Zen and the art of Rickshaw Management

Well, here I am in Beijing.
This is more or less a test run for both my blog being live and my new memory card reader (thanks Griff) and my nifty photo resizer I downloaded before I left.
I though, if it all goes to pot, I'll only lose a days worth of photos and that would be bearable.

My first day in Beijing was about as eventful as it could be considering the heat and my jet laggedness. I was feeling a wee bit nervy about navigating the city on my own... it's not like Europe where you can understand words here and there, even if you don't know a language. I needn't have been worried though. As soon as we landed my butterflies went away. Customs was a piece of cake, even though I had a bag of raw nuts and seeds - "no problem". I hopped on a shuttle to the central train station with the intention of getting the subway to Qianmen, the nearest station to my hostel. As soon as I got off the bus I was accosted by a 'taxi' driver, asking if I needed a hotel, a ride, etc. Maybe it was a combination of the rising heat, my world on my back and my laggy brain, but I finally caved and said where I was staying. He assured me he knew where it was and had been there lots of times. We then negotiated a price, he said 50 in the end which is twice what the hostel recommends paying from the station but I said ok. After all, it's only $10.

Anyway, along we went, down some funny wee backstreets, me without a clue what direction anything was in. After a while it seemed a bit dodgy and I checked that we'd be passing Tiananmen Square and he said "yes, yes". Eventually he pulled over and said the hostel was just around the corner and that would be 50 US dollars (!!!) I told him he was joking and we argued a bit but I decided to give him a couple of hundred yuan to get rid of him (that's about $25 US) and walked off down the road in the direction he had indicated. It didn't take long to realise that there was no hostel anywhere near. After dithering a bit I found a big hotel and got the concierge to call the hostel for directions. It was easy enough, then, to catch the right bus and within an hour I'd found the hostel - clear on the opposite side of the city, the little shit. I swore off rickshaw cabs then and there.

Once I'd settled into the hostel, no worse the wear but a few dollars down on my budget, I chose The Temple of Heaven as a suitably relaxing and easy afternoon exploration for my first day in China. It's a collection of buildings, mostly built in the 15th century and all set in a lovely manicured park/forest setting. About half way there I was nearly expiring of the heat combining with my post plane headache and I gave in to another rickshaw driver. Will I ever learn??? However, this time I thought it'd be ok, since I knew the direction we were going in and I was pretty sure I'd end up at the right place. We agreed on a price, again more than it was worth I think, and off we went. We arrived without mishap or wrong turn at the north gate of the Temple of Heaven Park and I paid him with a hundred, having not enough smaller money. I learnt my second lesson of the day, then - not only should you know the general route you need to take, but you should also have correct money for the fare. I got 10yuan too little in my change and when I queried it my driver, all of a sudden, couldn't speak any English whatsoever. Lol.

Aside from that, the Temple and grounds was lovely and I narrowly avoided falling asleep in the shade under a tree. I got several hours walking in and now I smell absolutely revolting. Luckily I hear the showers here are awesome.

First impressions of Beijing: it smells like a combination of stale dirty undies, raw sewerage, rancid animal fat and various kinds of cooking meat with some more dirty undies thrown in. But it's bearable because it's not a constant stench. It comes in waves, usually when walking in the vicinity of a hutong that's being rebuilt. I guess it's centuries of waste being excavated along with the general city smells. I've got lots planned for the next three days, two of which will be out of the city which will be nice. Then it's onwards to Mongol land. Yay. But I think I'll have fun in Beijing... it's not a bad city, for all the dirt.

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