Last days in Beijing

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Sunday August 27th

Today was Great Wall Day. I had to wake up quite early to catch the bus at 7:20 which was supposed to pass by the hostel. I was down in the lobby by 7:10 and I met this french couple while buying food for the day (hey, Snickkers is a complete meal mmkay?) named Marianne and Pierre who were going on the same trip. They were leaving for France in a few days and had been in China for 3 weeks. We talked while waiting for the bus which turned out to be 45 minutes late. A chinese man led us to another hostel where we picked some more people than to the bus which was already mostly full so we sat in the back.

In all my travel in China I don't think I can remember being on a transport with more than 10%!w(MISSING)esterner so I was quite surprised to realized that this bus was 100%!w(MISSING)esterner. We talked for the whole ride with a guy from San Francisco who was teaching english in Beijing and could actually speak french and an american guy from Chicago that had just arrived in China. About an hour into the trip they pulled up at a gas station and told us to get out because of motor problem. We had to wait an hour at the gas station before we were allowed back in and we drove without any major problems to Jinshanling section of the wall, arriving there at 12:30.

We (me and the frenchies) bought our tickets and started walking. We made it to the wall quite fast and started walking toward Simatai. Now usually I'm not impressed by those touristy "must-see" things but the Great Wall was amazing. It is one of those places everyone has seen in pictures or movies at some point but actually being there, seeing the wall snake on faraway mountain and walk on it is simply amazing. Do the Great Wall if you go to China, it's worth it!

I felt a bit like an asshole but after 10 minutes I decided to go at my own pace so I told Pierre and Marianne that we'd see each other at the bus. I like to walk fast and push myself when I walk. Also I wanted to actually climb the Simatai section which I heard was amazing so this meant I had to get to Simatai fast because we could see it from far away and it looked pretty hard. It took me slightly more than 2 hours to reach Simatai. I met friendly slovaks, french and kiwis on the way but not talking for too long as I didn't want to stop for breaks. I saw some restoration work on the way, undoubtly for the 2008 olympics. So if you want to walk on an unrestorated section of the wall do it now, or soon at least. I still had almost 2 hours to kill so I decided I had enough time to climb Simatai.

It was really hard as I was a bit tired by this point but I managed to make it to Watchtower 9, almost at the top before I had only 30 minutes before the bus was supposed to depart so I decided to head back. An old Lady followed me all the way up and all the way down trying to sell me stuff. "Postcardsverybeautifulbuyoneforyourfriendsincanada,youverygoodfriendimsureyoullbuythingsforyourfriendsandyourmotherbrotherfathersister.Verybeautifulpostcards20YuanYoubuyoneforyourfriend?" etcetc. In the end I bought a pack of postcards for 5RMB as I did need some and she was a friendly bloke even though I must admit she was getting on my nerves.

We went down to wait in the parking lot. Marianne and Pierre joined soon afterward and we talked with a swiss couple while waiting. When the bus came, the most touching scene I've ever seen in China happened. Peopleentered the bus in an orderly mannier. Guys let the ladies go first and no one pushed, shoved or try to cut other people's throat just to get the seat they wanted. It almost brought a tear to my eyes. Manners! Oh how I miss them.

The ride back was bad as I was tired, the bus broke down for 30 minutes and we got stuck in traffic for an hour. We got back to Beijing at 10 and we just had enough energy to take a shower then go to the chinese restaurant in front of the hostel to get some sweet and sour pork. Pierre tried to get some street meat but it turned out they gave him beef tendons which was uneatable which pissed him off. We went to bed quickly thereafter.

Monday August 28th

I was supposed to meet the frenchie for breakfast at 8 but I got up late and reached the hostel's restaurant 30 minutes late. I had some french toast on Pierre's recommendation and it was pretty decent. The plan for hte day was to go to the Summer Palace in the morning, then go to the Pakistani embassy in the afternoon while they would do some last-minute shopping in the Silk Market and we'd meet up to have Beijing Duck in a fancy restaurant for dinner with other frenchies.

