Beijing #2: Wangfujing Street

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The hostel we were staying at had a bar and restaurant, so we decided to eat breakfast there. They had loads of Western options, so I went for a Full English. I love a proper breakfast and don't get to eat them very often living in Asia. Therefore, whenever I see one on the menu I have to order it. The breakfast was pretty decent and I enjoyed it. Since we had to check out of the dorm room and check in to our private room later, we decided just to take it easy and go for a mooch about this morning. We were staying on a pedestrian street, so we took a walk along it. I love the architecture of the traditional buildings. I wish I loved somewhere. The street was really long with loads of shops and snack stalls. Since we were full from breakfast we didn't try anything. It was really busy but we were just enjoying taking it all in. We came to another street that was pedestrianised, but was much wider and also quieter. Although this one was still felt traditional, it also felt moderner. Maybe it was because it was quieter, more spacious and also had lots of the big name shops on it. We spent a while walking up and down. There was an old fashioned team running up and down the street and it was fun to watch that go by. When we were sitting taking a rest, we became mini celebrities, a family came over and asked for photos with their kids. We happily onbliged and had some fun taking photos with them. We wandered around the street some more, looking in some of the shops.

We were feeling hungry, so decided to stop for some lunch on our way back to the hostel. There was a buy looking restaurant on the main street near where we were staying so we headed in there. This place had all the normal Chinese dishes, so we selected a few to share. We had a veggie dish, a pork and tofu dish,and another meat dish. All of it was really good and I enjoyed my meal. My friend also tried one of the weird sweet tea drinks that they sell in cans here. At first, she liked it, but she was a bit sick of it by the time she reached the end of the can. We headed back to the hostel and got the keys for our new room. The private room was really nice, a lot better than the cramped dorm room. We spent a couple of hours chilling there.

In the evening, we headed to Wangfujing Street, so that my friend could see all the weird and wonderful food that China has to offer. I had been there many moons ago on my previous visit to Beijing, but me and my friends hadn't venture too far down the street as the stench was so bad. My friend didn't feel like walking, so we asked one of the taxi mafia near to the hotel to take us. He wanted to charge us a ridiculous price and didn't want to put the meter on, so walking it would be. I really don't get the mentality of sitting around waiting for one person to agree to a ridiculous fee, when the driver could be doing smaller fares and actually making money. The walk took quite a while as we had to go a certain route as the roads and a paths followed specific routes to control the sea of human traffic that takes over Beijing in the holiday. Our route took us across Tiananmen Square. It was filled with people, it was amazing. It was jam packed with people talking. There were also some really nice displays to mark the National Day holiday. Finally, we managed to make our way across and continued on to Wangfujing Street. We made it to the main street, which is Wangfujing Street and went looking for the side streets that sell all the weird shit. We soon came across it, as there was a queue of people heading in and another one heading out. We spent an hour or two wandering around the different stalls. It was mad to see the live insects wiggling on a stick. None of the strange stuff made me want to eat it, so I settled for some normal stuff instead. I remember having some very disappointing and overpriced dumplings. I suppose most people come just for the novelty value as opposed to getting some decent food. The small streets were tightly packed and we moved as part of the crowd. It got a little better the deeper we ventured in, with more room to move. Afterwards, we haded to the main Wangfujing Street and had a wander around there before heading back to the hostel. I was glad that this time I ventured further into Wangfujing Street and got to see all the weird and wondreful foods that they sell, but if I return to Beijing, I doubt I would go back.

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