Beijing MAGIC!

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“To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.”
~ Freya Stark

And so it is. This morning and for the last 3 mornings, I have awoken in one of the world's largest cities. It still doesn not quite register that I am sharing space with about 20 million other people. Almost half the population of our country, Canada. How am I supposed to wrap my brain around that, eh? LOL Beijing is really magical. I love the "feel" of this city and I am enjoying the COOL weather. I have bought myself a rather, if I do write so myself, FUNKY touque/hat to wear here, since it feels decidedly chilly to me, being that the temperature hovers just slighty above zero here since I arrived and I LOVE IT! I am actually shivering in my jacket, but I am NOT complaining. Really, I'm not. I am so glad to be out of the sauna in Xiamen! Ha HA! Breakfast this morning? A handful of tiny mandarine oranges, the ones that I love so much and found in a nearby convenience store, and also cafe au lait which I made in my little coffee press. I have no fridge in the room so I am keeping my milk and other perishables outside on the windowsill to be cool in "God's fridge" and it works well. I see other guests in this wing are doing the same! Ha ha!
Upon arriving in Beijing I hoisted and pushed my ridiculously heavy 3.5 pieces of luggage to a taxi stand to wait for the next available ride and prayed for a good experience. Well, it always surprises me the way the Chinese will sprint, push or elbow ahead of anyone in front of them in order to get what they desire. In this case, the polite Canadian in me was quite annoyed when several taxis were rushed by Chinese and I was edged out. I got smart and aggressive and finally got myself a taxi by parking myself in the stall where one pulled up and glared at the man who started to sprint my way. DON'T even think about it, buddy! HA! It must have worked cuz I got it. The cab driver looked at my bags and asked incredulously, ONLY 1 people? I just laughed and said yes in Chinese. The twilight taxi ride was relaxing though the inside of the cab smelled like smoker, so I cracked a window to take advantage of the cool, crisp fall air and was not disappointed. Ahhhhh, the smell of fall and fallen leaves, that pungent and spicy scent I so adore.......I breathed it in and was happy to have arrived. And after quite a long taxi ride, I did arrive at my hotel.....it was rather a lot of kway for the drive, but I was too tired to haggle so paid off the driver and checked into my quaint and SMALL quarters. OMG. If I didn't have so many pieces of luggage this would be quite adequate space-wise but it is certainly cramped with all my bags. I managed to unpack the necessary items--coffee press and Italian coffee, clothes (notice the order of things here--lol) and toiletries. There. I felt ready to begin tackling Beijing. I managed to shower up and shore up my courage to explore the neighborhood in the dark looking for a place to eat and also was on the hunt for a hat and gloves to ward off the decidedly chilly Beijing temperature. I figured that if I just explored one side of the street, the same side as the hotel, and then turned around and did the other, that I couldn't get too lost. And that is what I did....I went all the way up one side of the street, then when it ended I went down the other way. Having scoped everything out, I decided upon a cute little Vietnamese and French Bistro for supper called Le Little Saigon. I was not disappointed. I was greeted at the door by a young Frenchman who spoke beautiful France French and who was surprised when I responded in French back to him. He told me my accent was charming and proceeded to seat me. I felt like I was in Paris, though sadly, I've not been to Paris YET. I relaxed into the seat and took in the patrons...speaking Chinese, English, French. Ahhhh, awesome. Just my kind of place! I enjoyed my meal of spring rolls and curry washed down with some brand of exotic bottled water. On the walk back to the room I purchased my hat and gloves. Seems I am destined to be a clothing/fashion disaster in China. I really have not had the right clothes with me for this trip. I didn't bring enough warm weather clothes for Xiamen and now I wish I had some cooler weather clothes like sweaters and even long-johns! Why do I feel so cold? I am NOT complaining! Just sayin' LOL! I wish I had some boots, as my shoes are not quite warm enough and this coat is actually not warm enough nor is it anything to write home about as far as how it looks. And with my new hat/gloves, well, let's just say that my next trip to China I will be more properly prepared to be less of a fashion disaster! Ha ha ha! Oh well, I am going to enjoy my visit, no matter what I am wearing! Today is a trip to Tiananmen Square and a bit of a rest and blogging. I am not sure why I am feeling so tired, but I should honour my feelings and just rest for today.
Yesterday I visited the Forbidden City with Wendy, my personal tour guide, and also cousin of James, my Tianjiao friend. She has been invaluable in helping/advising me in terms of where to go and what to see. Yesterday afternoon we met at the Forbidden City where Wendy kindly gave me a personal tour. She knows SO much being that she is actually a tour guide, and she was gracious with her time. We didn't rush as we went from gigantic pavillion to pavillion. Words really are inadequate to describe the magnificence of the place! It is COLLOSAL (sp?) and there weren't even too many people. Wendy said that on National Day in October as many as 60,000 people can be at this place at once (OMG--no room to do/see anything really--I am perspiring just thinking about it!) LOL and that if you put a child in one room of the Forbidden City for each day of its life than that child would have grown into a 27 yr old person by the time it had been in each room of this vast place!! As a bonus, when I arrived I realized that we were just opposite Tian'anmen Square, so I knew where to get off the subway the next day. I did catch just a glimse of it and today I am hoping to explore it more fully and see Mao's tomb, also. After my tour, I invited Wendy to be my guest for lunch and we found a restaurant and had noodles, a Beijing specialty, and some Szechuan chicken, cucumbers (not as good as in Xiamen) and some bean dumplings for dessert. We drank tea and she helped me plan my next few days. As we walked back to the entrance of the Forbidden city and parted ways, I hugged her and thanked her and we made plans to go somewhere not yet planned, together. I really like Wendy and felt she is/has been such a blessing to me in Beijing!
I was so tired after saying good-bye to Wendy that I rode the subway and got off and then didn't recognize a thing! Thinking maybe I was at the wrong stop, I rode back one stop. I got off and looked around. NOPE. Definately not this stop. I retraced by steps back to the last station and got off. It still didn't look right! I was starting to be a little concerned when I realized that I was in the station across from the station where I had entered and by crossing the street I would be where I needed to be! Whew! It was getting twilight and I sure didn't want to become lost in the dark! Yikes! I ran to the little store close by and bought more milk for my coffee and oranges and some snacky-type bars to hold me if I was hungry and travelling around. It was then that I realized that I had somehow managed to lose my room keycard. Rats! The front desk gave me another and then said it was gonna cost me 50 kwai to pay for the first one! CRAP! I was so tired by then, I just mumbled my displeasure all the way to my room. Mounting the few steps up to my room seemed all-too-much and when I arrived in my room I threw myself onto my bed, covered up and crashed and shivered my way through the next 3 hours. I awoke after 7 in the evening feeling better and definately hungry. I fixed myself up and repaired to the Vietnamese place where I had a lovely meal of cream vegetable soup, beef Bourginion (sp?), red wine and some banana, apple and coconut crumble. Mmmmmm! I was warmed up! LOL Laurent, the Frenchman, advised me about some local haunts to check out. I enjoyed once again speaking French and learning about the local culture. Back in my room, I slept like a rock. Et voila, here I am. Still in my bedclothes, drinking cafe au lait and blogging. Please excuse my few little "fautes". I am out of time for polishing and need to leave on an adventure to Tian'anmen Square! LOL

