Great wall...flute....earthquake

It was great 10 days. Met lot of people.......saw lot of new things........ Understood lot of new possibilities.

Flew into Beijing on 17th night. The drive from Airport to Hotel never is devoid of excitement. It takes lot to explain the address to driver. Things have improved a lot. This time taxi stand had English speaking police but not sure he gave proper instructions to driver. So driver and my self have to do some soul searching before we were able to communicate hotel address to each other.

and what more..........was able to get Indian curry, rice and papadam.

Next morning ...I had a great breakfast.........made me think.......what made me deserve to have such a luxury of sitting at window and have such a buffet breakfast with view of a oriental temple in a Spring......

Than we left for Beijing tour. Great Wall of China, Forbidden City and Tienanmen Square.

I must have travelled till date some 150+ trips across 3 continents covering more than 20 cities..........but never went for city tour ( other than New York ). I am a very bad tourist. I prefer sit at room than get out. Thanks to my boss and my team friend. They dragged me out.

First we went to Tienanmen Square but there was huge security arrangement so we have to divert our starting point to Forbidden city.....

Forbidden City is amazing ..........the architecture, its size... history ........everything. I was particularly got interested in the way they have put Symbols on top of the structure to identify the purpose and protocol of the each building. Building with 9 or 11 animal symbols on top corners of the building belongs to emperor. Building with 3 is for public and so on.

Had opportunity to take photo with cops....... statute of the bird symbolizing the long life. And off course the cleaners’ cycle caught my attention and imagination as well.

The emperor garden is beautiful..........those 200 and 300 year old trees look so beautiful.

What attracted me most was this statute of dragon in front of the empress palace. Dragons statutes are always built in front of emperor palace ( supreme power). But in this case.....
empress was so power full she got it installed in front her palace. True symbol of women's power.

Our next stop was Great wall of China. I was excited to see the wall and at the same time worried if I need to scale the wall with my co tourists .Thanks full they offered to leave me at foot of the wall and go for trekking. They came back tiered after walking for less than 1Km in that very tough terrain.

While I enjoyed my walking and taking photos at the foot of the wall. I know I sound like shameless lazy fellow but that is true.

Than we tried for cable car but it was too late...........they were only offering 1 way drive....and we were to walk back other way. Obviously my choice was not to go........thankfully others agreed.

Than we went to Tienanmen Square...it was full 2 hrs drive back. We were fully tired by that drive.......wanted to get out of the car at the earliest.

T Square was pretty plain. It was more historic & political importance than anything else.

After all the meeting, I flew to Shanghai on 21st. It was cold all along. From HK till Shanghai ( and rain in Shanghai).......especially the air conditioning .......the airport, office and hotels........they almost forget the difference between air conditioning and refrigeration...........I caught with cold & cough.

Shanghai old temple and generals garden are beautiful.

Best part was buying "high end fake Rolex watches". We went for shopping on 22nd eve. Went to a shopping place close by. Got into a semi precious stone shop and asked if they sell "high end fake Rolex watches". Lady said yes. Took us behind the shop and showed some beautifully designed watches.


Than flew into Hong Kong on 22nd. after all the meeting in HK we went out . My Camera battery was off. So didn't take any picture but I will try to get pictures from my friends camera and post it later.

Next day I was all by myself in HK......went out for lunch at close by Indian restaurant. I saw very unusual view of people queuing up for lift to get into to restaurants. que was flowing into foot path. It was common site at 2 or 3 building I saw in same locality.

and this flute player on HK street was a very surprise attraction for me symbolising the divide in the society.

Flew to Taiwan on Sunday evening........to flew back to Bangalore via Hong Kong next day eve. Not had much time to see Taiwan. It is beautiful city surrounded by hills and nature. My hotel was next to highest building in Taipei. When I was in office.....I experienced my first experience with earthquake. First I thought it was me feeling dizzy due to my cold and cough but later confirmed that.........it was indeed a earth quake. Taiwan North was hit by earthquake to the tune of 6.5 at that moment and vibrations were felt in Taipei. Nice experience.

The trip agenda was cut short by 2 days as few meetings got cancelled due to Volcano eruption in Ireland. So I was happy to back home early on 27th morning. But it was funny. my wife and kids had plans to visit my sisters place for 2 days. They were not ready to cut short their agenda. So I am along at home now waiting for them to come tomorrow. Life is not fair.......isn't it.??!!

And did you absorb......so may influences of mother nature all along......I got cough and cold to to cold whether and rain........ experienced earthquake in Taipei.......meetings got cancelled due to volcano in Ireland. We are still at mercy of mother nature no mater how far we go on technology.