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WEEKEND IN BEIJING - Traveling-duo: Riina-Riika and me
Day 1 -
Both Riina and I woke up relatively early on Thursday morning (the start of our travel to Beijing). We left our apartment at about 9:30, which couldn't have been a more perfect time since there was an insane traffic jam. A 20-30 minute drive to the Pudong International Airport actually took us an hour. We had to take a bus from Shanghai's city center to the airport - it's the fastest way to get there. The bus driver was nuts - a few too many close calls - but then again, all of the drivers are nuts. It makes a lot of sense that foreigners need to apply for a Chinese driver's license before they're allowed to drive in China. It's way too dangerous without the necessary skills.
Pudong Airport is so nice, clean and the bathrooms were amazing. I make it a point to mention the great bathrooms because you never know what kind of bathrooms you'll run into in China. Normal ones...with toilet seats; or the holes in the floor. I'm more partial to the seats, but that could also just be because it's more
Fountain Display
The fountains weren't there when we went in the Forbidden City, but they were there when we came out.comfortable and a bit more hygenic. Not to mention, it's always a pleasant surprise when there's toilet paper in the bathroom. Beware...some toilet paper dispensers are located outside all the stalls - not in the room with you. Oh also...toilet paper doesn't go in the toilet here. It goes in the waste basket. Nice, eh? Riina and I were a little hungry so we got some onion rings and dumplings at the airport. Nice combo right...no worries, I took pictures. haha.
Riina and I had to transfer to another plane at the Dalian Aiport, which is about an hour northeast of Shanghai. Dalian Airport...not as nice as Pudong. It was a good thing we had two hours to get transfer to our next plane...and a good thing neither one of us checked any bags because we had to go through a second check-in and a second security check! Totally unnecessary. Not to mention, we were behind an old man who totally spat on the ground. We switched lanes after that. lol. Oh the spitting. Spitting is very common in China. It's a part of their culture so there's not much to say or do other than just trying to
Mao's Mausoleum
I really liked how the buildings were illuminated like this at night. avoid stepping on spit on the streets. Almost like being in France again. Except inside of avoiding dog poop...I'm trying to avoid spit.
On our tickets, the gate number said 6...so it would make sense that we'd sit near gate 6. Well...thank goodness I've down my fair-share of traveling cause it wasn't until about 15 minutes before we were supposed to board the plane when I realized our plane STILL wasn't at the gate. Well, actaully there was a different plane at gate 6. We were flying with China Southern and Air China was at gate 6. Bit of a pickle.
Fortunately, I checked our flight information on the non-English-language big screens and our plane was at gate 7. So, not too bad.
Just before changing gate positions, we met this very lovely Californian guy who asked us a bunch of questions about Shanghai and our internships. He was so pleasant, however, he asked if I was from the south of USA. Uuummm...really? I didn't get it. Good thing he was nice...😉
From Dalian Aiport up until we got back from Shanghai, Riina and I were like STARS. So you've got the stars who have their 15 minutes of
fame...it was three days for us. It begins with starring...and then people would smile at us for a while and then, they would take their cameras out for pictures. It was too funny - like actual paparazzi. We had to approve of the people before they could take our picture though...anyone who looked a bit sketchy...sorry, but no.
Other little tibits on the first day:
- Guy who sat with Riina and I on the plane (from Dalian) brought weird boxes and a metal cart on board the plane. Seemed a bit weird, but he was harmless.
- Ate a hot dog with a giant pickle and lukewarm mayo...wasn't too bad.
-Riina gets a little nervous on planes - well, very nervous - and something hit the bottom of the plane and she freaked! "What the hell was that?" Me: "Oh it was nothing...planes make noises all the time." I then told her to put her headphones on. lol. Just in case. You might say I was her knight in shinning armor.
We arrived in Beijing at about 6p.m. No issues at all. Smooth transfer from the metro in the airport to Beijing city center. We got a
taxi from the metro stop to our hostel, but it wasn't the easiest trip. The taxi driver didn't have a clue where the hostel was...and finally when he found it...he had to drive down this tiny street that the taxi could barely squeeze through. It was fun though - always interesting to see a confused Chinese man.
The hostel was very nice - Beijing's most famous hutong courtyard structures, with over 350 years of history. Very inexpensive - about $8 a night: free internet, decent beds, restaurant inside, 10 minutes away from Tiananment Square, etc.
After checking-in and all, we decided to walk about the town. Passed by some beautiful streets, real Chinese architecture and of course...we were starred at quite a bit. It's almost as if we were a novelty. Trust me peeps...you've seen the movies, the travelers, the tv shows...ya don't have to stare. Not to mention we were just a couple of girls traveling for two days - no make-up, fancy clothes, etc.
It got to be pretty late when we finally decided to search for a restaurant - so we just decided to pick one and it was very good. Sooo spicy!! Nobody
spoke English so we relied on pictures and our handy little Chinese-English book. So useful by the way. We had spicy beef (the spiciest in the city - the kind that numbs your tongue), a liter of beer each(we were thirsty), rice (only 1 yuan - .15 cents) and peppery potatoes (thinly sliced). We were totally stuffed afterwards.
