2010 Asian odyssey: Shanghai World Expo, Kuala Lumpur, and more! (Part 5)

This entry is part 5 of 12 in the series 2010 Asian odyssey: Shanghai World Expo, Kuala Lumpur, and more!

June 18, 2010

2010 Asian odyssey: Shanghai World Expo, Kuala Lumpur, and more! (Part 5)

By Simon J. Lau

Today is my last day in Beijing, and I wanted to make one last post before I take the train down to Shanghai. As promised, below are pictures of Leo Hostel, Summer Palace, and the flag-lowering ceremony at Tiananmen Square. Before leaving today, I plan to see the Lama Temple and have one last meal with David and Martin. I’ve had a really great time here in Beijing, and I’m so glad that this was the first city I ever backpacked to. It definitely makes me very excited about future trips, especially the next leg of my trip in Shanghai.

These next three pictures are from the Summer Palace, a vast garden originally built 800 years ago. This park is centered around Kunming Lake and Longevity Hill. The photo above was taken near the north entrance and it shows one of many man-made streams that run throughout the area.

This is the shore of Kunming Lake. I actually came to the Summer Palace for the Dragon Boat Festival, but unfortunately, we arrived too late and missed it. Still, it was nice to see the garden and spend time with the other backpackers.

This is the Tower of Buddhist Incense at the top of Longevity Hill, the highest point at the Summer Palace. This building was destroyed during the 1860s when Anglo-French Allies invaded China and set fire to this building. Since then, the building has seen three wars, been rebuilt, demolished, ransacked, renovated, and restored.

This is the beginning of the flag-lowering ceremony at Tiananmen Square. There are two flag ceremonies held each day, one in the morning for the flag-raising ceremony and another late in the evening for the flag-lowering ceremony. In both instances, they block off Chang’an Avenue to allow troops to converge onto Tiananmen Square to perform their procession. Looking back, I should have made it to the morning session. I have heard that it’s quite inspiring to stand there, bleary-eyed, watching the flag rise over the thin crest of sunrise. But for those of us who can’t wake up at 4:45 AM, these evening ceremonies certainly capture the ethos of that event.

These are the members of the guard who are responsible for performing the flag-lowering ceremony.

This is the tail end of the ceremony where they begin to unhinge the flag from the pole. These members of the guard eventually march back to the Forbidden City where they put away the flag until the next morning.

This is a street view of Leo Hostel. The great thing about this location is that the street immediately in front of Leo is mostly closed off to traffic. I say mostly because there are still a lot of motorbikes and an occasional loading van that drives through. Nevertheless, it’s mainly a pedestrian street with easy access to restaurants and shops in either direction.

This is the lounge area of Leo Hostel. They probably had the best setup regarding communal areas of the three hostels I visited in Beijing. For instance, this movie room was right next to the bar area. It also served as the walkway between the main living area and the front entrance. The fluidity of the design allowed people to convene together. It essentially provided people a reason to stop by after a long day of sightseeing to just hang out and watch a movie (or in this case, the World Cup) or share drinks. It made me think about the utilization of common spaces and what a difference a well-planned design makes.

Of course, my next stop will be Shanghai, which has served as an international model of sorts for an entirely different model of space utilization, one based on the creation of an uber-modern metropolis. It will be interesting to compare that with the deeply historical influences in Beijing.