Blogs from Dongcheng, Beijing, China, Asia - page 6

We made it to Beijing!! Was a long journey, as we had to go through passport control, get a train to our bags and get currency before getting a train and two metros to our hotel. The metro was very crowded and we definitely got some looks! Knew the language barrier would be a problem when vinny almost bought us tickets to Chaoyangmen instead of Chongwenmen!! We slept all afternoon then went to a local restaurant in our hutong where they had no english menu. The waiter spoke a little english so we ordered noodles and beef and vegetables and had a savage feed! two bottles of local beer (Yanjing SAVAGE) and it came to €5 total! The next morning we were up at 6 and were collected for our trek of the great wall which ... read more

Last day in Beijing today, and we’ve spent it at the Summer Palace, north of the city. The palace was built in 1750, although it was destroyed by Allied Forces twice, in 1860 and in 1900 (both times reconstructed). It has 2 main parts: the Longevity Hill and the lake (which occupies 75 % of the palace’s total 300 hectares). Walking around the lake was one of the nicest things. It was foggy today, which gave the lake an air of mysticism. Boats crossing from one side to the other, bridges, buildings in the distance and many beautiful trees with my favourite autumn colours – we encountered several temples on our way up to the enormous main central temple (The Fragrance of Buddha – what a fantastic name!!). The views from here are very impressive. Inside ... read more

Hi all we are currently in Beijing in 365 hostel. Following is copied from our journal: 12th sept 17:15 "just write 10 hours- that will do" says michael. That's the reason i am writing this journal and not him!!! sitting on a plane waiting to take off. On our way to seats we were made to walk through first class where beautiful air hostesses handing out champagne andother gifts to posh business types. As soon as we made it past first class we were gretted by a baby crying- loudly!! It's going to be a long flight. Michael has decided/realised that he can control my T.V by pressing buttons on the arm of my chair. Its gonna be a very very long flight!! 14th sept 17:00 arrived in beijing about 11:00 and managed to negoitate the ... read more

Diumenge, 31 de Juliol – el tren a Beijing De nou a matinar, avui a les 5.50 el bus ens ha portat a l’estacio d’Ulan Bator on hem agafat el tren numero 4 cap a Beijing. El tren ha creuat l’enorme pais mongol en una trajectoria cap al sud-est direccio Erlian, a la frontera amb la Xina. El paisatje passa pel marje est de la zona que vam visitar durant els nostres 3 dies al Gobi del sud, pero tot I que desde el tren hem vist caballs I altres animals, no em penedeixo en absolut d’haver visitat la zona del Gobi. Apart d’un fantastic vago restaurant mongol, la part mes interessant del viatje ha estat el pas fronterer. Primer perque durant les 2 hores de proces al costat mongol, hem tingut militars armats al costat ... read more

After our failed attempt to see Mao's pickled body laying in the centre of Tiananmen squarewe caved to the desire for some last minute shopping and went to the Lonely Planet recommended tourist shopping centre. After years in Asia this was one of the most intense shopping experiences....people where literally screaming and grabbing at anyone that walked past and offering starting prices so low it was almost sad the level of their desperation. The array of accents and foreign langauages spoken by the stall holders was incredible. We finished our very very long day of Dawn Tianaman, Forbidden City and shopping with one of the final tourist essentials for Beijing, a delicious dinner of Peking Duck. We left Beijing in true Chinese style, queing excitedly at Asia's largest train station with our packs on our backs ... read more