The Olympic town Beijing from a different perspective (4.-11.11.08)

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We arrived in Beijing at the huge brand new terminal, got the airport bus to town and found the Youth hostel near the Lama temple with some difficulties. It was hidden in one of the narrow side lanes of the Hutongs just next to the famous restaurant street Guije (ghost street). The next morning Yuki did not feel well and we had a relaxed day. Unfortunately she did not get better and developed over night a very high fewer. I remembered the nearby International SOS clinic with reliable doctors not far away decided to see a doctor since she was very weak. The Australian doctor had some certain humor when he announced after a careful examination that there was no cure for her illness. She got a virus infect and had to sleep and recover. He gave us a prescription for antibiotics in case her coughing was getting worse. We needed these soon since she was not getting better and I worried about her. I wandered around the hutong area by myself and visited my favorite Confucius temple. The temple was not as overrun as the close by Lama temple and had spacious courtyards with stone tablets naming all the scholars that passed the infamous mandarin exam. It hosted a photo exhibition of a project called “The great wall revisited”. When I lived in Beijing from 2004-2006, hiking on the wild great wall was one of the best things to do and left in me great memories. Therefore I wanted to see the photos. The American William Lindesay had the idea to revisit places on the great wall that were documented in old photographs from the beginning of last century, take pictures from the exactly same location and to compare it to recently taken. By this he tries to assess the damage and deconstruction that occurred during the last 100 years. The pictures were fascinating taken at several places and reminded me very much on my own hikes. It turned out that some parts of the wall remained almost unchanged and were surprisingly robust.

It took Yuki several days to recover from the virus and we did mostly short trips during noon time. We visited the Olympic sites and admired the birds nest and water cube. The area was busy during the weekend due to the huge open space and possibility of a unique stroll. How the big stadiums will be used was still in discussion according to a city magazine.

We were lucky to be in Beijing during the major International Figure Ice skating event “Cup of China”. This was the chance to see some of the world class ice skating athletes live in the Capital Gymnasium. We bought easily tickets at the door for the final competition of Ice dancing and Women figure skating. The ladies competition was exciting with the Japanese Miki Ando and the Korean Yu-Na Kim competing against each other. It was a clear win for Kim in the end. Another event we visited was the International Student Film Festival at the Beijing Film Academy. It is known for some famous directors as Zhang Yimou and has a very good international reputation. We saw one screening with Chinese movies and one international session. Almost all movies were subtitled in English. Some of the movies were weird some very entertaining - a very special and unique mix.

The last days we spent hunting for outdoor equipment and browsing through markets. We good some good supply of equipment for snowboarding and winter walking. We also managed to find finally the Panda hats that Yuki liked so much in Chengdu, but did not buy before.
Yuki was finally better and we booked a flight to Tokyo. We were tired from travelling, hotel rooms and changing places and looked forward to a temporary apartment in Tokyo.


Great wall conversation: http://www.friendsofgreatwall.org/
The great wall revisited: http://www.friendsofgreatwall.org/2walls/English/index.htm
Student film festival: http://www.isfvf.cn

Practicalities:
Accommodation 240 RMB
Taxi mid range 20-30 RMB
Subway 2-3 RMB
Ticket Ice skating 55 RMB
Ticket Film festival 3 RMB
International doctor visit 140 Euro
Down sleeping bag -15C 1400 RMB
Ski trouser 350 RMB
Flight Beijing-Tokyo 2480 RMB

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