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Published: August 5th 2009
Note: So sorry about the order of the photos... Travelblog is having a laugh at my expense and each time I load them they move further and further from their original order and it will only let me fix a few!! Regardless only a small number of our photos made it on. If you are interested in seeing the others (or are just incredibly bored and need something to fill large gaps of your time) please leave me a note w/ your email (send a comment, I will not publish your email if you don't want).
A link to a video about many of the famous places we went in Beijing:
Reflections after our first day:
Beijing is fantastic. It can be loud, crowded and chaotic. Sometimes its every person for themselves such as when getting on and off the subway. Crossing the road is quite the experience as well. You wait for the crossing light to tell you its ok to walk - and cars still come at you! Sometimes they'll even honk to get you to move when you have the right of way!
But I love it. The messy, vibrancy of life here.
Most people are friendly. Most will also rob you blind if given the chance, but that is their way. We have learned quickly to ask the price of something first, to haggle if possible, and to avoid almost anyone who comes up to us. No we don't want our picture taken / that dirty piece of paper you're holding / the bracelet you're trying to shove on my wrist / the fried pig's heart - but thanks anyway! It is sad not to be able to trust anyone, but much safer for us.
This city is beautiful and so different from our new home in Korea. Here things look old and new together. They are building with cranes next to a pile of rubble that used to be a shop. Beijing is also very modern in parts (probably thanks to the Olympics). It is bursting with shopping areas including their local names as well as Nike, Adidas, Gucci, Armani and yes, Coach. KFC is the most frequent foreign food brand here, appearing on almost every other corner. Apparently pumping our chickens full of hormones in the U.S. got boring so they took on China. (Note: after being here longer
I realize that McDonalds shows up just as frequently.)
The hutongs are a curiosity I haven't quite fulfilled. But many are falling apart and being knocked down. Many are also being rebuilt. If you saw the dilapidated state of some you would understand the need to start anew. People are living in many buildings still and they have been reduced to little more than dusty shacks, some with holes in the roof. These are not the buildings you will see in your 'guided hutong bike tour' nor will you come across them in a video introduction to Beijing. But they are the historical character that make up much of the city. And falling apart or relatively new, they provide homes for 20% of Beijing's huge population.
I have not had the chance to examine the rebuilt hutongs in detail. They may lack the charm of their predecessors but at least they wont kill their inhabitants. Fran thinks the rows and rows of painted grey with black clay til roof buildings leave much to be desired. He thinks they should have been removed with communism. I am curious still. About the people who live in them and the lifestyle
Shopping
We have no idea what most of this was but it was all very interesting.they have.
Day 1:
We landed in Beijing on Friday July 24th around 2pm. It immediately started pouring.
We were told to wait on the plane for someone to come around and check our temperatures. They never came. So we all got off and made our way through immigration and customs. It took us about an hour to get from the airport on the shuttle to the subway and switch lines a few times before following the directions we had to get to our hostel. It was all pretty straightforward for once.
We checked into a three bedroom dorm as they were out of doubles. Dropped our stuff in the room, grabbed a map from someone at the front desk and headed out in the direction of Wangfujing Dajie (a main shopping street) which runs parallel to the Forbidden City. The city we knew was closed by this point, but we figured if we walked alongside it we would eventually reach Tiananmen Square.
It took us hours and hours to make it to Tiananmen. The fact of the matter is that we got lost looking for the biggest public square on earth. Shame on us. When
Hungry?
The craziest part was even though impaled, they were still moving. we tired of walking we hopped in a rickshaw who we hired to bring us to Tiananmen for RMB 15 (about $2). We had no idea where it was, so we were a bit unsure about this price. 30 seconds later we were getting off. The man pointed across the road - there. Right, ok. Rip off, but we were learning right? And its only just there - though we still have no idea why he couldn't have just brought us all the way.
Well, it took us half an hour to make it around to the entrance. You have to use stairs and underground passages to make your way so that the cars can keep moving & the police can funnel people in and out of the square while keeping an eye on them. China is full of such ironies. We had to put our bags through a scanner, but no one scanned our persons - and after everything that has happened in this particular square over the years...
Anyway, we finally made it to Tiananmen with our packet of crisps and oreos and a bottle of water (the only foods available in the immediate area). And
yes, the square is massive. We posed for a few pictures with other tourists - the Chinese have a very extensive collection of pictures of Fran & I. Then we headed in the direction of Mao (or at least his very large picture). Apparently, these days the square closes. We suddenly found ourselves along with all the other throngs of people, being herded back and out. It felt like we were in the middle of a riot (although a quiet one), which seemed appropriate. So we crossed the street to Mao's huge portrait and wandered the parks around the forbidden city until it was dark and we went looking for some food. We ate at a 'wannabe' Thai place where the food was passable and we were too tired to care, before dragging ourselves back to the hostel.
