Beijing, China National Museum

Wednesday, March 20, 2019      Beijing, China

This morning we caught a city bus back to Tiananmen Square and walked to the National Museum. It was huge building. After passing through metal detectors and being wanded by guards, both front and back, we moseyed into the massive hall with high ceilings. 


Tremendous screens and permanent displays were abound. 

Howard, our guide, suggested that we go to the Ancient China exhibit on the basement floor. 

Hundreds of artifacts from ancient years were on exhibit behind glass encasements.

                                                                     Metal encased mummy

We observed the space exhibit. China is planning a landing of a man on the moon in the next year. 

         I enjoyed the fashion hall that showed the clothing line of the Chinese from 1940's to present.

Larry enjoyed the ancient musical instruments.

Larry also enjoyed the new car displays. China has a plan to have only electric cars by 2030.

                   After visiting the museum, we walked across the street to a shopping area. 

                                Lots of shops and street food stalls popped up along the way. 

                 Our group decided on a western burger for lunch….a little change from our China dishes.

                                                   After lunch we did a little more window shopping. 

           It rained enough to buy an umbrella before we entered the metro to get back to the hotel.

At 4:30 pm our bus driver picked us up at our hotel and drove the group to the train station. Everyone grabbed some fruits and snacks to eat later on while we were in the train station….one of the largest in the world, serving over a billion passengers each month.

We boarded the train around 6:15 pm and the train left the station at 6:45 sharp. 

We found our train sleeper car number 8 our room number 2. It contained 2 sets of bunk beds that we shared with Sam and Suzanne. 

The guys took the 2 top bunks and we girls had the 2 bottom bunks.

 Once the train started going we investigated the rest of the rail cars. Our little two bunk bed room with a table was first class. Rooms that slept six people with two triple bunks was considered second class.

Third class tickets were in a seating car…three seats in a row on each side of the train. Fourth class tickets were for passengers who stood the whole ride. The train car with third and fourth class tickets was packed. Many 4^th class ticket holders bought dinner in the dining car and then could remain in the dining car until 6:00am. They tried to sleep on the two person bench seats at the dining car tables.  Along the hallways pop down chairs allow any passenger to sit and plug in their electronic devices; the train did not have wifi.

The dining car had meals…we did not participate. Larry and I had grabbed a sandwich and some fruit before getting on the train. Only hot beer and soda was available.

We were told to be very careful about leaving our room…that someone should be there during all times to watch over our belongings.

After a lot of laughs and fun, we all settled down to sleep…in our clothes. The bathroom was too smelly to change in.

I slept so soundly….I took two Nyquils before going to bed due to a tickling cough…I think the air pollution is the cause. Larry slept well. I’m really not sure how everyone else faired sleeping that night. We all looked pretty rough the next morning….I think this will be a once in a lifetime experience, but I am reminded of a statement….never say never.

                                  Breakfast was carrots, a cold fried egg, dough bread, and coffee.