Lone Asian Backpackers are an Uncommon Sight

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Twas my first time to travel alone. Just wanted to see what all the Gringos are up to. Because for a Filipino, travelling alone is sad. We always travel abroad in groups. Fetched by a tour bus every morning where everyone is Filipino and we follow a man with a flag and a portable PA system. We wear identical stickers and sometimes even matching caps. I never thought that was weird at all until I met Dutch backpacker Maaike while diving in Donsol. I've never travelled alone. I usually just follow the smart one in the group whenever I'm at the airport. I never had to pay travel tax on my own. Being the youngest child in the Philippines means everyone takes care of you. So there are a lot of things that I didnt know how to do on my own. So I thought I'd try this new travelling-alone-with-just-your-backpack thing to see how I would survive alone without having to follow a flag-carrying-man that speaks a language that I recognize.

I arrived after midnight when the Airport Express was closed already. I thought I'd have to take a cab which would have been expensive. Luckily there was still a bus that takes people to downtown Beijing. Nobody spoke English. I tried to get on the bus and noticed that they were presenting their tickets. I looked to my back and found where the tickets were sold. I bought my 16RMB ticket and got on the bus. The information that I got from my hostel was that I'd have to get off at Dongzhimen and transfer to Line 2 from there. As the subway was closed, I thought I'd just hail a cab in Dongzhimen. Finally I saw street signs that said Dongzhimen. But I wasn't sure if that was the right place because I was seeing Dongzimen signs several meters away from the first one. Then I saw Mariott and thought "if Mariott is here then this must be the city center and I must get off". I got a cab that didn't use the meter and charged me 40 yuans which was too much. He even took another fare so there was two of us in the cab. I let it pass because there were not a lot of cabs and it didn't look like I had much of a choice. Although I knew I was being ripped off I thought 40 yuans is still very cheap.

I showed the cab driver the address from the email that 365 Inn sent me. It was written in both Chinese and English but he couldt find the inn. I had to call the inn from my cellphone and made the driver talk to them but apparently it was the wrong number. The other number wasn't ringing. I knew I was already on Da Zha Lan street so I just paid and got off the cab and searched for the inn by myself. It wasn't too far from where I got off. It was cold by Filipino standard. At about 12 degrees C and windy at that I felt really cold. This is why I never travel in winter even though I'd love to see snow.

I found the inn and checked in. I paid 200 yuans for four nights. Plus a 100 yuan deposit, refundable upon check out. The inn was pretty decent for the amount of money that I paid. At 50 yuans per night I didnt mind that they did not have an elevator, the stairs was not lit, and I had to share a bathroom with everyone in dorm type rooms in my floor. They did not accept credit cards like they said on the confirmation letter. Good thing I managed to get 600RMB from a bank in Manila. There were four beds in my room. I was the only Asian. The guy on top of my bed was using my pillow. The attendant woke him up, took the pillow, shook it a bit, then gave it to me. I was shocked. This was my first time in a hostel and I thought "at 50 yuans per night, I'm willing to put up with this". Then came "What if he drooled on this pillow?" It really grossed me out so I took the pillow from the other bed that I thought was not occupied and changed it with mine. Apparently it was occupied too. The guy just wasn't there yet and he could have drooled on that pillow too.

It took a long time before I got to sleep and I woke up at 6:00 after just three hours of sleep. I decided to start walking. Tiananmen Square was just 10 minutes away on foot so I walked towards it. There wasn't much too see. Twas just a square to me and I knew beforehand that I wouldn't like it. Forbidden city was right next to it. I reached a gate but it wasn't the right entrance. Old habits die hard and I followed a flag-carrying-man who was blaring with his portable PA system at a group of Chinese tourists with matching hats. They led me to the entrance. It was huge and quite impressive. Entrance was 60 yuans. They had those portable audio guides at 40 yuans. I didn't bother because I wasn't interested in detailed history. My right foot started to hurt again and I was limping. I really should have had it rehabilitated before I went to Beijing because parks there are HUGE! I did't spend much time in the forbidden city because Chinese temples are not my thing. After FC was Jingshian Park where supposedly I was to admire the FC from the hilltop. I thought I'd seen enough so I didn't bother with Jingshian. I went left towards the hutongs and Wangfujing St. The hutongs were nice. What was interesting were the Public toilets. If you're looking for culture shock you have to go inside the public toilet. They're everywhere. Maybe homes in hutongs do not have indoor plumbing. Hence the need for public toilets. I had to pee so I went to a public toilet and I was shocked, horrified, appalled, excited and curious all the the same time. Before I got in there was an old man walking towards the public toilet carrying a container half full of what I think was urine. The "cubicles" inside were just waist high, AND, there were no doors. I walked in and saw men wiping and doing their business side by side. It was nasty but I'm glad I witnessed it. Its those things that shock me that makes travel experiences memorable.

