Dublin Airport, 21 June 2007

We left Dublin the 21st June on an Aer Lingus Airbus bound for London Heathrow. Before departure we enjoyed the lovely business lounge. Outside the rain was bucketing down and we were only happy to get away. Tom was nearly hyper as China would be yet another destination for Tom Teddy Tours... Bamse was even more hyper as his greatest travel adventure so far had been Kitzbuhel in 2003, but now he was heading for China, woowww...!

Click each photo to enlarge

In Heathrow we changed to another terminal and we went to the gate. We were going to fly Air China to Beijing.
McBear said it was an Airbus A340-300 and he was excited as we had never flown A340 before. In fact, we were all extremely excited...

London Heathrow Airport, June 2007

Fortunately, we got window seats so we could follow our route.
After we had taken off, we were flying over Sibiria in Russia to Lake Baikal and turned southeast towards Beijing... McBear was excited to see the Gobi desert from 35,000 feet.

After 10 hours flight we finally arrived in Beijing and went to Day's Hotel. Roger was delighted to discover that it was a true 5 star hotel.

Beijing, June 2007

Our hotel room was located on the 9th floor and we had a fine view of Beijing.
"Pity it's so misty", Tom said.
"It's not actually mist", McBear said. "It's smog! Beijing is unfortunately a very polluted city with more than 9 million inhabitants - and 3 million cars!"

The next day we started on McBear's search for leaking TA sources...
We headed for the Great Wall, one of the big wonders of the world. Phew, getting up the wall to the top of the hill was hard work. Roger was fit and had no problems. McBear, on the other hand, only made it because he was determined not to give Roger an opportunity to give out to McBear for spending too much time in front of the computer and getting no exercise...

The Great Wall of China, June 2007

Tom and Bamse had decided to stay at the bottom of the hill. We did however get our group photo taken.

Then we started heading back towards Beijing. On the way we came across a factory by chance and McBear wished to inspect it to see if this was a leaking source of TA's... The factory was called Gloisonne and it turned out they were actually making fabulous vases, like Ming vases. Roger felt on a shopping spree and we ended up with a huge sized vase...

Beijing, June 2007

Roger felt under heavy load while carrying the huge vase outside.
"Phew", he gasped for air. "It reminds me of the huge trunk of a cigar I carried all the way around Havanna in Cuba..."

We also passed the famous Ming Tombs on the way and we decided to see the tombs. Here we are at the entrance to the site.

The Ming Tombs, June 2007

The Ming tombs dates back hundreds of years. Here we are having a look at the tombs deep underground.

Next day we went to see the great Summer Palace. There were lots and lots of tourists and we had to queue up at the entrance...

The Summer Palace, Beijing, June 2007

There are so many fascinating and cute old houses in the park surrounding the Summer Palace and they are all built with the famous Chinese architecture.

In ancient China they used to have two Lion sculptures in front of houses for protection; one female lion to the left and one male lion to the right. McBear and Roger had a closer look at a female lion.

Beijing, June 2007

Next day we went to visit a centre for Traditional Chinese Medicin (TCM). The Chinese are famous for their TCM. Here we met Nutty, a bear from Hong Kong. We had a great time exchanging news and gossip...
We also discussed TCM.
"I am an expert on TCM!" Roger pointed out. "I know why McBear doesn't suffer from headache any more..."
McBear got very surprised.
"That's actually true; I haven't had a headache in days! How did'ya know???"
"Elementary, my dear McBear: You are not in your office, you are not in front of your computer and you are not stressed out of your brain..."

Next on the itenary was a visit to the Heavenly Peace's square where terrible events took place in 1989.
On the entrance wall to the Forbidden City in the background was an image of Mao ZeDong, the great Chinese leader from 1949 to 1976. Bamse had heard that in China, the surname is put in front of the forename.
"How does it sound if I change my name to Madsen ZeBamse?"

Beijing, June 2007

Roger was complaining about the heat.
"Boy, it's hot in this black leather jacket, isn't it? I miss my gondolier suit! I should never have complained...!"
"But why did you ask to have it changed to an other suit in the first place?" Tom asked.
"Dunno! Maybe I thought the black jacket looked more cool..."

Here we are inside the Forbidden City. Some of the old buildings were being restored as part of the preparations for the Olympic Games in 2008 in Beijing. The houses and their architecture were truly amazing, and Roger was delighted to study it all.