Started the day with 1.5hr taxi drive out of town to National Botanical Gardens with Mr Bob (and weave) Grumpy
Joined the same million other people at the gardens though this time the space accommodated us all Busy but reasonable. Had to teach (and failed) Ying how to do Instagram poses which were de rigeur again
The blossom is just coming out across Beijing and clearly April is a great time to visit as it’s beginning to look fabulous with every shade of pink and red (naturally in China) as well as the lime green haze of new leaf grown
Capturing the colour from taxis etc not easy but took these various shots from the gardens as evidence
The ground cover plants are either Chinese Violets or radish!!! Trees are variously peach, plum or Mei, and Magnolia
Tonight on to The Hutongs
Bob (and weaves) younger brother, Mr Easygoing and Helpful drove us home, slowed down and warned us as we approached Tianenmen Square
Memories of last time (initially about -10c, two days later +30c. Today a v nice 19
Back at the hotel, shared a lift with the room service robot (spooky as the doors open to see it alone in the lift!). And it said goodbye as it left
This evening was a bit of a contrast, a visit to the Hutongs. Literally meaning (water) well it now translates to a series of lanes/alleyways, now commanding v high prices
They were originally intended to sit lower than the forbidden city but now there are exceptions
They’re laid out along a spine with ribs, at night only the main spine is heaving, the side streets much quieter. Visiting on a state holiday (Ching Ming, or Cheng Beng in Hokkien) was a mistake!
The shops were mixed though mostly tourist biased, though not the plastic tat you might expect, or little of it
It was funny, every time our guide stopped outside a shop to talk about it she was shooed away, as she/we were blocking potentially paying customers
We then moved to the drum tower (the city time-piece during the day til 1949)
And the bell tower.
Chinas oldest post office (though don’t you need two?)
Finally via a few detours we stumbled upon a Beijing Steamboat restaurant and ate late into the night
