric vehicles here. What we wonder is where they charge. Most folks live in apartments. They seem to have figured it out. Each neighborhood has a dedicated space for charging stations.

The Temple of Heaven was reserved for the emperor and men, specifically. Our guide, John, explained that historically, women had a low station in society. He joked that wife stood for washing, ironing, food, and entertainment. Of course, that has changed, but back in the 1400s in China, that was the way it was.

The Temple of Heaven featured a large temple building and multiple outer buildings that were used for prayer for the harvest. The emperor would pray for a good harvest, rain for the crops, and other items related to the well-being of his people.

We arrived at the complex and were greeted by a bunch of Eurasian sparrows flitting about in the trees.

There were lovely potted bougainvillea trees all throughout.

The entry to the complex had several ornate and extremely long walkways.

Just outside the complex, we caught our first glimpse of the top of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.

The rest of the buildings resembled the buildings we saw in the Forbidden City, except that, unlike the yellow imperial-colored roofs, these buildings had green roofs. 

Rectangular buildings are associated with Earth, while round buildings are associated with Heaven. Therefore, the rectangular buildings had green roofs representing their connection with Earth, and the round building had a blue roof representing its connection with Heaven.

We entered the complex and got a full view of the main building, the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.

A more Earthly building

The roof had three layers - blue for the sky and Heaven on top, green for the Earth on the bottom, and yellow in the middle for the emperor who sits between Heaven and Earth

The inside of the hall was stunning

We weren't allowed in and could only gaze in from outside

An interesting view of the Beijing skyline, including the 109-story, 528m CITIC Tower

More marble carvings - they are under glass here

Yesterday and today, we saw lots of folks in traditional wear, capturing Instagram moments - Oliver said it is a common practice 

Inside one of the side buildings

Intricate marble column tops on the railings

Big doors

Everything was carved with amazing detail

After having our free time to explore the complex, we toured an exhibition of relics.

A sandalwood chair

The bell on the right was hung from this and struck to produce sound

More rooftop detail

Stepping back outside, we had to grab one more photo of the bougainvillea.

Several magpies were flying around as we left.

We got back on the bus and headed for our lunch stop. We drove around Beijing a bit in the midday traffic.

Beijing's railway station

Our dining venue was located in the Macau Center.

We enjoyed another family-style lunch, learning to delicately spin the lazy Susan so we don’t knock each other’s drinks over with the spoon.

After lunch, we stepped outside and once again, into the relentless rain. It was a short walk to the bus, but none of us were happy to see the rain return. We arrived back at the hotel around 2:00 for an early afternoon. That gave me time to write this as Arlona enjoyed a little nap.

We decided that it was time to get dinner. We haven’t been impressed with the food here at the hotel. Google Maps said that there was a KFC right around the corner. KFC is hugely popular here in China, so we thought we’d give it a try. We asked the concierge for directions. He looked at our map and said it was wrong – there was no KFC there. There was one quite a bit farther away. It was pouring rain and cold. Yup, another mediocre food night at the Ritz-Carlton. We decided to split a cheese-steak sandwich. What arrived was a few small pieces of beef, a ton of grilled red onions, and what appeared to be white cheddar on two slices of rye bread. It certainly wasn’t as described in the menu, but it was what it was. I know that you pay a premium for food and drink in a hotel, and the swankier the hotel, the worse it gets. This was pretty bad. That sandwich was $32. The other night, we split a burger and had two Pepsi Zeros. The first night, we each had a Club sandwich and water. All told, we spent 875 Yuan, or about $122. Yikes. The Pepsis were 78 Yuan or $10.95 each. More than 11 bucks for a crummy can of Pepsi? Seriously?

We repacked our suitcases as we have to have our checked luggage out in the hallway by 7 am tomorrow morning. We leave the hotel at 9:30 for the bus ride to the airport. We fly from Beijing to Xi’an between 1 & 3 tomorrow afternoon and will tour the Xi’an city walls after we arrive. The good news is that Xi’an is expected to be a little warmer than Beijing. The bad news is that it is supposed to rain for the two days we will be there.

This wraps up our optional pre-stay time in Beijing, other than returning from Chengdu and then transferring to the ship. The rest of the passengers arrived today in various hotels, and we will all be joining each other for the flight to Xi’an and the beginning of the trip itinerary.