We made it to Beijing!

---

I remember when getting to Beijing seemed so far away that it barely registered in our plans and now suddenly here we are! It was dark when we queued for a taxi in Beijing South Railway station. We showed the driver Will's address in Chinese characters and he seemed happy enough with the information. When he started grumbling and driving up and down the same street, we decided to call Will for back-up and were very impressed when he rattled off some directions in Chinese, and the driver cheered up and did a U-turn.

Will was waiting for us on the corner of his street. Seeing him, I couldn't imagine that it was six months since we last saw him in Auckland. He led us to his cool apartment on the 23rd floor, and we were overjoyed to see that there was a spare bedroom for us and a kitchen. Finally, the chance of home-cooking and a break from bunk-beds. We were in heaven.

First on the agenda was a few catch-up drinks in his local pub. While Will decided to stay up until 3am to watch a Liverpool match, the day of travelling caught up with us, and we cried off shortly before kick-off. The next day he showed us the head-quarters of his new business and we also saw one of the shops that he has opened during the intervening six months. It really brought home to us how much time has passed and how hard he has been working during the past half year.

Will was in work during the day. This meant that we had his apartment to ourselves, and the lure of having our own space proved too strong. We vegged out on fried food and watching entire seasons of TV shows on DVD. My excuse is that I came down with a cold. Philippe's is that he was minding me! He only left my side on one occasion, to go for a few drinks with Will and an Irish guy called Stephen. After a raucous night on the tiles, they rolled into the apartment at four in the morning, slurring and trying to order McDonald's delivery. They managed eventually - the only stumbling block being trying to open the door downstairs for the delivery guy. Needless to say Philippe paid for his night out dearly, as the next day was spent hugging the sofa, staring aimlessly at the TV screen.

Will somehow managed to go to work. He has been the ideal host. At work by day, but showing us the nice pubs and restaurants of Beijing by night. Where he gets his energy I don't know. He even fits in Chinese lessons along the way. We had memorable meals in the Japanese Tepanyaki place near his office, a lovely Chinese place near his old office, and food on an outdoor terrace in the Hyatt Hotel building on the 63rd floor. While I was confined to the house we ordered in food. You can order in pretty much anything in Beijing.

After a week of socialising and slobbing around the apartment, we pulled ourselves together enough to make a plan to see the touristy things in Beijing. We eased into the first day, by dropping off our passports for our Mongolian Visa, and then taking a metro down to Tiananmen Square. It was certainly a square, and had several impressive buildings around it, but if you didn't know the history of the place, you wouldn't find it remarkable. We found our way to a famous Peking Duck restaurant to try Beijing's most famous dish. We were not let down, aside from being impressed by the carving skills of our waiter, we were even more impressed by the flavour of the food. It is definitely one of those things that just tastes better in its hometown - a bit like Guinness in Dublin! To cap off the day we went to the Temple of Heaven Park where we enjoyed an ice-cream while sitting in the sun watching the world go by.

Next on our list was a visit to the Forbidden City. We didn't leave ourselves enough time to do the whole complex justice as we had to rush to pick up our passports that evening. But the bit that we did see really let us in on how the Emperors lived here, sealed off from the rest of the world. Common people were not allowed inside the Forbidden City until 1924. The emperor had a room for everything, or even for thinking about different things! I know that we too are tourists, but the hoards of cap wearing tour groups was enough to make me think that they should have kept the place sealed off. Chinese tourists must have a picture beside everything. It certainly was annoying, but mostly it was entertaining to see the various poses that were struck beside things that the poser had no clue about.

We celebrated receiving our Mongolian visas by a night out in the pub with Will and his employees. Many of his employees are European, so it was interesting to hear their take on the local people. When the Leffe beer in the pub ran dry, we wobbled back to Will's apartment, and mentally postponed our activities for the next day.

As it happened, we were functional again by midday, so we decided to make a start on our shopping for the Trans-Mongolian trip we will make next week. That evening we all met up with Stephen again and had a great night on the Sake in the local Japanese restaurant. We moved on to a Mongolian Bar where we were entertained by a buxom Mongolian beauty singing tunes from her homeland. Then we made our way to see the best toilets in Beijing - “Chocolate” is a Russian Bar that has a very very small person on the door as a bouncer, funky chrome toilets and scantily clad lady dancers. It was a very classy establishment, and after one drink and a trip to the loo, we moved on. We ended the night merrily in Beer Mania, the Belgian bar that is Stephen's local.

On Sunday afternoon we were fuzzy headed as we caught the metro to the Summer Palace. This is where the Emperor and his court moved out to during the summer months when Beijing becomes too warm and sticky. At the entrance we were again disappointed by the volume of tourists around, but after we walked a lot farther into the park, we finally saw the beauty of the place. The complex is huge. We took a little boat to get as far as the north exit, passing several beautiful pointy tip roofed temples on the way. At home that evening we took it easy watching the Formula 1 race, through Chinese on the local station.

Monday was ear-marked for the Great Wall of China. We were out of the house by 9am to allow ourselves enough time to get there by public transport. We took the metro to the main bus station and then boarded the 919 bus and sat back for about an hour until we reached Badaling. We saw the Wall from a distance long before we reached our destination.

In Badaling, we just waded through the crowds, paid over 5euro each and climbed step after step, battling against the wind. When we made it to the highest part, it was nice to see the lines of wall in every direction, but there was nothing else to do, except go back to the bus. There is no doubt that connecting all the various kingdoms was a great feat for the time though.

On Tuesday we managed a quick trip to the Silk Markets, guided by Will's employee Chao. She assisted us in negotiations, and we emerged with the Mah Jong set we've been coveting since Chengdu. We even managed to post it back to Holland before getting stuck into our final preparations for the big trip. How many noodles can one person eat? How long will bread last before it goes off? We will be on the train for five and a half days, six if you include the time difference. While there is a restaurant car, apparently you can't depend on the food being all that palatable. On the plus side though, we are going home in style - first class all the way to Moscow!

All packed up, we had a great steak frites and a few drinks with Will and Stephen to mark our last supper in Beijing. We've had a great time here, but between the pollution and the language, I don't honestly think I could live here full time. Besides, we're finally going home!!

---

Photos

Chrome toilets
Oh yeah!