We walked to Chaoyangmen subway station and took it to Xizhimen station where there was supposed to be a bus to the Summer Palace but we couldn't find it so we took a cab thinking it wouldn't be expansive. It turned out to be much farther than we thought so it costed quite a bit but we were 3 so it wasn't too bad. There are 2 kinds of ticket for the Summer Palace, you can have one that grant you access to the Palace but not to certain sights or onethat allow you access everywhere. We figured we'd get the ones with full access but there was communication breakdown somewhere so me and Pierre got student price on restricted access ticket (15RMB) while Marianne got full price (she doesn't have a student card) on full access ticket (50RMB). In the end we didn't go to the restricted places so me and Pierre got a pretty good deal.

Back in the good old days, the Palace was the refuge of the emperor from Beijing's blazing heat. Back then, the concubines of the emperor, which were always numbered in the thousands (by the end of the Qing dynasty there were 12000), would walk around the park's and building around the Palace. Nowadays the place is only full of chinese tours group which might not be as exciting but is certainly more entertaining (I'd take the concubines if I had a choice though, I must admit).

The Palace was alright. Chinese style building. You know curved roof and all. Some big ones, some small ones but after being in China for 6 weeks it's pretty hard to get excited over traditional buildings just like after travelling in Europe for a few weeks, churches just aren't interesting. After looking at a few buildings we went up a forested hill and walked on it until we reached some more building but half of them were being rebuilt so there wasn't much to see. I was having a great time with the frenchies talking about french humor and generally just being saying stupid and obscene things. It's great to speak a language that no one understand sometimes. We walked for a while then went down toward the lake. At around 11:15 we hit a place that sold noodles so we bought some and ate them close to a place where you could put on tradtional costumes and take pictures (needless to say we didn't do that).

We walked along the lakeshore back to the entrance while talking about the sorry state of France, which seems to be a common topic of conversation with frenchies. We reached the parking lot and walked a bit farther to the main street to catch the bus to Xizhimen station, we had to run a bit to catch one and it brought us right to the station in about 30 minutes. There we split and I went toward the Pakistani embassy while they went to the Silk Market. I walked to the Pakistani embassy after the subway ride only to be told by the man in charge to come back at 4PM. I had 2 hours to kill so I walked around and ended up sitting in the AC comfort of a Mcdo with a chocolate sundae while killing time by rereading my guidebook again.

I walked back to the embassy by 4PM but there was still no officials. More people were waiting around so at least I wasn't the only one who had been told to come at this time. About 15 minutes after I arrived, some germans came in so I started talking to them. They had come last Thursday and had been told to come Friday but their visa wasn't ready then so they had to come back today but they had a train ticket for a train leaving in 2 hours so not getting a visa today wasn't an option. We wait until around 4:50 before the guy with foreigners visa came. Contrary to what I believed I had my visa but it was only single-entry, he wouldn't give me multiple entry which was a pain but there was nothing I could do about it. I paid my fee and left. The germans also got their visa but the guy made a mistake when he added up the price of their visa so they ended up paying 100RMB less than what htey should've paid. They didn't noticed but were happy when I told them.

Since I knew I had my visa I could now buy my train ticket. I went to Beijing's train station and tried to buy a ticket but I gave up after 30 minutes of trying to get my point accross and figured it would be easier to just pay a commission at the hostel. I went back to the hostel and met the frenchie as we were walking in the small alley toward the hotel. They had bought a trolley and had filled it full of stuff from the Silk Market and were quite happy about their shopping. The other french that were supposed to accompany us for dinner changed their mind so it would only be the 3 of us. I went to the travel agent in the hostel and tried to get a ticket for the train station close to Dunhuang, halfway through China toward the west but there was no ticket for the next 3 days and staying in Beijing 3 days was not an option. In the end I had to settle for a hard seat ticket to Lanzhou in 2 days where I could grab a sleeper bus to Dunhuang.

