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Tiananmen Square
Still raising the red flag in China arriving after yet another night train to China‘s capital our first impression was that this is
the most crowded place we have been to。 There were thousands of people in the
station。 Add to that the heat and humidity and our first instinct was to buy a ticket out of
there imidiatly！too bad we did not follow our intuition。。。
We were actually very excited to travel to Beijing。After 2 months in China we wanted to
see the center of activity。 Seeing the biggest palaces， the highest buildings， the nicest
places of the great-wall。 We were also looking forward to eating in good restaurants and
generally resting。
It took us 2 hours in Beijing traffic （and too much money for a taxi because we were kicked
out of the bus for some reason） to arrive to the hotel we reserved only to find it had
moved next to the train station。 Unfortunately we were not told of it on the phone when
we made the reservation a day earlier。
Beijing is Ultra-modern。 It seem all the buildings are less then 10 years old。The small
Tiananmen Square
it sometimes seems there are more policemen in the square then tourists number of older neighborhoods are being destroyed to make more lifeless glass building
while you are reading this blog。And Unlike other big cities of the world it feels soulless。
Like traveling in Dallas （no offence meant to Dallas but it is defenatly not on anyone’s top-
5 cities）the avenues are wide。The distances are long （it is 2/3 the size of Israel）。There
are only 2 subway lines and apart from that you need to walk allot because taxis are
expencive。 The traffic is unbearable （it took us 2hr to travel 18km to the summer-
palace）。There is constant smog here。
Beijing is also by far the most expensive place we have been to。 The prices are like in
Israel。
the most dissapointing were the sites. we saw 3.5 sites in the 5 days there. all are on the
UNESCO "Wolrd Heratige" list. we were expecting to be very inspiered from the places we
visited but the truth is that due to the number of tourists, the intensive renovations and
chinese propaganda we felt more like in Disnyland.
Trying to leave Beijing
Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square is a large public square in the middle of the city right infront of the forbidden city. it is the center of the (yet) communist rule in China. This statue is part of the mausoleum for Mao and is "dedicated to the people who fought in the cival war of China" At first we were very impressed that many people in Beijing know English。 We even
stopped talking Hebrew to communicate like we did in the rest of China。 Unfortunately，
breaking the language barrier did not help in getting useful information。 We did not
manage to find busses in the city or get information about sites without being sent to
expensive tours。 The most frustrating thing was trying to get from Beijing to our next
destination。 A new train has started operating to it this week and that was the TOP news
story ALL week。 But we tried unsuccessfully to understand how to get a ticket。 The hotel
sent us to a travel agency。The travel agency sent us to a building 20 minutes away。 We
decided to go to the train station。 After going to 3 different offices there we were sent to
the police station to get a special permit。 There they did not want to cooperate with us。
We though maybe we will fly there so we went back to the travel agency。 They sent us to
another place。 They told us it will take 5 days to
Tiananmen Square
Mao's mausoleum. we went inside with thousends of Chineese to get a glimps of Mao (dead since 1978). he looks like he has escaped from a wax museum. Next to the body Hagit said "Dead man walking" for everyone to hear :) arrange the next flight。 We choose the
only solution we could think of。 We took a 30hr train to Chengdu - a place we were at 1
month ago and where the people are friendly！（even that was hard because we had to
wait 2 days for the next train with a place）
The numerous art exhibitions in Beijing
The following conversation took place about 5-10 times a day while we were in the city：
Young man/woman： Can I speak English with you？
Us： yes
Young man/woman： where are you from？
Us： Israel
Young man/woman：I am from
such and such province in China。 Are you a couple？
Us：Yes
Young man/woman：you look like a couple。 You have the same face ）
Young man/woman：are you here on vacation?
Us： Yes
Some more small talk that waste about 5 minutes of our life Young man/woman：We are 5 students with our teacher and we are artists。 We have a one day exhibition today
at the nearest public building。Can you come and see for 5
Tiananmen Square
the entrance to the forbidden city and the famous picture of Mao minuets？ It is on the 4th floor
Us： NO。 We are on the way to some place
Young man/woman：too bad。 It is free。Did you ever see Chinese art？
Us： yes。 We are in China for a long time
Young man/woman：so you come？
Us：no
After 4 days of this constantly happening we changed tactic：
Young man/woman：Can I speak English with you？
Us： Yes, but we are not interested in your art show！
On the 5th day the conversation sounded like this
Young man/woman：Can I speak English with you？
Us walking away
Young man/woman：Hello I‘m speaking to you！
Us walking away
Young man/woman：HELLO！
Chengdu
we are now back in Chnegdu a city we visited over a month ago. although there are 4million
people here it is still a place we have come back to a 3rd time to relax in! we will stay 80
days in China - 8 nights (10%!)(MISSING) in Chengdu. not bad for a ciy that had almost no sights to
visit. mostly we like the guesthouse here called "Sim's Cozy". we rode 30hr from Beijing to
rest here
Tiananmen Square
The Great Hall of the People. is where the National People's Congress convenes and get some reliable tourist info befor going on... we always stay in the same
room here (#17) and we almost feel like coming home here.
We are googleable ！
for those who are interested it take us 3-4hr to create each blog entry. about 1hr to write
the texts and format it. about 1 hr to connect the camera to the computer, choose photos
and reduce the size of the files. And 1hr to upload the photos and write headings and
comments to the photos.
we now have over 50 subscribers and got over 2000 hits on our pages (probably half by
our parents : )
and our blog is now on google! Try googling -
Hagit and Yaron in China
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RM
non-member comment
Can I write english with you?
Hi guys, Thanks for the 4 hours that went into this blog entry. The conversations that you cited are absolutely hilarious. (although you might not share my sentiments) Your walk on the wall seems absolutely awesome. and by the way, google-ing "Hagit and Yaron" works as well. Looking forward to your next blog entry from Chengdu, RM