International Law

In the Burbs, Checking Out the Flowers

By Stan

Spent yesterday afternoon at the Beijing Botanical Garden (???), which is outside of town right next to Xiang Shan (??). Seems like I missed the optimal flower-watching season by a couple of weeks, which was kind of a bummer, but at least I dragged myself out there.

Here’s the travelogue, blog style:

I took a series of two subway lines and a bus to get out there, which took a couple hours from door to door. The bus was from Xizhimen (???). As the line started from there, we actually got seats and didn’t have to fight our way onto the bus, which was appreciated.

Entrance fee is only 10 RMB, which makes it a heck of a lot cheaper than places like the Forbidden City or the Summer Palace.

One of the claims to fame of the Botanical Garden is the memorial to Cao Xueqin (???), writer of The Dream of the Red Chamber. I read the book in college and, sorry to say, was pretty much bored with it, despite its status as China’s #1 novel. I’d rather spend my time reading Lu Xun, but I suppose it is not fair (nor does it make sense) to compare the two.

The case that houses this statue of Cao was full of coins and small notes. I never understood why anyone would throw money at a wishing well, statue of Buddha, Jesus — heck, basically any religious figure. But to give money to a deceased person who boasted of no supernatural powers? What do you expect to get out of that? The whole ancestor respect thing is lost on me, I guess. I’m a heathen.

The main attractions are the flowers, and because I showed up a few weeks late, I was disappointed. I have seen the Cherry Blossoms in D.C., so I suppose I didn’t miss anything radically different. Just to cover all the important stuff, though, here’s an obligatory pic of me staring at the flowers:

Not too thrilling. As you can see from the tree on the left, which was mostly devoid of flowers, it was kind of hit or miss. At least the weather was excellent.

The park does boast some very nice scenery, though, so it’s not just about the trees and such. Here’s one of the better views in the central part of the park:

We then headed to the back of the park where the river/creek originates and there are some hills that have decent (albeit very short) trails to walk. Here’s a look from the back of the park:

By the way, all the good pics were taken by my wife. The bad ones are mine.

On the way back through the park, we stopped by a little restaurant with a view of the lake. Nice place for a beer and a plate of tofu. We also spent time passing food to a homeless cat. We called it mimi of course, as all cats are called mimi if you don’t know their names (it’s an onomatopoeic thing, apparently).

She enjoyed snarfing down the bread we gave her, but was much more excited about the cricket that she hunted and devoured minutes later. That was also fun to watch, if rather violent in an Animal Planet-ish way.

After the fun and games, we made our way to the main entrance, stopping by the arboretum on the way. As usual, we got turned around trying to find the way back, but on the plus side we found this nice photo op:

All this time spent relaxing in the park came at a price. By the time we left, it was rush hour, and we ended up taking two buses and three subway lines on our return. Moreover, the congestion in the subway stations was too terrifying to mention, and we not only had to fight our way onto the train at Xizhimen (no surprise there), but we also had to push and shove our way off the train at Jianguomen. I shoved a couple of aggressive old ladies pretty hard who were trying to bull rush their way onto the train before folks could get off. I might not be imposing in size, but my elbows are just as sharp as the next guy’s.

Bottom line: unless you go at the right time, do not expect a botanical wonderland at the Botanical Garden. On the other hand, if you want an alternative location for some suburban relaxation, it’s not a bad option.

Thus endeth the travelogue.

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Full post as published by China Hearsay on April 08, 2009 (boomark / email).