The frenchies and I took a cab to the restaurant which is in the Sanlitun south embassy area close to the North Korean embassy. The restaurant was pretty fancy and the food was great. We had some rolls for entry and I made a fool out of myself because I simply couldn't grab them with my chopsticks correctly, the rolls just kept slipping. The main meal was wonderful so it deserves a bit of a description. They bring the shiny duck on a small table next to the main table and the chef proceed to cut it in front of you. At first you eat the skin with some blackberry sauce. The fatty/sugary combination is pretty tasty. Next they bring the neatly cut up meat. You eat it in small tortillas with raw vegetables and soy sauce. That was great it was seriously the best meal I had in China. After they take the rest of the duck and bring it back in the kitchen to make a soup out of it which they serve once we're done eating the meat. The soup was again delicious beyond words. Since we're all frenchies, we couldn't have a good meal without some wine so we decided to splurge and had 2 bottles. We had some dessert which, it must be said, was pretty bad but we were too full to care by that point. We kept on talking after we were done eatin for a few hours and then we got a cab ride back to the hostel. I almost cried when I saw the bill but hey, you've got to splurge every now and then and it is best to do it in good company. We had a beer back at the hostel and took some pictures of us then went to bed.

Tuesday August 29th

The frenchies had to leave early for their flight back to Paris so we met up for breakfast again and said goodbye. That's one of those things about travel is that you meet cool people then you have to split after a day. My plan for the day was to go see big M, see the Grand Hall of the People, the Forbidden City and then get a Pakistani guidebook (I had one back home but forgot to bring it).

But first I had to change some money so I walked to a HSBC and changed some remaining Hong Kong Dollars into Yuan. Then I took a bus to Tiananmen Square to go to Mao's mausoleum. Along the way the usual suspects tried to talk to me but I'm not a naive tourists straight from the airport so I told them to go play in the traffic. When I arrived to the mausoleum, I was told I had to checkin my bag somewhere. Some chinese guy told me to follow him to the place so me and a fellow tourists followed although we were pretty suspicious. He brought us to the official place but then he wanted me to give the money to him so that he'd give it to the cashier. I don't know what he was trying to do but I told him I was old enough to give the money myself. He insisted that I give him the money a few time then left when it was obvious I wasn't trusting him. I checked in the bag and started talking with a british couple who were also going to the mausoleum.

You walk slowly in line toward the mausleum with people selling flowers to pay "respect" to the great chairman. Needless to say I think a spit would be better but hey, they're the ones who followed that guy and ended up killing millions of their people so if they respect that, then good for them I guess. Talking about Mao with chinese often feel like talking to a wife that gets beaten by her husband but still stays with him because she *loves* him. As we enter the building, we enter a chamber with a statue of the chairman where the chinese put flowers on the floor (and the workers pick them up to sell them again, of course). The crowd split in two and we proceed in the second chamber where the body is in the middle. It is only possible to get a short glimpse of the body because if you stop guards tell you to keep walking. The body seemed fake and Mao looked really small. As you leave the room, you enter capitalism frenzy. People try to sell you Mao postcard or Mao's golden statue (for a few thousands RMB). The chinese seemed to love it.

I said bye to the english because I was going to the Grand Hall next. This is the building where the Party Congress gather and is also the place where President Nixon was received in 1972 in a 10 000 people banquet hall. The place is a prime example of chinese communist architecture. I didn't bother to pick up my bag as I knew you had to check it for the Grand Hall too. I walked there on the western side of the square, paid my ticket and got in. I realized once i was inside that you couldn't bring bag there but camera was ok but I didn't want to walk accross the whole square to get it.

