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Published: March 14th 2006
Well, you'll notice that this entry is missing something. That's because we're missing something. Last night in the
hutongs of Beijing, someone got into Justin's pocket and nabbed our camera. Fortunately, we had uploaded all of our pictures up until Beijing onto our snapfish account, but we lost everything that we had taken of Beijing, including (so sad, so sad) the pictures of us at the Great Wall. You'll just have to take our word that it was stunning, and we looked great up there.
Beijing will look beautiful for the 2008 Olympics. Right now, just about every building and tourist site is under scaffolding. Also, someone is going to have to rewrite every guidebook and map because nothing is right anymore. We spent hours (literally hours) looking for buildings that we eventually found our had been demolished, moved, or hidden because the nearby landmarks had been demolished or moved. Beijing is an incredibly interesting city, but we've honestly had a very frustrating couple of days. On top of the obvious theft dissappoint and huge language challenge, we've had far more "errors" in our change at stores and "disagreements" with our taxi fares (there are meters, but we had to insist that they get used) than anywhere we've been.
Our first priority on arrival was getting our tickets for the Trans-Mongolian train, but we had five days to deal with this - no problem. On the first day we got a late start and set out to get some food. Checking out the guidebook for a nearby restaurant, the first place we tried was closed and the second was now a highrise in progress, but we finally found our third attempt - out of our price range, but the only thing left in the area. At least, Xiao Wang's Home Restaurant, highly recommended in Lonely Planet, lived up to the hype. After our feast, we went to the travel agent in our hotel. There was definitely a language barrier, but when the word Mongolia got absolutely no response, we began to get a little bit worried. Our little bit or worry turned into a lot of worry when we looked up online and found out that train tickets need to be booked weeks in advance but the listed ticket office was already closed for the day. We could do nothing but wait until the next day. We realized that we hadn't bought any over-priced tickets for tourist entertainment in several weeks. Hearing that the acrobat show featured 12 girls on one bicycle, we were sold.
On the second day, our plan was to hit the train ticket sales desk and then head to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City in central Beijing. The agent was very helpful but told us that they only sell Chinese trian tickets and not international tickets to Mongolia or Russia. She directed us to another office. This was at least in the general direction of Tiananmen Square so we walked a bit and took the subway the rest of the way (a bit of a challenge with Chinese characters, but we made it). We got to the office just after the lunch hour, but even though the office was open, no train reservations could be made on Saturday. Come back on Monday. Now we really began to worry. We tried the Beijing Train Station, but the ticket window's sign directed international passengers back to the office we had just come from. At least there was agreement. So with nothing to do but wait until Monday, we headed over to Tiananmen. Again, Mao's Mauseleum was closed, but the square was open. We wondered around, took some pictures (pause for a moment of silence, please), and met a bunch of art students simultaneously practicing their English and selling their paintings on display in the Beijing Museum. We passed but said we would come back later. We were in a hurry to see the Forbidden City. Of course, by the time we got there it was closed.
The third day was our tour of the Great Wall. We have seen many "must-see" tourist destinations and many are wonderful, while others have been underwhelming. The Great Wall is amazing, totally living up to expectations. Our day-long tour was getting a little bit annoying adding stops at an enamel factory, a jade factory, and then a tea factory. The main morning stop at the Ming tombs was interesting, but very rushed, and the tour's Chinese lunch included french fries. However, none of this mattered because the wall itself was worth the tour price. There is a cable car up to one of the wall's towers, but we opted to hike it. This decision may have been a little naive, but we now totally appreciate how steeply the wall rises and falls. When we reached the eight tower - the "Real Men" tower - we were easily sold on the rollercoaster (yup, rollercoaster) ride back down to the bottom. That night we decided to find a bar recommended by our friend Ryan who was here last Fall. We spent two hours obstinently trying to find the aptly named Hidden Tree, only to be told that it had been bulldozed and relocated. We spent an hour trying to find the new location but finally gave up.
