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Published: April 25th 2012
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So, arrived in Beijing last Monday afternoon into glorious sunshine after a day and a half train journey from Ulaanbaatar. After weaving through some beggars and folks selling maps, found the subway which we couldn't see for looking at it and made our way to Dongsishitiao station. Subway is absolute pimps to use in Beijing, everything is in English due to the games, and it only costs 20p a shot.
Hostel was about a 10 minute pad down the road, sweat was flowing, but was lovely to finally get some heat. Shame it didn't last. Restaraunts and street food in abundance on the way down the street, couldn't wipe the smile off my face! Hostel was great too, was basically as good as a premier in room, except it only cost £7 a night. Had our own 3 bed room with ensuite.
First night, we thought we would go and sample the old nightlife. Made our way down to the Sanlitun Bar Street, was a bit too tacky and too many touters kicking about so headed down a little side street to find the bars much better and much cheaper (£1 for everything pretty much). Met a couple of
lads from Leeds who study Chinese in Shanghai who were up for a week so had some drinks with them, and they kindly offered to show us around Shanghai when we arrive. Top lads.
I think we maybe got too excited at the price of drinks, so after a fair few later, experiences including a bunch of Frenchies running down the street saying someone was chasing them so they took our empty bottles off our table, me having a near homosexual experience in a club when a chap tried it on with me (must have been the high kicks), and Craig passing out on a table, it was time to leave. Still have vague recollections of laughing wildly on a rickshaw on the way home. Great night.
The next day was a touch grim. Craig set the Guinnes world record for longest sleep ever, finally arising at 7pm, we headed out for some grub, but the day was pretty much a right off.
Next few days were a lot more productive. Went to Beijing Zoo to see the pandas. Nice to see but they pretty much do nothing. Some of the conditions in the zoo are pretty
atrocious really, painted on scenery in tiny enclosures leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Especially the poor wee baby chimps.
Headed to the Forbidden City the next day, it was the home of the emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasties, sits pretty much slap bang in the middle of the city and is the main tourist attraction. Was quite a site to be fair, bit too many tour groups and some of it got quite monotonous, but a worthy trip indeed. Across the street is Tian'anmen square, the biggest square in the world apparently, so we took a jolly over there aswell.
Up the road and round the corner a wee bit is the Wangfujing snack street. Crazy place. First stall as you enter has scorpions impaled on kebab sticks waiting to be roasted. Still alive I may add. As you wander down the street there is an absolute cornucopia of food to choose from. Traditional chinese dumplings, lamb kebabs, spiders, duck heads, so many chinese delicacies its hard to know where to start. The beauty of it all is that it all costs between 10p-50p. Heaven. Apart from spiders.
Went to the Olympic park
on Friday. Stadiums are all very impressive and the Water Cube even has a Water Park inside now, but at £20 we decided not to. Shame about the weather that day as well. Always seemed to be very misty most of the time we were there so snapping opportunities weren't always at a premium.
Friday night we attended the dumpling party in the hostel. Glad we went as we met some top people. Basically, all the ingredients are laid out on the table and you get to practice rolling them up and shaping them, then they are taken away to get fried or boiled or whatever, and they bring them back. All for free 😊. Met our friends Alex, a chap from England, and Amy and Melissa, two lovely lassies from America, who sadly were coming to the end of their trip.
Had a good night getting to know one another and decided we would all go out the next night together. Met another lad the next night called Jon, who came out with us on Saturday. We were introduced to some great American drinking games, before 10 o'clock came and I got my football face on and
insisted we go to the pub to watch the Newcastle game. Got the night started for me, easy 3-0 win, Champs League here we come.
Took them to some of the same haunts we frequented on the first night, managed to avoid any homosexual contact, so generally made for an all round good night. 5am return time meant another rather lazy day on sunday however.
Monday was our day to visit the Great Wall, turned out Amy and Melissa were going the same day so that was cool. Once again, the bastard mist was everywhere which was a bit of a let down for the views. It is also some trek as well getting up there, and wandering along the top. Rosie thought she would be able to run along the top, how wrong the was. Some of the steps are as big as my leg, you get vertigo at the top of some of the stairs. Really should have taken the cable car up.
A great touch, which we knew nothing about, is the opportunity to take a toboggan on the descent. That was a great laugh. Although kind of a shame looking back that I
enjoyed it more than one of the actual 7 wonders of the world.
Went out for dinner with the girls for the last night. Had a sumptuos feast for the miserly cost of £30 between us. The thing I love about the Chinese food scene is that the food just comes when its ready. There are no courses as such, you just order loads of different dishes, your rice etc, and as soon as one is ready you just get stuck in to it and wait for the next one to come along. We went to 1 restaraunt twice which we really liked because they serve you your main dish on a hot platter, heated by coals, which lasts for hours and you can just eat away at it, rest, then dig in again whenever your peckish.
We also got very attached to a breakfast dish which was a life saver almost every morning. It was made by the street vendors, it was sort of like a massive crepe which they cooked on a giant round hob, they cracked an egg on it, turned it over, painted it with various sauces, chucked on spring onions, herbs, various spices,
a sausage if you so wished it, and put a sort of rice cake thing on the top, before folding it all up and handing you it in a wee bag. All for 40p. Honestly, I can't stop chuckling at the price of food.
We left Beijing on Tuesday at 7am, next destination Wuhan, which is pretty much in the heart of the country. Ill leave that for next time.
I absolutely love China so far. You may have gathered that the food is the main reason for this. It is so diverse, and the fact that it is readily available on the streets at literally anytime of the day, for pennies, is tremendous. The Chinese people are great as well. If you can get over the constant staring, and them taking sly photos of you, they are a great bunch. They have a real passion for spitting as well. You can hear behind you someone hocking their throat out, turn around expecting it to be a huge brute, but its just some little old lady putting together the biggest greener youve ever seen. Makes me laugh no end.
Still got a couple of weeks left in
China, hope it contiues to be as good as it has been so far (only with a slight upturn in the weather if possible).
All the best to everyone back home, if you ever get the chance to go to China, do it. I fear a 3 weeks may not be long enough to appreciate all this country has to offer.
Stevo xx
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JANE GRINDLAY
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Another great blog Steve.......hope you have recovered from the homosexual advances,ha!Next instalment awaited.........pictures of the wall very impressive xxx