There was nothing to see in Wangfujing. Just a street with high end stores like Gucci and Longchamp. I really shouldn't have bothered. I hopped on the subway and got off Tiananmen which i thought was on the north side of the square. Turns out it was south so I had to walk far. I went back to the hostel and slept for about two hours. The cops stopped me on my way to the hostel. They spoke to me in Chinese because they thought I was Chinese but they let me go when I answered in English. Next on my IT was Temple of Heaven but I opted out because I knew I would not enjoy it. It was just another temple and I've seen far too many in Thailand. I decided to go to the Olympic sites instead. Its very windy in Beijing. The air was cool even in the afternoon sun. Humidity was low so I didn't sweat much despite walking for three hours. Not much water was consumed and I didn't feel dehydrated. I had to wait till sunset to see the buildings light up. The Birds nest was not as big from the outside as I had imagined it to be. I didn't go in but an English backpacker showed me his pictures and it was huge inside. The stadium was apparently below the surface. I didn't know that the water cube changes colors. Aside from the usual blue when it initially lights up, later on it changes from blue to red to purple. Several locals approached me and asked me to take their picture. They got surprised when I answered in English. Very few Chinese could tell that I wasn't one of them. Even though I had dark skin and my eyes were more rounded. I asked them to take my picture too of course.

Finding vegetarian food in Beijing is difficult. Good thing I only stayed for a few days. The restaurants did not have English menu. I lived with the oatmeal cookies that I brought from Manila and fresh fruits and yoghurt that I bought from the grocery store on my street. The caramelized fruits on stick thats very popular there was juicy and delicious. For carbs I bought baked sweet potatoes on the street. The street vendor asked for 10 yuans. I thought that was too much for a sweet potato so I walked away. He then shouted five and I took it. Sweet potato for dinner then. The next morning I didnt know what to eat and I found street food again. I observed how they made it and it looked vegetarian. It was a kind of crepe that had egg and onions greens and some kind of crispy thing which I hoped isn't pork. I'm pretty sure it wasn't pork. My eyes turned red the night after my first day till the second half of the second day. It wasn't sore eyes though. I didn't know what it was but it scared me a bit.

On the second day I went to Summer Palace. I took the subway and made transfers till I got to Bagou station. There was a mall at Bagou station. I hate visiting malls when I travel abroad because its a total waste of time in my opinion but I had to buy something to eat in the Summer Palace. Upon entering I checked if they had wifi, and they did. Facebook was not accessible though so there was no point. I found a coffee shop that looked a lot like Starbucks. Its name was Costa. I hoped to find a vegan sandwich which they didn't have. The barista offered me tuna pesto instead and the bread wasn't even whole wheat. It was the closest thing they had so I took it. I ended up staying for two hours. Being in a Coffee shop in a mall, hearing Gaga and Beiber and seeing familiar brands like Mango, Jockey and M)Phosis made me feel at home. Then I had to use the toilet. It must have been that weird Chinese crepe that I had for breakfast. Even though the mall looked so western, they still had squat toilets. But I really had to go so I had no choice. It was clean by Chinese standards I guess. A lot cleaner than the one in McDonalds which had big shit stains on it. Using the squat toilet was no easy feat. It required a lot of leg muscles.

I had to pay the taxi 10 Yuans to take me to the Summer Palace. Entrance was 30 yuans. It was very crowded. But the crowd dissipated halfway through. I think there was another exit that I didn't see. The farther sections were more deserted. My feet hurt terribly and towards the end I was desperate to find the exit. I'm so glad I found another exit other than the one I went in to. I hailed a cab to Bagou station and I showed the driver the subway map on my Ipod touch. He pointed to the next station which was Sozhoujie. So we went to Sozhojie street. He did not take me to the subway station though. The subway station was way on the other end of the street and it was a long street. I had to walk. I was so tired that I thought I'd rest first in McDonalds before walking towards the subway. I got off Hepingmen station. A few blocks before Quianmen where I should get off but that station was closed for some reason that non Chinese speaking people will never know. I thought I was walking towards Quianmen but when I reached the other station I realized that I was walking towards the wrong direction. So I turned back and walked towards Quianmen station. I was planning to see the Egg but I was way too tired so I headed back to the hostel. I bought sweet potato and yoghurt for dinner. Yoghurt is cheap in Beijing and I looove yoghurt.

