Sunset in China

While waiting to board my flight at the Beijing T3 terminal in China I was able to see and capture some amazing sun set photos.

Sunset & Takeoff

In the photo above a flight was taking off while a United Airline boarding was taking place with the beautiful sunset as a backdrop.

A Ball of Fire

 It seemed as if the whole sky is on fire. If you see carefully in the above photo then you would be able to see an airplane in the sky in front of the ball of fire.

Peking Sunset

As the climate of Peking or Beijing is dry and crisp in winters the sunsets I was able to see were very beautiful.

Terminal 3 of the Beijing Capital International Airport is the second largest terminal in the world.

Tea in China

Today I was drinking the fruit tea that I had brought from China so decided to write about my experiences of visiting a place that explains the art of drinking tea and the various kinds of teas that are drank in China and the particular benefits of each.

Tea Hostess

I went for tea tasting at Dr. Tea in Beijing. Dr Tea is located on the Min Zu Yuan Road in the Chao Yang district of Beijing. There are tea hostess to explain the whole process and for foreigners there are English speaking hostesses. The hostess started with explaining the different kinds of teas that is drank in China. They have a lot of varieties of teas compared to India. Also most Indians drink their tea with milk (and sugar) and comparatively speaking the Indian tea is much stronger (boiled longer) than the Chinese tea. Several cups of tea is made from the same tea leaves in China as they normally take mild tea.

Explaining the various kinds of tea 

Firstly the hostess explained the various kind of tea leaves along with preparing and giving us to taste the tea and also explaining the various health benefits of each. The types of teas that I tasted were the White Tea supposedly  good for cold, coughs and sore throat; Golden Green Tea also known as the slimming tea or the Wild puer tea supposedly good for regulating blood pressure, lowering of cholesterol and to lose weight.

Fruit Tea in the Jar

Then I was given to taste the Oriental Beauty or the King of Oolong Tea supposedly good for blood circulation and skin. The Jasmine tea was equally good in taste and supposedly good to fight the summer heat and to improve the eyesight. Litchi tea is good for digestion.The Ginseng as well as Tain Qi Flower tea are known to restore your energy and protect your liver and kidney..

There are different ways to hold a tea cup in China depending on the kind of tea you are drinking and also depending on whether you are a male or female!

Tea is considered as a Chinese national drink. The Chinese gulps down N number of tea cups in a day as their teas are very light, The reason for people drinking huge amounts of tea in China is, I think, mainly because China is a very cold and dry country and therefore one needs lots of intake of fluids.

The place has several varieties of teas as well as tea crockery for sale and the hostess at the end was able to sell some tea to me as well despite the fact that by Indian standards the tea was costly!

The best tea I liked was the fruit tea which has several kinds of dried fruits and flowers and after making 2-3 cups from the same lot one can actually eat the fruits and flowers giving the original flavor. It is a real mood relaxer!

Great Wall of China

At the beginning of Year 2012 while coming back from a trip from Canada I stopped in Beijing (also known as Peking) to go and see the Great Wall of China which is one of the Greatest Wonders of the World. A literal meaning of the Great Wall in Chinese is  - Long Fortress.

The Great Wall is a series of stone and earth fortifications built in the Northern China from as early as 5th Century BC to 16th Century AD as a protection against intrusions. The Great Wall measures an astounding 8852 km.

I went to see the Juyong Pass (or Juyongguan) section of the Great Wall which is about 50 kms from Beijing in the Changping county. It is one of the three greatest passes on the Wall.

The Great Wall of China

This particular section was completed in 1368 during the reign of the Ming Dynasty. I have taken the photo of the details displayed there about this section of the Wall and have pasted below for further information.

Description about the Great Wall - Juyong Pass Section 

Some of the sections of the Wall are very wide and some narrow. Some sections have a ramp whereas others have staircases (some are very steep). In fact at the narrow section there was almost a traffic jam as can be seen in the photo below.

Traffic Jam on the Great Wall of China

After every 50 to 100 meters (on this section of the Great Wall) there are structures that are meant for defense and shelter purposes.

Myself with the Backdrop of the Great Wall for Posterity!

The central portion of this section also has guns as a further deterrent against the invaders.  In fact on the flatter portions of the Great Wall automobiles can ply! This section is in the mountainous region therefore vehicles cannot ply as there are stairs also in some portions.

Guns on the Great Wall

The place gets really cold in the winters as can be seen in the photo below where the water body is completely frozen on both sides of the wall. The cold is further intensified by the  strong winds which increases the chill factor.The current temperature in Beijing during my stay was around Minus 8 degree Celsius!

Frozen water near the Great Wall

I am thankful to my driver and my guide for showing me this greatest man made wonder in the world in the short time that I had in China along with showing some other places in the Beijing City.

My Driver, Myself and My Guide

Wish You a Happy 2012

May the dawn of 2012 bring you what you aspire and strive for. Year 2011 has been good for me in most respects - be it work, travel or in various other things.

A Dawn in the Beautiful British Columbia

I do hope that 2012 would brings to me as well as to those of you who like traveling new and more avenues of travel.

This is my last post of 2011 writing from Canada. I fly on the very first day of 2012 to Beijing and hope to see the Great Wall of China there.

I would blog about the visit to Canada and China as soon as I get the chance to write these posts.

Happy traveling!