Advertisement
Published: October 16th 2010
Crossing the border from Mongolia into China is a funny affair. For us, the border crossing took place at midnight so no one was allowed off the train to watch the bogie's being changed. Instead we all watched from the window as our train was separated into pieces, hoisted up into the air and then lowered onto a new gauge to fit the Chinese rails. It was actually pretty amazing to watch and most of the passengers on the train look loads of photos.
The immigration officers took away our passports for a few hours, came back for another visit, checked our rooms and then... well, I don't know what happened next because we all fell asleep and woke up the next day in China. Not only did we enter a new country, but I entered a new decade - one day a 29 year old in Mongolia, next day a 30 year old in China! It was a strange birthday overall so I've decided to postpone it until we get back to New Zealand and I can celebrate with the girls and a bottle of wine which is fair enough really.
The first thing I noticed about China
was the sheer amount of life that's going on here. We passed fields of crops, small gardens, tiny villages, chicken coops, noodle shops, busy towns, back streets and restaurants. Everywhere there is life. From people harvesting the fields, mothers clutching babies and teenagers texting on their phones, to the wrinkled old folks sitting on their little seats on the side of the road, simply watching the world go by. China seem to be very much alive.
As we finished our very final leg of the Trans-Mongolian journey, the train began passing through some amazing scenery as we neared Beijing. The mountain gorge that we passed through was a welcome change after the Gobi Desert and a pleasant surprise. When I first saw the Great Wall of China creeping over the mountains next to the track, we all sat with our noses against the windows - we were all pretty excited. Finally, let the China adventure begin!
The other surprise, and this one wasn't as pleasant, was the colour of the skies. If we experienced skies of this colour in New Zealand, we would find it a bit novel and call it fog or mist. After a day it
would clear. In China, these grey disgusting skies are caused by pollution and they appear to last for days on end. I have never, ever seen anything like it - an absolute greyness that blocks out the sun and reduces visibility to about a kilometre. We passed huge smoking coal fired power stations with chimneys sending grey clouds of smoke into the sky. I can't imagine what it must be like to live under these clouds, I actually felt dirty being outside - how weird is that?
Anyway, our hostel turned out to be one of the best parts of our stay in Beijing. The 'Chinese Box Hostel' gave us such a warm welcome that I almost hugged the lovely 'Tin Tin' who showed us around and sorted out our check-in. It was a very sweet little place hidden in one of Beijing's hutong districts. Best of all, the owners love cats and have six absolutely gorgeous balls of fluff that mooch about the courtyard and lay sprawled on any available surface. It probably isn't the best place for those with allergies but we were in seventh heaven! I came back from the shower to find Chris laying in
bed with a purring ball of fluff who looked up guiltily as I walked in. naughty cat, definitely knows it's not allowed into the guest bedrooms, let alone the beds!
Until now, we thought we had been quite good with our planning but neither of us realised that 1st to 7th October is a massive public holiday in China. This meant that the whole country was trying to have a bit of a holiday and every single attraction in the city was jam packed with domestic tourists. The Forbidden City was a heaving mass of people. We arrived 1.5 hours before opening time and stood in queue to buy our tickets.
Well, we tried to stand in line but pretty quickly learnt that pushing in is actually big business in China. Ticket touts make money by pushing in, buying as many tickets as possible and then selling them to people who don't want to line up. We were absolutely blown away by the level of rudeness and aggression shown by these guys. Everyone else in the queue was shouting at them and some of the ladies even landed a few whacks on their backs but it made no
Buy one get ten free
Muslim Quarter - Xi andifference whatsoever. They weren't the least bit bothered until a second guy tried to push into our line, right in front of Chris and I. Once we knew what they were up to, they weren't going to get away so easy with us. There have been quite a few occasions where being 6 foot 3 in China has been a good thing and this was certainly one of them! There was no way we were going to let this “£”$£% get in front of us after we had stood in line for nearly two hours. Despite all our efforts, we couldn't stop one of these swines from actually pushing a little old lady away from the ticket window. He even grabbed her hands so she couldn't pay and he could buy his tickets first. How disgusting to do that to an old lady! We were so shocked, I don't know how Chris managed to restrain himself! The young guy in the line next to us told us that he was embarrassed and angry because he knew how bad this sort of behaviour appears to westerners. The really annoying thing is that this sort of thing happens all day, everyday and
could easily be stopped. All they need is a few security guards near the ticket windows... but then again that's just a bit too much like common sense I suppose.
After such a long and stressful start, the Forbidden City failed to live up to expectations but thankfully everything else in Beijing was fantastic. We were so fortunate to get three days of blue skies during our six day stay and what a difference those blue skies made! On our first day we ran into Thomas, the guy we toured Mongolia with and spent the day walking the back streets and the lovely old Hutong districts. The back streets are fantastic. Quietly humming with small businesses, old people playing backgammon, small dogs and people going about their everyday life. The Hutongs were definitely a highlight of Beijing.
