Tuesday, June 12th .....

We had arranged a car to meet us at the dock in Tianjin and they promised to be there by 8 o’clock, but the ship decided that we were low on the priority list and designated us as #6, to be off-loaded around 9.20am. Not good enough, said Marilyn and shot off to work out a deal. The best they could offer was an upgrade to #3, expected to get off about 8.20. That was OK and not long after that we were being led to the gangway. A fellow scurried alongside and pushed in front of me. I’m getting used to that so thought nothing of it until I noticed that his bag was tagged #9. I don’t know why the ship tries to do things in an orderly way when half the passengers are marching to a different drum.

The guide was there as expected and we were off in the luxurious Buick with an ETA in Beijing of 11.30. Great, it’s a pleasant day and we’re fresh so we negotiated some sightseeing. The road between Tianjin and Beijing is first-class, minimum of four lanes each way and three times that at toll-gates. Each lane has a different speed limit: 120 in the fastest, 80 in the slowest. Tianjin is a very industrialized part of China and pollution is shocking. We were told that strong winds over the past few days had cleared the worst of it so it must have been horrendous before the wind blew.

First stop in Beijing was a local restaurant for a typical Chinese buffet. I’ve never seen so much food. There must have been 20 bain maries, groaning with dishes, a table with salads, a chef carving Peking Duck, another chef making noodles, and a huge table with desserts. Drinks were included so there was a soft drink machine, 2 beer taps, and a coffee machine. We were still coming down from 10 days of over-eating on the ship so we didn’t make much of an impression but it was a great meal.

We then spent the afternoon at the Temple of Heaven, the Forbidden City, and Tienanmen Square. Everything is on such a huge scale that it’s mind-blowing. We saw two brides at the Temple but the highlight of the visit was having tea at the Tea House and trying different blends. We ended up carting away five tins of tea and two rude little objects which can tell whether the water is hot enough to make good tea. Ostensibly, we only paid for three tins and the rest were gifts but I can’t help feeling there was some sleight of hand involved somewhere. It took some juggling to get them into my suitcase.

At the Forbidden City, we were approached by a number of women wanting to have their photographs taken with us. One group was from a remote province and may never have seen a foreigner but I can’t imagine we were the only foreigners in the huge crowd in the Forbidden City so something about us must have aroused their curiosity. I’ve got my own theories but I don’t want to appear big-headed

Tomorrow, we’ve booked Oliver and the driver, Mr Liew, to take us to the Great Wall – a 7.30 start so that we can be at the airport in plenty of time for our 1645 flight to Singapore.

We’re staying at the Crowne Plaza, not a bad pub but it seems that half the cruise is here as well. We had a chat with a couple at dinner time and compared experiences. Like us, they felt the cruise was a little underdone and preferred Holland-America. Interesting objects in the back of our wardrobe – two gas masks, posing as fire protection but stating quite clearly on the container that they are designed for CO (carbon-monoxide), HCN (hydrogen cyanide) and poisonous smoke and fog.