When I got into the Hall the entrance was blocked because they said we had to wait for a guide. Within a few minutes a guide came and we were allowed in. I stayed with the group for 2 minutes but since I don't speak chinese the guide was pretty useless so I started walking around. The place is really huge with walls of up to 10m, big chandellier and expansive looking furniture. All very communist. You could tell a lot about childhood problems of the person who decided to build this place. Everything is built to be big and intimidate. I walked through some of the Halls, all named on a chinese province. Some of them were tea salon while another was a huge amphiteatre and another was the huge banquet all. This was the building that interested me the most in a long time, I had a great time just walking around for about an hour and a half.

I went to get my bag after then made my way to the Forbidden City at the north end of the square. After the Summer Palace I was not too keen on going to the Forbidden City but I figured I'm in Beijing so I have to see it. But when I arrived at the entrance I saw the compact masses of chinese tourists following their leader with a flag and the construction work being done (to *embelish* the City for the 2008 olympics, of course) and I decided not to go. Aisling, who I travelled with in Gansu and northern Sichuan, told me that the day that she decided not to go to every single temple in the LP was a great relief for her. Sometimes as tourist we feel we have to do something even though we don't want. That day was the day I decided that I wouldn't go see something because I have to, I'll go see things that interest me and the Forbidden City along with the hordes of tourists in there was not something I wanted to see because I knew I wouldn't enjoy it, especially when half of it is under construction.

So I decided to skip the City and get the guidebook. I walked west for about 20 minutes to a big bookstore that supposedly had travel books. I ate some dumplings at a small street food place on the way and then went in the bookstore. The place was humongous so it took me a while to find the english section but they didn't have Pakistan LP. I spent the rest of the afternoon going around Beijing in 4 different bookstores to find it but it was of no use. It tooks me about 4 hours total since Beijing is a pretty vast place. In the end I bought the India LP since it is the country I'm planning to go after Pakistan and planned to buy the guidebook in Urumqi or Kashgar.

I ate some sichuan style eggplant in a chinese restaurant close to the hostel and then went in the dorm to have a little siesta. I talked with a japanese guy in there but fell asleep pretty quickly. After I woke up I went on the roof of the hostel to read my LP India guidebook. There was a french guy who was speaking with a really wierd iranian guy (you have to be pretty wierd for me to say you're wierd and this guy just was). About 45 minutes after I got there, a french couple that was friend with the french guy came in. The guy had bought a collection sword so I asked him to see it and after that I stopped reading and joined in the conversation. They were really friendly, we talked over ice cream (that had been given to them) for about an hour before they decided to head for dinner. THey had been doing the transsiberian/mongolia thing and even though they liked it they said that mongolia was getting pretty touristy.

I told them I'd be in the common room so we could have a beer when they came back. I went to the internet in the hostel for about 2 hours. The french guy came in at this point and we talked for a few hours over a beer. He had to get up at 3AM for his plane so we decided to be reasonable and head to bed at 1:30AM.

Wednesday August 30th

This day can be summed up quite quickly. I woke up at 10, ate breakfast then stayed on the computer until 5PM updating this blog at which point I bought some instant noodles for the train and made it to Beijing West Train Station. Got on the train 15 minutes early and was relieved to have a aisle seat again. Ate my noodles then fell asleep without talking to anyone since I was the only foreigner on board.

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Photos

Beijing 2006
Title says it all

Simatai 1
Simatai is in the background. It is the section that goes up fairly dramatically.

Summer Palace
Along with the artificial Lake and Beijing's superb pollution and skyscrapper.

Marianne, Pierre and me
Us doing some stupid pose in the Summer Palace.

Jinshanling 1
Great Wall

Jinshanling 2
Great Wall!

Jinshanling 4
Unrestored section

Simatai 2
Similar picture as first one but from inside a watchtower

Restoration work
I guess we're the last people to see the real thing...

Sunset close to the Great Wall
We had a breakdown and I had nothing to do so I took that picture.

Grass growing on top of the temple
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Pierre and I
Doing stupid faces

Marianne and I
Doing serious faces