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Published: August 8th 2007
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A snack with a sting
Lovely live scorpions on a stick. Why would you ? I ask ya We arrived in Beijing at 20:00. New country, new city, new language, all aspects that do not worry us too much these days. We passed all taxi offers and went straight for the public bus. Changed to the subway, got a bit confused as all was in Kangi but finally found the right line to the Hostel, a piece of cake with not a single word of Chinese. The hostel mentioned that it is 200 m from the subway station - obviously that was wishfull thinking. Finally some helpful Chinese woman explained where the actual road was we were trying to find. All in Chinese but you get used to read faces and hand gestures while travelling.
We arrived at our "Hostel" which turned out to be more like an "Inn". Nevermind, we welcomed the privacy of our own room and the clean and nice bathroom. We instantly collapsed and slept until the next day... and the afternoon... we had few sleepless nights to recover from 😉 Finally hunger got us out of bed. And what a way to ease you into a new country, wander around, pick a place you fancy, order some delicious food, relax and enjoy your
Hutong Hutong
Our hotel was down this typical Beijing Street life. It works for us every single time. Obviously, the perception of the country we visit is well manipulated by the food it has on offer. China so far has made a brilliant start.
Now Andy's eyesight was working again (he always complains to get blind when hungry ?!?) we both noticed the turning heads and stares. Though you can see quite a few foreigners in Beijing they still seem to be a novelty. We on the other hand stared back at the new environment and finally realised, we are in CHINA!
The next day we finally felt fit enough to do some sight seeing, and what else would be on our itinery if not Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Beijing was still hazy, no sun, clouds or anything really that was more than 500m away. The square made us much more aware about the comunistic presence than any other place so far. The buildings looked heavy and very square, like loud statements. Mao Tzetung was looking at us from the heavenly gate and everyone was very keen to get a picture with him. The Forbidden City was much bigger than we expected. We wondered around for
This lady is guilty of Cat Abuse
I believe it was strangled somwhere off stage, by the sound hours, making sure not to faint in the heat. Many of the buidlings were being restored, so we could not see everything. This was a common sight in Beijing, roads dug up, buildings repainted... obviously getting ready for the olympic games. The capital is also trying hard to stop the locals from noisy spitting. There are various signs which prohibit this activity and also apparently some are asked to pay a fine. We can confirm that all these attempts are not very successful. Spitting is still taking place not only outdoors, but also in busses, internet cafes or even some restaurants. Yum! Also, some skilled nose cleaning is happening in China. Instructions: Close one nostril with your finger and blow as hard as you can through the other, straight onto the floor. Who needs tissues?!
The next day we had an authentic Bejing (old Peking) duck, along with some other delicious food. It was the most expensive meal we have eaten so far as it cost us about 15pound for two!!! now that is really expensive for China. It was in a very nice restaurant and we ate 3 dishes besides our 1/2 duck which was a pure indulgence,
Beijing Duck
How could we come here without sampling this classic but for us that is what the world is all about, the food. It is possible to eat well for under 2 pound, so we splashed out 😊 There was a crazy thunderstorm on our way home which blew up from nowhere. The wind suddently picked up and the sky started to open and flash with thunder. Then the rain came and we had to stop in the end as we were getting soaked. Andy was however unfortunate enought to get run over by a bike on the path. Nothing serious, he just got knocked to the ground and scratched his knee and elbow, and has now a few minor bruises. Not sure what happened but he ended up on the ground with the surprised chinese. How many people can say they where run over by a bicycle in china???
Of course we were not to leave Beijing without seeing the biggest attraction of China - the great wall! We decided to go to a part of the wall that is far away from Beijing to avoid the crowds. The plan certainly paid off, after 3 hours of driving we were let loose in Juyongguan. From here we would
Pork Dish
very pretty as where all the dishes in this restaurant walk about 10km to Simatai, which would give us about 3-4 hours on the wall. The wall on that stretch was not at all intact, some fragments were heavily destroyed and others very steep. That was certainly not ment to be for a "stroll". Half way we noticed black clouds following us and we heard the warning thunder. Although we risked it to get wet, the dark sky presented us with an unreal scenery. We felt very privileged and soon we were rewarded with another spectacular view - Mongolia! Nobody noticed that it actually started to rain. Lighthearted we went to meet our driver and have some lunch with the few people that came with us on this magnificent tour.
That evening we were about to hear if we can get our tickets to Pingyao, our next stop. Buying train tickets in China is another mystery. Apparently the day before there were none for the night we wanted to go, but a day later our hostel tourist agent would try again to get tickets for the same night. Success! We scored a hardsleeper to Pingyao. The train tickets in China come not in classes but in categories - Hard
seat - Soft seat - Hard sleeper (6 bunks) and Soft Sleeper (4 bunks). The desired backpacker one is the Hard sleeper.
On our last night in Beijing we went to the wangfujing snack street to test our stomachs. Just off Wangfujing Dajie you can find this famous street with special snacks like fried scorpio, starfish and seahorse (naughty!!!). We stayed with the more conventional food and tried a giant spring roll, some stinky tofu (Josie actually liked it), a kebab and sugar covered grapes and haw.
So finally we made our way out of Beijing - we have been there nearly a week! We found ourselves at the Beijing West train station and thought we were the only gringos as far as the eye could see until two guys arrived (Eliseo and Zak) which we have met before during the great wall trek. Still, we seemed to be the only 4 weirdos on the train and were greeted with the expected stare. As soon as the gates to the train opened, China showed us what it thinks of queuing - nothing! Don't even try to be polite as that will result in you getting last on the
Entrace to the Forbidden City Complex
...with the iconic picture of the former leader train. Later we discovered that queuing in general is not one of Chinas strong points. However, the people on the train turned out to be very friendly, smiling at us and helping us wherever possible. Josie got the universal "UNO" game out and managed to explain the rules with not saying a word in Chinese. Soon there was a competitive game going on which would make the evening pass in no time. 23:00 was "lights off" time and the whole train turned dark. No parties on the train to be had. We did as we were told and went to bed in anticipation what the next day has to offer.
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