Beijing Zoo – A Family Favorite

As a lover of both animals and boats, I've often imagined myself traveling 3,000 or so years back in history to Noah's Ark, where I could spend my days feeding and watching all sorts of animals aboard that enormous floating zoo.  Now, I live in Beijing which is no boater's paradise, but it has an awesome zoo where, if I don't mind paying a little extra, I can even feed some of the animals.

After my family returned home from this week's zoo visit, I decided to surf around and see what people on the net were saying about the Beijing zoo. There were positive comments about some animals and the park-like environment, but I was surprised to see so much criticism.  Let me reiterate, I'm an avid lover of animals and I loathe any kind of abuse.  I cringe when I see live chickens in the market stuffed into tiny cages. But what I see in the Beijing Zoo is anything but abusive.
Frankly, the animals in the zoo are better fed than many people in the world. My kids were amazed to see plates of fresh cut fruit and vegetables being carried to the monkeys and birds. Pelicans wade through more fresh fish than they could ever eat in a day.  The extra fee to enter the “kids' zoo” area includes a handful of fresh greens to feed the geese and peacocks (pictured at left).  Ponies weren't even interested in the wad of lettuce in my daughter's hand because their feeder was already filled with hay. I don't know which gives me the most delight; seeing the smile on my kids' faces when they feed their little friends, or watching the animals enjoy the feast.
Some of the more favorable online comments applauded the zoo for its environment as a beautiful park. I agree. We used to live within walking distance of the zoo. In those days we always bought annual passes. Taking our kids there just like taking them to any park in town. Although kids never tire of watching animals, we made some of our most precious memories just relaxing and playing in the remote wooded areas of the zoo.  With our pass, the zoo was no longer a novelty, but more of a back yard to enjoy as often as we liked. We no longer live in the neighborhood of the zoo, so we don't have the annual pass, but the entrance fee is about the same as some public parks, so even if we weren't animal lovers it would be worth the visit.
The zoo also makes a great photo studio. There are lots of great backgrounds for family, couple or individual photos, like the picture on the right of my kids in front of a waterfall.

Sleep on it - a camping area on the Great Wall

Though the rural areas surrounding Beijing's city center aren't exactly known as rugged enclaves of untamed wilderness, there's a camping trip out there waiting for you if you're willing to take it, and what Beijing may lack in forest, wildlife and clean air, it makes up for in one respect: the Great Wall, a destination of unparalleled cultural cachet and historical significance. As one might expect, however, the iconic nature of such a site often gives rise to controversy about using the Wall as your own personal bed and breakfast.

"CET arranges a bi-annual Great Wall camping trip, once in the spring and once in the fall," said Jason Wang, an American expat who as a college student participated in CET, a Beijing-based Chineselanguage school for foreigners that also arranges cultural excursions, and has since become CET's director of programming. "Our usual program includes a 10-kilometer hike from Simatai to Jinshanling and camping overnight on the Wall at Jinshanling, but in 2009 right after our spring group went, a totally unrelated group came and made an absolute mess, which resulted in the Wall being closed for camping until just recently."
Wang said that though the Wall has officially reopened, their spring 2010 camping trip - scheduled for the weekend of May 8 - was cancelled as well due to inclement weather.
"As you can imagine, if there's any chance of thunder, lightning or heavy rain, the trips are cancelled and campers are lodged in nearby guesthouses," he said.
Other tour groups provided contradictory accounts of whether the Wall was open for camping.
"According to current government regulations, the only place we're allowed to provide for campers is an area next to the Wall at Jinshanling, not on the Wall itself," said Chen Binchao, the operations manager of Botrip Tours. "The reasons we were given include trash and litter from previous groups - danger is another concern, especially due to summertime storms."
Chen said that noise, vandalism and graffiti have all been problems in the past.
"There used to be a lot of graffiti on the Wall but it's much better now due to stricter enforcement," she said. "But we've had to deal with all sorts of issues - people throwing dance parties, for example. The Wall has attendants who help clean up after campers but people still make a mess sometimes."
A representative of the China Cultural Center, which provides Great Wall excursions for foreigners, said that the Wall is currently open for campers at Jinshanling and that they've never had issues with unruly guests.
"Our guides are very strict about graffiti and litter," said the representative, who asked that her name not be published. "And almost all our guests have good manners - the only trouble is bad weather."
Wang said that though the students at CET do not receive any additional training about camping etiquette or cultural sensitivity, it's generally understood that the Wall is a particularly delicate area. "You could tell other people hadn't been respectful, though," he said. "There were crevasses where people had pooped, and garbage thrown off the side - it's a shame, because camping on the Wall is a really amazing experience."

Travelling in Beijing Guide - Beijing Drum and Bell Tower

In Beijing, there has many historical heritage that opened to the public, one of those sites is Bell and Drum Tower where located in the north Beijing. That both towers built on 1272 but after only a few years the tower were burned down in a big fire and then rebuilt on the same site in 1297. At past, both towers were used to announce important things from the emperor and to indicate time. The people had given the signal with hit those drum or bell in both towers.

Both towers role was so important at past, because most of the time, they always used it as the signal and a reminder when enemies attack the city. The buildings had rebuilt and renovated for many times. In 1980, they were finished the last renovated and opened to the public at the same year.
Have long history behind? The towers were used from Yuan Dynasty till Ming Dynasty. This Bell and Drum Tower has already become a Chinese cultural and historical heritage and also was listed as one of the important national historical heritages by the local government.
Inside Bell Tower, there has water clock that used for giving the sign of day and night. The officer will hit the bell in the certain time and all the people in the city can hear the bell ring which matching with actual time. As the time goes by, the clock inside the tower had change become a mechanic clock. It makes the bell automatically ring in the certain time without being hit by the officer. Because the tower still have a good function and government always take a good care of them, so till now, the ring of the bell still be heard around the area.

The unique and antique architecture of the building has also be its own characteristic that will attract tourists to come visit both towers. The shape of both towers look like the Chinese house with some levels. Bell and Drum situated in the top of the level of both towers. The Drum Tower has red building and the Bell Tower has black color building. Bell Tower has 48 meters high and Bell Tower 33 meters. People say, sound of the bell can heard till tens kilometers radius.
The Bell which located in the Bell Tower made from metal with a total weight of 63 tons and the Drum Tower in total has 25 drums which the biggest reach 4 meters. Both towers opened from 9:00 am till 5:00 pm every day, with the entrance ticket about 15 to 20 RMB. Today, if visit Drum Tower Beijing, tourists can climb up for sightseeing and also able to see the city view around. Tourists can also participate in knocking the drum activity and see the drum show every day.