Beijing, a Forgotten Past

The last leg of our journey took us to Beijing and what an adventure that was.  This is a city with over 22M people and you can certainly feel the enormity of it wherever you go.  It has been my lifetime dream to see the Great Wall of China and this was the main reason why we went.  I knew it was going to be busy but to be honest, I wasn’t prepared for how hectic it was going to be.  We visited all the main sites including the Forbidden City, Summer Palace and of course, the Great Wall.  I loved every place we went despite what seemed to be a million tourists pushing and shoving one another for that perfect photo.  Nevertheless, underneath all that chaos is a beautiful and rich history that many have probably forgotten by now.  It is fascinating to learn about its magnificent history while being at the centre of it all.  It makes me realise how much have changed and the only thing that went through my mind was a bit of sadness and disappointment.  The country today is rich with all its beautiful shops, tall buildings and modern technology.  However, what it is lacking I personally believe, is a sense of the past, where everything first began.  All around me was an existence of a deep admiration for all things modern, big, and powerful.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with today´s lifestyle but to think when a country is blessed with such an incredible historic past, much of that should be cherished and forever look upon as a symbol of strength.  It is not to say that all is lost but for the most part, it has changed, and rather rapidly…