Day 2:
We spent the majority of the day inside the Forbidden City, including lunch at a place inside (it was pretty awful). It is a fantastic and very large place. Fran really enjoyed the copper vats. He describes it as "Massive and full of lots of people. And apparently there's a Starbucks inside." After that we walked across the street
No, not Disney World.
Just the food market. to Jingshan Park where we climbed to the top of the hill and enjoyed a gorgeous view of the Forbidden City. From there we walked through the park to the bottom of the hill where we stopped for a drink and ended up enjoying our first tea ceremony.
For the tea ceremony we each picked the type of tea we wanted to try. I tried the lychee and Fran tried a Jasmine which flowered. The brewing process of the tea was explained. We were given different cups - tall thin ones for smelling the tea, and short tiny ones for drinking the tea. Fran was told to keep his ring and pinky fingers together but not to touch the cup with them. This symbolized the dragon which is the sign of the emperor. I was told to keep my ring and pinky fingers off the cup as well but to separate them to symbolize the phoenix which is the sign of the empress. Also you drink the first cup in three sips for good luck. We were also shown how to tell whether or not the water for making the tea is hot enough. They have a little figure
which the woman referred to as the 'pee pee boy'. You pour the hot water over the top of the figure's head and if he 'pees' the water is hot enough. If not, you should get some hotter water!
From the ceremony we crossed the road and headed into Beihai park. It was close and we had read about it, but we were certainly not prepared for the beauty that awaited us once we got there. This park was the "former playground of the Yuan emperors. Jade Islet (the hill we climbed) is composed of earth scooped out to create the lake - some attribute this to Kublai Khan." We climbed to the top of the hill where the huge White Dagoba (originally built in 1651 for the Dalai Lama's visit). On top there were children dressing up as emperors & empresses to take pictures, some people blowing bubbles, and of course, a view of the entire park. From here we raced back down to rent a paddle boat - I was very excited to get out on the lake and relax in the breeze after a day of walking. I guess the joke was partially on me when
I realized how much work it took to paddle our boat! The views from the lake were almost better than the ones atop the hills as we planned our boatride around the sunset.
We spent some time exploring until it got dark and we hired a taxi to bring us to Hua Jia Yi Yuan restaurant. The menu was incredibly extensive including Chinese foods from around the entire country. I think we got a little carried away ordering duck roll-ups as an appetizer, and Fran got a huge bowl of soup (it was very gelitanous). For the main course I ordered sweet & sour pork thinking it must be better in China, as well as some noodles. The noodles were delicious & when the pork came it was as well. Fran ordered what he later decided should have read on the menu "Chicken cartiledge" on the menu. It was tendons with a small bit of meat. Too much work for not enough reward. We also ordered dim sum which turned out to be a dessert. 12 different desserts in fact. It was a filling, interesting meal. I felt bad that Fran still had not had any food in China
that he was impressed with, but gladly forked over (no pun intended) some of mine as it was more than one person could possibly eat - though the waitress told me in plain English it wouldn't be enough!
After dinner we were headed back to the hostel for an earlyish night as we were scheduled to go to the great wall in the morning. I had no idea what was in store for me yet, but I ended up becoming quite sick that evening & getting only one hour of sleep.
Day 3:
In the morning I discovered my one hour was the hour directly before we were supposed to have woken and our wake-up call from the front desk had never occurred. (Later we found out they had called but our phone wasn't set to ring). So I went to take a shower & Fran came back saying that we only had 20 minutes before we had to leave! Then he checked again and discovered the clock in the lobby was wrong. Either way we rushed to get downstairs and have breakfast so the bus wouldn't leave without us. I was scared. I had no food &
barely any water in my system. I was tired, and I couldn't be sure as to whether or not I was still sick. Could I get on the bus? I guess you don't have very many opportunities to climb the Great Wall of China in your life and it won out over fear that something bad would happen. I was taking my chances.
I was fortunate. Aside from being tired, dehydrated & dizzy I was fine. The bus dropped us off where you start climbing and we were surprised by the amount of stalls selling things. "Mutianyu is a 2250m. granite section of the Great Wall. It dates from the Ming dynasty. It was originally developed as an alternative to Badaling." (Badaling is the most commonly photographed & visited section of the wall which is exactly why we didn't want to go. It is overrun with tourists and hawkers.) "Mutianyu is notable for its numerous Ming dynasty guard towers and stirring views." It also has two sets of cable cars and a tobogan run from the top. We hiked up the trail to the wall and then took a short break before continuing.