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Photos

Me at the Forbidden City
Just at the entrance to this amazing series of monuments and note the picture of the Chairman Mao just behind me!

Gorgeous!
One of my favourite pictures of this day. Shot of the river just ouside the Forbidden City as we prepared to part from our tour and lunch together.

Pebble Mosaic
The courtyard in the garden at the Forbidden City contained walkways made into a mosaic throughout. I could not help but wonder how long that must have taken?

Tour Guide Extraordinaire!
Wendy, a wonderful and very knowledgeable guide and whose English was outstanding!

Wendy
At lunch Wendy poured over my Beijing map writing subway stops and attractions for me. Thanks, Wendy!

Outside the Forbidden City
Wendy and I are on our way to lunch. We strolled around the Forbidden City taking in the beautiful scenery.

Fung Shui
...abounds in this collection of buildings at the Forbidden City. Water has to be in front of buildings hence this bridge. Water was also important in case of fire.

Tian'anmen Square
Late afternoon looking south....it is directly across from the Forbidden City.

Tian'anmen Square
Looking north-east in the late afternoon.

Beijing Subway1
Clean, modern, efficient AND it speaks English and Chinese. Perfect. OH, and inexpensive. About 2 yuan/ride so less than .50 Cdn.

Comments

[Joyce]

Chinese charm
Looking at these photos I realize how much I miss our adventures together. You "Go Girl", see and do all that you can. :)

[cabochick]

Yes Beijing Magic for sure!
I enjoyed another Canadian girls take on Beijing. Thanks for sharing eh.