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Published: November 16th 2013
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Peking International Youth Hostel and Nanluogu Xiang
We stayed in one of Beijing's famous hutongs, a residential area filled with shops and restaurants. It was becoming somewhat gentrified but at least it had been preserved in some form, as many of the historic hutongs have been demolished in the last few decades. Beijing was the perfect city to begin our trip. It was, in many ways, the China I came to see: dense history, fantastic sights, good food, wonderful temples, interesting architecture. After a day exploring Beijing you're never left with with any doubt that you've been anywhere but ensconced within the Middle Kingdom, unlike certain other Chinese cities which can lure your imagination away to more global and less rooted modern metropolises. Every day there's so much to see, much more than is possible for a short-term traveler, and every day you work for it. Despite the city having a modern metro, plenty of free and accessible toilets, and more English than I had hoped for, every day was a bit of a struggle, and sometimes more than a bit. True, it's a very large city, and although there are fewer people living in Beijing than Shanghai, which was much easier to tackle, the crowds were often unmanageable, especially the ever-present Chinese tour groups: so loud, so pushy. Perhaps the difficulty stemmed from the coldness of the people who live there, nominally polite yet always looking out for themselves, so hungry to get ahead that others don't really exist for them except
Peking International Youth Hostel
The dining area of our hostel, which we didn't visit until our last day there. $5 coffees and teas - more than I spend in San Francisco - kept us away, but the decor was lovely. Fresh flowers every day! as objects to nudge out of the way in the streets or cut in front of in a queue. Perhaps is was the overwhelming pollution, eye-burning, throat-scratching swarms of particulates that exist even when the sky looks clear and blue, which we were lucky enough to experience on several occasions. Between the punishing physical realities of life in Beijing and people's desperate and grasping responses to their own personal realities, my travel partner and I wondered many times if this might not be a bit reflective of how things would have been during the West's own Industrial Revolution. Beijing must be a very difficult place to live, and despite our difficulties I hesitate to judge it too harshly. Still, I could have done with less spitting on the sidewalks.
My advice to those planning a trip to Beijing to visit in early autumn if possible, when the skies are the clearest – relatively speaking. Learn some Mandarin before you go. Plan to bargain hard, but still save your pennies for the surprisingly high prices you'll encounter in the shops and many of the restaurants. Ask a lot of questions, because people won't willingly give up information or make suggestions.
Sharpen your elbows and don't be afraid to use them in a crowd; there will always be a crowd – resign yourself to this before you arrive. Bring your own bathroom tissue, and always throw it away in the bin provided so you don't clog the toilet. And leave plenty of time to do the things you most want to do. Plan on having to do things twice in many cases. Take into account the vast expanses of the city, the snarly traffic, the unforgiving crowds and lines, and the whims of Beijing itself; you'll be glad you did.
Highlights of this part of the trip for me included the Great Wall at Mutianyu, the Forbidden City, the Lama Temple, some delicious food, and exploring the hutongs and artsy little shops along the way, especially along Nanluogu Xiang.
For those in the area I can highly recommend a visit to Yaoji Chaogan, right near the Drum Tower, for authentic, tasty and very reasonable Beijing dishes. The noodle dishes are excellent, and you must try the zha guanchang (garlic-topped deep fried crackers); they're also known for pig's liver stew and pork dumplings, if you like that sort of thing.
Coal cart
Every morning this fellow and others would drive around delivering coal briquettes to local homes and businesses. It's China's Industrial Revolution! Make sure you have a Mandarin speaker present, or are the adventurous sort, as no English is spoken.
As for the sights, some of the photos turned out, but like any trip many of the best moments cannot be caught on camera. There was plenty of interesting food, beautiful architecture and art that eluded capture, quiet moments in magnificent and heady temples. In particular, I enjoyed the old men practicing their calligraphy with water on the stone walkways with giant brushes in the many parks and gardens. Were they composing poetry? I'll never know, but I appreciated their contemplative pace in the often hectic and pushy reality that was traveling in northern China: not without difficulties, but undoubtedly worthwhile.
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