It was amazing. The views
from the top looking at the other mountains and even looking down on the other parts of the wall from higher elevations are stunning. We tried to capture some of this in our photographs so that all of you could also experience a bit, but I'm not sure you can understand the rush standing up there gives you. Perhaps it will inspire some to go themselves. You will notice an umbrella in our photos. Umbrellas were essential in China (really in Korea as well). They provide shelter from the rain, as well as the sun and so we used our umbrella almost every day of our trip.
We were given three hours to climb to the top of the wall, walk from one set of cable cars to the other and come back down. Fran was really excited to take the tobogan down, unfortunately the side we ended up on only had cable cars so we took that down instead. It was a bit frightening when the car sped up and then just dropped, but shortly after it slowed down and the ride was quite enjoyable. When you hit the bottom you are smack in the middle of the
hawkers as you make the final part of your climb down. We had heard some women offering two t-shirts for $1 on the way up. I decided to see if I could get that deal.
Unfortunately the first woman I talked to must have been having a hard day and getting a bit desperate. She wanted RMB 280 for 2 shirts. I didn't really want to pay more than RMB 40 (about $6). When I wasn't willing to pay her price and tried to walk away she cornered me and started to grab my wrists. Fran had to try and pull her back before she finally let me by. I ended up holding out with good reason (she only went down to RMB 60). I managed to get two "I climbed the Great Wall" shirts (corny, I know, but the dragon on the back is quite nice) for only RMB 20 - roughly $3. If I'd had any actual dollar bills from the U.S. I could have had two shirts for one dollar. Its crazy, I know. And I do feel a bit bad as the people making the products are not getting fair money for what they're making.
But me paying the hawkers too much won't help those people either.
Fran also mastered the art of haggling over a tapestry. He managed to talk to woman down from RMB 480 to RMB 80. She wasn't too happy with the price but Fran came back down the hill with the tapestry like a successful hunter coming home with his prey. (I did not get to witness any of this as I needed a rest under the umbrella from the hot sun.)
We met up with the rest of our bus group (made up of travellers from four different hostels and one guide who happened to work at Happy Dragon where we were staying). Once everyone was back we got on the bus for a short trip to a local restaurant where we had lunch. We sat at a round table with about 7 other climbers and in the middle of the table is a large glass carousel (?) that you can turn so everyone can get to the food in the middle. One couple was originally from New Zealand, living in London for years now & doing the Trans-siberian rail route which starts in China. Another couple
were from the Netherlands. The girl is finishing school there but she flew to visit her boyfriend who is currently working in Japan. They came to China specifically to see the eclipse - which we did actually see in Korea before we went on our trip with our school teachers. There was also a German girl who was studying for 6 months in Australia and Beijing was her week-long layover before returning to Germany. On the bus home we chatted to some other people from the U.S./Canada/U.K. all of them teachers in Korea as well on summer holiday like us.
Back at the hostel I was relieved to have made it through the day and we were both relishing our climb. Fran passed out for about an hour and when I woke him up we headed out to find the Hard Rock Cafe, Beijing. It was very nice, having recently been reopened. Fran thought our boneless chicken tenders with various dipping sauces were the best thing he'd eaten since coming to China. From there we walked to the nearby Sanlitun Bar area. The first western-style bar opened in this area years ago and since then many many others have
sprung up. In the older area the bars are just replicas of one another, but the newer streets are full of differently themed bars and restaurants. I wasn't too hungry after our appetizer but Fran fancied a chicken tikka marsala at what was reputedly the best place to get one in town. Whether or not it was the best, we'll never know, but the gentleman who owned it was very nice and Fran was quite satisfied. His meal also came with na'an bread, homemade lemonade and mango kulfi.
After a very long, full day we were ready to go home. We walked through a little bit more the bar/restaurant area and then hopped in a taxi.
***The rest of our story will continue in a different blog so that those readers (you know who you are!) who have been anxiously awaiting the tales of our trip can get their fix 😊
Also, anything in quotations which explains the history of the sights we visited was referenced from Lonely Planet Beijing.
China Take II coming soon!!!!!!!!
xxxxxxJess & Fran
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Jan
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Travel Guide
Loved the detailed travelogue. Interesting and thought-provoking. Thanks for sharing.