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Published: June 16th 2008
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Beijing is truly different to the area of Yunnan I have visited thus far. Normally size and order don't go together, and with Beijing having a population of 15 million, compared to the next biggest city we had visited - Kunming at 1 million, I was expecting chaos. I was amazed and impressed at what I found; an effective traffic system, policemen earning their keep and streets relatively free of noisy interjections - both human throat and motorcar horn varieties.
It also further reinforced distrust in the lonely planet's population figures, or maybe it is a sign of China's growth inspite of a single child policy, but I would suggest that figures mentioned above could easily be doubled.
So it all started at the airport, arriving at the newly built terminal 3. For me, and I presume all architects and structural engineers out there, airports are awesome - huge glimmering building complexes, built without apparent concern for cost but hiding serious security, baggage handing and flight infrastructure. Plenty there to wet my pants, would I be disappointed? Hell No!
Terminal 3 is amazing - very cool structures; cigar shaped columns sitting outside the terminal buildings, space-frame roof but
Bejing by 'sunset'
viewed from park in centre of city. No highrises as in the centre nothing new can be taller than buildings in the Forbidden City hidden by simple but super-aesthetic ceiling slats with great lighting which made the ceiling look like a starry sky from afar, triangular layout primary insitu concrete floor beams with secondary beams very closely spaced (not sure why as all beams were insitu), then super-span walkway over arrivals hall for departing passengers, and finally a huge exit ramp and massive dome covered carpark.
The only bad thing was that I was only within the buildings for about 20 minutes as baggage reclaim was so efficient before I was whisked away on the airport shuttle bus! I also wasn't sure about talking photos airside and unfortunately my return flight departed from another, older terminal, so no photos for you guys!
I intended to walk to my planned hostel from the railway dropoff point, based on the map I had on back of hostel card. However after wandering the streets aimlessly and then asking another tourist directions I stayed at his hostel and had dinner with him: an interesting American guy who had lived in china for several years studying Tai-Chi.
It was the biggest hostel I have ever been in with super long dark corridors. I was pleased to
Forbidden City
Main Pavillion leave the next day and on my walk to the much nicer Peking hostel I discovered Beijing city blocks are quite large.
I had a total of 8 days in Beijing and was able to see the city in a fairly relaxed manor. I hired a bike for a couple of days to get me out to some of the further sights including The Summer Palace and the Olympic Park, walked around more central areas taking in Tian'anmen Square, The Forbidden City, The Temple of Heaven and surrounding park and the occasionally KFC restaurant.
I wasn't going to miss out on the Great Wall and with the less visited spots apparently notoriously difficulty to reach by public transport I was forced to take a bus tour. It was a painful 3 hour bus ride with significantly less than adequate leg room, but worth it in the end. Although many of the stories surrounding the wall are little more than myth (the sceptical may suggest generated to attract tourists), such as it being a continuous structure across China (it never was, and certainly not now with about 600 of 5000 original kms still standing) visible from space (as reported
Forbidden City
One of the more popular spots - the imperial garden by the first Chinese astronaut) and with the bodies of overworked slave wall-builders thrown into the wall, it is certainly and amazing accomplishment. I walked an 8km stretch from Jinshanling to Simatai. Obviously renovated initially it then became more authentic before getting completely crumbled. We walked between countless guard towers, many populated by drink salesmen, as the wall wound along wild ridges of the hills.
The Wall was never very effective at its intended purpose. Mongol raiders were often able to penetrate it, and although The Wall is formidable, the surrounding country is its equal and I suspect that once you've crossed that, a neatly ordered pile of rocks is no obstacle.
By night I explored various eating establishments, starting with a night market which traded in the weird, the wonderful and some downright smelly seafood. I avoid eels, scorpion and bugs but still not satisfied by 'chicken' kebabs and 'duck' pancakes. After that I explored some Hutongs (the old Beijing style of streets and courtyards which forms the old single storey residential building stock). You really see life going on here; washing, cooking and kids doing homework in the street. We ended up in a random kebab
Tourist Chris
Getting the low down on the Forbidden City via the audio guide. Some of the commentary was a little repetitive, but kept amusing by gems like 'the mountain before you' when referring to a 10m high tall rockery. restaurant where we had the cheapest beer of the trip 2.5Y (40 Aussie cents/20p)
You can't go far in Beijing (or indeed most of china) without being reminded of the upcoming Olympics. Aside from banners everywhere and the logo on virtually every billboard, buildings are being thrown up left right + centre, underground street crossings are being renovated, the subway being converted to a paperless system and trees being transplanted. There is still plenty to finish and in some places it is more than a facelift. I will be very interested to see how the 'polishing' can finish off the Olympic Park. I was able to get up close to one stadium and surrounding it was a shanty town of workers temporary accommodation which will surely have to go. Fences held quite a crowd of locals and tourists some 500m away from the main stadia - the Birds Nest and Water Cube but they looked good from afar. Well done Rob! I would have loved to get closer to the Nest's 'twigs' which must be at least a metre wide at the base. The park itself is not set in the prettiest of areas, surrounded by a scattering of
Beijing Park Life
Locals doing Tai-Chi in parks surrounding the Temple of Heaven tall residential buildings. Whilst not much can be done about them, I'm sure the Chinese authorities will mobilise a team of thousands, maybe millions, to demolish, sweep, paint and plant as they want the world to be amazed throughout August.
Although I've travelled further from the earthquake zone and into a town focused on the future months, the events in Sichuan 6 weeks ago still dominant the news and people's thoughts. As attention turned from rescue to disease control rain added itself to the disaster mix. Landslides from the quake were causing huge lakes to form which threatened to double / triple and more the death toll. Fortunately with a massive effort using soldiers and bulldozers, channels were built and the waters were relieved before bursting the new banks. On the rehousing effort, 3 weeks ago I was very impressed by news programs showing the construction of lightweight steel framed housing. It seemed a very quick mobilisation showing how well the Chinese have dealt with the disaster.
In previous blogs I have alluded to how helpful/courteous we have found the Chinese, and here are a few very unexpected examples from my time in Beijing:
When searching for
my hostel I wandered around the railway station which was undergoing chaotic renovation looking for a map. A couple of girls approached me to ask if I was ok and then went to get and buy me a map. They wouldn't accept my money for it.
When I went into a local internet hall (the 100 computer variety, full of kids playing computer games) it was completely full. Despite getting a very odd look to start with, I was brought to the front of the queue and given the next computer.
Towards the end of the day I ordered an orange juice in KFC. The machine ran out of juice before my glass was full but I still got a full one as the attendant swapped it with another customers.
I am now back in Dali having met Matt a couple of days ago in Kunming. We headed up to Shangri-La by bus for a horse festival and to met Darren, a friend of ours from Adelaide. Being back in the countryside has been great, although at 3300m it has been heart wheezing and the toilets have been less pleasant...
Tomorrow we get back on our
bikes, hopefully not too much worse for wear following birthday beers. We head north, towards towns we have already seen with the girls, however there is still plenty more to see between the major tourist spots we have visited and we are hoping the hills and altitude won't be as hard as they looked from the bus!
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