It was shortly before midnight on March 23, 1987 when the People to People Citizen Ambassador Program delegation arrived at their Kunlun Hotel in Beijing, China!
A very cold hotel, that still was under construction... New, and not totally completed yet!
BUT with very nice rooms.
After a shower and emptying the suitcases, Pieter went to bed; tired...
It now has been 3 days in the air for finally arriving here and staying for 4 nights!
It now has been 3 days in the air for finally arriving here and staying for 4 nights!
In the morning, things looked different and Pieter did explore his new surroundings.
The Kunlun Hotel is seen to the left in his photo ←click on hyperlink for slide show of actual hotel.
Luckily, Beijing International Airport was not far away from the hotel.
The gray area to the upper right is the airport and the red marker is where the hotel is.
The red star is where the hotel is, lots of high rise buildings at present time.
This is on the Liangma (Landmark) River, below the hotel where Pieter walked to assess his new surroundings.
Cold and still rainy...
Here, on this Google map, you can see where the river is so you get an idea as well.
The hotel name was correct, they only seem to have changed the street name and phone number.
It is a 29-story Hotel.
Only one block away from the diplomatic residential compound, within walking distance of the Lufthansa shopping center, and has easy access to the International airport.
Because it was still open, not yet closed in as you can see on this photo, still carving on blocks inside the lobby area.
For breakfast, the entire delegation kept their coats on due to the windy draft going through this area of the hotel... Brrrr!
As a microbiologist and mushroom expert, Pieter did give two lectures that day as they visited the Beijing University and their Research facility.
Keep in mind, this was NOT a vacation trip...
While in the People's Republic of China, the delegation was under the official sponsorship of the China International Exchange Association of the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fishery.
The Ministry also did provide English-speaking guides.
Tea was served and it must have been rather difficult for communication across such distances!
Some of them did recognize husband Pieter as they had been several years back at his Practical Training College in Horst, The Netherlands!
Pieter of course did offer his English book about Modern Mushroom Growing.
They were very pleased but told him that they just got it in Chinese!
That sure did perplex Pieter and he didn't believe it.
However, they went to the library and showed it to him. Pieter made these pictures.
They just stole it, without asking permission...
If they only would have asked, Pieter could have provided them with the negatives for the photos, so the end result looked a lot better than their poor copies of photos. Also the paper quality was poor.
BUT one of the delegates, Jin-Torng Peng, Ph.D from Taichung, Taiwan promised to give Pieter a copy towards the end of the trip...
The day got partly video taped by the Chinese TV and rounded up with a nice banquet attended by officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and People to People delegates.
Will be continued with City Views of Beijing...
Related links:
{Part II of Husband Pieter's Trip to East Asia - Tokyo, Japan to Beijing, China} | previous post by me
{Part I of Husband Pieter's Trip to East Asia} | previous post by me
{People to People Citizen Ambassador Program - Husband Pieter's Trip to East Asia} | previous post by me
How wonderful to have these memories captured in photos. What a lovely experience it must have been ... and to have a first hand view of such artistic talent in action - priceless. Thank you for sharing these with us. Blessings, Celia xo
ReplyDeleteI have not been China. The country is just over the Japan Sea though. History is changing but memories can be kept in photos and memories.How wonderful!
ReplyDeleteHave a good day, dear Mariette! I am smiling.
Your new header is so Spring like and lovely. Before reading your posts, I never knew that the mushroom business was so renowned. You two did get to some amazing places over the years. Quite an experience.
ReplyDeleteDeaerst Mariette, thankyou for this great post, it is great to see and hear about this country. I never have been there, and I guess, I never will get there ..
ReplyDeleteWishing you a wonderful rest of the week,
Love and hugs,
Claudia xo
Liebe Mariette,
ReplyDeleteAUSRUCKSVOLL UND EINDRUCKSVOLL!
Liebe Grüße
Elisabeth
That conference in such a huge room, all sitting so far apart must have been awkward.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cheek to translate the book into Chinese without permission of the author! So typical.
Es sist wirklich schön, liebe Mariette, dass diese
ReplyDeleteReisen im Bild festgehalten wurden. Ich freue mich schon
auf die Fortsetzung. Meine beiden China-Reisen kommen mir
wieder verstärkt in Erinnerung.
Einen guten Wochenteiler wünscht dir
Irmi
De bijeenkomst ziet er erg formeel uit, wel met thee maar zo ver van elkaar af. Ben benieuwd of het nu anders gaat.
ReplyDeleteThat carving on the stone is quite amazing! It must require very delicate skill. It's so cool that some of Chinese people recognized Pieter from the time in Netherlands. But it sure is disappointing that they translated his book without permission :-(
ReplyDeleteello Mariette,
ReplyDeleteVery interesting trip, you make wish I could go there too!
I would think the carving this guy was carving on the hotel wall would be some kind of 'mantric' protection and good luck... Just my guess.
I am truly happy that you feel so good now, what a relief in your daily life :)
Keep that way!
Warms hugs from the other side of the ocean!
Dear Mariette,
ReplyDeleteA nice cultural exchange and so nice that Pieter was recognized once again from the university. Too bad about the hotel being under construction and cold, but interesting to see the stone carving. It must have been very infuriating to find out that his book was copied without permission! Seems like they didn't realize it was wrong! Hope you are having a good week, my dear.
Hugs xo
Karen
Hi Mariette!.
ReplyDeleteReally amazing this culture and a fantastic trip.
Hugs.
María
Lieve Mariette,
ReplyDeleteWaar blijft de tijd.....
Deze posting doet mij denken aan de meestal wat somber en triest uitziende foto's die ik jaren geleden wel een inzag wanneer mijn zwager terug kwam van een van zijn vele reizen over de wereld. o.a. zijn China reis waar hij als adjunct directeur van Tentoonstellingsbouw met handelscommissie en ministerie van landbouw en visserij samen reisden.
Op zijn zachtst uitgedrukt niet netjes om het paddenstoelen boek van Pieter te vertalen en uit te geven zonder het te vragen.
Het is op de dag van vandaag nog altijd zo dat de meeste namaakproducten uit China komen.
Liefs,Ger
Isn't it wonderful that this has been so well documented . You will forever be able to look back at such wonderful memories!
ReplyDeletecomplimenti a tuo marito!!!! un grande abbraccio Lory
ReplyDeleteHello dear Mariette!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing all those information of this trip!
Beautiful pictures!Have a happy weekend!Hugs!
Dimi...
Dearest Mariette,
ReplyDeleteI have started reading Pieter's trip to East Asia since your first post and thank you for sharing his experience. I particularly like the way you present the hotels compared to their present condition. It is very interesting, and something I also use to do in my travel albums!!!!
Looking forward to reading the continuation of this amazing trip!
Many hugs to you and have a nice weekend!
Given the pollution, the shoddy construction, the questionable food etc. I am quite sure that I will never visit Beijing.
ReplyDeleteOhje, zwischen den Hochhäusern würde ich "ersticken" ;-)
ReplyDeleteDie Steinmetzkunst ist eine große! Bei so feinen Schriftzeichen!
Ja, das sind Erinnerungen ... aber ich hätte auch nicht das Bedürfnis dort einmal hin zu wollen.
Liebe Grüße auch hier
Sara