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Published: November 30th 2010
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Love Beijing but growing to hate this place....
....always packed, always impossible to get on the train you want, never any seats left on the trains sooo frustrating >:-( Another day off and I've some free time so it's back to writing another blog. Even though I moved to Tangshan three months ago now and have settled down (if you could call it that?!) and have a job etc my travelling has by no means stopped! On Mondays and Tuesdays my two consecutive days off or what I have become very accustomed to calling the weekend I have visited lots of surrounding cities.
The most notable of all the places I've visited is definitely Beijing, I have been there now 3 times in total and love the place more each time I go back. My first visit to Beijing was back in Sept/Oct not long after I arrived. We had an extended few days off as it was Mid–Autumn Day. This is a traditional holiday in China where they celebrate the full moon, as being the fullest and the brightest moon of the year. It was traditionally a time of the year when the weather conditions became a lot harsher and the family came together to pray for good times for the hard season ahead. The tradition of the family getting together is still done today and mooncakes a
Our first hostel in Beijing...
dilema; my passport was getting processed for my work visa and even though I had the offical receipt they would only let me stay one night and this was after a lot of convincing!! very famous snack in China are customarily eaten on this day. There are many variations but I have yet to taste a moon cake I like!! Anyways Mid-Autumn Day this year coincided with National Day (Oct 1st) so our work schedule was pretty mixed up soon after I arrived but it did mean more consecutive days off for us and we took full advantage!
It was off to Beijing for our first taste of this amazing city. As a pure coincidence a friend of mine Bob from Amsterdam had been in touch and we worked out himself and a friend were going to be in Beijing at this time also! I first met Bob when we were doing volunteer work In South Africa in 2006, he has then since travelled Ireland and we met up; and during my Europe trip last year I called in on him, so it was very fluky that we now happened to be in China at the same time, never mind the same city!! During this trip to Beijing we did a lot of the touristy stuff. We went up to the top of the TV tower and got an amazing view over the
city, we saw the drum and bell towers, on the day we climbed to the top of the drum tower just as we got to the top there was a drumming session just starting it was amazing and we had come across it by chance. We also went to the very famous Tiananmen Square and visited the Forbidden City. And finally we visited the Summer Palace. All this touristy stuff aside we also went clubbing, which was definitely a highlight as it is something we can’t do in our own city. I’ll explain a little more about each of these under the photos!
On our second trip to Beijing we didn’t actually do anything touristy we just hung out in this hostel which is going to be our home when we travel to Beijing as it is really well located, the staff are lovely and we always end up meeting cool people here. However I did go market shopping which I am beginning to love more and more. I have been told by the market people that I’m a very good shopper and basically that I won’t be fooled. This is because I am getting very good at bargaining
down to a reasonable price and I pull them up on things that clearly are not what they are making them out to be. Only last week when I was looking at paintings did I tell the girl that they were photocopied versions and not real paintings. She acted all insulted telling me “no way!” The conversation that followed was hilarious but she eventually admitted to me in so many words by saying I had a very good eye..... obviously this was after I had agreed to purchased some of the real paintings 😊!!
My third visit to Beijing was last Monday, it was only a flying visit with Eddie to get turkeys for thanksgiving, the imported ones from America as apparently they are much better than the Chinese turkeys.... who would have thought there would be a difference?! Thought we were out of luck but I fortunately saw a sign in one of the foreign supermarkets and we got what we needed. Being Irish of course I've never celebrated thanksgiving before so it was yet another new experience for me (will update soon about Halloween and thanksgiving.)Quite ironic that I actually celebrated my first thanksgiving in China and
not America but then it’s an American company I work for so everything is always done the American way including teaching; spelling jewellery as “jewelry” and teaching “pants” instead of trousers but that’s a whole other issue I’ll not go into just now!! Just to note here these foreign supermarkets are great if you really want something from home, I have picked up bisto gravy, kerrygold cheddar cheese, heinz spaghetti hoops and special K on various trips. Fairly extortionate prices but worth a little treat every now and then!! Last visit I bought a Mars and a crunchie and god were they worth every penny 😱. In general though I am more than happy with all that the Chinese supermarkets offer.
One disadvantage of going to Beijing is definitely getting the trains. Getting there is usually not too bad but getting home is a different ballgame.... Firstly you can't buy tickets online you have to queue and like everything in China the queues are ridiculously long. Then when you get to the counter they tell you the train you want is fully booked. Then they'll offer you the next train but there is only standing tickets which is
not an option, have done this once and vowed never again; standing would be alright if it wasn't between the carriages with a lot of other people, where everyone smokes and you're surrounded in a tobacco filled haze with people spitting around you. So you then ask when you can get on a train back to Tangshan with seats and you sometimes have to wait up to three hours which we have done. But this is something that really gets me now, why oh why is there not a bar in or around the train station to make this wait at least a little easier???? However we have learned from our mistakes and now know that you can buy your tickets in advance at the Post Office for a small fee of 5RMB i.e. 50cents def worth it to save the hassle we always face!!
There is still lots I want to do in Beijing obviously the Great Wall deserves a visit. I have however already visited a section of the great wall elsewhere, the actual originating point of the great wall, (photos to follow soon!) but I still want to see the section of the wall in
Beijing for the famous great wall photos. I also want to go the Olympic stadium and of course there is always lots more shopping, clubbing and general wandering to be done in Beijing so I’ll be back at least another few times before I leave China!
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Mike McGarvey
non-member comment
Hi there Elaine!
I live near Seattle, Washington State, USA and have been following some of your travels. Google tells me when you're on the Internet. I'm an old guy and have been married 37 years. I have always dreamed of going to China. Maybe someday. We have been to Europe, however. In the meantime I will enjoy your writing and pictures. My garden is rather extensive. Check out my albums on Webshots. http://community.webshots.com/user/phildert Best regards, Mike