We took in a few of the tourist sights including the Bell and Drum Towers and the Lama Temple which was much calmer and loads more atmospheric than the Forbidden City. There are so many tourist attractions in Beijing. If it wasn't public holiday time, we would have made more of an effort to visit more of them but the crowds
were too much and we preferred wandering the back streets to standing in queues.
It is so interesting to see everyday life in the Hutongs. There is obviously a strong community feel here. Every night, empty places of concrete come alive with dog walkers, people chatting and even people of all ages taking part in line dancing, salsa and ballroom dancing. It was great to watch. Someone just turns up with a tinny old getto blaster and the people of every age start to appear. In the morning, the same place has become the venue for Tai Chi.
Of course, when in Beijing, it would be mad not to do a bit of shopping, so we set off to Sanlitun Yshou Clothing Market. The starting prices offered in this place were so ridiculously optimistic that we actually laughed. The equivalent of 43 British pounds for a fake Abacrombie and Finch jumper! I could have found the real thing in TKMaxx for half the price. I haggled like a mad woman and ended up getting it for about 6 British pounds. Still a 'tourist price' but at least it was a bit of fun.
The Great Wall of China
We booked a tour through our guest house out to Jinshanling, where we could do some hiking along the great wall. We were incredibly lucky with our weather. Bright blue skies and hot enough to walk in shorts and a tee-shirt. The wall really is a must do but I was surprised at how difficult a trek this actually was. Taking the left branch of the wall from Jinshanling took us over some really crumbling un-restored sections of the wall. The going was really steep and the stairs were a killer in some parts. We certainly didn't take things slowly - we were determined to lose the crowds and see the wall without anyone else on it. The fast pace was worth it. After a few hours, it was only us and two girls from our tour that made it to the furtherest watchtowers. It was fantastic to sit and watch the iconic wall draped over the hills for miles on either side of us - without the hoards of tourists.
A word of advice for those doing the guest house tour to the great wall of China at Jinshanling. If you are advised to take the Bye bye Mongolia
Our train inches closer towards China (seriously decrepit looking) cable car up to the start of the wall, just ignore it and set off up the road way instead. The guides from the minivans are definitely getting commission for every person that takes the cable car up. We were told that the walk up to the wall takes an hour. Absolute rubbish. It takes about 25 minutes at a slow pace. A fit person could do it in about 15. We actually spent 20 minutes in the line to get on and people who had walked up slowly arrived at the same time as us. Tell everyone else to save their money and watch the guides face fall as her commission literally walks away from her.
After six days, we hardly even scratched the surface of Beijing. You could spend weeks here and not see everything on your list. We didn't even visit Tiananmen Square and it was only a short walk from our guest house! Despite the huge crowds and the pollution, we met some really lovely locals and our very first impressions of China have been good. Beijing has obviously done a lot since the Olympics and getting around was really easy
with many of the street signs now in English writing as well as Chinese characters. Public toilets were clean and absolutely everywhere while the taxi drivers all use their metres and have to give a receipt at the end of the journey. Not a bad start to the China adventure.
Xi-an On our first day in Beijing, we tried to book a train ticket to Xi-an but had no chance due to the public holiday. They were fully booked. Our choice came down to an expensive flight, a hard seat train ticket or an overnight sleeper bus. Not much of a choice but in the end we went for the bus option. I wasn't looking forward to this but it turned out to be pretty good actually. I could sleep comfortably and even Chris found a position that allowed him to get a good nights sleep. I was worried that the drivers would be a nutter but the it seems to be motorways all the way from Beijing to Xi-an and as long as you didn't look out the window at the constant stream of petrol tankers and coal trucks, it was quite comfortable.
Silly me, I expected
Xi-an to be a tiny but busy tourist village. What was I thinking. This is a seriously big modern city with a population of about 4.3 million! We stayed in another busy but atmospheric guest house and spent an afternoon wandering around the Muslim Quarter of the walled city. The next day we took the obligatory trip out to the Terracotta Warriors and were lucky enough to explore the place without heaving crowds since the public holiday has now finished. We met some great people in our guest house and had loads of laughs during our time here, especially when we got taken to a 'Terracotta Warrior Museum' that turned out to be a 'Terracotta Warrior factory showroom' and our new found friend started loudly slagging off a girl who made lots of noise outside his room the previous night. Turns out she was only a few seats in front of him in the minivan and heard ever word! It was the first of many laughs that continued in the bar that evening by our little group of six.
Next stop; Chengdu!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.108s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0633s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
thomas
non-member comment
lovely!
Hi Anna and Chris! Lovely to see how you do :) It's a nice read, and the pictures tell a thousand words. Keep the spirit! All the best :)