Bed by midnight. Getting up pretty early for day two of Beijing Extravaganza.
Day 2 - the Great Wall
Alarm at 5:45a.m.!!!!
Smooth walk to the subway...didn't get lost, which is always a good thing.
We had to get to Beijing North Railway Station and get a train ticket to Badaling, which is one of many gate entrances to the Great Wall. Well, we got to the station and there was absolutely NO ENGLISH at all. No wonder why most foreigners take a tour bus. But hey, Riina and I were too proud to give up. And by chance, a couple in front of us (in line to buy tickets) was going to Badaling too! So, we just stepped up, said "Badaling!" Held up two fingers and 34 yuan later...we got our first-class train
tickets. Oh, first-class eh? Riding fancy?! Well, it only was about 50 cents extra to get bumped up and it was so much quieter in first-class. Real nice.
Breakfast - Zhongza.
Banana leaves with sticky rice and fruit inside. The hostel gave them to us for free. People can also buy different kinds such as meat and veggie. It's very good.
THE GREAT WALL!!!
- Spectacular view.
- Not too crowded. People said it'd be horrible since it was the weekend, but it wasn't bad at all.
- EXTREMELY WINDY - Holy balls was it windy!
- Eight people took my picture. I think it was the blue eyes and height thing cause people were making comments about my height and one guy asked me to take off my sunglasses. Just imagine if I had blonde hair. Woa.
- Steep slopes, steps, etc.
- Chinese women wore flats and heals...ah, ever heard of tennis shoes? It's the freaking Great Wall - not Hollywood Boulevard!
Walked on the wall for quite a ways until we reached the cable car that took us down. Note to readers - don't ride it if you're afraid of heights. Riina was
freaked!
Oh wow, the mountains were massive and gorgeous. It was really nice to see such greenery after being in the city, with pollution, for a couple of weeks.
Riina and I spent about four or five hours at the Great Wall and you'll just have to see the pictures to really grasp its beauty.
When we got back to Beijing's city center both of us decided to check out the pandas at the Beijing Zoo. Now, word to the wise...don't visit any zoos in China - especially if you're an animal lover. The pandas looked depressed and the environment for the bears was too sad - nothing but stone, barely any shade, and I couldn't find a drop of water. Riina and I were very disappointed in the zoo, but all was well once we got to the Olympic stadium!! Remember the Beijing 2008 Olympics? Well, I visited the stadium. Massive...everything in Beijing is just massive. So many different structures and concrete paths...it's just nuts. Three more people took our picture. Gggrr. By that time, it just got old.
Dinner - Beijing's Roast Duck (delicacy)
Dumplings, fried noodles with soy sauce and veggies.
The
dinner was really, really good. Never thought I'd like duck as much as I did.
Day 3 -
Left hostel at 8:45a.m. and headed towards the Temple of Heaven that's inside a beautiful park. (Pictures are on Facebook)
Other sites we visited:
- Tianamen Square: two guys took our picture three times, three different angles. Huge open space.
- Forbidden City: Palace Museum - temple after temple, just enormous(Photos and videos available on Facebook)
We had to check out of the hostel by noon, but first things first - on our way back to the hostel Riina asked me for a plaster when we get back to the hostel. "Plaster?" I asked. "What are you talking about? You planning on dry-walling something anytime soon?" "What?! No," she said. "What are you talking about? You know, when you get a cut, you put something over it to protect it..." "Oooohh, I said. You mean a Band-Aid?!!!!" Geeeez...darn English-language barriers!!!!
I bargained for the first time!! Wahoo! I bought a nice pair of sunglasses (since I left my old ones in my sister's car) for 50 yuan ($8). Went from 90 to 70 to 50...nice, eh? Sales
woman gave me a case and cloth too.
Before leaving Beijing we grabbed some lunch - well it was more like dinner - and we had Marinated Duck with rice and beef with pepper and veggies. Oh man...it was so good. I ate very well...pretty much stuffed myself. Anyone salivating over there?
We took a train back to Shanghai because it was a lot cheaper - probably because we had to sit up on the train, but it wasn't that bad. We survived the 11-hour ride back to the city fo sho. Funny thing about the train station though - there either aren't benches or they are all taken so you can either sit on the spit-infested floors...Ooooooorr...sit on the balcony outside. Hehehe. The Chinese don't really tan themselves - something about keeping their skin as close to white as possible (lighter skin is a sign of youth). So, while the Chinese were standing up for hours without seats, Riina and I grabbed a table on the McDonalds balcony. Lol!
We arrived at Shanghai at 7a.m. on Sunday and just took a taxi home - so cheap, I just can't get over it. We were going to
take the metro, but after such a long weekend, we just couldn't be bothered. :D
All in all, it was a pretty successful trip and I had a lot of fun. Check out the pictures and videos on Facebook - some great photos!
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Vernia McCullough
non-member comment
trip
Loved your notes-so glad you went to the Great Wall and took pictures-Love the fact you ate the world famous BeijingDuck!MomXXOO