I had two roommates. One was American. Typing away in his computer all the time. I asked him if he found a way around the Facebook block and he gave a long speech that included a lot of computer jargons that I didn't understand. I told him I don't speak nerd. He didn't take offense. The three of us just had a good laugh.Tim is a computer programmer who works while travelling. He's a non conformist who refused to do package tours. He preferred to do things on his own. Despite me trying to convince him that the section accessible to public transportation is way too crowded. He wouldn't budge. Kevin (not the real spelling) is a 22 year old medical student from the Netherlands who just finished his Pre-Med and is now travelling for two months. Tim was able to convince him to go with him but they ended up going their separate ways because Tim woke up late. I was able to convince Kevin to join a tour. He didn't have any hangup about being on a tour bus with other tourists.

We booked the Ancient wall to secret wall tour which cost 260 RMB at Leo's Hostel. It included the entrance fee and lunch. There were 30 of us in the coach. It took two and a half hours to get there. I had to pee badly but that had to wait. I think that tour company is the only one that operates in that section of the Great Wall. It was just the thirty of us and we came across less than twenty local tourist in the entire three hour hike. They were not kidding when they said this tour is for fit people. It was quite difficult and steep. Only about a third of of group made it to the 7th tower. We were allowed to go up to the 9th tower but the others stopped. I was with Linda the German backpacker and we went the farthest. I went three meters farther than her though so I went the farthest. Yeah yuh! One of the British backpackers was a bit surprised that I spoke good English and that I sounded American. He thought I was Chinese. Stereotype. Sometimes white people think all Asians are either Chinese of Japanese and think we don't speak English. I didn't take offense though. White people. I was the only Asian in the group. The American girl I was talking to on the bus made it up to the third station only and was the last to get down. She wasn't fit but went as far as she could. One of the more athletic ones who made it the farthest was from Holland. Me and Linda called him Holland. We didn't ask what his name was. His next stop is Tibet. I'd love to go there in the future. I'm going to miss Linda! She was so nice. She asked me to have dinner with her after the tour but I was so tired and I had to pack because I had to leave that night. Looking back I realize that I should have had dinner with her. She's a chemical engineering student from Germany doing her internship in China. After our tour we all had lunch in a restaurant that didn't look promising. It was a buffet and the food wasn't bad at all. It was the best I had in Beijing. Not that it was good. It was just the best that I had in Beijing. I couldn't eat most of the food as most of them had meat. I had rice, tofu, tomatoes and cucumber. We got back to the hostel at 6PM. I said goodbye to Linda. I had a shower and rested a bit in my room. I gave Kevin tips about the Philippines as he wanted to go diving. We shared stories about our lives and our families back home. All he knew about the Philippines was that it was poor and he wondered why I could afford to travel. He concluded that I'm not poor. I told him I'm not sure if I'm not.

At 9PM I packed up, checked out and and claimed my 100 yuan deposit. Said goodbye to Kevin. Tim was at the restaurant typing away in his laptop I decided not to disturb him as I knew he was working. I bumped into Linda on the street and we said our goodbyes again. My flight wasn't until the next morning but the subway doesn't open until 6AM so I had to go to the airport that night and wait there. I almost got lost because I made the wrong transfer. Good thing there was another transfer station and I eventually made it to the airport. My ticket didn't say which terminal I had to go to. I picked terminal three. Turns out it was the wrong station so I had to ride the free inter station shuttle to take me to terminal two. I was so sad to leave Beijing. Its such a charming city. Authentic and brutal. You'd walk an average of six hours a day there. I'm so glad I went. I'm sure it would even be more beautiful towards the end of October when you could really see the fall foliage. It was the golden week when I was there and all of China was there but big crowds isn't something Filipinos are not used to. I took a piece of the great wall with my by the way! Literally! I took a piece of a chipped brick from the wall. I was a bit worried that they'd find that in the airport scan and put me to jail! They didn't.

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Photos

Deserted
It was so quiet

Da Zha Lan
This is the street where my inn was

Forbidden City
throne thing