Beijing with a tall grey haired old lady Pt2

Beijing involves a lot of walking at there tourist sites. By definition the granduer of the sites was measured by their size. So expect to do a lot of walking, often on uneven or cobbled surfaces.

Tiananmen Square is 109 acres,  about 900 metres from one end to the other. If your taxi or the subway drops you at the southern side near Qianmen Station, and you intend to walk  through Tiananmen Square to Forbidden city to the exit by Jing Shan Qian Jie, (Jingshan Front Street)
The walk is about 4km in a straight line, without taking into account steps or visiting the sights.
There were a few benches to sit on, but of course most were full, sleeping men laying on them while the wife sight-sees. It was very crowded, it was August it was hot humid and with the renown pollution,  the air was gritty.
If your elderly traveller doesnt like crowds, has trouble walking distances or has breathing issues or food issues I would give Beijing a miss.
~~~~~~ 

Another wonderful point about mum being 6ft tall with white hair is that in Asia I cant lose her in the crowd. If I stop to take a photo and she keeps wandering I just look over all the black hair to see this white head drifting above everyone else. Handy really
~~~~~~~~

Toilets are an issue we had to contend with.
Why I could manage on the Asian squat toilets, mum couldnt. The logistics of lifting and holding your skirt, holding your handbag, squatting and keeping your balance was just too darn hard.

 

Luckily we happened upon a few other western tourists and every conversation started with 'Did you know there is a western toilet in..'  In fact we went out of our way if we spotted a western tourist to point out the closest western toilet.

In the Hóngqiáo (Pearl) Market, which to our minds is the best market in Beijing, not just for pearls 

(one of the handbag stall ladies knew me by name after our holiday), this market has a hidden western toilet, near the stairs on the 2nd floor,

This market is easy to get to by subway and is a great place to finish after looking around  Temple of Heaven (Subway Line 5 Pink line: get off at Tiantan Dongmen Station, Leave from Exit A)

Another funny point about Asian squat toilets is the unexpected sights. Someone must have told the builders that westerners need toilet stall doors that are tall enough not to see over, so rather than make bigger doors they just hung them higher ! resulting in..walking into the bathroom to find 4 cubicle doors closed but everything on full view below the doors, right up to the squatters shoulders. That is just something you cant unsee !