Advertisement
Published: March 16th 2011
Edit Blog Post
Beijing
The Summer Palace It has been one of those weeks where I somehow managed to burn money like there was no tomorrow. Now let me get something straight before I start on my rant. I don't have a problem with spending money, I only get irritated when I feel the money I spent could have been spent better another way and that is what happened a lot this week. It wasn't that the sights I saw weren't beautiful, some were astounding, but it was a combination of too little time at some attractions, or taking the more expensive option at others when it turned out that I could have had the same experience for half the money. The overall effect is the same, one walks around with this gnawing feeling in the back of ones head which detracts from the beauty. You know you shouldn't give a damn and you shouldn't let it spoil the experience, but it is like a little grain of sand in your shoes: it just keeps irritating you!
It all started when I arrived in Beijing, well not quite, but soon after. The arrival itself went smoothly, with a cheap dorm waiting for me. No, it was the
Beijing
The Harmonious Interest Gardens next day that the first of a succession of bad choices was made. Since I had been to Beijing before I decided to go to the places I hadn't visited previously. Top of the list, the Imperial Summer Palace. So one fine morning I got up early too avoid the crowds, only to discover that the crowds had done the same. In Beijing it is simply impossible to escape crowds no matter how early you go. It was irritating, but I could deal with it, the garden would be big and I could probably escape the crowd.
I came to the ticket booth and found out I had two choices of tickets, one twice as expensive as the other. The first, cheaper option was just for the gardens, and wouldn't allow access to a number of temples and palaces within. The second was a so-called through ticket which granted access to the five extra's sights that the cheaper option didn't. What the heck I thought, I will go for the through ticket. Bad choice!
Almost immedietly I discovered that the cheaper ticket would have given me the same experience as the one I bought. The five sights listed
were just not worth the extra bucks. One was open to the general audience anyway, another was closed due to renovations, another I looked at from a bridge and decided that it wasn't even worth going down for a closer look since you could really see it all from the bridge, the fourth one was a small museum with exhibits that I had seen in one guise or another before. Only the fifth was mildly attractive in that it allowed you to climb up to a temple which gave you a good vantage point over the entire gardens.
The main attraction of the Summer Palace is its gardens and I could have experienced them for half the price and so I walked around the gardens trying to avoid the crowds which turned out to be nearly impossible and at the same time spoiling my day by thinking about the stupid decision I had made. Irritation was rubbing away in the back of my head. Small but detectable.
The next day I did nothing much, so I got through most of it without doing anything stupid. Most of it, I say, in the evening I decided to go to
Beijing
A small bridge and island the night market, a severely touristic experience, where you can eat such delicacies as deep fried scorpion, spider, cricket, sea-horse and other assorted creatures. I decided to go for a scorpion kebab, but being a total ass I bought it at the second stall down the road, where it was twice as expensive as at the end. Why, oh why, didn't I just do what I normally do and walk up and down the market before buying anything thus finding the cheapest joint? I can't tell you why, temporary insanity is my best defense at the moment. And so the grain of sand called irritation was growing.
Yes things were looking up, especially when I decided to go to Chengde for a day trip. Chengde is about 4 and a half hours north east by train from Beijing and it houses another one of those Imperial summer retreats as well as several temples built for visiting dignitaries. Chengde can't be done on a day trip! Not if you want to see it all. But foolishly I went, thinking that somehow I would manage. Why? Because I couldn't find anywhere cheap to stay in Chende when I researched it.
Beijing
The Long Corridor Lo and behold, who do I meet when arriving in Chengde? Three Belgiums who tell me there is a hotel for 20 yuan just opposite the main attraction. Ah what a great way to start my tour, especially since I had already paid for my room in Beijing and had nothing on me but my camera. So I had no choice but to continue with my insane plan. By that time I already had the sinking feeling that this day was doomed to failure and disappointment. That grain at the back of my head had just doubled in size and I hadn't even bought my ticket yet!
The ticket was the next ugly surprise. A very steep 90 yuan! The grain started snowballing out of control after that, because I found out that two thirds of the gardens were off limits as it was out of season. In the end I had to rush through the open parts of the garden anyway due to lack of time. I never got to see the surrounding temples which was just as well, as they were not cheap to enter either. I ended the dreadful experience by taking an expensive bus back
Beijing
And within the Long Corridor to Beijing because there were no more trains running. Total loss, 250 yuan for a miserable day trip.
When asked by a backpacker what my day had been like I could only say, exhausting, expensive and disappointing. That is not to say that the summer retreat isn't nice, it is actually wonderful, especially if one would have time to actual stroll at leisure.
Then I had a good day, which almost came as a shock to me. It was expensive for sure, but it was worth it and it was no more expensive than I had expected, so there were no surprises. I went to see a lovely stretch of wall outside Shanhaiguan, the only part of the wall that crosses a river and there was nary anybody around. And I stayed the night in Xingcheng, one of only 4 cities in China to retain a complete set of Ming Dynasty town walls or so the good book tells me. Xingcheng was authentic and there weren't any tourists, I felt people were surprised to see me.
But it was just a small interlude and the next day I was back on track with the wasting. I went
Beijing
A room inside the Cloud Dispelling Hall to Shenyang, where I discovered to my dismay that the hostel was closed for renovation and the next cheap hotel was also being demolished. When I tried to do some internet in the only internet cafe I could find in my specific area I was refused to do so because as a foreigner I was too much of a hassle to them. So I ended up staying in a midrange chain flushing yet more of my cash down their swish toilets. The grain had just turned into a boulder!
And now? I am in Dandong, and so far I have been able to avoid any major catastrophes. I have made up the balance of my time of being a moron, which is that I lost about a weeks worth of travelling. I shall now just hope that the hole in my hand has healed and I can continue without losing even more. As I stare over the border into North Korea from an empty section of wall right at the border I realize that life could be much worse. There is always a Mordor out there to put things in perspective!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.072s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 15; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0367s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Roll with it.
Your frustration is evident in your posting. Take a breath and become His Dudeness. Relax and roll with it. You've been traveling a long time and made millions of very good decisions. Stop dwelling on these few bad ones or it will miss the journey. Now you are almost looking for the next bad deal-- don't let that happen. Become mellow. It is easy to get caught up in this but you need to take the shoes off and dust out the sand. Maybe a massage would help get you back on track. Love the photo of Dandong. Good luck.