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Published: March 17th 2010
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The flight in from Tokyo was a little brutal, truth be told, as it didn't land until nearly 11pm, and then there was the queue for immigration. I've been in some slow moving queues before, but this one took me an hour to move about 10 metres! Naturally my luggage was waiting for me when I walked through the otherside, so I guess there's a silver lining to most things! On the other hand it meant it was now midnight and I needed to get into Beijing with two huge bags... After a quick chat to the "tourist information" people I decided to brave the taxi rank.... the TI had said that my luggage wouldn't fit in a taxi, but that they had a car they could provide, for a mere snip, at 5 times the rate for a taxi! (Introduction to China number 1) After struggling around the airport with 50kgs of bags I joined the queue for the taxis and was beaten to almost all of them by the people behind me (introduction to China number 2). The drive to the hotel was actually pretty straightforward - I had the hotel name and address written down in Chinese characters,
so it was a relaxing crossing of 6 ring roads in the mist, and the hotel proved to be quite nice...
Until I was woken up the next morning by the chimes of the Beijing equivalent of Big Ben! Oh well, since I was now awake I decided to investigate the buffet and was very disappointed to find out it wasn't that different to a buffet breakfast anywhere else in the world. A quick wander outside the hotel into the local Hutong (the old, small houses and alleyways), then I jumped on the subway bound for Tian'men Square (their spelling, not mine!) I probably could have walked it in about 30 mins if I'd known where I was going, but for 20p (2 Yuan) it was rude not to!
First view of the square was of lots of railings and red flags, and a few police. I thought this was normal, and wandered into the Forbiddden City. It quickly became apparent why it's known as a city.... flippin heck the place is huge, and despite the hoardes of people pouring in it never seemed to fill up. Was indecently cold, though, and there were people shovelling snow into dustpans and
Beijing railway station
look at that queue. I still don't know what it was for! ferrying these to wheelbarrows to remove it. Where the buildings have been restored it's utterly stunning - a little more sunshine would have done it a lot more justice, and I wandered aimlessly past the crowds of german tourists, and the groups of Chinese. As you walk in through one gate you are presented with a huge courtyard... you walk to the back of this and through the next gate into.... a rather large courtyard... on walking through the gate at the back of this you find yourself in another big courtyard. I thought someone was playing russian dolls with me, either that or there was something in the water!
All this walking meant I'd built up a hunger, but finding something to eat more than a packet of crisps proved a little difficult, so I found myself low on energy, struggling to resist the hard sell at the art "exhibitions" - they had some lovely paintings of bamboo, the four seasons, and of course the Great Wall, but even though I liked them, I kept thinking of where I could put them in my already stuffed and ludicrously heavy luggage... so as I tried to walk away they lowered
Tian'men Square
complete with railings and red flags the price... (introduction to China lesson 3) until it was around half of what they started at. I really should have posted some home, but I think I'd quickly need somewhere bigger to live!
I managed to escape their clutches and emerged from the City after 4 hours, and I'm still not sure that I saw even half of the area, to find Tian'men Square absolutely crawling with every type of uniformed officer you can think of - police, security, party volunteers, army, SWAT etc etc. It turns out that the congress of the "parliament" had just begun, and I'd missed my chance to wander around the square, so back to the hotel for a regroup and work out what I wanted to do next. I caught a taxi to the extravagantly named "Temple of Heaven", and when I appraoched the gate of the park I was told I needed to pay to see the park, but that the temple was now closed. Oh well, you're only here once, right? So in I wandered, to find people practising recitals, and some bizarre cross between badminton and hacky sacks, and the gates to the temple still open. I asked the guards
barmy
too cold for short sleeves, but look at the hats!! if I could just walk to the threshold an take a picture, but was told very firmly "NO", so I spent the next half an hour trying to take some clandestine photos! I was only half successful, and it is a very pretty building, but the fading light and security cameras put paid to climbing any walls.
I wandered back along a boulevard lined with pale blue fairy lights, but these hid something a little more sinister - I quickly realised that the pavements were lined with hoarding where almost all of the hutongs were being demolished... now I'm all for progress, but the city seems to be bull dozing anything that doesn't serve it's purposes. The main streets are huge, typically 6 to 8 lanes across, and presumably the people living in the hutongs had been ordered out by some directive or other so that progress could be built. I get the feeling that the old way of life will quickly be a thing of the past in Beijing, and the city will lose a lot of it's charm.
Dinner consisted of Peking duck (when in Rome!) and true to almost every other Chinese meal I've ever had, I
Tian'men Gate
the 2nd entrance to the Forbidden City (the first was bulldozed to build the Square) couldn't finish it.
Next morning I joined an organised tour to see the Great Wall. A bit of furious driving (largest vehicle has priority, everything esle had better watch out) and as we exited the city, all of a sudden the mountains appeared out of the mist. I hadn't expected this as Beijing is so flat, so it made the place that much more picturesque. Not long after we arrived at a very cold and slightly snowy Juyongguan Pass, to an almost deserted Wall. It pitched steeply up the hill immediately, and we began walking up, into the mist. We'd been told that we could walk up 7 towers, and I was trying to understand why the side nearest Beijing was fortified, but not the other.... as I reached the 7th tower I had my answer - there were 2 walls! Thing was, though, that beyond the 7th tower there was no wall at all. It all left me slightly confused. A bit of a jog back down to make sure I didn't miss the minibus, and we shot off for the Jade factory.
Excuse the pun, but it did leave me a little jaded as we litterally shown "this
the next gate
rather imposing - makes the people look like ants is how we work the stone, and here's the shop" - very much an exercise in splitting the tourists from their cash, but what a shop! It was huge; probably approaching the size of half a football field, full of jade from something 5 cm long to sculptures 5 metres long. Lunch and another wander around the shop and it was time to visit the Ming tombs.
A bit of a mis-nomer as we actually only went to one of the tombs; much in the same vein as the Forbidden City - as in life so in death. The tomb itself has never been opened - under a huge mound, but you're allowed to wander around the gatehouses (more grand than the name suggests, and they have a display of artifacts from other tombs). It even started to snow at this point, so getting back into the minibus was very welcome, and we hurtled off for tea.... proper tea, that is. We were whisked away to another part of Beijing and treated to a tasting session - 5 teas in all, drunk from a daintily small cup, before being ushered off in to the shop! I spent the rest of
detailing
this is a restored pillar, but what colours! the afternoon trying to find a shop that sells scorpions on a stick - I'd spoken to someone at breakfast who'd found one, but I'd be blessed if I could. Oh well, I can't tell you if they taste just like prawns or not now! One more stop to go, Hong Kong
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