Finally, Monday arrived, and we returned to the ticket office. And although still smarting a bit by our unintended tour the night before, everything was OK again when we found we could buy our train tickets. Since we'd had so much trouble finding train information and tickets, we ditched the idea of going to Mongolia and just bought the tickets straight to Moscow. So that settled, we set out to find our lunch. We don't really need to recount the details, but again, we spent hours hunting around in the alleys or hutongs for a recommended duck restaurant. This time, we were at least victorious. We found the hidden place, and the peking duck was delicious. We took a picture of the ducks hanging in the wood oven (another moment of silence, please). Once, again we trekked across Tiananmen, found that Mao was closed, and were chased by several art students practicing English and selling paintings. While the Forbidden City was open we decided to put it off one more day because there wasn't much time left. We wandered around the parks where everything was under scaffolding and even the lake is drained. Finally we ended up in a touristy area of hutong alleys north of the Forbidden City, and after dinner the camera was seen for the last time.
So our plan to spend all of Tuesday site-seeing was once again sidetracked. We got online and googled "Beijing Police Station," and were totally amused (in an ironic sense) to find that the first hit was a
page of directions to the new location of the Hidden Tree bar. Tucking those away for later, we did find a police station for our immediate needs. Despite our huge language barrier, everyone was really helpful, but it took three police stations, several taxi rides, and about 6 hours to get our police report for the insurance. We quickly grabbed lunch in Tiananamen, gave up on Mao, and tried to outrun the the art students (you really have no idea how aggressive these art students are). An hour before close, we finally entered the Forbidden City. Like the Chinese peasants of old, we had only caught glimpses of what was beyond the walls, but now we were finally inside. We grabbed a disposable camera, and got a few pictures. Afterwards, we dashed to the market to buy a replacement camera, some final souvenirs, and food for the train.
Oh yeah, and while all this was going on, we found our car was broken into and the city of Chicago towed it. Our friends Ryan and Erica have been navigating the pound and insurance company. We can't thank you guys enough. Sorry, you had to deal with this.
Tonight, with our new instructions, we're going to set out again for a much deserved beer at the "Hidden Tree." Since we'll be on the train for the next six days, you won't hear from us for about a week, and we won't hear about the fate of our car.
Well, you'll notice that this entry is missing something. That is because we are missing something. Last night in the
hutongs of Beijing, someone got into Justin's pocket and nabbed the camera. Fortunately, we had uploaded all of our pictures until Beijing onto our Snapfish account, but we lost everything from Beijing including (so sad, so sad) those of us at the Great Wall. You'll just have to take our word that it was stunning, and we looked great up there.
Beijing will look great in 2008 for the Olympics. Right now, we found just about every building and site under scaffalding. Someone is going to have to rewrite all of the guidebooks and maps before the summer games because already everything is wrong. Everyday here we've spent hours (literally hours) hunting for something that we found out later was demolished, moved, or hidden because the nearby landmarks were demolished or moved. Beijing is great, but we've had a tremendously frustrating couple of days.
We knew that our first priority had to be getting our train tickets for the Trans-Mongolian trip to Moscow, but we had a five days in Beijing so we could get this done - no problem. Admittedly on the first day here, we got a late start and headed out for a restaurant near our hostel. The first place from the guidebook was closed, the second was now a high rise going up, but we finally found our third choice - a bit out of budget but the only left in the area. But Xiao Wang's Home Restaurant, highly recommended by Lonely Planet, at least lived up to the hype. After our feast, we returned to the travel agent in our hostel. There was definitely a language barrier and the words Trans-Mongolia registered nothing.
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Simone
non-member comment
next stop, Moscow
Hey...I'm not asking you to do any homework. Just wanted to say hello. I love catching up with where you are traveling from the comfort of my desk...I am eager to hear how the Trans-Siberian express was. Can I reprint a few paragraphs from Beijing in the newsletter?? Simone